The Sears Holdings Corporation, which has been struggling to woo shoppers to its Sears and Kmart stores, is enlisting help in the form of two additional advertising agencies.
Sears Holdings said on Tuesday that it would hire McGarryBowen, part of the Dentsu Network West unit of Dentsu, as the lead strategic and creative agency for the Sears brand.
That assignment had been handled since 1993 by the Chicago office of Y&R, which will continue to handle other tasks for Sears that include the creation of campaigns for Sears product brands like Craftsman tools, DieHard automotive supplies and Kenmore appliances.
Y&R may also work on projects for Sears.
Also, Sears Holdings is hiring Peterson Milla Hooks in Minneapolis, also known as PMH, to create campaigns for Kmart’s apparel and home lines.
That assignment had been handled by DraftFCB in Chicago, which will remain the lead strategic and creative agency for the Kmart brand.
The Sears and Kmart retail chains have been suffering from declines in same-store sales — stores open more than a year, which is an important measure of retail health. Those declines have persisted even after sales for many other retailers have recovered after the recession.
In the first quarter, Sears Holdings reported last week, same-store sales for the Sears chain domestically fell 5.2 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago.
And same-store sales at Kmart stores fell 1.6 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
Sears Holdings executives have a policy of only discussing quarterly results when quarterly earnings are announced, a spokeswoman said. So in a telephone interview on Tuesday, David Friedman, president of marketing at Sears Holdings in Hoffman Estates, Ill., declined to discuss the results at the two chains.
More generally, he said, “We felt it was an appropriate time to bring another agency into the mix.”
In the case of Sears, “we have found in our research in talking to our customers a great deal of latent equity in the Sears brand,” Mr. Friedman said.
“We were looking to move to an additional agency with a goal to find an idea that would tap into that equity and build the brand long-term.”
Asked if Y&R was unable to do that, he replied the idea was to seek an agency that would “tackle the problem perhaps in a slightly different way.”
McGarryBowen did “a great job getting down to the core characteristics of our target customers,” Mr. Friedman said, not only in terms of demographics but also “emotionally.”
Sears is “looking to be more appealing to a younger customer,” he added, as well as its traditional older female shopper.
Mr. Friedman also praised “the thoroughness” of the proposals from McGarryBowen that went “beyond traditional TV advertising” into realms like “in-store and our associates,” meaning employees.
As part of the Sears brand assignment, Mr. Friedman said, McGarryBowen will also create campaigns for Sears’s private-label products, bearing brand names like Covington, as well as new merchandise that is being sold in collaboration with the British retailer French Connection U.K. and the celebrity Kim Kardashian.
Y&R, part of the Young & Rubicam Brands unit of WPP, has handled the Sears account on its own since August 2005, when it added the product brand assignments from another WPP agency, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.
Ogilvy had worked on the Sears brand for 43 years when it was dismissed.
The loss of the Sears brand work is another setback for Y&R, which has recently lost many large accounts like MetLife in the United States, Hilton Hotels and 7Up, the latter to McGarryBowen.
Although during that time Y&R also gained assignments from companies like Goldman Sachs, the account departures were seen as a contributing factor to a change at the top of the agency in February.
At that time, Hamish McLennan relinquished his post as chief executive of Y&R to David Sable, vice chairman and chief operating officer of another Young & Rubicam Brands agency, Wunderman.
The addition of the Sears brand work to its account list is another plus for McGarryBowen, which has a headquarters in New York and an office in Chicago.
McGarryBowen has also recently gained assignments from marketers like Kraft Foods and Verizon Communications. The agency is also a finalist in a review for the creative account of the Burger King fast-food chain.
Sears Holdings conducted reviews for both the Sears and Kmart assignments, using the same consultant, Select Resources International, for both.
For the Sears brand review, there were three finalists. The others, in addition to McGarryBowen, were Fallon Worldwide in Minneapolis, part of the Publicis Groupe, and Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston, which like DraftFCB is owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies.
The Sears Holdings spokeswoman said that she needed to find who else in addition to Peterson Milla Hooks was a finalist in the review for the Kmart apparel and home assignment.
Peterson Milla Hooks has in the past worked for another retail chain, Target. It will be the first time that Sears Holdings is working with the agency, Mr. Friedman said.
There is an intent to have ads from McGarryBowen and Peterson Milla Hooks be introduced for the Christmas shopping season, he added.
The Sears brand spent an estimated $365 million on advertising last year and the Kmart brand spent an estimated $125 million.
