Macy's Case Study: Retail Circular Gets a Smart Digital MakeoverPublished: September 2010 | By Yahoo!
How
do you breathe interactive life into a print circular and drive in-
store traffic with an online campaign? Macy’s found the answer by
becoming the first retailer to launch a Pullover Ad in Yahoo! Mail,
taking over the entire page of the user’s inbox with an engaging digital
version of its Memorial Day circular. Using Yahoo!’s Smart Ads
technology, the campaign dynamically generated creative for different
audience segments according to their interests and location.
The Challenge
Macy’s
wanted to break new ground with its successful annual Memorial Day Sale
circular by tying it to an innovative online campaign. The department
store’s online goals included enhancing Memorial Day Sale awareness,
driving in-store traffic and engaging target audiences in new dynamic
ways. But America’s best-known department store was faced with the
challenge of displaying its print circular in an online medium. How can a
sales guide filled with an array of products and discount offers be
translated into a standard online ad unit? Which creative do you display
when your audience is so broad? How can a traditional brick and mortar
brand rise above the online noise in fresh, interactive ways?
“We
quickly realized we needed a large, attention-grabbing canvas to tell
this story,” says Martine Reardon, executive vice president of marketing
at Macy’s. “We also wanted to capitalize on online targeting technology
to be able to display the right products for the right shoppers and
drive stronger engagement.”
The Solution
Macy’s
augmented its yearly Memorial Day print campaign with Yahoo!’s Pullover
Ad — a large ad that rolls over an entire page when users mouse over it —
combined with Yahoo!’s Smart Ads, which customizes ads for users based
on their interests. Yahoo! partnered with online advertising rich media
provider, Pointroll, to build never-before-seen interactive ads that
recreated the print circular.
When a user logged into Yahoo! Mail
and rolled over the ad, a digital version of Macy’s Memorial Day Sale
Book took over the entire page. To keep the Web experience consistent
with the print campaign, users could flip through the online Sale Book
just like the print version. But unlike print, consumers could click on
products in the catalog — and buy them online. Users could also share
the circular with social networks like Twitter or Facebook.
Using
Yahoo! Smart Ads, Macy’s leveraged demographic and behavioral data from
Yahoo!’s extensive database along with local product and pricing data.
For example, based on which behavioral targeting category a customer
fell into, the circular would open to one of seven sections of the
Pullover Ad targeted to the particular customer. The seven customized
versions of the ad included: the front page, women’s swimwear, men’s
swimwear, kid’s swimwear, pots/pans, luggage, and bedding. Yahoo! used
geo-targeting technology to help drive in-store traffic by showing
consumers where to find the nearest Macy’s store.
The campaign
also served up specific creative based on where the consumer was viewing
the ad. For example, a customer living in the Northeast who has
searched for home repairs on Yahoo! might be served a version of Macy’s
catalog that highlights home products on the cover. Or a customer living
in the Southwest where the weather is already beach-worthy might be
shown the swimwear cover. In short, Macy’s used Yahoo! data to influence
the creative and deliver a more relevant user experience.
The Results
The
two-day Memorial Day campaign garnered high engagement rates for
Macy’s. Users spent an average of 14 seconds engaging with the Pullover
Ad, significantly higher than the brief once-over that users usually
give to a static display ad. The top engagement action for the online
circular was scrolling over featured products.
“The large canvas
that took over Yahoo! Mail was striking and definitely captured our
audience’s attention,” says Reardon. “Using Smart Ads to display pricing
and products they were most interested in, increased the ad’s personal
relevancy which directly affected engagement.”
The campaign also
uncovered some interesting insights about its customers: Women 45–54
generated the highest interaction and click-through rates and
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York showed some of the best engagement
rates.
“We wanted to leverage the popularity of our Memorial Day
circular to do something new and creative,” says Reardon. “The
first-ever retail Pullover Ad on Yahoo! Mail was an innovative solution
with an added bonus: it provided invaluable insights about our customers
that we can use in future campaigns.”
About Macy's: Macy’s,
Inc. operates department stores under the names of Bloomingdale’s and
Macy’s which are among the best known in the world. They have been a
frequent destination for hundreds of millions of Americans and
international visitors alike since 1929.
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