by David Radd on Monday, August 04, 2008
Consumers are becoming more evasive by the hour, it seems. What could easily be achieved with a simple purchase of cross-platform media is not nearly as effective anymore, as people spend more and more time on their cell phones and their laptops, which present a wide variety of ways to kill time. This truth is more applicable the younger you go, with teenagers being perhaps the most mercurial.
The JCPenney corporation knew this when they wanted to introduce a lineup of products for incoming college freshmen. The department store chain has sponsored the Academy Awards before, and that's all well and good for some audiences, but not the one they wanted to target for this campaign. So JCPenney turned to EVB and spread their message via the web and, ultimately, an advergame.
We talked with Kim Kline, EVB's VP of Account Management & Planning, and Ruby Anik, SVP of Brand Marketing for JCPenney,
JCPenney Gets Wired
JCPenney is among the older and better known department store chains in the U.S. The company has changed much over the decades, starting as a dry goods store in the early 20th century, and now it's known for brands like St. John's Bay and Arizona Jean Company in the early 21st century. Still, despite the changing brand orientations, JCPenney has always been more associated with moms as opposed to their teenage daughters, but the company is looking to alter its image to make itself more friendly to the late teenage set.
"As future opportunities emerge, we'll certainly look at games as one of a number of options to engage with our younger customers in a relevant way that is on their terms."
"[JCPenney] had been looking for a partner to work in the digital space," said Kline. "Most of the companies they had gone to said, 'Here's the widget, here's your MySpace page and you're done.' Ultimately, they reached out to us because we think there's a lot more you can do to engage your target and there's a wealth of techniques to leverage. When college age girls leave home, it's an exciting time for them where they get to meet new people and see new things, but at the same time, they also need furniture and other stuff, and that's where we come in. We pitched six ideas for connecting to young women and we think they all went beyond just a regular Facebook app. Dork Dodge was the only game-like one, but when we tried it out, the testers loved it."
"To create Dork Dodge, we actually started from our young adult target's vantage point (ages 17-19) and researched insights into what type of an engagement a young female consumer would find both entertaining and humorous," commented Anik. "We wanted to create something for her that she would feel strongly about and want to pass along to her friends. In fact, as part of the development, we briefed a test group of young women on our four initial marketing ideas, and Dork Dodge was by far their first choice."
"We decided to place the Dorm Life brand's interactive page on Facebook rather than build a traditional micro-site for the same reason," continued Anik. "The focus is to offer females something that is fun and relevant. In this case, she chose an interactive game, and we're very excited to deliver that experience for her to enjoy and share. As future opportunities emerge, we'll certainly look at games as one of a number of options to engage with our younger customers in a relevant way that is on their terms."
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