The Sound of Color from the Gap

Earlier this month, the Gap launched The Sound of Color. For the effort, they invited up-and-coming musicians Dntel, Swizz Beatz, Raveonettes, the Blakes and Marié Digby to write songs inspired by colors of the spectrum, and then gave those songs to five directors to create music videos. The music and videos are available for viewing and download at the Sound of Color site. The site also includes interviews with the band and "making of" videos for each song. The campaign will run for a month and include ads on music websites. After 30 days, the artists will retain the rights to the songs for future use.

The result is five excellent songs and videos that I will be adding to my iPod. The Sound of Color is a fresh and modern approach from a brand that has recently been ailing in both areas. By empowering artists to create their own vision, then allowing them ownership, Gap is increasing its creative and urban appeal in a way that its recent marketing has not.

However, it seems like Gap missed the opportunity to add a social media element to an already appealing project. Free downloads is a great way to spread the word on this, but I was surprised not to see a MySpace presence, Last.fm partnership or Pandora channel. As AdRants points out, Gap's in-store display, although a great translation of the idea, looks lonely without an event around it. Music lovers want to talk about music, but it takes more than banner ads to get them talking.

Gap Goes Viral for Coordinated Campaign (billboard.com)