JCPenney Partners With Kaboodle
Plano, Texas–based retailer JCPenney is partnering with social-shopping Web site Kaboodle for a Back-to-School promotion and contest.
The Back-to-School Central page on Kaboodle (www.kaboodle.com/teen) is targeted toward teens and allows users to create styleboards of looks and search for fashion finds.
Since its July 21 launch, the Back-to-School Central has brought 15,000 new members to Kaboodle’s already 550,000 registered users, according to Founder and Chief Executive Officer Manish Chandra.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.–based Web site typically draws a demographic of mostly women 20 years old and older. With Kaboodle’s Back-to-School promotion, the site tapped into a younger demographic. Chandra said he found a younger audience easily embraces new Web media. “Teens take on new tools very quickly and create all kinds of eclectic pieces,” Chandra said.
The Back-to-School Central page links to JCPenney’s Get That Look page (www.jcpbrands.com/getthatlook/) for juniors and teen Back-to-School fashions. “Internet marketing has been an important component to our marketing campaigns in recent years, particularly during the Back-to-School season, as our target customer is often online,” said Kate Parkhouse, public-relations manager for brands at JCPenney.
Users on Kaboodle create styleboards by selecting pieces and creating a complete outfit. Users customize looks by adding stickers and background images. Other users can rate published styleboards, and codes link styleboards to users’ MySpace pages, Facebook pages or blogs.
JCPenney’s Fall must-haves are featured when creating a styleboard. When users publish a styleboard featuring at least one product from JCPenney, they are entered in a sweepstakes to receive a $1,000 gift card.
Kaboodle, a division of Hearst Digital Media, is further integrating in the teen market by crossing the Back-to-School Central page with quizzes and editorial from Hearst’s teen magazines, Seventeen and CosmoGirl.
Next to the Holiday season, Back-to-School is one of the busiest shopping times of the year, according to Parkhouse. In a struggling U.S. economy, retailers are relying on heavy promotion and marketing campaigns to entice parents’ dollars. Many campaigns involve targeting young Web users.
Sears is partnering with several youth-oriented Web sites to promote its Back-to-School fashions. Sears launched e-Me with Meez (www.meez.com) and Virtual Model, with which users can create a virtual avatar outfitted in clothing exclusive to Sears, such as The Cheetah Girls line and Canyon River Blues line. Sears’ own Back-to-School Web site, Arrive Lounge (www.arrivelounge.com), features “High School Musical” star Vanessa Hudgens.
Kmart is inviting teens to create a video showcasing how Kmart works into their Back-to-School style and upload it onto the retailer’s YouTube page. A panel of judges will select the top 20 videos, and YouTube visitors can vote for their favorite. The winning video will be made into a national television commercial.
