- Elaine Wong

Against a generally gloomy outlook for holiday sales, Macy’s is exhuming its “Believe” campaign this month. The campaign, which recounts the famous, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” editorial from the New York Sun, was created prior to the recession, but Macy’s marketing evp Martine Reardon feels it taps into consumers’ emerging sense of optimism. This year’s version, if anything, is bigger than last year’s and includes new elements like a 30-minute, animated special on CBS, a 25-city Santa tour and a commercial featuring Grammy Award-winning singer Queen Latifah. Reardon chatted with Brandweek about some of the catalysts behind this year's campaign, what categories will likely do well and what lessons marketers have learned from surviving last year's dismal holiday season. Excerpts from the conversation are below.


Brandweek:  Why are you reprising the “Believe” campaign?
Martine Reardon:  Actually, when we came up with the campaign, which was almost two years ago, we knew we were bringing it back again. It was exactly what we felt was an evergreen idea, in that each year, we would just add on to it and it’d become bigger and bigger as we went along. [At the time of the campaign’s conception], the bottom hadn’t fallen out of the economy yet. I’d like to say we were insightful and knew that the country would need something really wonderful…[but] what we did when we looked at this was, we [examined] the heritage of our brand…[and Macy’s] DNA is really imbedded in this holiday tradition, particularly with Santa. He’s a very big part of what we do, particularly because of how important he is to the end of the Thanksgiving Day parade. [At the parade’s end, Santa swoops into Herald Square, marking the beginning of the Christmas season.]…That’s where we were coming from in creating the “Believe” idea. We remembered there was this wonderful editorial. But when we went out and did our research, we found that a lot of people had heard of, “Yes, Virginia,” or that phrase, “There is a Santa Claus,” but they never really knew what was behind it. They never knew it was [penned] by an American editor [Francis Church] and we thought, “Oh my gosh! Isn’t that just a great story to tell?”

BW: What’s new about this year’s campaign?
MR:  This year, we wanted to really ask people why they believe, so we’re holding a “Tell Us Why You Believe” contest. It’s a short-form essay, if you will, that allows people to share their thoughts about what they believe in and why they believe. They can [enter] in the form of a photo as well as a video, [and] it’ll get passed around virally.  We’re awarding two prizes [one for video and one for photo] for two families of four to come to next year’s parade in New York. Hotel, airfare and Thanksgiving dinner are included—and they’ll come and meet Santa Claus and all that fun stuff. And, in major cities around the country, we’re rewarding people for random acts of kindness. So, for example, if a child’s helping an elderly person cross the street, or it’s bad weather and someone brings you an umbrella, or something of that nature, our street team will give them a gift card and say, “You epitomize what ‘Believe’ is about.” In addition to that, we’re also doing something called “Calling All Virginia’s,” where anyone named Virginia can come to the store and get a special gift.

BW: Signs of an economic recovery are underway. Do you think consumers are just as rattled as last year or has the consumer mindset definitely improved?
MR:  I’m certainly optimistic. You’ve seen what the analysts have been saying: things have gotten better. And our comp store numbers, for the last couple of months, have gotten better than where they were before. [Macy’s same store sales were down 2.3 percent in September and 0.8 percent last month.]

BW: What will consumers likely be buying this year? Any forecasts?
MR:  Clearly, the great things about our brand is it offers so many different types of gifts for different members of the family and friends at every price point, so obviously, there are certain things we know that are always going to be best sellers, like cashmere sweaters…[And] everyone loves a new pair of gloves and fashion and fine jewelry. The other great thing is anything home-related. People are staying at home and entertaining more.

BW: What’s the greatest challenge facing the retail industry this holiday season? Are retailers better positioned for the holidays, given what they went through last year?
MR:  Some of the lessons are, the customer is really looking for value and value doesn’t necessarily always mean price, because it’s really what I’m paying for what I’m getting. If I’m getting this luxury cashmere sweater, I might be willing to spend a little more for that, versus what I’m spending for a cotton or Merino wool sweater. As long as we can show the value, I think the customer will respond very positively towards that.

BW: And how do the new Macy’s ads communicate that value?
MR:  Other than the fact that we create that really warm place where you want to shop. If Macy’s was a person—and you think about the kind of things we do for our communities and country—you want to like us because we’re pretty likeable. That goes along when you think about where you want to shop—you generally want to shop in a store that you like or hang out with a person that you like. That’s where the value comes in. It’s really not necessarily tied to a product message.