{"id":3049,"date":"2019-11-01T08:24:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T12:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=3049"},"modified":"2019-10-29T10:54:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T14:54:43","slug":"blue-jean-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2019\/11\/01\/blue-jean-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jean Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"woman<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When Jamie (Kohn) Gersch \u201998 arrives to start her workday at Old Navy\u2019s San Francisco headquarters, upbeat music is playing, customer reviews run across a ticker in the caf\u00e9, and the office itself gives off an \u201coptimistic, playful\u201d vibe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gersch \u201cstarted at the very bottom\u201d at Gap Inc. nearly 20 years ago, working on in-store and window displays. Now she\u2019s here: senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Old Navy. Named to Forbes\u2019 CMO Next 50 list in 2018, she has worked on such iconic marketing campaigns as Hi, Fashion; Run to Old Navy; and, recently, Size Yes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSize Yes is the idea that regardless of your size or shape, you should be super confident and proud,\u201d Gersch says of the campaign. \u201cWe offer products that fit every single American.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocacy is important to the company, she adds. Last year for International Women\u2019s Day, Gersch\u2019s team \u201cflower empowered\u201d six of New York City\u2019s female statues by adorning them with floral arrangements, and they partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of America for its ONward campaign, which promotes leadership and workforce training. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her proudest accomplishment, Gersch says, has been the 25th anniversary campaign this past July 4. \u201cWe built a campaign around celebrating the values that both Old Navy and America were founded on \u2014 belonging and inclusivity,\u201d she says. \u201cWe created a purple Fourth of July to promote the idea of red, white, and blue coming together to make purple as a symbol of belonging for all.\u201d The company turned its logo purple for the holiday, released a limited-edition collection of purple flag tees, and turned the outside of its Times Square flagship store purple to encourage belonging. \u201cIt was a proud moment to use our voice to make a statement for good in America today,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gersch is in charge of \u201ceverything that drives an emotional connection with customers and making them believe that Old Navy is a place for them and their family to shop.\u201d On a day-to-day basis, that entails overseeing a 150-person marketing team as it takes an idea from concept to completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s marketing strategy seems to be working. At a time when other retailers are struggling, Old Navy has continued to experience sales growth during Gersch\u2019s tenure and is branching off from Gap Inc. to become its own company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CMO, who comes from \u201ca big Colgate family\u201d \u2014 her husband, sister, and two brothers-in-law are also alumni \u2014 credits her sociology<\/a> major with preparing her for her 20-year marketing career.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI studied people and people\u2019s behaviors, and I\u2019ve translated that into being interested in customer behavior and customer changes,\u201d says Gersch. \u201cThat\u2019s the bridge to connecting with our customers through experiences and marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamie (Kohn) Gersch \u201998 has run several iconic marketing campaigns in her time at Old Navy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1221,"featured_media":3051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[328],"coauthors":[498],"class_list":["post-3049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-careers"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-Nb","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/JamieGersch-20170329-select_bxw.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3049"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3082,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions\/3082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3049"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}