DALLAS — J.C. Penney Co., advertising trailblazer?
At first glance, the moderate department store giant might seem an unlikely candidate to push the boundaries of advertising-vs.-content — in a hipster forum, no less. But that’s the plan for a new “real-time” concept the retailer will launch during the live broadcast of the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday.
Here’s how it works: Real-time feeds from the awards show will be shown on small screens that are integrated into two Penney’s ads that feature back-to-school merchandise.
The ads, created by DDB in Chicago, begin at the live VMA ceremonies and then pan onto a television screen in a young man’s bedroom. The pretaped ads then weave into and out of the bedrooms of different teens via interactive devices such as iPods, a poster or a tattoo. The final spot ends with all of the featured teens on a New York rooftop watching a movie screen with the live feed of the VMA awards. The VMA presentation then continues.
“There is a seamless transition from the live show directly into the commercial and vice versa and that is very unique,” Cary Potterfield, executive producer of the J.C. Penney ads for the VMAs, told WWD.
And Penney’s is up front about breaking down the old church-state wall between art and commerce. “We are looking to blur the edges between advertising and show content,” conceded Michael Cape, vice president of brand marketing for the Plano, Tex.-based retailer. “By making the viewers feel more integrated into our advertisements we are able to achieve a deeper emotional connection with our key audience. These live ads are one way that J.C. Penney continues to break through to consumers in a meaningful way.”
Penney’s key shopper in this case means consumers ages 12 to 34, as the awards show is historically the number-one rated cable program for that age group. It is part of chairman and chief executive officer Myron E. “Mike” Ullman 3rd’s drive to make the 1,021-unit chain the dominant midtier department store destination. Penney’s already has the largest junior and young men’s business in the country and was voted the top department store destination for teens in a recent survey by Teenage Research Unlimited.
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The live ads are the latest marketing outreach from Penney’s, which has included retail sponsorship of the Academy Awards, a pop-up store in Times Square last March and the current back-to-school campaign with online content on MTV Web sites linked from the J.C. Penney brand experience site, jcpenneybts.com, along with a VMA “Insider” contest.
Two winners were chosen in the contest and will receive a trip to the VMA awards, including appearing on MTV, where they will report on parties, rehearsals and red-carpet arrivals and have a video diary of their experience posted on MTV Overdrive.
Penney’s will also feature highlights of the MTV “Insider” contest during the red carpet preshow. The company is the exclusive retail partner of the MTV VMAs.
“The ongoing J.C. Penney and MTV partnership is a co-branded effort to authentically reach youth,” said Tim Rosta, MTV’s senior vice president of integrated marketing. “By pulling out all the stops this year with an online, on-air, radio, on the ground and in-store campaign, J.C. Penney’s approach is a perfect fit to reach our audience, who experiences entertainment on multiple platforms.”
Penney’s will also showcase fall fashion spots during the MTV program, which begins at 8 p.m. at Radio City Music Hall in New York with Jack Black as the host.