New Sears ad campaign gets emotional
Sears, Roebuck and Co. is hoping a new marketing approach that focuses on making an emotional connection with shoppers will help turn around its beleaguered business.
The campaign, whose details were announced Monday, has the tag line: “Sears. Where it begins” and evokes the company’s heritage by using the visual image of a catalog in television ads, circulars, its in-store signage and on the Sears.com Web site.
The TV ad campaign was launched this past Sunday, while the Web site will bear the new message this coming Sunday. The company’s circulars won’t be revamped until the winter holiday season, though the circular’s front page now has the feel of a shopping book and is less cluttered, according to Gail Lavielle, a company spokeswoman.
The company decided to use the image of a catalog to recall Sears’ heritage while creating a more story-like presentation, according to Maureen McGuire, chief marketing officer of Sears Holdings Corp., which operates Sears, Roebuck and Co as a wholly owned subsidiary.
•Comcast Corp. is planning to roll out a jazzed-up mailbox for its high-speed Internet and digital phone customers that can play, log and forward voice mail messages.
Called SmartZone, the mailbox will show up as a highlighted window shaped like a TV remote control in the upper left-hand corner of Comcast.net.
There will be tabs for e-mail and voice mail, along with a TV planner where Comcast customers can view schedules for their favorite shows as well as search and browse programs. It’s Comcast’s version of TV Guide listings that can be customized.
•Starting today, Chrysler will begin an advertising campaign designed in part to change the perception that its vehicles are great looking but behind competitors in technology and quality.
The new spots, with the tag line of “Engineered Beautifully,” will debut on prime-time television shows starting tonight. The company also plans to carry the theme into print and Internet advertising.
“It’s not about quality per se; it’s about our products,” said David Rooney, director of Chrysler’s marketing and global communications. “It’s not about celebrities. It’s about the product being the star. Beneath the style, the exterior of the car, getting underneath that and educating people about the technologies in our products.”
Chrysler, he said, shows up in the top 10 brands in the J.D. Power and Associates initial quality rankings, yet 11 brands with lower quality rank above the brand in perceived quality.