So all you advertising-savvy readers. We’re now taking bets. How long do you think J.C. Penney — oh excuse us, JCP — will stick with this absurdity that is the department store chain’s new ad campaign from Brandadvisors/San Francisco. The shop is one of several now on the JCP agency roster.
We were flabbergasted when details about JCP’s new logo (a modernist monstrosity if ever there were one), the new company positioning and the first bits of a new ad campaign surfaced several weeks ago.
And we’re even more aghast now that the ads are rolling out in a big way — the newest ones fronted by comedian, talk show host and proud lesbian Ellen DeGeneres.
We have absolutely nothing against DeGeneres. In fact, we think she’s a funny, smart lady. But spokesperson for J.C. Penney? Not on your life.
Yes, we believe it’s a really bad idea that will end up backfiring in short order, thereby forcing the department store chain to rethink its advertising strategy yet again.
We say “yet again” because it really wasn’t that long ago when Penney’s dumped DDB/Chicago and abruptly switched to Saatchi & Saatchi/New York, because some of the chain’s top brass had fallen in love with Kevin Roberts’s slick, but hardly revolutionary theory on building brands, which the ad man cleverly branded “lovemarks.”
When DDB had the Penney’s account, the agency was producing competent, but far from groundbreaking or imaging-enhancing work for the company. But then again, at that time, Penney’s didn’t exactly fancy itself a hugely image-conscious company. And rightly so. For more than 100 years, it was focused on Middle America and all the sensible sensibilities attached to that part of the country.
Penney is a company for Middle America
That has always been the department store’s image. But Penney’s is going to try to change. With a new president who hails from Target and a CEO from Apple, JCP brass now apparently are committed to believing that with a little advertising magic and some superficial repositioning, Penney’s can somehow turn into another cool place for everybody. Just like Target. Or Apple.
But the JCP folk — bless their hearts — are forgetting one teensy weeny thing. Target was a lot more savvy and much more low-key about how it managed such a nearly impossible transformation via some remarkable marketing moves. As for Apple, the coolest of the cool, it is a high-tech company, not a department store for Middle America.
And let’s not forget that JCP’s latest strategy already follows one majorly botched attempt to transform the company.
When Penney’s hired Saatchi, a full-blown revamp of the JCP image seemed to be the goal then too. Because God knows, Saatchi came up with some truly weird work that the shop managed to sell to the clueless folks at Penney’s and make them believe it was cool.
The work wasn’t though. Just weird. But the Saatchi work became slightly less weird over time because, obviously, the really weird work wasn’t making Penney’s any cooler.
Oscar spots funny but message evokes questions
We’re sure the folks at Brandadvisors are glad for the opportunity to work on the JCP account for at least one reason. It gives the agency copywriters a golden opportunity to sharpen their comedic writing skills with DeGeneres now in the mix.
That, at least, was readily evident in what debuted on Sunday’s Academy Awards telecast. One spot had DeGeneres dreaming of what it must have been like to return an item to a store in ancient Rome if you didn’t have a sales receipt in hand.
DeGeneres was her funny, natural self, perfectly delivering some amusing bits — all to convey the message that at the new JCP customers can return any item any time without a receipt.
News of such a policy immediately made us wonder what some people might try to return. “Return any item. Any time” says the broad ad copy. We went on to wonder just how long the chain could stick with this kind of policy if they mean to stay in business.
But that’s not our problem. It will be a JCP operations issue. A major one.
Another new spot that aired Sunday suggested JCP has pricing that is always low, not only during those annoying pre-dawn special sale events. That may be nice (if true). But appallingly, the new TV spot dared to equate DeGeneres with Lucille Ball. She may have her talents, but DeGeneres is not in the same league with the incomparable Ball.
Doubt DeGeneres will resonate with customers
Putting aside the content in these new commercials, there’s also the matter of whether DeGeneres is really going to resonate with the middle American moms who are JCP’s core shoppers. She may be female, but DeGeneres seems a far better fit with a hip, urban target audience that is most assuredly not what JCP is all about.
Eventually, we have no doubt, JCP will come to realize this, unless, that is, some total transformation of what JCP has always been about is in the works. In the meantime a lot of money is being wasted, with much of it landing in the smiley-faced DeGeneres’s pocket. She, no doubt, will continue laughing all the way to the bank.
J.C. Penney, on the other hand, along with whichever of its agencies are still standing at end of this misguided marketing mission, will be left to figure out why it all went wrong and where an iconic American store brand goes next for help.
Watch JCP’s new spots here.
Contact Lewis Lazare at LewisL3@aol.com
