BDavid Fincher Brings Cryptic Storytelling to Gap's Fall Campaign

Through next week, we continue our countdown of the best work of the year in TV/Film, Print/Outdoor/Design and Interactive (IX)/Integrated/Social.

At #9 in TV and Film, Wieden + Kennedy, New York teamed with director David Fincher on its first brand campaign for the Gap, "Dress Normal," which featured cryptic, noirish spots that dropped viewers into the middle of a scene, challenging them to decipher the stories on their own.

Original Story:

Academy Award-nominated director David Fincher brings cryptic storytelling to the Gap's new fall campaign, the first work out of new global agency of record Wieden & Kennedy, New York. Repped out of Reset Content, the director of the upcoming "Gone Girl," "Fight Club," "Social Network" and "Girl With a Dragon Tattoo" was behind four new black and white ads featuring peculliar scenarios that drop viewers into the midst of a story, each centered on a confident young woman.

One ad opens with a man desperately running up a winding staircase, as a woman looks down on him from flights above. Another finds a lady in jeans and a tee dancing at night at a golfing range while a man practices his shots nearby. A third ad captures a couple in a deep lip lock -- yet the woman involved seems a bit distracted by her own reflection, while a final ad focuses on a mysteriously drenched woman who strips off her wet clothes in a car, as her friends look on nonchalantly.

According to Gap Global CMO Seth Farbman, the brief behind the films centered on "Positive anxiety. . .We wanted to make it more challenging than what people think of as a Gap commercial. Rather than a beginning, a middle and end of the story, we wanted to tell part of the story and leave a sense of wonder."

Wieden & Kennedy Creative Director Stuart Jennings said the brand platform of "Dress Normal" boils down to giving "permission to dress how we're most comfortable, but we wanted to make sure we presented it in an elevated way. But it's not about being ironic and 'normcore.' It's still about being considered and styish."

The new films follow the release of celebrity-filled print ads featuring actors like Anjelica Huston, Elisabeth Moss, Michael K. Williams, Jena Malone and Zosia Mamet. Shot by Glen Luchford, they capture the stars in what appear to be normal situations, but photographed in a cinematic way.

Read the full story behind the campaign on Adage.com.