Gap on Monday debuted its holiday marketing campaign centered around love and kindness. “All Together Now” stars musician Katy Perry and continues to build on the retail brand’s philosophy of “modern American optimism,” first introduced in September 2020.

A 60-second hero spot depicts Perry going through her morning — sporting Gap’s classic hoodie — and shooting a music video for her cover of The Beatles’ 1967 track “All You Need is Love.” Premiering when Perry hosted “The Ellen Show” yesterday, the new ad will soon air on TV and streaming, with shorter cuts on digital and social channels. Gap will donate $1 for every stream of Perry’s new full-length cover on Spotify, up to $100,000, to nonprofit Baby2Baby.

The campaign also includes out-of-home media, gift guides and shoppable experiences through social, livestream and augmented reality. A product partnership with Disney complements “All Together Now” with a new logo hoodie featuring Mickey Mouse in honor of World Kindness Day, Nov. 13.

Building on previous efforts tied to themes of love, kindness and unity, Gap’s new campaign is the latest work underpinning the retail brand’s year-old philosophy of “modern American optimism.” This time, it is doing so by spotlighting Perry as a cultural icon and change maker, according to Chief Marketing Officer Mary Alderete.

This isn’t Gap’s first time imbuing its marketing with music. For 2020’s holiday campaign, the brand set its anthem spot to Karen O’s cover of “Dream Baby Dream.” Prior to that, its fall 2020 “Stand United” effort featured intentionally music-forward ads calling for a more equitable future.

“Continuing with that musical narrative keeps reinforcing that idea of be your authentic self [and] be kind to each other,” Alderete said. “It continues to help build the generational legacy of togetherness, kindness, love and health.”

Like last year, Gap kicks off the holiday season in October, creating an on-ramp for the key shopping period that has extended this year due to pandemic-related supply chain issues.

“All Together Now” arrives just one month after Gap premiered a fall campaign that profiled an array of independent creators. The effort centered on themes of individuality and inclusivity and continued to amplify the broader platform of promoting optimism. The new holiday push sees Gap continuing to lead its marketing with brand values that have steadily seeped into its campaigns over the past year within the broader platform of “modern American optimism.”

“Consistency comes from the narrative, and creativity comes from the way we put it out there,” Alderete said.

Purpose-led marketing and creative partnerships have helped to improve the health and relevance of the brand, CEO of parent company Gap Inc. Sonia Syngal said on a May earnings call. The retailer at that point attributed its sales growth to recent marketing investments and “macro tailwinds” related to the economy’s recovery from the pandemic. Gap in August reported second-quarter sales up 29% from 2020’s comparable period — reaching the highest Q2 sales in over a decade — and up 5% compared to Q2 2019.

By Natalie Koltun for Retail Dive