jcpenney Shows Customers How 'We Make it Affordable, You Make it Yours'

PLANO, Texas, Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) today announced the launch of its 2011 spring marketing campaign, aimed at showcasing jcpenney as America's destination for great styles at compelling prices. Set to debut during the retailer's sponsorship of the Academy Awards, the campaign builds on the Company's "New look. New day. Who knew!®" marketing platform with a new tagline "We make it affordable, you make it yours™." jcpenney's new campaign underscores its dramatic style authority transformation and recent initiatives to provide customers the fashion they seek to create their unique style – all at an affordable price point.

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"Our new marketing campaign reinforces our commitment to making fashion more accessible than ever," said Mike Boylson, chief marketing officer for jcpenney. "At jcpenney, we believe great style doesn't have to be expensive. That's why we're leveraging our superior trend, design, product development and sourcing capabilities; partnering with the top names in fashion; and providing exciting shopping experiences and superior service to deliver style inspiration to our customers every day."

Spring Marketing Campaign: "We Make It Affordable, You Make It Yours":

This year marks jcpenney's tenth consecutive year as the Academy Awards exclusive retail sponsor. Created in collaboration with ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, the campaign will debut on February 27 with seven 30-second broadcast commercials during the show -- one of Hollywood's biggest nights of fashion. The commercials will include spots highlighting jcpenney's array of Women's and Men's fashion offerings as well as separate spots on key brand initiatives including Liz Claiborne, MNG by Mango, People StyleWatch and Cindy Crawford Style. The Women's trend spot will run twice during the show and the MNG by Mango and Cindy Crawford Style spots will also air during ABC's red carpet pre-show. Following the show, the broadcast commercials will continue to air over the next few weeks on highly-rated primetime shows and cable programming.

Furthermore, in select local markets, additional vignettes will air during the Academy Awards featuring "Because I'm Addicted" fashion blogger Geri Hirsch, who will showcase jcpenney spring fashions as she styles a unique look for herself and a friend getting ready for an Academy Awards viewing party. Additional looks styled by Geri will be posted to jcpenney's Facebook page, where fans can shop the looks and vote on their favorite. jcpenney will also engage customers through Facebook with its a "Shop Like a Celebrity" sweepstakes. Beginning March 18, consumers can enter to win an opportunity to win a trip to Manhattan with round-trip airfare, a two-night hotel stay, limo transportation, a $500 jcpenney gift card and fashion advice from Mia Morgan, celebrity stylist and fashion blogger for "The Fashion Alchemist."

jcpenney will also run a live Twitter contest on the night of the Academy Awards, tweeting trivia about Oscars fashion (hashtag #OscarsTrivia). The first Twitter user who mentions jcpenney with the correct answer will receive a $20 jcpenney gift card. jcpenney will ask six questions and award six winners with gift cards.

Additional campaign highlights will include:

• National consumer magazine advertising in publications such as People, InStyle, Esquire and Real Simple;
• Direct mail pieces and jcp.com experiences, highlighting head-to-toe looks of the season's key trends;
• A marketing campaign specifically for the Manhattan market, with outdoor signage branded with spring messaging and images; and
• Additional digital experiences including a MNG by Mango design contest on social shopping site Polyvore - the largest fashion community on the Web - as well as an Olsenboye webisode series on Olsenboye.com.

Spring Merchandise Initiatives:

jcpenney's "We make it affordable, you make it yours" marketing message builds on the Company's recent brand initiatives to introduce affordable fashion to its customers, giving not only existing customers more reasons to shop but also attracting new customers to jcpenney. This spring, the Company is continuing its roll-out of these exciting initiatives, providing customers a sense of discovery and excitement at each shopping visit. These initiatives include:

• Call it Spring -- Call it Spring® launched this fall as a shop-within-a-shop experience in jcpenney's Manhattan store and will expand to 100 stores and jcp.com on March 4. By fall 2011, the brand will expand to an additional 400 stores. Customers can preorder their shoes and handbags on jcp.com now.
• MNG by Mango -- Launched in 77 stores and on jcp.com in August 2010, jcpenney is expanding MNG by Mango® to an additional 215 stores on February 25 and will eventually be in a total of 500 stores by fall 2011.
• Modern Bride -- jcpenney introduced the Modern Bride™ concept in the Fine Jewelry department this month, just in time for Valentine's Day.
• Sephora inside jcpenney -- Now in 231 stores, jcpenney will bring this number to 307 stores by end of 2011, with Sephora inside jcpenney expansions beginning in April.
• People StyleWatch – jcpenney's successful People StyleWatch® "Must Haves" program will expand this month to allow customers to purchase special in-store subscription offers to popular Time Inc publications in all jcpenney stores.

These merchandise initiatives join jcpenney's affordable fashion assortment including Women's brands such as Liz Claiborne®, Worthington®, a.n.a®, Ambrielle®, Bisou Bisou,® I "Heart" Ronson®, ALLEN B®., Mixit®, Studio Paolo™ and nicole by Nicole Miller®; Junior's brand Olsenboye®; Men's brands such as JOE Joseph Abboud®, J. Ferrar®, Claiborne and Article 365®; and Home brands such as Cindy Crawford Style™ and Liz Claiborne – all of which will be highlighted in the Company's spring marketing campaign.

For further information contact:

jcpenney Corporate Communications:

April Dinwoodie or Kate Coultas; 972-431-3400; [email protected]

About jcpenney

jcpenney, one of America's leading retailers, operates over 1,100 department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as one of the largest apparel and home furnishing sites on the Internet, jcp.com. Serving more than half of America's families each year, jcpenney offers a wide array of private, exclusive and national brands which reflect the Company's vision to be America's shopping destination for discovering great styles at compelling prices. Traded as "JCP" on the New York Stock Exchange, the $17.8 billion retailer is transforming its organization to support its Long Range Plan strategies to build a sustainable, profitable enterprise that serves its customers, engages its associates and rewards its shareholders.  For more information, visit www.jcpenney.net

SOURCE jcpenney