CHAPTERS 2 AND 7: DDB WORLDWIDE
SUMMARY
Angela Talley of DDB Worldwide was charged with overhauling JCPenney’s image to keep the
company in business in what was becoming a highly competitive market. JCPenney needed to
reposition itself in the marketplace by first finding out who its target market is and then
connecting with this group. The job of DDB, the company’s advertising agency, was to come up
with insights and creative ideas that could accomplish this through an advertising campaign.
The DDB creative team decided to learn about JCPenney’s customers through an unconventional
method: shooting videos of customers’ closets. This was an upfront and personal look at the
customer. The goal was to understand who the demographic is. Where do they live? What do
they value? What is important? What do they do? The video shoot produced a slide show of
images that helped DDB think like the customer. Additionally, the creative team lived like their
demo by reading what they read, watching what they watched, and by simply spending time with
the demographic. This level of market research was necessary to form an emotional connection
with the customer.
DDB learned JCPenney’s main target demographic is working mothers in the middle class, who
are value driven and want to express themselves without spending a lot of money. Angela Talley
stressed that in the market research process there is normally not just one “insight” about the
target market. Normally there are many. She also emphasized the need to always keep the
customer in the center of the image building and creative process. The advertising campaign that
was developed to build the new brand image (“It’s All Inside”) succeeded in repositioning
JCPenney and it achieved a 3.5% increase in sales.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Chapter 2
1. What was the primary target market that was discovered by DDB in the video?
2. Create a value proposition statement for JCPenny based on what you saw in the video.
1. How did JCPenney actually reposition the store resulting from this initial research of DDB?
4. JCPenny tasked DDB to reposition the company in the marketplace. What do you think
JCPenny’s position was in the marketplace before DDB’s repositioning efforts?
1. Contact a JCPenney source or research the evolution and current status of the “It’s All
Inside” value proposition discussed in the video.
2. Ask the class to add clarity to the current target market for JCPenney. Do you agree with this
as a wise segmentation strategy? References abound about the “missing middle” and its
appropriateness. Working women, married with children, seeking stylish, but not too trendy
casual clothes. The focus is high quality form-fitting clothes that are not too tightly fit.
3. Create a perceptual map for clothing retailers (include JCPenny and its competitors on this
map).
4. In a group discussion, attempt to guess how JCPenny’s brand equity grades out in the
marketplace.