Penney marketing chief steps down as ads disappoint

Reuter ^ | Jun 19, 2012 | Phil Wahba

[WilliamIII]

J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) said on Monday that Michael Francis, a key member of the "dream team" the retailer assembled to carry out its transformation of everything from pricing to merchandising, was leaving the company, just months after he was lured from Target Corp (TGT.N).

The move, announced in a brief statement, comes weeks after the department store operator said it had a worse-than-expected 18.9 percent drop in same-store sales for the first quarter as it tried to wean consumers off of coupons and frequent discounts as it adopted everyday prices.

Francis, 49, was president and responsible for marketing and merchandising.

Chief Executive Ron Johnson, who took the reins in November after coming from Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said last month that the retailer's advertisements had not clearly explained to shoppers the shift in its pricing strategy, a lynchpin to its turnaround efforts.

Two weeks ago, Johnson announced at an investor conference that Penney was bringing back the word "sale" in its advertising.

Macquarie Research analyst Liz Dunn, who spoke with the company after the announcement, said Penney wanted to pursue a different approach to marketing.

[petitfour]

Maybe they should drop the CEO. Whose idea was it to drop the sales and to add homosexual activism? Dumb dumb dumb

[Gator113]

This all seems so queer.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Yes, and they misspelled the name of that spokeswoman. I believe her name is Ellen d’Generate.

[kevcol]

said last month that the retailer's advertisements had not clearly explained to shoppers

I have an idea for a way to clearly explin things to your shoppers:

[Secret Agent Man]

Pro-homo advertising focus isn’t working. Marketing to the 1-2% didn’t work so well, imagine that!?! Whoda thunk it?

Also helps to have sales. People like to believe they are getting a deal.

[Belle22]

I don’t think this is about “sales” ads. http://theweek.com/article/slideshow/228739/fathers-day-jc-penneys-gay-dads-ad

[Revolting cat!]

Penney’s has lightened itself up of Francis!

[WilliamIII]

Is it true they’ve been selling loafers like hotcakes? And men’s earrings? Couldn’t keep em stocked?

[Grams A]

Interesting spin they put on all of this. They stepped in it big time with Ellen D and the two mothers and two fathers issue. Will be interesting to see how they get out of it. A lack of racks marked “Sale” isn’t going to do it.

[tumblindice]

"the retailer's advertisements had not clearly explained to shoppers" I suppose that's not as bad as Obama's excuse: that Americans were simply too stupid to understand the genius of his strategies, though eventually he softened it to something similar. I guess the average Penney's shopper doesn't wear $600 sneakers like the Worst Lady or walk an ocelot on a leash back to her Mercedes after enjoying a $3.00 slice at Pizza Roma next door. "Penney wanted to pursue a different approach to marketing" How about offering "values": good quality at fair prices. Let's see 42 million @ year divided by 2 minutes. how much is that?

[lurk]

So gay doesn’t sell?

Who knew?

[taxesareforever]

Boycotting J.C.Penney because of its homosexual agenda is the reason for sales losses. Face the facts J.C.Penney before your store goes into bankruptcy.

[Iron Munro]

There is a great misunderstanding about the real percentage of queers in the population.

They are highly vocal and many seem to be well placed in influential positions in the press, business and government.
So they get a lot of favorable press, headlines and government attention that creates the impression they are a large minority.

But there are far fewer than most people are led to believe.

It looks like JCP fell for the scam.

[Belle22]

Agree - plus they sell junk. No one I know feels the need to go in there for any reason.

[Yogafist]

I was talking to my 77 year old father, and somehow we got on the issue of buying clothes. He told me he had started shopping at Penney’s. I pointed out their recent advertising glorifying homosexuality, and he replied, “Hmm, well I won’t go back there.”

[The KG9 Kid]

I did some project work for Clad and Gifting Grace, two J.C. Penney brands that were intended to appeal to upscale types in a web marketing presence.

J.C. Penney really thought they had made a hit with their gay-friendly advertising and the Internet buzz it generated on liberal sites. They bet the farm on a whole corporate rebranding based on marketing to all the liberals who gave them kudos and swore they were going to shop there because of their GLBTGATAGABTA friendliness.

Now look. All I can say is that they were a very obtuse client to work with. Delusional.

[shibumi]

The ironic thing about this mega marketing failure is the fact that if the company had stuck to the original plans that made the store great back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s they would not be in a pickle today.

Penney’s back then was noted for its dress code and strict substance abuse policy. They also translated the Christian lifestyle of the founder, James Cash Penney into real customer service, fair deals and customer satisfaction.

I had dealings with them representing a supplier to Penney’s back in the late 70s and even then they still had a definable corporate culture on a par with IBM. (No surprise there as Penney and Watson were close friends.)

Another corporate victim of the seduction into cultural rot.

[outofsalt]

When they go down they’ll leave a big open hole at the back end of our mall.

[kearnyirish2]

“But there are far fewer than most people are led to believe.”

More importantly, notwithstanding those that buy Asian children, they don’t breed; they will never need to buy anything for children, and that is a huge market.