Inside the JC Penney-Saatchi & Saatchi $430 Million Ad A

[vikram sharma]

From Adage.com

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Love was in the air this spring for Kevin Roberts and JC Penney. It all began aboard a corporate jet early in the season when Penney Chief Marketing Officer Mike Boylson heard about his boss's new crush, Saatchi & Saatchi chief Kevin Roberts, a silver-tongued New Zealander whom Penney CEO Myron "Mike" Ullman had seen speak at a conference.

Kevin Roberts' 2004 book 'Lovemarks' played a pivotal role in Saatchi & Saatchi's win of JC Penney's $430 million creative advertising account.


'Lovemark' concept
On a cocktail napkin, Mr. Ullman sketched out the axis of love and respect -- Mr. Roberts' way of understanding how consumers relate to brands, as articulated in his 2004 book "Lovemarks." A "love-mark" -- an Apple or a Nike -- occupies the upper-right quadrant where it gets high degrees of both love and respect.

"He gave me a copy of the book and said that it was worth looking into and that JC Penney needed to be a love mark with middle America," Mr. Boylson said in an interview just one day after the fast-blooming romance was consummated Aug. 31 with Penney's decision to move it's $430 million creative account to Saatchi.

DDB loses account
As happens, a heart was broken. DDB, Chicago, agency partner for the $18.7 billion retailer since 2000, was jilted with a line that's become familiar to ad agencies: We love you; now get out.

"We've been very happy about DDB," Mr. Boylson said. "This wasn't about being dissatisfied with DDB. The work is self-evident. We just felt we needed a new voice in the marketplace."

Saatchi, too, had a leave-taking to deal with. It bowed out of the $580 million Wal-Mart review, where it had reached the final rounds after the agency's in-store arm, Saatchi X, snared the retailer's shopper-marketing and employee-relations account.