Retailers' Holiday Blitz: A Surprise Boon for Ad Industry?

Retailers are saying they will be upping their marketing dollars for the holiday season, especially the mid-to-lower range retailers. The increased marketing spend in Q4 is somewhat surprising - and may mean some unexpected upside for ad agencies and ad-dependent media outlets in Q4.

From Kohl’s Q308 conference call:

We definitely stepped up our marketing efforts in the fourth quarter... We actually increased our marketing budget and we did that by reducing some other sales related expenses to fund it, so that allowed us to continue to maintain the previous guidance of the 5 to 6% increase. But we have a significant increase in investment in marketing because as I said I think we believe it’s going to be a very promotional and very challenging environment.

From JCPenney's Q308 conference call: 

We have planned an aggressive, integrated [Q4] marketing campaign... on jcp.com, and in our catalogues… We are... using our standard media but also things like movie, e-mails, search, and better targeting. 

Fourth quarter marketing spend is up over last year... We’re being very aggressive and we’ve taken money from other areas in order to do it. The increase year-over-year is a modest increase. It’s not a big dollar increase, but... it’s a pretty aggressive move.

As to our holiday marketing... we are maintaining our commitment to marketing, but repurposing the dollars to make them more effective... One of the ways we have been keeping SG&A below last year is holding our marketing flat and being more effective and getting the productivity out of our store.