Should Sears and K-mart just fade away?
Or....
Can they reinvent themselves?
As a teenager in the 1970's my parents always bought Kenmore Appliances, with the service contract, and Craftsman tools, guaranteed forever from Sears. I also remember the Sears Wishbook Christmas catalog that kids would use to make up their Christmas Lists.
K-mart, which is co-owned with Sears, was the place that you'd go for cheap stuff. They have also been struggling with an image problem for years, once Target reinvented themselves as a hip place to shop.
Here's the latest on Sears:
| Sears To Teens: This Is Not Your Parents' Department Store | |
| by Karl Greenberg, Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008 5:00 AM ET | |
 Sears is hoping to convince tweens and teens that it is not their parents' department store. The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer is launching an interactive "back to school" marketing campaign, "Don't Just Go Back. Arrive," involving some 13 Web sites and custom animation, virtual worlds and social networking. The Web campaign aims to drive consumers to Sears' online "Arrive Lounge." The site features a five-part video in which "High School Musical" star Vanessa Hudgens struggles to find the right style for the first day of school. Site visitors can vote for the male cast member who will star with Hudgens in the final episode of the series. An associated sweepstakes dangles a Vanessa Hudgens concert at the winner's school, private jet and limo rides to arrive at school in style and a jet shopping trip to Hollywood. There is also a music mixing tool that allows site visitors to create music videos and post them to YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. Sears will also have product placement in MTV's romantic comedy feature film "The American Mall." Sears will include VIP Access Cards in its loyalty program, which dangles entry into various sweepstakes and notification of exclusive sales at Sears and Sears.com. The Web sites included in the effort are Alloy.com, Disney and Nickelodeon, which will have Sears messaging that directs consumers back to the ArriveLounge, per the company. Web partners that are offering various virtual versions of Sears stores and boutiques with back-to-school themes are Zwinky.com with a Sears virtual store; a Sears boutique at Meez.com; Sears Back-To-School branded experiences at GoFish.com; a Sears back to school section on Nick.com; custom games for Sears on Addicting.com. Other teen-centric sites in which Sears will promote the real by using the virtual include FunBrain.com, Poptropica.com, NeoPets.com; Facebook; MySpace. Seventeen and CosmoGIRL! magazines are doing print and online promotions with Sears back-to-school content. "Expanding our marketing strategy into the online world of user communities and social networking is a critical means of developing engagement and brand loyalty within the youth demographic," says Richard Gerstein, Sears' SVP and chief marketing officer, in a release. "By modifying our strategy to reach tweens in their own environment, we are demonstrating to them how Sears can be a part of their life, from their entertainment to their school wardrobe."
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