J.C. Penney’s Christmas Advertising: Time Can Be the Gift that Keeps On Giving
According to an interview with Mike Boylson, CMO of J.C. Penney in today’s WSJ, J.C. Penney sees the value of marketing in both the offline and online worlds. But do they also understand how customers value their limited shopping time in both worlds?
On the one hand, the retailer gets it. J.C. Penney understands that not every one of their customers wants to spend hours trawling thru the store’s various departments, picking out a gift, and waiting in line to purchase. Their special gift sitelet (www.jpcgifts.com) is perfectly targeted to these Impatient shoppers with recommended gifts (based on recipient, price point, and category) cleanly conveyed. To boot, they also have an eye-catching countdown as to how many shipping days (vs. shopping days) are left until Christmas.
On the other hand, they don’t get it. Their heartfelt TV ads convey the intersection of time and product - the perfect gift at the perfect moment. What about the joy the gift giver can experience from saving time shopping whether in line or online? Would it be over-the-top to include an ad in their Christmas rotation (perhaps to be shown during sports programs which probably attract a good number of Impatient shoppers) which communicates that perfect moments can result during the gift-giving as well as the gift-shopping? The perfect gift might just be the resulting gift of time spent with loved ones.
Here’s a link to the WSJ interview: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119682377174414049.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
