Everyone loves a good apology. And boy is JC Penney sorry for all of the branding / positioning changes they made…at least that’s what a recently released ad tells us.
JC Penney is the latest brand to hop aboard the reconciliation train, hoping the underdog undertones will resonate with today’s consumer. The commercial begs former customers to “come back to see us” – a desperate request that follows their financial downfall under a new CEO who tried to makeover the retailer a la Target. A soft-spoken voiceover plays over almost-cinematic visuals of “real” people living their lives with no real imagery of the store itself. The entire spot is dedicated to publicly acknowledging their mistakes as a company, offering an apology to its customers and letting them know that they want to be part of their lives again.
News followers know the brand has brought back their “old” CEO, but this ad doesn’t tell us how changes will be made. Other than seeing their hip “new” JCP initials logo in a box replaced by the brand’s traditional, written out “jcpenney” logo.
But are they really sorry? Just a few days after this highly publicized mea culpa, the ad (formerly at this link) has been taken down. Just in time for JC Penney to upload a new “Thank You” commercial. While we don’t want the brand to wallow in self-pity and we appreciate the “Thank You” message, taking away the commercial is almost like taking away the apology itself.
So for those who haven’t seen it or want to remember that JC Penney is sorry, here’s a link to the video of a news station playing the video.
~ Nicole Mazewski, Account Coordinator, The S3 Agency
[Editor’s Note: Oh, and by the way…JC Penney, you might want to update your YouTube channel to include your new old logo as well.]
