Have you seen the new commercials for Macy’s? I just saw one featuring Usher, selling his perfume, and Martha Stewart. Martha is talking about how much time she spent in research and development. Usher says he worked on two products and asks her how many products she did. She answers 2000 or so. He shakes his head and says, when do you sleep girl? Cute, funny. Take on the whole Martha Stewart quest for perfection. My question is, does this make people go to Macy’s? Is it image advertising? Am I supposed to think Macy’s is perfect? Or is it that Macy’s is funny? Or that Macy’s attracts top names like Usher and Martha Stewart? Actually the tag line for the campaign is something like “where the stars are.” Their logo is a star. I am starting to get it.
Macy’s is one of the biggest newspaper and television advertisers. But how are their sales doing? Is their advertising working? Well according to a story in the Wall Street Journal, as of March 2008, Macy’s will no longer release their monthly sales figures. Today, the Washington Post reports that discount retailers have seen sales go up while traditional stores have had sales go down, as a result of general belt-tightening in the U.S. economy. Begs the question…
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
I cracked up when I saw this commercial. Not because I thought it was so funny in itself (It’s fine, but I prefer the one with Tim Gunn), but because it seemed to adhere so closely to Hillary Clinton’s campaign message. Younger, charismatic black man is one-upped by an older, more experienced white woman.
To be clear, I’m not endorsing that campaign message, and I don’t think Macy’s is shilling for Clinton. I just think it’s funny, and I wonder if anyone else had my reaction. Or do I need to calm down and step away from the political blogs for a little while?
Michael-Interesting take! I hadn’t seen it that way, but maybe more than an Obama-Clinton thing, it is a societal thing? Maybe?
A societal thing? I wouldn’t doubt it, but I’m not sure I understand completely. Would you expand on that?
By societal I meant that there may be some roles played by older white women vis-a-vis younger black men, and that these may be getting more in step. In this particular instance, Usher is just as big a star as Martha Stewart for Macy’s, but Martha is like you said, a step ahead. That may be true across society, but these younger black men are getting there.
Gotcha.