Old Navy enlists new ad firm, SuperModelquins to turn tide

NEW YORK -- The struggling Old Navy apparel chain is getting back to its roots: campy marketing and value fashion for its core customer.

Skimpy tops, snug bottoms and teeny bikinis failed to lure new teen and twentysomething shoppers and turned off former fans. The new mix includes long strappy dresses, short sun dresses and Goga pants ("yoga on the go") at value prices. A "$5, $10, $15 Deals" section in stores offers classics such as fleece and hoodies alongside T-shirts and denim.

"We got away from our target customer," says Tom Wyatt, Old Navy president. "We spent most of 2008 getting our target consumer right. Then we (developed) product that we thought was appropriate for the target customer."

The target is a mom named "Jenny" who's 25 to 35 years old (Jennifer was a popular name for that age group). Jenny shops on a budget, but doesn't want her apparel or that of her family to be frumpy.

"They switched their focus to twentysomethings, and now, they are switching back to being a family store," says retail expert and analyst Jennifer Black, president of Jennifer Black & Associates. Black says that by keeping teen, tween and basics, Old Navy should still appeal to younger buyers.

Touting the switch is a multipronged marketing effort by the chain's new agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, no less campy than the 1990s Old Navy ads with Morgan Fairchild and Magic the Dog and former fashion editor Carrie Donovan, known for her big, black-rimmed glasses.

The agency that helped revive Burger King with the mute, slightly creepy, plastic-headed King and gave Volkswagen the talking Beetle Max has created for Old Navy the SuperModelquins — Old Navy mannequins who talk about their faux celebrity lives as Old Navy models.