Since picking up Kmart, it's been tears for Sears; Both brands endured holiday declines; analysts criticize lack of integration.(News)

Advertising Age, January, 2007 by Frazier, Mya

Byline: MYA FRAZIER

mfrazier@crain.com

When eddie lampert boldly set out to turn around Sears, Advertising Age said it would prove him a fearless visionary or a modern-day Icarus.

It looks like he flew too close to the sun.

The hedge-fund manager's strategy was to revive ailing retail chains Sears and Kmart by cross-marketing their respective brands. That has barely happened in the two years following the $11 billion merger, and while Sears Holdings is profitable, the gains have come at a heavy cost: underinvestment in stores, loss of marketing talent and uneven ad spending. In the first three months of 2006, Sears' measured-media spending slid to $262 million, down 13.5% from the same period in 2005, though Kmart's was up 15.4% in...

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