Jos. A Bank's Marketing Strategy Cheapens Brand
My gripe (and Herb Greenberg agrees) with the management is that they decided that no Q&A is needed after the quarterly conference call. I completely understand why the company’s management may decide to spend their time on a more productive endeavor than answering sell side analysts’ questions which most of the time have little to do with the company’s long-term future, but zero in on minute, often irrelevant short-term details. That being said, management should have done a better job communicating to the Street the change in Q&A practice.
JOSB’s marketing strategy is the weakest link in its business model. It is extremely short-term oriented and not about long-term brand building. I’d argue that it cheapens its brand.
Where Men’s Warehouse’s (MW) “I guarantee it” commercials tell you about product quality and a pleasant shopping experience (long-term brand building strategy), JOSB commercials sound like it’s a cheap car dealership that you’d expect to see in the deep suburbs of nowhere land, with a very annoying voice that tells you something along the lines of, “Only this Tuesday, the whole store is 50% off!”
But don’t worry, if you missed this Tuesday special, there are other days of the week; Wednesday, Thursday… you get the point. Yesterday, while reading JOSB’s latest 10Q, I heard the commercial at least three times on CNBC. This short-term driven marketing strategy is responsible for the volatility of same store sales.
JOSB 1-yr chart:

Get Seeking Alpha Free Stock Alerts by Email!
Get Free Stock Alerts by Email!
ETFs In Focus
-
Editor's Picks
-
Most Popular
- GSEs Into Conservatorship: Can Housing Stabilize Now?
- Buying Berkshire: The Ultimate No-Brainer
- PowerShares Dynamic Retail ETF Finds Bargains in Discount Retailers
- Global Stock Markets: We All Fall Down!
- American Capital Agency: Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way
- How Should Policymakers Respond to the Employment Report?
- Full list of Editor's Picks »
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News »
- Apple: Steve and I Have Been Wrong »
- What Will Fannie / Freddie Mean for Monday? »
- Gold Futures' Dirty Secret (Part II) »
- A First Look Inside the Fannie / Freddie Bailout Plan »
- Rescuing Frannie »
- Why Commodities May Be Nearing a Turning Point »
- Bill Ackman's Letter to Paulson On Restructuring Plan »
- Is Gold Getting Ready to Bounce? »
- Corning: Looking Very Cheap »
- Friday Outlook: What Phony Sell-off?! »
-
Long Ideas
-
Short Ideas
-
Cramer's Picks
- $300/Barrel Oil Is Coming - Barron's Interview
- Nokia Is the Smart(phone) Bet - Barron's
- Geologix Explorations: Another Mexican Monster Miner?
- Don't Recycle Schnitzer Steel Yet - Barron's
- Antigenics: Insider Buying Alert
- Discover Financial: A Creditable Investment - Barron's
- American Capital Agency: Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way
- Time to Recognize Cognizant - Barron's
- Avoid the 'Group Think' on Melco-Crown
- Safeway: A Safe Way to Invest
- Full list of Long Ideas »
- Nuance Communications: An End to Acquisitive Growth
- Short Interest Rising in Tesoro; Shorts Covering Airline Positions
- Harbinger Capital: Cut Short
- Not Much Meat on Pilgrim's Pride's Bones
- Salesforce.com: Demystifying the Force
- Should We Listen to Boone Pickens on Oil?
- Three Reasons Solar Sell-off May Be in Early Innings
- Is the Market Rolling Over?
- Solar and Oil, Part Deux
- Financial vs. International ETFs: Which Bear is Grizzlier?
- Full list of Short Ideas »
- Fed Should Cut Rates - Cramer's Mad Money (9/5/08)
- Bullish on Wachovia - Cramer's Lightning Round (9/5/08)
- Worst Downgrades - Cramer's Stop Trading! (9/5/08)
- Pimco's Bill Gross: Jim Cramer Is 'Courageous' and 'Entertaining'
- Cramer Sees the Light - Cramer's Mad Money (9/4/08)
- Keep Buying Big Brown - Cramer's Lightning Round (9/4/08)
- Don't Buy These Bonds - Cramer's Stop Trading! (9/4/08)
- Loss of Integrity - Cramer's Mad Money Recap (9/3/08)
- Not Off the RIMM - Cramer's Lightning Round (9/3/08)
- Unbelievable Moves - Cramer's Stop Trading! (9/3/08)
- Full list of Cramers Picks »
Trading Center
Hedge Fund Jobs
Job Seekers: Search jobs by category, get job alerts by email or live feed, apply online See full list of jobs »
Employers: See all recruitment options, get applications online or by email Post a job »




This article has 3 comments:
Katsenelson
On the face of it,my best interpretation is that it might be an attempt to seduce a more "downscale" customer into a luxury or semi-luxury environment, where he thinks he's getting a "steal," no matter how neverending the Sale!Sale!Sale! advertising pitch.
But even that interpretation doesn't account for the TV ad placements on venues such as MSNBC talk shows, which are hardly "downscale." (If the ads are on less upscale commercial broadcast TV, I wouldn't know). Why approach a relatively sophisticated viwer wirh a "Hey, Rube" approach?
It's a "puzzlement."...
I have to say that CEO Wildrick, in his earlier days at the helm, took a similarly promotional attitude toward the stock, which had me wary for quite a while. Nonetheless he has delivered on the promised store expansion and profit growth, and along with it muted his style. But "carnival" may still be in his bones.