With the rise in food truck popularity, it’s becoming increasingly more common for established businesses to jump on the bandwagon. Typically, though, those brands are food related (take the Carl’s Jr., Wienerschnitzel or Baskin Robbins trucks, for example).
However, The Gap, one of the largest retail clothing brands, is shaking things up with the debut of its food truck, Pico de Gap.
The Gap truck is serving Mexican cuisine at various events and Gap store locations in the brand’s hometown of San Francisco as well as other truck-heavy cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
The truck serves to stimulate buzz about Gap’s new 1969 Fall denim collection. Tacos will be available for just $1.69 for two, and feature coupons tucked into the wrappers. They’re also providing free tacos to anyone who shows a Gap receipt demonstrating the purchase of the Gap 1969 jeans!
Ryan Scott of Top Chef fame is handling the culinary responsibilities of the truck and has created an enticing selection of options.
This is the first time a major retailer has taken to the streets (literally) in this manner to spread the word, so it’ll be interesting to see how the campaign goes, and if other brands take on similar initiatives.
Would you dine at a truck like this for retail perks?
Brilliant! I bet we are going to see trucks popping up with all kinds of goods. I’d invest in one of those truck customization companies if I were going to be putting my money into this.
Very interesting, but I sort of was expecting that they’d be selling JEANS from the truck. Hmmmm.
Interesting idea, Lisa. Do you think you’d be more likely to buy jeans from the truck than the actual store?
Thanks for the comment, Denise! What other kinds of businesses do you think might branch out to trucks?
Love this post! Food trucks are the new “in” place to be.
Wow, never heard of this before! Interesting.
Interesting that they took the food truck approach for their marketing. I’m wondering who they got to make the food and what it’ll be like and also how effective it’ll be overall.
It looks like they got Ryan Scott of Top Chef to handle the food. The menu (linked above) seems pretty decent. It’ll be interesting to see how effective the strategy ends up being.
Oh duh, I saw that earlier. Nevermind me 😛
How about a kids clothing and toy truck that goes to Pre-Schools for all the busy Moms?
Maybe something like a Dream Dinners truck where people could make/buy a healthy dinner to take home for the evening?A Kite Truck that goes to all the piers?
I’d like a Farmer’s Market truck that comes to the office. Organic fruits and veggies.
Things that would add convenience and meet a need for fun or food.
That is very clever. I’m sure gap clothing giveaways will follow soon for first XX people that show up, tweet, etc. I think it’s a daring exploration of marketing and tapping into the foodies as possible fans and brand ambassadors.
Yeah, definitely. It’ll be interesting to see how this particular campaign compares to others they’ve done.
Gap is desperate to try to change their brand after they unsuccessfully changed their logo. I’m glad they are still willing to try new things and wish them well.
JMM
That’s a great point; hadn’t thought of that!