J.C. Penney wants consumers to reconsider what they think they know about the 123-year-old department store chain. To do so, the retailer is launching an ambitious multistep marketing campaign that will introduce a new brand positioning that seeks to surprise shoppers with what its loyal customers already knows about its range of offerings and value proposition.
Those core customers are outnumbered by consumers who have a variety of feelings about the brand, from warm childhood nostalgia to more neutral or negative opinions. The company also wants to capitalize on renewed interest in shopping malls among Gen Z. J.C. Penney’s challenge, as it builds on its $1 billion turnaround plan, is getting people to dispel any negative preconceived notions they have about the business and reach an epiphany about what J.C. Penney offers, from fashion for the whole family to an in-store salon and beyond.
Marisa Thalberg, who joined J.C. Penney in October as consulting CMO before becoming chief customer and marketing officer at newly formed parent company Catalyst Brands in January, describes these epiphanies as “huh!” moments.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever distilled an entire marketing strategy into a single utterance, but it came down to something so universal that when I was sharing with partners of ours from other parts of the world, they understand the language of ‘huh!’,” the executive said.
Amid a ‘sea of sameness’
As the first part of its marketing push, J.C. Penney this week went anonymous and let its fashion sensibility speak for itself. A series of out-of-home ads in high-traffic areas like Times Square depict stylish looks but without overt labels. Instead, they feature copy reading “It’s from where?” and QR codes that reveal the clothing is in fact from J.C. Penney, or in the words of the new brand position, “Yes, J.C. Penney.”
The “Anonymous Ads” concept, which was created in partnership with new creative agency Mischief and executed by recently appointed social agency of record VaynerMedia, Dentsu X and FleishmanHillard, helped J.C. Penney address what Thalberg calls a “sea of sameness” in retail.
“We’re not going to [use] the same old retail marketing playbook,” Thalberg said. “I wanted to be fresh, self aware and acknowledge that … it’s time for you to get in the know and stop sleeping on J.C. Penney.”
To build on “Anonymous Ads,” J.C. Penneywill begin airing new TV spots that continue the “Yes, J.C. Penney” conversation, showing what happens when consumers see on-trend goods at budget prices. In a 30-second commercial titled “Airplane,” a woman who purchased a “$250 runway-ready matching set in a bold print for $72” is not only buying the clothing, but also the envious, lingering look from a first-class passenger.
A similar slow-motion construct is used in 30-second spot “Ropa Vieja,” wherein a woman secures a “$300 chef-worthy Dutch oven in samba red for $60” along with silent approval from her boyfriend’s mother. The ads begin airing April 12 during moments like the NBA postseason and revolve around a “We’ve got the receipts” tagline.
“People think off-price [retail] is where the deals are… We’ve got the deals, and we’ve got the receipts to prove it,” Thalberg said of the spots. “That is really what this whole new campaign is meant to better articulate, and in a way that should make you feel smart versus talked down [to] … you want to feel smart for being savvy enough to know where to get something.”
Big deals, big laughs
To elevate the campaign from insight-driven creative to real consumer value, J.C. Penney will also bring back its “Really Big Deals” campaign for seven consecutive weeks this spring. “Really Big Deals” previously ran during Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” and helped J.C. Penney outperform traffic metrics during the second half, Thalberg said.
Rather than football games, this round of deals will appear during episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as part of what the retailer bills as a first-of-its-kind integration with the late night show. Beginning April 10, Kimmel sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez will reveal a new deal every Thursday for the campaign’s run. Kimmelot and the Kimmel team assisted on the effort.
“We gave them creative license, and of course, that takes both confidence and a little bravery, but … I think people need a little laugh right now,” Thalberg said of the Kimmel partnership.
Providing both value at the register and levity in pop culture moments could ingratiate J.C. Penney with consumers who are continuing to feel pressure from a chaotic economy and sociopolitical landscape. For Thalberg, as both head of consumer and marketing, honoring the retailer’s relationship with the customer is crucial.
“Some of these bigger macros are daunting, and I would be remiss if I didn’t call them anything but that, but at the same time… we have an opportunity here to really be who we are, which is to give people what they really want and need,” the executive explained. “This market is only going to exacerbate the need of that for consumers, so we’re going to stay very, very humble and very, very agile, but hopefully this is the right way to be telling our story right now.”