It was not possible to ascertain what spending would go forward with campaigns from McGarryBowen and Peterson Milla Hooks and what spending would go forward with campaigns from Y&R and DraftFCB.
Sears Holdings said on Tuesday that it would hire McGarryBowen, part of the Dentsu Network West unit of Dentsu, as the lead strategic and creative agency for the Sears brand.
That assignment had been handled since 1993 by the Chicago office of Y&R, which will continue to handle other tasks for Sears that include the creation of campaigns for Sears product brands like Craftsman tools, DieHard automotive supplies and Kenmore appliances.
Y&R may also work on projects for Sears.
Also, Sears Holdings is hiring Peterson Milla Hooks in Minneapolis, also known as PMH, to create campaigns for Kmart’s apparel and home lines.
That assignment had been handled by DraftFCB in Chicago, which will remain the lead strategic and creative agency for the Kmart brand.
The Sears and Kmart retail chains have been suffering from declines in same-store sales — stores open more than a year, which is an important measure of retail health. Those declines have persisted even after sales for many other retailers have recovered after the recession.
In the first quarter, Sears Holdings reported last week, same-store sales for the Sears chain domestically fell 5.2 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago.
And same-store sales at Kmart stores fell 1.6 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
Sears Holdings executives have a policy of only discussing quarterly results when quarterly earnings are announced, a spokeswoman said. So in a telephone interview on Tuesday, David Friedman, president of marketing at Sears Holdings in Hoffman Estates, Ill., declined to discuss the results at the two chains.
More generally, he said, “We felt it was an appropriate time to bring another agency into the mix.”
In the case of Sears, “we have found in our research in talking to our customers a great deal of latent equity in the Sears brand,” Mr. Friedman said.
“We were looking to move to an additional agency with a goal to find an idea that would tap into that equity and build the brand long-term.”
Asked if Y&R was unable to do that, he replied the idea was to seek an agency that would “tackle the problem perhaps in a slightly different way.”
McGarryBowen did “a great job getting down to the core characteristics of our target customers,” Mr. Friedman said, not only in terms of demographics but also “emotionally.”
Sears is “looking to be more appealing to a younger customer,” he added, as well as its traditional older female shopper.
Mr. Friedman also praised “the thoroughness” of the proposals from McGarryBowen that went “beyond traditional TV advertising” into realms like “in-store and our associates,” meaning employees.
As part of the Sears brand assignment, Mr. Friedman said, McGarryBowen will also create campaigns for Sears’s private-label products, bearing brand names like Covington, as well as new merchandise that is being sold in collaboration with the British retailer French Connection U.K. and the celebrity Kim Kardashian.
Ogilvy had worked on the Sears brand for 43 years when it was dismissed.
The loss of the Sears brand work is another setback for Y&R, which has recently lost many large accounts like MetLife in the United States, Hilton Hotels and 7Up, the latter to McGarryBowen.
Although during that time Y&R also gained assignments from companies like Goldman Sachs, the account departures were seen as a contributing factor to a change at the top of the agency in February.
At that time, Hamish McLennan relinquished his post as chief executive of Y&R to David Sable, vice chairman and chief operating officer of another Young & Rubicam Brands agency, Wunderman.
The addition of the Sears brand work to its account list is another plus for McGarryBowen, which has a headquarters in New York and an office in Chicago.
McGarryBowen has also recently gained assignments from marketers like Kraft Foods and Verizon Communications. The agency is also a finalist in a review for the creative account of the Burger King fast-food chain.
Sears Holdings conducted reviews for both the Sears and Kmart assignments, using the same consultant, Select Resources International, for both.
For the Sears brand review, there were three finalists. The others, in addition to McGarryBowen, were Fallon Worldwide in Minneapolis, part of the Publicis Groupe, and Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston, which like DraftFCB is owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies.
The Sears Holdings spokeswoman said that she needed to find who else in addition to Peterson Milla Hooks was a finalist in the review for the Kmart apparel and home assignment.
Peterson Milla Hooks has in the past worked for another retail chain, Target. It will be the first time that Sears Holdings is working with the agency, Mr. Friedman said.
There is an intent to have ads from McGarryBowen and Peterson Milla Hooks be introduced for the Christmas shopping season, he added.
The Sears brand spent an estimated $365 million on advertising last year and the Kmart brand spent an estimated $125 million.
It was not possible to ascertain what spending would go forward with campaigns from McGarryBowen and Peterson Milla Hooks and what spending would go forward with campaigns from Y&R and DraftFCB.
