Scan the latest press releases from retail America and you'll see Thanksgiving language looming large, with hints of Christmas already in the air. Fact is, you'd hardly know
there was a war on. Most of the nation's brick and mortar retailers are responding to President Bush's call for "business as usual." But communicators charged with handling pre-
holiday PR admit it's a complex task this time around - and that they, like PR professionals in every industry, are treading a delicate line this year.
At Macy's East in Manhattan, Vice President of PR Ronnie Taffet has her hands full. The department store's biggest holiday season outreach effort, the annual Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade, typically draws tens of thousands of people into the streets of New York City - a prospect that already has Taffet's phone ringing off the hook.
"People are starting to ask about the security on the parade," she says. "Right now we are directing them to the police department because they are the ones who are telling us
what to do. There is nothing we are going public with [in regard to security], and if the NYPD wants to talk about it, they can talk about it."
Christmas in July
For some retailers, however, Sept. 11 and its aftermath have created a national outlook that melds naturally into their existing PR efforts.
Wal-Mart, for example, has never shirked from tapping into Americans' sense of patriotism, and the build-up for the winter holidays this year will see its stores hitting that
theme hard. "Our stores for Christmas will look like the 4th of July," promises Tom Williams, PR manager at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. "There is a strong feeling
of patriotism in America right now and our stores always reflect the communities they are in. These are American stores in America, and we want to reflect that."
JCPenney is taking a similar approach, playing up the patriotic theme and calling it a response to consumer demand, rather than an overt PR strategy. "It is particularly
heartening that so many of America's young people are expressing a renewed interest in and love of country. This is reflected in some of our assortments," says Wynn Watkins, SVP,
director of community and public affairs. "We are responding to news media inquiries along these lines but not being promotionally proactive."
The Economic Question
Home Depot isn't changing its holiday PR plans, but communicators are taking note of consumer concerns. "Certainly everyone is looking at the advertising and PR materials to
make sure they are appropriate, but we feel that everything we had in the works ... was in fact very appropriate," says Mandy Holton, public relations manager.
If anything is different this year, it is the extra emphasis the PR shop will be placing on the value message, hyping low-cost items and touting cost savings on popular goods.
Such a tactic is right in line with what consumers want to hear this time around, according to the latest information from the National Retail Federation. The NRF notes in its
2001 Consumer Holiday Outlook Survey that while four out of five consumers (83.6 percent) plan to buy gifts this holiday season for about the same number or more people than they
did last year, they will be scouting more aggressively for bargains this year. "With two-thirds of survey respondents planning to take advantage of holiday sales and discounts to
shop for themselves this year, retailers will be competing to tap into this buying potential," NRF predicts.
For places like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, playing the value card is a no-brainer. For higher-end retailers like Macy's, on the other hand, overcoming recessionary fears takes a
bit more creativity. "The message we are really coming out with is that we are joining the president and urging the world to go back to some sort of normalcy and to shop," says
Taffet. "Since Sept. 11 that has been a stronger message than it might have been with just the recession."
Along those lines, Taffet's office is working with New York's convention and visitor's bureau to market the city as a travel destination, and is also coordinating with airlines
to arrange package tours. "These are things we might have done anyway, but we are doing [them] with a vengeance now," she says.
(Contacts: Home Depot: Mandy Holton, 770/384-2935, [email protected]; JCPenney: Rita Flynn, [email protected]; Macy's: Ronnie Taffet, 212/494-4414; Wal-Mart: Tom Williams, 501/273-4000)
Holiday Outlook
Retail PR pros say they are trying to take a business-as-usual approach to their holiday buildup this year - and it seems as if consumers share that goal. According to the
National Retail Federation's 2001 Consumer Holiday Outlook Survey:
- Four out of five consumers (83.6 percent) plan to buy gifts and cards for as many or more people than they did last year.
- PR geared toward a younger audience may find an especially warm reception. NRF found that 18- to 24-year-olds are significantly more likely than any other age group to buy
gifts and cards for more people than last year (34.5 percent). - Most consumers (57.2 percent) said they will do their holiday shopping in November or the first two weeks in December - the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.
- Winning PR themes will likely strike the "value" and "quality" notes: Some two-thirds of respondents said they will take advantage of sales and discounts this year, and almost
a quarter said the quality of merchandise is their most important decision-making factor.