Apple poaches senior Gap marketer
Apple has poached senior Gap marketer Marcela Aguilar as it prepares to launch its first wearable device, the Apple Watch.
Video: The Apple Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCluaJe3lb4?list=UUE_M8A5yxnLfW0KghEeajjw
Aguilar, who will become director of global marketing communications, according to a report in AdAge, brings with her considerable fashion and beauty marketing experience that Apple will be hoping to draw on as it looks to present the Watch as a product with mass-market appeal.
She joined Gap in 2011, first as its global senior director of content, before taking up the role of global senior director of marketing communications.
Aguilar was one of the leading figures behind Gap’s current “dress normal” marketing push – a strapline that will be used in all future campaigns as the brand looks to bring more consistency to its communications.
Her time at Gap coincided with a resurgence in sales through 2012 and 2013, but sales were down 5 per cent at stores open for more than a year in both the first and second quarters of this year.
Prior to joining Gap, she worked at ad agency BBDO New York for more than seven years, responsible for the global P&G beauty and grooming account.
A Gap spokeswoman confirmed Aguilar is leaving the company to join Apple. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
News of Aguilar joining Apple comes in the same week the company hired revered designer Marc Newson who is being employed to work on “special projects”. He will also continue to work on independent projects outside of Apple through his UK-based design studio.
Last month Apple hired Nike’s former global senior director of social media and community Musa Tariq as its digital marketing director.
