Marketing

In a move aimed at protecting profit margins and luring back its bargain-conscious customers, J.C. Penney has resumed a strategy of increasing prices on its own brands and then discounting them. Reuters reported that the retailer began changing price tags earlier this month.  

Victoria's Secret's growing Pink line is aimed at a younger audience than the main Victoria's Secret brand. Over the past several years, the brand has expanded Pink a lot, so the line is now sold in dedicated Pink stores and showcased in a special segment of the annual nationally broadcast Victoria's Secret fashion show. Business Insider reported earlier this month that a Limited Brands executive confirmed the "Bright Young Things" line was for even younger girls than the main Pink line, which targets college students.

When was the last time American Eagle Outfitters did something kind of cool with their ads? Answer: We're blanking. But it looks like the retailer's higher-ups decided to hire an ad agency that's in touch with kids these days: Welcome, America's favorite mall staple, to the ironic viral video method. In the psuedo-commercial, you'll find good looking teens saying stock quotes about individuality in the name of really, really tight (spray on) jeans. The tagline? "Lookin' tight," which is pretty hilarious.

With America ready to start its annual rain-gutter cleaning and shrub-pruning spree, Ace Hardware is going back to its roots with a new marketing campaign, resurrecting a 15-year-old jingle and a tone that is just a tad more neighborly. Ace - a retailer-owned hardware cooperative that has long positioned itself as the more helpful alternative to rivals Lowe's and Home Depot -- is introducing "Meet the Aces," which replaces the two-year-old "Take back your weekend" campaign.

You think deciding what to wear is hard? About a third of online shoppers don't know which brands are available and where to shop for clothes online. When we took a closer look at their online behavior and search habits, we uncovered a

Kohl's, which is now without a chief marketer, plans to make major changes to its marketing strategy in the coming year to reach a broader base of customers. Kohl's CEO Kevin Mansell explained during the company's most recent earnings call that through its efforts to improve efficiency, marketing came under scrutiny — but the retailer isn't slashing ad spending. It does plan to shift its spending, significantly increasing TV and digital investment, while focusing on targeting moms, particularly in the 35- to 54-year-old age group.

Aquent, a global staffing organization dedicated to marketing, creative and digital professionals, yesterday announced the results of its study, Planning for Mobile Marketing Success Through Smart Staffing, commissioned with Forrester Research. The study found that demonstrating the return on investment of mobile marketing is the top concern of marketers planning to grow marketing programs. In addition, marketers indicated a struggle with accurately staffing for mobile campaigns. In fact, few organizations have a full-time employee dedicated to driving mobile marketing initiatives.

Target is dangling JT and some swimsuits to get its sexy back. Sunday night's Grammy Awards wasn't just the return of Justin Timberlake. The buzz from the "SexyBack" singer also rubbed off on Target, which rolled out a commercial during the awards touting an exclusive version of JT's first album in six years, "The 20/20 Experience." The retailer also will announce Tuesday that it's teaming with Sports Illustrated to present six pages of ads in this year's swimsuit issue. Target also launched an exclusive spring design collection from Prabal Gurung over the weekend.

Profit is no longer solely defined by products, services, warranties or credit card interest gains. Today, profit pools are inclusive to downloads of apps, widgets, movies, music, games, etc. Digitalization, miniaturization, cloud access and wireless mobility are driving dramatic and dynamic change in profit opportunities. Intensive predatory competition is also leading to dangerous commoditization of our consumer electronics market place, pressurizing margins, destroying slow moving products, morphing market dreams into painful market risk. The entire CE industry stands at a technology crossroads. 

I've been an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of Penney's "no sale" strategy for almost a year now, sticking with the brand even as its marketing fell on deaf ears with consumers and investors. The stock was up last month and its website was reportedly a favorite visit during the holidays, but there's every reason to expect it will report dismal fourth quarter results (expertly obfuscated with stats on eyeballs, awareness and whatever). I now believe the company is doomed. We should stop holding our collective breath waiting for success, and start looking for lessons to learn from its failure.