Written by: Allison Greenberg, Account Supervisor
I am definitely an early bird when it comes to holiday shopping. Those that know me will not be the least bit surprised to hear I already have a spreadsheet drafted with what everyone is getting. My big struggle every year, other than what to get for the parents that have everything, is what to send to the out-of-town family that won’t cost me more to ship than it does for the gift itself and yet is still personal.
J.C. Penney introduced a new holiday promotion that might help shoppers with the same dilemma. J.C. Penney shoppers will receive a “Santa Tag” sticker with each purchase this holiday season. The tags contain individualized QR codes that can be scanned with any QR code reader to record a personalized voice message. The recipient of the gift scans the code to hear the recorded voice message when they open their gifts. This is definitely an interesting concept and appealing – in theory. But the question remains, will shoppers trade their favorite store for a cute idea? Will J.C. Penney be able to convert brand loyalty? They are clearly using their creative thinking caps on how to entice the younger generations to shop at J.C. Penney, but how will they continue the momentum after the holidays, or will they at all? I’d love to be a fly on the wall in their next marketing team meeting. They definitely get an A for effort on phase 1, but let’s see what Phase 2 of the marketing plan looks like. I suspect that we will be seeing a lot of other retailers offering their version of the “Santa Tag”. Maybe one will offer a “Hanukkah Harry Greeting”.
