To kick off the Back-to-School season, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. will launch an integrated marketing campaign on July 18 showing teens how they can "get that look" with an array of exciting new Juniors and Young Men's lifestyle brands that deliver style and quality at a smart price. Featuring Decree, Fabulosity, Le Tigre, American Living and Whitetag, as well as other exciting new lifestyle brands available only at JCPenney, the campaign includes everything from ads to online games and text messaging to engage teens in bringing their own sense of style to life.
"With teens emerging as today's key influencers of purchase decisions made by their family, we've devoted enormous attention to building on our leadership position as the number one department store destination for this key audience," said Ken Hicks, president and chief merchandising officer for JCPenney. "We've done this by ensuring we have the most exceptional array of exclusive offerings that allow teens to express their style and individuality, and with the quality and smart pricing that their parents appreciate."
With a theme of The Breakfast Club - one of pop culture's ultimate teen movies that is currently experiencing a resurgence among today's youth - this year's Back-to-School campaign will highlight the array of lifestyle brands available at JCPenney. Created with Saatchi & Saatchi New York, the campaign features both traditional and non-traditional media components.
"By incorporating The Breakfast Club theme into our Back-to-School campaign, we're able to bring our lifestyle brands to life in a way that resonates with both teens and their parents," said Mike Boylson, chief marketing officer for JCPenney. "With teens and parents closer today than ever before, we recognize the importance of delivering a marketing campaign that's relevant to today's teens, yet approachable to Mom."
Directed by renowned artist David LaChappelle, the ads feature a remix of Simple Minds' song "Don't You Forget About Me" from The Breakfast Club soundtrack. Drawing from the movie's storyline, the ads focus on a group of teens, each representing a different high school clique and wearing JCPenney's latest Juniors and Young Men's brands to showcase the variety of lifestyle "looks" available exclusively at JCPenney. Juniors lifestyle brands featured in the television ads include Decree, Fabulosity, Le Tigre, and C7P...A Chip and Pepper Production, while Young Men's lifestyle brands featured in the ads include The Original Arizona Jean Company, American Living, South Pole, and Whitetag.
Beginning July 18, a 60-second version of the ads will air during previews for PG and PG-13 movies in cinemas across the country and will be available on JCPenney's Back-to-School sitelet, www.jcp.com/getthatlook. On July 20, the 30-second spots will begin airing during top prime time and cable television programming aimed at teens.
Additionally, www.jcp.com/getthatlookwill be a place for teens to connect with others, create their own content and explore JCPenney's fashion offerings. It will feature an interactive "pick your own adventure" game that allows site users to choose from one of the teen lifestyle characters - a Decree teen, an American Living teen, a Whitetag teen or a Fabulosity teen - featured in the commercials. Users can choose different outfits for their characters to determine their storyline, which leads to additional online lifestyle-related games such as paper football for the American Living teen or Pac-Man for the Fabulosity teen. Furthermore, all the outfits worn by the characters can be added to a locker, which serves as a shopping cart linking to www.jcp.comwhere site users can purchase the items to "get that look." Users can also opt to sign-up to receive text messages to their mobile phones that will feature fashion ideas and highlight upcoming sales and special offers at JCPenney.
JCPenney will also incorporate popular, youth-targeted award shows into its Back-to-School campaign. The ads will be featured as part of JCPenney's exclusive retail sponsorships with the largest Hispanic music awards show in the U.S., Premio Juventud, airing live on Univision on Thursday, July 17 at 8 p.m. ET; and the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, airing live on FOX on Monday, Aug. 4 at 8 p.m. ET., in which JCPenney is offering two teens a chance to win an exclusive role as an official trophy presenter by winning a "create your own music video" contest on www.rockyourlook.com.
Along with must-have Back-to-School fashions, JCPenney is also launching Dorm Life, a comprehensive modern lifestyle brand for today's design-savvy young adults. Available in-store, online at jcp.com and via catalog, Dorm Life spans multiple home categories, offering style and quality at smart prices with a collection of coordinated items that can be mixed and matched to create a unique personal decorating style.
For more information on JCPenny products/services, visit www.jcpenney.com.
