Macy’s: Have Your Celebrity Friends For Dinner

It’s an embarrassment of riches when Macy’s does good. Martha, Tommy Hilfiger, Emeril, “The Donald”, Jessica Simpson, Usher, Queen Latifa, the list goes on and on. And on. For 45 seconds, including some strange camera work, and distracting inside jokes. Until finally … we learn that this is for charity.



Macy’s invites us to host a party, and somehow the proceeds will help Feeding America. (Score another coup for those guys – the charity du jour. And that’s all the French I know.)

The website is robust, and puts the star power to better use, making it more clear exactly how I can get involved. Oddly, the “big day” – Oct. 17 – is buried under Tommy Hilfiger’s section. That’s the day they’ve designated for their Shop For A Cause program.

But no matter many layers they’ve piled on top of the details, the results are impressive.

Over $28 million dollars will be donated through Shop For A Cause day.

Over 30 million meals will be donated through Feeding America.

And over 40 million A-list celebrities will be featured in each TV commercial. Oh wait. That last stat is just a little off.

I’m sure Macy’s is also running their “sale sale sale!” TV spots to move product, but this campaign builds the brand. And apparently, it’s a star-studded, big-hearted brand indeed.

Why would anyone go to Dillard’s?

http://social.macys.com/cometogether/

(PS – "So, what’s with the Beatles track?” Yes, they are using Come Together in TV and online, and yes, The Beatles have always been notoriously litigious and short-leashed when (not) licensing their music to commercial ventures. And here it is; Macy’s rocking the opening track off of Abbey Road. Think they could’ve gotten that track for a one-day-sales event? Heck no. And THAT, gentle reader, is a pretty sweet by-product of adding some good to your marketing. Beatles tracks.)

(PPS - I believe the agency is still JWT Chicago? Please comment below to confirm or deny. Thanks!)

Snickers: Bar Hunger

Hello textbook strategy. If your brand position is “don’t go hungry,” then guess what your charity of choice will be?

So. Snickers is donating at least 3 million meals to Feeding America, fueled by customer participation. It’s simple, smart, strategic, and beats the heck out of just giving candy bars to those who can’t afford a meal. Nice work, Snickers. (I'm not sure how much TBWA/Chiat/Day New York had to do with this, but it seems they're at least involved, since they're Snickers' lead agency.)

It must be noted here – AGAIN with the Feeding America!

They’ve partnered with Quaker/Goodby/Edelman, and Mullen’s Bread Art Project, and countless others. Whoever’s in charge over at Feeding America is kicking ass with the brand participation. Someone give that do-gooder a candy bar.

The “Bolt-On.” Microsoft Internet Explorer 8: A Browser For The Better

This is what’s called a “bolt-on.”

In its efforts to get “hip,” Microsoft has been running all kinds of ads. And it’s well-known that Crispin has the Windows portion of the business (with their “I’m a PC” work). In the past, Crispin has famously launched multiple campaigns for a single brand (Burger King, VW and Microsoft come to mind, not to mention when they had Mini).

So when you see an ad for the new Microsoft browser that’s pretty damn strange, you might think, “Was that Crispin?” I did.



Well, the answer is no. This campaign is from a shop called Bradley and Montgomery (bamideas.com). And it gets stranger.

Guess who directed it? Bobcat Goldthwait (aka, Bobcat Goldthwait, Commercial Director).

But this blog post isn’t about any of that.

It’s about the “bolt-on.”

By “bolt-on,” I’m talking about a campaign that has an auxiliary component – another spot, website, sidecar of a campaign to go along with it - one with a charitable spin.

In perhaps one of the least strategic examples of this, Internet Explorer 8 is doing good by donating to Feeding America. (Is it me, or have they become the cause-du-jour lately?)

They say, "One in eight Americans struggle to find enough to eat. Download Internet Explorer 8 and we’ll donate 8 meals to help feed the hungry." It's a Browser for the Better. And apparently the connection is ... the number eight?



If Microsoft Internet Explorer wants to do some good, how about putting computers in inner-city schools? Or something – anything – to do with technology, or enabling access to information, or privacy issues? Feeding the hungry is 100% worthy, and 0% strategic.

Don’t get me wrong. I love it when the hungry get fed. But this choice made a lot more sense when Quaker Oats did it with Goodby and Edelman. Sure, that was another “bolt-on” campaign, but one that was a lot more strategic and closely tied to their main campaign.

Complicating matters even further, is the main campaign inventing fake ailments that IE 8 cures. Okay, that's not entirely original, but still funny. So, if you're going to add a charitable component, maybe you could help cure a REAL ailment. Hm? Just a thought.

Bolt-ons aren't bad. But this one is a missed opportunity to do something that's strategically aligned with what the brand stands for. When choosing to do some good, that's always a solid place to start. Decide what the brand/campaign stands for. Then the choice of what charity to support reinforces the core identity of the brand.

(Thank you Brandon Murphy, Director of Strategic Planning at my agency, for coining the term “bolt-on.” You can read his blog HERE.)