1. How did marketing contribute toward creating the successful Banana Republic brand?
2. Why do you believe storytelling about the brand and themed stores attracted customers?
3. Despite the differences in Gap-owned Banana Republic stores today, what are similarities the modern retailer shares with its initial stores?

Banana Republic was founded in 1978 by Mel and Patricia Ziegler as a safari- and travel-themed clothing company. Creating value and satisfying consumers followed several attempts to find the right target market. The idea came after the couple designed shirts and tried to sell them at a flea market. When the products did not sell, they altered their strategy, increasing the price and renaming the shirts Short-Armed Spanish Paratrooper shirts. The two found that creating a visual story for customers appealed more to them than an average product. This form of customer-driven marketing helped propel the brand to profitability through discovering the right market segment. Today’s Banana Republic does not look like it did when it was founded, but it often continues to incorporate “stories” that create the brand image to differentiate its products.