As the project was developing, U2 frontman Bono launched his (PRODUCT)RED brand—the aim of which is to raise awareness and funds to help eliminate AIDS in Africa—and Gap signed on immediately. Our work with Gap began to take on a new shape, and we shifted focus to integrate the book-in-progress with Gap’s (RED) product line.
Individuals: Portraits from the Gap Collection
Gap is famous for its advertisements featuring portraits of celebrity artists and performers by A-list photographers like Annie Leibovitz, Herb Ritts, and Michel Comte. In 2005, Trey Laird, then the creative director at Gap, came to us with the idea to memorialize this collection of iconic images. Gap wanted to celebrate a body of work more than two decades in the making that was filled with some of the most memorable images ever created of stars like Sarah Jessica Parker, Scarlett Johansson, Willie Nelson, Dizzy Gillespie, and Julianne Moore.
Introducing (PRODUCT)RED
A Book with a Cause
Individuals is a collection of hundreds of beautiful portraits—along with celebrity essays on individuality—that serves as a powerful record of Gap’s impact on the culture of our time. The book was bound with six different cloth covers, all coordinated with the color palette of the (RED) product line, with each edition featuring a different celebrity. It was also packaged with an exclusive CD containing songs used in or produced for Gap television commercials. Individuals was displayed with (PRODUCT)RED merchandise in sections of Gap stores designed specifically for the book, and went on to raise just over $200,000 for (PRODUCT)RED, serving as an invaluable addition to Gap’s (RED) campaign.
