Old Navy partners with Pharrell Williams for BTS campaign

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Jul 19, 2017

Old Navy's back-to-school campaign features inspirational songs written by teachers and eight music videos produced by Pharrell Williams' creative group I am Other.

Eight teachers were selected to be included in the media project. The teachers wrote and performed their own songs including a rap song called "Welcome Back to School" and Broadway-themed show tune called "Sing Out". To complete Old Navy's marketing loop, wardrobe styling for the videos was provided by Old Navy's back to school collection.

The eight videos are compiled into an album called Onward, which is the same name as the fall campaign. Darius Scott, a finalist from Pharrell Williams' team on The Voice, helped record and served as a lead producer for I am Other.

The title track, Onward, was composed by a Boys & Girls Club teacher who used kids in his program as the backup dancers in his video. Another highlight is a folk rock piece called "Be Myself" written by a middle school orchestra director in Seattle and performed by three of her students.

Old Navy is also sponsoring fundraising during back to school season for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Canada. The retailer has set a $1 million dollar goal and has pledged to match customer donations up to $350,000 between July 27 to August 7.

The Onward videos are available on Old Navy's YouTube page. The songs are available on Apple Music and Spotify.