N.Y. Celebrities Help Promote Bloomingdale’s
Bloomingdale’s, the store that sells everything, has decided to push one product that it has never peddled before: Bloomingdale’s.
The 17-store chain, best known for its flagship New York store, will kick off its first-ever corporate advertising campaign next month.
The campaign will feature key New York figures--including Mayor Edward Koch, Isaac Stern, Martha Graham and Jimmy Breslin--all of whom will be touting New York. None of the figures, however, will specifically endorse Bloomingdale’s as a place to shop.
Officials at Federated Department Stores of Cincinnati, which owns Bloomingdale’s, would not reveal the cost of the campaign. But they are ecstatic over landing such luminaries as New York’s mayor to help promote the 120-year-old Bloomie’s.
For Bloomingdale’s--which posted sales of $955.2 million last year--the unusual campaign is an attempt to continue to clearly differentiate itself from competitors such as Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. Indeed, retail analysts say, until very recently, it was highly unusual for a retail giant to spend millions selling its name--and not its merchandise.
“We’re not the easiest place to shop, and we may not give the best service,” said Gordon Cooke, executive vice president of sales promotion. “But we are a symbol of New York just as these individuals are. It’s time to bring a human element into a New York institution.”
The brains behind the unusual bid is Fallon McElligott, a Minneapolis agency considered by some to be among the most creative in the business. “We wanted to create a fresh image for Bloomingdale’s that transcends day-to-day advertising,” said Nelle Meese, account supervisor at Fallon McElligott. “And it was a chance to capitalize on the Bloomingdale’s mystique.”
At least one major competitor, however, thinks that the latest campaign may be more mistake than mystique.
“The reason customers come to a store is because they believe they’ll find the things they want to buy there,” said Paul Leblang, senior vice president of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue. “I don’t think they go there because the mayor of New York shops there.”
Fact is, New York Mayor Koch is only an occasional Bloomie’s shopper, said Leland Jones, Koch’s press aide. “If he were holding up a blender that would be different,” Jones said.
Not all of New York’s biggest names, however, will smile for the Bloomingdale’s camera.
Opera star Beverly Sills, who signed for a Bloomingdale’s spot, backed down at the last moment. She had a nagging conflict--she sits on the board at Macy’s.
Jacoby Sees Idea Drought in Ads
Robert E. Jacoby hears too many songs and dances.
Jacoby isn’t a Broadway casting agent. He is chairman and chief executive of one of the country’s largest advertising agencies, Ted Bates Worldwide Inc. of New York, and chairman of the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies Inc. (AAAA).
The outspoken ad executive said he is growing weary of McDonald’s sending golden agers to the Golden Arches to do the bump between bites of their Big Macs.
And he wonders why users of the fabric softener Bounce erupt into tribal frenzy when they plop the stuff into their wash.
Jacoby thinks that many of today’s ads are a symptom of an advertising industry problem that is reaching near-crisis proportions--an innovation drought.
“A lot of these songs and dances may just be weak substitutes for good ideas,” Jacoby said in an interview following an address to delegates from the 700-agency-member AAAA, whose Western Region members met in Lake Tahoe last week. “Clients are starting to get pissed off with all this life style stuff,” he said.
In fact, he said, because there is so little innovation coming out of ad agencies today, it is the clients--not the agencies--that are beginning to dictate ad standards.
“Who can name one U.S. campaign in the last five years that has done for a brand what the (20-year-old) white tornado did for Ajax?” he posed.
To help bring back innovation, Jacoby has proposed the ad industry’s first-ever in-depth self-examination. The purpose of the $1-million study would be to find out what ads work--and what don’t.
Above all, Jacoby hopes, the results may force advertisers to stop singing and dancing--and to start being innovative again. “We may very well find out that some of today’s current ad campaigns aren’t worth a dime.”
Wendy’s Will Debut a New Slogan
Under wraps at Wendy’s International Inc. is a massive new ad campaign for its big-price ($2.75) “Big Classic” burger. Don’t expect to hear legendary Clara Peller ask “Where’s the Beef” when the campaign premieres on Monday, but do expect a brand-new slogan from a fresh, off-the-wall Wendy’s character.
Dodge Ad Features Pop-Up Truck
Unsuspecting Time magazine readers got a snoot-full of the San Francisco skyline two weeks ago, when an unusual “pop-up” ad from Transamerica Corp. popped out of the magazine’s pages. Now, Chrysler Corp. plans to pop its new midsize truck, the Dodge Dakota, from the pages of this week’s Sports Illustrated.
Pirelli Tire Ads Sell Posters, Too
Talk about an ad that sells itself--Pirelli Tires, the Italian-based tire maker, has established a veritable dues-paying fan club for posters of tire ads that it has placed in car buff magazines. One recent ad, which featured Pirelli tires on a Lamborghini, sold 3,000 posters at $9.95 a pop. And its newest ad, a 944 Porsche Turbo with a fluorescent yellow tire, is expected to set a new track record--in poster sales.
‘Sports CDs’ Lure Accounts to Banks
Most professional football fans will remember the marketing gimmick that one Chicago-area savings and loan introduced last year.
With the Chicago Bears headed towards the Super Bowl, Skokie Federal Savings decided to jump on the Bears bandwagon and sold certificates of deposit with higher interest rates tied to Bears victories. Within 10 days of the offer, the S&L; took in $3.8 million in new deposits.
Skokie Federal spent $6,000 in radio spots to advertise the campaign--compared to an estimated $200,000 that a typical S&L; would expect to spend to attract that much new money, according to Kevin Tynan, a marketing consultant for the bank. As a result, a dozen other financial institutions have recently offered similar so-called sports CDs tied not only to professional football, baseball and basketball teams--but also college teams.
“The banks can’t lose either way,” said Frank Diekmann, managing editor of Bank Advertising News, a North Palm Beach, Fla.-based trade publication. “They pick up so much free advertising, they win even if the home team wins.”
To date, no California banks have caught on to the craze, said Diekmann. But other financial institutions--in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Louisville, Ky., and Clemson, S.C.--have built CDs around local teams over the past six months.
Now, one Texas S&L; is pulling an end run. Texas Heritage Savings of Rowlett plans to peg the rates of its newest CD to the winnings of the local high school football team--the Rockwall High School Yellow Jackets.
“Most of our depositors take football very seriously,” said Joseph L. Williams, president of the year-old institution with assets of just $12 million. Williams said he expects more than $1 million in new deposits as a direct result of the marketing ploy. “The truth is,” Williams said, “depositors enjoy intrigue in their CDs.”
