New WB deal opens door to highly coveted demo

DSN Retailing Today, June 7, 2004 by Emily Scardino

TROY, MICH. -- In an integrated marketing partnership that Kmart chairman and ceo Julian Day terms "the first of its kind," the retailer is co-branding its back-to-school assortments with The WB Television Network. This is the most extensive cross-promotion between a chain and a network in history. Kmart will highlight five of its proprietary apparel brands in conjunction with five of The WB's series. The timing this fall marks both the first new clothing lines under these brands since the company hired a new apparel team, and the new season for the various shows. The WB has a faithful audience of teens, tweens and young adults that consider it the ultimate in cool--the same demographics that Kmart hopes to convince to shop.

"This campaign will help us in our No. 1 goal: to drive profitable sales," said Paul Guyardo, svp and cmo at Kmart. "We are extremely excited about the style and quality in our back-to-school assortment and wanted to highlight that--it is a whole new Kmart."

The comprehensive national advertising and marketing campaign will involve more than a dozen celebrities from The WB lineup. The print campaign will run in magazines including "Vogue," "Teen People," "Lucky" and "Maxim." In-store appearances by WB actors across the country are intended to draw consumer to stores in droves. Likewise, a jointly sponsored national sweepstakes at all Kmart stores, "Look the Part, Get the Part," should make headlines. Participants can submit photographs of themselves wearing apparel from the any of the brands featured in the fall campaign to win a trip to Hollywood and a walk-on role on a WB series.

A "disproportionate" amount of television advertising dollars for the campaign, which will run between July 25, 2004, and Sept. 16, 2004, have been allocated to running spots on network channels other than The WB, to "give us more exposure, and give The WB a way to give their actors more exposure," added Guyardo.

Each apparel brand will be marketed in conjunction with the television show that most closely mirrors its personality. Additionally, each brand will be featured on its respective show in on-screen product placement. Each of the five brands will be featured in its own 30-second back-to-school commercial, featuring actors from the WB.

Trendy Thalia misses merchandise, which will newly be extended to all Kmart stores this fall based on its success, will be featured on 'One Tree Hill,' "where the women have a sexier look in keeping with this line," said Guyardo. What he calls the "male equivalent" to Thalia, Gear 7, will also be featured on this series.

Meanwhile, Kmart's men's and women's fashion basics line, Route 66, will be featured on two of the network's biggest hits: "7th Heaven" and "Reba."

Joe Boxer, which helped Kmart emerge from bankruptcy, will be associated with a new WB series, "Blue Collar TV," launching this August. Another new series that launched this month, "Summerland," will tie into Kmart's men's and women's athletic line Athletech.

All of the aforementioned labels all proprietary; it is "not just a key strategy for us in apparel, but a storewide goal to make Kmart a destination for exclusive brands," said John Goodman, evp and chief apparel officer.

"We are building up our brands, avoiding duplication, retaining our focus on quality and Lisa Schultz [evp, apparel] has put an amazing design team together; our new marketing strategy will help us drive home our message of quality, value and style going forward," said Goodman.