Sears has an image problem.
March 20th, 2008, 12:20 pm · 4 Comments · posted by Sam Mittelsteadt
No, a self-loathing problem.
Chances are you got this “Reimagine You” supplement tacked onto one of your magazines this month – it came with everything from Cosmo to Popular Mechanics. And inside, the magalog steadfastly 
refuses to associate itself with Sears – the very company that put it out.
Let’s put our cards on the table: This is a giant Sears tie-in. That “O at Home media room” spread? Filled with Ty Pennington furniture. The Redbook spread of ladies sharing cosmos and appetizers? All wearing Apostrophe. The “love list” of must-haves? Kenmore and other Sears exclusives.
And yet, there are no references to Sears on any of those pages — not even in the product descriptions, where usually it’s helpful to tell readers where to pick up the items featured. Only a reference to reimagineyourself.com.
Sure, there are full-on ads, which conveniently tie into the “reimagine yourselves as … (suburban legends, the alpha neighbor, the green Samaritan)” theme, but even those use the Sears logo only in a small, inch-long variety in the corner of a page.
To me, this says: “We’re embarrassed that we’re Sears.”
To put it another way: Nobody is going to go through the smoke and mirrors and emerge at the other end, delighted that it turns out they can buy these items at Sears. They’re going to say: “Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?”
And the people who already know … well, they’re going to see through the façade and think that Sears has tried to trick them into shopping there.
And if Sears doesn’t believe in itself enough to promote its brand– “hey, we’ve got some great stuff you probably haven’t noticed before!” – why would readers believe it’s worth spending their money there?
ammit
| WHAT SAM WORE: 3/20/08 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| The sweater: “Luxury blend” V-neck (Banana Republic) | ||||
| The shirt: V-neck T-shirt (Old Navy) | ||||
| The pants: Pinstriped sueded-cotton dress chinos by Banana Republic) | ||||
| The shoes: Snakeskin loafers by Taxto (Last Chance) | ||||
sammit
March 20th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Minus 100 cool points for not including a “softer side of Sears” reference.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Well, think about it. If you were a venerable retailer that had been taken over by a bunch of hedge funds and milked totally dry of every asset you ever had, including name value, what would you do?
March 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
The company was stolen by fast eddie lambert and he has no clue how to run retail. He has run off most of the good talent and cut most costs to the bone .
The managers are over worked and there quality is poor in most stores. .Very little money has gone in the stores.. Hey Eddie why dont you buy back some more of your junk stock.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
True — they probably don’t have a lot of goodwill to work with
But that supplement cost a lot to produce and distribute! It’s just too bad they didn’t sack up and brand themselves more strongly in it.
For God’s sake, they even have tools in there! Everyone knows you get your tools at Sears! (Or maybe that point was just beaten into my head because I grew up in Montana.)