Quick takeaways:

  • Gap Inc. announced plans to modernize its shared marketing organization using artificial intelligence,according to a press release. The company's brand portfolio includes its namesake Gap, along with Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta.
  • The company will leverage its existing partnership with Google Cloud to build a unified data foundation and has enlisted Zeta Global to build an AI-driven marketing technology stack. Additionally, Gap will collaborate with Publicis Sapient to better connect marketing with consumer behavior.
  • The initiative initially focuses on Gap Inc.'s owned marketing channels, using AI to deliver personalized experiences at scale, improve customer engagement, and accelerate campaign delivery across key channels.

Deep dive:

Gap's latest AI announcement comes amid a wave of AI partnership news in the marketing world over recent months and into the early days of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. What sets the retailer's plan apart is its detailed explanation of how such collaborations will help transform its marketing organization into a scalable, real-time growth engine.

"This transformation is about combining our team's creativity with the power of AI—breaking down silos, unlocking better data, and building a marketing model that can learn, adapt, and improve from every customer interaction," said Damon Berger, senior vice president of marketing shared services at Gap Inc., in the press release. "We're using AI to free up more time for our teams to focus on strategy, storytelling, and the work that builds lasting brand love."

The idea that AI will help marketers focus on core functions like strategy and creativity aligns with the positioning AI vendors are communicating to an industry that iswaryof AI encroaching further on their responsibilities and jobs. Gap has long been praised for the creativity of its marketing campaigns, especially for its namesake brand, which have drivenrelevance and sales gains。

. Central to the transformation is Gap Inc.'s partnership with Google Cloud, whichbegan in 2025. The retailer will rely on the tech giant to integrate customer and product intelligence for personalization, decision-making, and continuous learning across content, campaigns, and e-commerce. Gap will also use tools such as Agent Studio, Agent Engine, and Gemini models to support AI workflows, and leverage Nano Banana and Veo models to generate image and video content at scale, respectively.

Gap has selected Zeta Global to help transform its owned marketing channels, adopting the company's Athena by Zeta intelligence layer. Athena connects data, decisions, and execution, and features agentic capabilities that integrate strategy, creative development, campaign activation, and optimization.

Additionally, Gap will work with Publicis Sapient to make its marketing more connected, measurable, and responsive to consumer behavior, supporting transformation across talent, processes, technology, data, and partner ecosystems to drive performance and support growth.

Gap Inc. reported itsninth consecutive quarterof positive comparable sales in the first quarter of 2026, with strong performance from its namesake brand offsetting smaller gains at Old Navy and Banana Republic, while Athleta declined 11%. President and CEO Richard Dickson listed technology as one of the company's investment priorities.

"We are a brand-led, intelligence-driven fashion company. Brands create demand through the execution of revitalization plans, while intelligence, powered by data and AI, enables our teams to make decisions that drive greater consistency and efficiency," the executive said on the earnings call.