Saturday, December 25, 2010

8289: Searching For Kmart’s Holiday Campaign.


Back in November, Advertising Age published a story about Kmart’s new twist on multicultural marketing. The advertiser and its agency, Draftfcb, were pushing a “cross-cultural” scheme to allegedly bring more diversity to the work and the workforce. That is, rather than segregate marketing initiatives with multiple agencies and unique strategies, the fresh approach involved Whites and colored folks joining forces and focusing on a single brief. The test drive was supposed to take place with Kmart’s holiday campaign.

Ad Age reported on “a massive holiday campaign that is set to feature upward of 90 models,” revolving around the idea that “everybody celebrates differently, and the way you choose to celebrate is the right way.” Although the commercials had not yet been produced at the time of the story’s publication, a White family, Black family, Asian family, Latino family and multi-ethnic family were slated to star in the revolutionary spots.

Has the revolution been televised?

The MultiCultClassics staff hasn’t seen anything on the air. Kmart’s channel on YouTube only has messages like this, this, this and this, promoting the retailer’s special sales and layaway offer. One would think such a groundbreaking display of racial and ethnic harmony might receive greater publicity.

If anyone out there has eyed the campaign, drop a link or note by posting a comment.

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