Glossy Storytellers 2024: Calvin Leung, Gap

The video, which is one minute and 20 seconds long, stars Tyla performing original choreography by dancer Shay Latukolan, who also created the choreography for Jungle’s TikTok-viral song “Back On 74.” The pop star quickly rose to fame for her “Water” song and the accompanying dance that went viral on TikTok in July 2023. The timely choices of Tyla and Jungle certainly contributed to the campaign’s success. According to Calvin Leung, head of creative at Gap and the brains behind the campaign, it also took off because it tapped into Gap’s core DNA.  

“Gap is iconic already; it has a DNA people are familiar with,” Leung said. “So, [this campaign] wasn’t about recreating [those codes]; instead, it was about reigniting and reinvigorating those codes in a way that is relevant for today.” 

Leung, who became creative director of the brand in May 2023, said the idea behind the Linen Moves campaign was realized during a scroll on social media.  

“I stumbled upon this amazing video that was a dance video by Jungle — but it wasn’t ‘Back On 74’ — it was one of their older ones. It gave me Khaki Swing vibes in all the best ways. [I thought], ‘This is so Gap,’” Leung said. The Khaki Swing commercial Leung was referring to is one of Gap’s most memorable ads from the ’90s. It featured models dancing to popular music of that decade while wearing Gap’s seasonal collection.

“If you have a really strong grasp on [your brand’s] identity, the ideas come naturally. … I’m an instinctual, guttural type of creative. … I’m also a big believer in the universe and the stars aligning, and picking up on those signals. And when the dots truly connect, that’s when the magic happens. It’s hard to identify those moments, and you have to be really aware — so I’m ingesting a lot of inspiration all the time,” Leung said.  

After Leung reached out, Jungle’s team shared that Gap’s 1998 Khaki Swing video is what inspired “Back On 74.” “It was on their mood board,” he said.  

Getting Gap’s executives and his own team on board took little convincing, Leung said. “It was a very collaborative effort,” he said. “I shared the idea and then allowed amazing creatives to kind of attack that vision,” adding that he also tapped creative agency Invisible Dynamics as a creative partner for the campaign. The video was shot in one take. “We all watched it, and we just knew, ‘This is incredible,’” he said. 

The campaign was posted to Gap’s Instagram, TikTok and YouTube channels, with the resulting feedback exceeded the Gap team’s expectations. “It was our highest-performing video on Instagram and TikTok ever,” said Leung. “It was so confident in its point of view. It had a swagger about it that Gap has been famous for and that we’ve been trying to rebuild.” To date, on TikTok, the viral campaign has over 49 million views, 423,000 likes and 34,000 favorites. On Instagram, the video has over 221,000 likes. 

“I’ve never even seen a campaign transcend those two channels and make its way into a LinkedIn conversation. You know you’ve truly made people talk when … they’re doing case studies. It broke the walls down for us on what success looks like, because it truly was a first of its kind for us,” said Leung.

Social media manager Ashley Tate started one of the viral LinkedIn conversations. “Gap just demonstrated how being chronically online can WORK in marketing 🤯 Here’s how,” Tate said before breaking down what made the campaign successful from her point of view. Tate’s post currently has 8,742 likes, 225 comments and 439 reposts.

Moving forward, Leung said Gap is not necessarily looking to recreate that viral moment. Instead, the company hopes to build on it with consistent, high-quality and relevant content. 

“You do one thing amazing, and it’s easy to rest on that and take your foot off the gas,” he said. “But consistency is a huge opportunity for us. … We need to keep our finger on the pulse and constantly push ourselves into where the world is moving.”