Kmart hopes Spike Lee ads do the right thing
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
By Gretchen Ertl, AP
Filmmaker Spike Lee.
Attention Spike Lee: Kmart is hoping you can help save it from retail ruin.
The struggling retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just one month ago, will launch a most unlikely, $40 million ad campaign directed by the outspoken, urban filmmaker during Sunday's Olympic closing ceremonies on NBC.
The initial ads are not about low price. They're not about having stuff in stock. They don't even mention Martha Stewart. Instead, the ads focus on cozy family imagery that is comical — if not endearing. Think of thirtysomething meets Cosby. Goodbye, "Blue Light Special." Hello, "The stuff of life."
Make that, the stuff of Kmart's survival. The company is hanging by a thread. Wal-Mart and Target are stealing away customers. A bankruptcy court must approve its every move. Early next month, Kmart will announce how many stores it plans to close, expected to be about 500 of its 2,114 stores. Kmart has 240,000 employees nationwide. Many will lose their jobs.
"This is a big responsibility," says Lee, whose feature film credits include Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X. "But I would be crazy to put so much pressure on myself that I'd think if I mess up, they're out."
Then, again, that could be true. The day Lee's production company, 40 Acres and a Mule, began to film the ads was the day that newspapers had banner headlines on Kmart's bankruptcy filing.
"That was a strange day on the set," Lee recalls. "I knew they were in trouble, but I didn't know it was that bad."
Spike Lee's new Kmart ads aim for warm and fuzzy feelings.
They filmed anyway. The result is a series of ads by TBWA/Chiat/Day New York that tries to reposition Kmart as a family icon that's always been there and, despite possible perceptions, isn't about to disappear. One ad shows a sleepy-eyed dad and his young, pajama-clad kids asking, "Sleep past 7? What is that?" Another ad features a frustrated, African-American mother asking, "Is there such a thing as laundry elbow?"
Kmart began talking to shoppers 18 months ago. It discovered that while Wal-Mart stood for value and Target represented hip fashions, Kmart wasn't clearly connecting on either front.
"We realized there was a great opportunity to make an emotional bond" with the 30 million people who shop at Kmart weekly, says Steve Feuling, Kmart's marketing chief.
Analysts are unimpressed. "To get the Kmart customer back, you've got to jolt them," says retail analyst Howard Davidowitz. "Kmart has been screwing up for 20 years. Who is going to believe this stuff?"
What's more, the soft, upbeat ads may only serve to anger — or confuse — folks who have heard so much negative news about Kmart in the media recently, says Katharine Paine, a brand image consultant. "People may wonder: Wait a minute, Kmart is in bankruptcy. Why are they trying to pretend that everything's fine?"
Lee, who has previously directed popular ads for Nike and Levi's, says he isn't worried. "This will be one for the textbooks," Lee says. "They'll be studying it at the Wharton School of business."
And Lee says he's a big Kmart fan. When he attends New York Knicks games, he'll often stop at the nearby Kmart to buy supplies for his kids so they can get autographs from the ballplayers. Manhattan has two Kmart stores.
"There's nothing wrong with Kmart," he says. "I feel no shame going in there."
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K-Mart and Spike Lee
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