Company News: Macy’s seeks celebrity power for ad campaign

Scenes featuring tycoon Donald Trump blow-drying his hair and domestic entrepreneur Martha Stewart constantly rearranging her products are part of a celebrity-studded advertising campaign that Macy’s Inc. hopes will help build its image as a national brand.

The Cincinnati-based retailer, which reported a 77 percent drop in its second-quarter earnings this month, continues to struggle to create a strong national brand and integrate the stores gained in its $11 billion acquisition of former competitor May Department Stores Co. in 2005.

The television campaign beginning next month will feature celebrities, such as Trump and Stewart, who sell their own branded products at Macy’s. They are seen in the ads primping their departments as if preparing for customers.

In addition to Trump and Stewart, other celebrities include singer and actress Jessica Simpson, designers Tommy Hilfiger and Kenneth Cole and music producer and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“This advertising campaign is really about showcasing all of these great celebrity name brands that fit under this one big roof,” Martine Reardon, executive vice president of corporate marketing for Macy’s, said Thursday.

Reardon said the commercials have a humorous, whimsical slant, focusing on each celebrity’s personality and public image.

Martha Stewart’s image as a perfectionist is captured in a scene where she can be seen folding and refolding her products, and Trump is seen in front of a mirror blow-drying his hair into his signature style.

“Ford Motor Co. has taken the wraps off a new subcompact concept car that likely will be the basis of a new small vehicle to be sold around the world.

The Verve concept, designed in Europe, competes in what the industry calls the “B-Car” segment of the market, one that is popular overseas but is smaller than most compact cars sold in the U.S.

Ford officials said that while the rounded Verve is still a concept, elements of it probably will be built into the next generation of subcompact for distribution worldwide.

“A federal appeals court on Thursday cleared the way for Whole Foods Market Inc. to buy rival organic grocer Wild Oats Markets Inc.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a request by the Federal Trade Commission to block the $565 million merger.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman refused to step in last week and block the deal.