brombonz

Jos. A Bank's Marketing Strategy Cheapens Brand

Amen. I've owned JOSB since 2000 and it's one of my largest holdings. There's a jarring dissonance between its "Tiffany" store atmosphere and carnival-hustler marketing approach. Even some store employees I've talked with are embarrassed by it. I can only speculate whether management has considered a more "reality-based" approach.

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.