IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Kmart

  • Kmart Goes Back to School

    “What up y’all, it’s dem kids again” is the intro to the newest Kmart back to school commercial. The commercial, which is in the form of a music video, is being called racist by it’s viewers and is causing a stir among consumers.  The ad features a young hip hop group called “Da Rich Kidzz” who rap about the newest back to school trends.  Kmart’s attempt to appeal to the popularity of today’s hip hop culture has actually done the opposite of what their marketing strategy intended to do.

    The design of the commercial targeted a small demographic, causing their brand image to be misconstrued.  With the majority of the children in the video mimicking stereotypical rap video dancing and using incorrect grammar, it is easy to see how the message of the commercial could be misinterpreted.  Although it is safe to assume Kmart did not intentionally create the advertisement to bring negative light upon themselves, they are now faced with rebranding and reevaluating their marketing strategy.

    With all of the current back to school advertisements out at this time of year, it makes us wonder why Kmart chose to go this route with this campaign. With lyrics containing slang and grammatical errors such as “dem” and “can’t no one pass,” Kmart made the attempt to draw in the youth who listen to hip hop. Instead of making themselves stand out in a youthful way among the traditional back to school commercials, they further narrowed their consumer base.

    According to an article on Business Insider, Kmart’s brand has been suffering for the past six years.  After viewing the advertisement, would you be inclined to shop at Kmart for back to school items? Could this be Kmart’s last attempt to gain back a significant customer base? Seeing as how they have not made a public statement in response to the racial backlash, it will be interesting to see whether or not this campaign will pay off for Kmart.  To have a successful marketing campaign strategy, a business must always be able to recognize who their publics are.  They must also know that by alienating a certain demographic they have to expect that there will be positive and negative effects.

    When all is said and done, Kmart was successful in being memorable.  However, will their sales, in turn, reflect in a positive way?

    -Aaron Love, Kara Zimmerman, Rachel Clay, Rebecca Hobbs

  • Ad it all up

    The anticipation of the 2011 TV line up is almost complete as we
    are wrapping up the first week of an intense premiere season. Coming soon we
    will view the Nielson rating which will say which show came out on top with the
    most viewers and what networks picked the best shows to debut. However, there is
    more to just ratings from a show that make it popular, there are strategies
    weaved into placing certain advertisement’s along with the viewers of those
    shows.

    When watching the recent Emmy award-dominating force, Modern
    Family, on Wednesday
    evening    ,  did you notice that actress Sofia Vergara, who plays the role
    of gorgeous Gloria Pritchett, debuted her new clothing line at K-Mart for the “
    You are Woman, So dress like a Woman line”? Maybe the nostalgic 60
    second Pepsi commercial caught your attention while watching the hit show X
    Factor on Fox which took the audience on a journey through the
    past. The commercial starts off as a new performer about to enter
    the stage but before he goes on he picks up a can of Pepsi, takes a swig, then
    stares at the logo it then evokes emotion from the new performer and, it
    sends him into a tumbling daydream full of Pepsi’s pop stars past commercials,
    such as the late Michael Jackson, Ray Charles and Mariah Carey to name a few,
    then you are left to a blurred vision of this man about to enter the stage and
    become his own start like those who drank Pepsi its first big brand spot touting
    its connection to the program.

    Is it a coincidence for both of these commercials to premiere
    simultaneously with these shows? You would be silly to consider such a
    thing. Thematically, the spot placement of each advertisement is
    seamless. Pepsi really is wondering who will become the next, since they have
    promised the winner of The X Factor a starring role in a Super Bowl commercial
    this winter.  Sofia Vergara knew she had the “mom” and “working
    women” audience during the Modern Family season premiere; ABC and Sofia knew
    those mom’s and working women were those who helped nominate her for the 4
    Emmy’s this year. It was a perfect fit for one of the highly anticipated comedy
    shows to integrate Sofia’s personal achievements.

    The Nielsen rating suggests that consumers are watching TV more
    than ever before, which makes what they are watching an integral and essential
    part of a marketing campaigning for brands. This is there one opportunity this
    fall season to make impact on those targeted viewers to entice them to purchase
    a can of Pepsi over Coke, or that leopard Mini skirt at K-Mart over the
    over-priced department stores. These are ad placement strategies, brands and
    networks have merged together to get more bang for your buck.

    – Jordan Hill, Ashley Nelson, Michela Noreski