San Francisco-based clothing retailer The Gap has appointed a
director of European PR, a post which has been vacant for two years.
Anita Borzyszkowska joins in September from consumer PR agency Shilland
and Co, where she is a group account director and has day-to-day
management responsibility for the agency’s account with Levi
Strauss.
The Gap post has been vacant since October 1997 when Kelly Walsh left to
become a founding partner of Renegade, a PR and advertising
consultancy.
Borzyszkowska, who will be based in London, will manage Gap’s PR
agencies, Pietri in France and Schroder and Schombs in Berlin. She will
report to Rachel Di Carlo, global PR vice-president for the Gap
brand.
Di Carlo explained the two- year wait to replace Walsh, saying that she
initiated a review of the brand’s European PR needs after joining the
company over a year ago.
The retailer is preparing to crank up its promotional activity in the
UK. This week Gap announced the acquisition of a four-floor prime retail
site in London’s Oxford Street from retailer C&A. The company plans to
open its largest store in the UK on the site late next year. Gap has 110
UK stores and in the next few years it plans to open 40 more in the UK
and 60 more internationally. It also intends to bring its Old Navy brand
to the UK.
The Gap began an advertising offensive in May last year, when it
advertised its khakis on television for the first time. A new TV
campaign launched on 1 April this year, with dancers dressed in new
khaki styles and musical backing in tune with the new clothing ranges -
Khaki A Go-Go, Khaki Soul, and Khaki Country.
- Shilland and Co has recruited Lisa Broomhead, UK youth communications
manager at Adidas. She will join the agency as an account director, and
will work on the Levi Strauss account.
