Fabiola Torres, former Nike, PepsiCo and Apple marketing executive, and diversity advocate, has become global chief marketing officer for the Gap division of Gap Inc., WWD has learned.
It’s a critical role as Gap pursues a revival under a new “playbook” developed by Gap Inc. president and chief executive officer Richard Dickson.
In an internal memo to employees, Mark Breitbard, president and CEO of the Gap brand, wrote that as global CMO, Torres “will bring our marketing, creative, visual merchandising, store experience and operations organizations together. As we focus on reinvigorating Gap for the future, bringing these teams under one leader will provide a more cohesive experience across all markets and channels for our customers.”
Essentially, Fabiola Torres, also known as Faby Torres, takes on a new role considering the scope of her responsibilities, overseeing several functions.
According to LinkedIn, Torres worked at PepsiCo for the last four years and most recently served as senior vice president and CMO of energy drinks and PepsiCo’s Hispanic business unit.
Before PepsiCo, Torres worked at Apple’s Beats by Dre brand for almost three years, last serving as vice president of global marketing. She’s considered a multicultural marketer.
Before Apple, Torres worked at Nike for 18 years where her last role was head of global sneaker culture. Earlier, she was Nike’s senior director of global marketing for Nike Retail, among other positions at the athletic footwear and apparel brand, including leading sneaker launches and new footwear concepts, and holding top-level jobs in Latin America.
Gap’s new playbook, as previously explained by Dickson, calls for “always championing original, trend-right products and ensuring they’re the season’s canvas for self-expression and linking the product story with popular culture to drive relevance and demand.” It’s about “creating at the speed of culture which is a high performance endeavor,” Dickson said.
The playbook also calls for “true influencer strategies to further drive relevance; connecting with customers in experiential ways across digital channels, online and in stores, and executing with higher standards.” Gap’s spring 2024 campaign spotlighted linen, music, dance and South African singing star Tyla, in an early yet consequential test for Dickson and his playbook for invigorating the brand.
“We are reigniting Gap,” Dickson claimed in an exclusive interview.
He said the spring campaign, themed “Linen Moves,” reflects what made Gap successful years ago and into a household brand name — creative, jaunty campaigns focused on distinctive products, storytelling driving cultural conversations, originality and self-expression, like “Individuals of Style” in 1989 utilizing Patrick Demarchelier and Annie Leibovitz to photograph celebrities such as Lenny Kravitz and Bob Dylan, and the 1993 “Who Wore Khakis” campaign with vintage photos of Ernest Hemingway, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí and other cultural icons.
While there have been some sparks of life depending on the season’s collection and campaign, Gap’s performance over the last two decades lost its edge. But as Dickson said, “Today we are really moving again and we are guided by a new playbook.”
“It was incredibly important to bring on a leader who can navigate transformation, build brands that shape culture and lead with purpose,” Breitbard said in his memo on Torres. “She’s served in leadership roles across some of the world’s leading consumer brands including Nike, Beats by Dre at Apple, and most recently with PepsiCo where she has relaunched and introduced brands to market like Mountain Dew Energy and Rockstar Focus, driving relevancy and excitement with customers. She’s a leader who deeply understands how to reach a globally diverse audience with relevance from defining the global strategic direction for the Culture of Sneakers at Nike and launching the first Nike Sneakers destination as a mobile app, to leading teams across North America, Mexico, Latin America, Europe and Asia throughout her 20-plus-year career in marketing.”
