
Following years of declining sales and hours after its parent company, Catalyst Brands, announced plans to cut 9% of its corporate workforce, JCPenney is staging a comeback, and it’s (literally) got the receipts.
The ailing department store has unveiled a multi-pronged brand revival campaign leaning into the “disbelief” that the brand stocks on-trend outfits at low prices.
After showing consumers its Spring collection, JCPenney found 83% of those invited to view it were “surprised” to see fashionable outfits from the brand. “We can no longer gatekeep at a time when people so badly want more for less,” it said in a statement.
And so, “Yes, JCPenney!” — based on the phrase customers utter when someone expresses disbelief at their outfit’s source — was born.
The comeback campaign was developed by newly appointed creative agency of record (AOR) Mischief @ No Fixed Address, under recently enlisted Catalyst brands chief customer and marketing officer Marisa Thalberg.
It features unbranded billboards, unexpected TV ads that will premiere during the NBA playoffs and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and the return of “Really Big Deals,” an ongoing promotion offering discounts.
The strategy behind the revival is simple: to revive sales, which have been falling annually since 2016, and reaffirm JCPenney as a destination for budget-conscious trendsetters.
“We have really loyal customers, and we want to embrace [them], but this campaign strategy is about opening up consideration for more people who aren’t thinking about JCPenney as a destination for them,” Thalberg, told ADWEEK.
Getting shoppers through the door
The exec said that the brand’s core shoppers are working, middle-class American families, but with “Yes, JCPenney!” she is hoping to attract more people across “socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural lines.”
“It’s all predicated on first, getting people in the door,” said Thalberg.
One way it hopes to do so is through a brandless out-of-home (OOH) push.
This week, the department store chain has been rolling out nameless billboards across NYT’s Times Square and in Brookfield malls nationwide. The posters showcase models wearing its clothes, but there’s no indication of where they came from. A QR code printed on the ads links to the JCPenney site.
