Why Sears Is Rebranding Kenmore

Sears Holding Corp. has undertaken a huge task: To completely revamp and relaunch approximately 450 Kenmore appliance models. The move is part of a larger effort for the home appliance brand, which is sold exclusively at Sears. Right now, the changes are rolling out on washing machines, and soon, on refrigerator units. Kitchen appliances will follow later this year. The goal is to contemporize Kenmore, an 83-year-old, iconic American brand, said Betsy Owens, Kenmore vp and general manager. Female consumers, primarily, saw Kenmore as a brand that their grandmothers and mothers bought, but that didn’t necessarily speak to them, Owens said. So to update the brand and its image, a new television, in-store and social media campaign was launched. The push also includes a new visual brand identity and a Web site, with features that speak to this modern female demographic. Despite the unstable economy, Owens said now is the perfect time for the rebranding and the related campaign. “We have a product for every pocket, and from a value [standpoint], the Kenmore brand is so aligned with where Americans are right now that I don’t think we could’ve picked a better time to do this,” she said. What follows are excerpts from Brandweek's conversation with Owen, who further discussed the rebranding.Brandweek: Sears Holding Corp. is relaunching Kenmore in a downturn. Why so?Betsy Owens: Kenmore is one of those great, iconic American brands. It’s been around forever. It invented many of the categories it competes in today and it has been the leader in appliances for many, many years. It’s always been a highly innovative brand: It was the first one to bring front-loading washing machines to the U.S., the first to introduce color on [these] machines, the first to [introduce] induction on freestanding ranges. It has a lot of firsts behind it. But even great brands like Kenmore need to adopt and adjust and reinvent themselves periodically, and that is really what we’re doing [in this campaign].BW: So how did consumers perceive of the brand before this?BO: We’re hearing from customers that “My grandmother and my mother had Kenmore. I grew up with Kenmore. I love it for that reason, but it doesn’t necessarily speak to who I am.” So, we saw an opportunity to reach out to consumers with a more stylish product.BW: Define that customer more precisely. BO: It’s more women, although we recognize more and more often now, males are involved in the purchasing decisions. But first and foremost, it’s women from their 20s—when you’re first setting up a house—all the way up to their 50s. What we’ve done differently than in the past is we really focused on attitudinal segments, so our sweet spot for the core consumer is someone we’re calling the “savvy mom.” We see her as someone who is true to the Kenmore spirit. She’s practical and resourceful, but she’s also someone who doesn’t feel that she should have to trade off among style, performance and price. She is someone who believes she can get it all and not make any compromises. We think we’ve got the sweet spot in terms of a product that will appeal to her at that level. She is also someone who sees stylish design and technology as a way to make a statement about who she is and her home. She is someone who prioritizes her role as mom and wife, but she feels younger than her mom did at that same age.BW: And you’re communicating this through ads, like one currently running, which show a couple admiring a Kenmore washer’s five-motion spinning properties. But you’re also using social and digital media to launch this. Can you talk about some of those programs?BO: We’re doing online advertising and we’re more aggressive in using [online communities] in social media, so we’re using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. One thing about Kenmore is it’s always been such an accessible brand to so many Americans. We saw that as an opportunity to use real people as our brand ambassadors, so [in our online advertising], you’ll see not only the people behind Kenmore—the engineers and the product designers—but you’ll also see us using real consumers and capturing their stories about Kenmore’s past, present and future.We are on the verge of introducing a new feature on our newly launched Kenmore.com site. It’s called “Help me choose,” and it basically walks you through [the appliance choosing/buying] process in a very friendly, easy way. We’ll walk you through the key decisions you have to make to buy a new washing machine or dryer or whatever it is you need to buy, and that way, we’re really hoping to demystify the whole process of buying an appliance for consumers and live up to our equity of being a very accessible, friendly brand.BW: How many products are you relaunching under this effort?BO: From a product point of view, there will be news throughout the year. We’re doing a restage on the frontloading washer line, but we’re also relaunching everything in our Elite [premium-priced appliances] line, as well as a lot of products in our base Kenmore line. Over the course of the year, we’re bringing out about 450 new models. It’s a very ambitious program for us…It’s one of the biggest initiatives that Sears is undertaking this year and it’s absolutely yearlong and it’s going to go on for many years. It’s the first chapter in what will hopefully be a very long book.BW: You’re running both Kenmore and Sears Blue Crew ads to promote the new product launches. (Agencies involved in the push include Y&R, Euro RSCG and MPG for creative, PR and media buying duties, respectively, and Ammunition and Suite for new brand visual identity design and in-store marketing promotions.) What’s unifying the two approaches?BO: For Kenmore, our tagline is “Kenmore, That’s Genius.” The Kenmore ads are about establishing brand awareness and creating that awareness around the new products—the new innovations and new styles. The Sears Blue Crew ads [which follow the format of previous Blue Crew spots] say, “Hey, we’ve got this new Kenmore product, and there’s a little more about it from an information perspective, and now you can come in the store to buy it.” If you think of it as a funnel, Kenmore is more of at the top end in terms of creating the initial awareness and excitement, and the Sears ads are really about closing the sale.BW: But isn’t a downturn a risky time to do something like this?BO: [Not necessarily.] This is Kenmore’s time. If there is an appliance brand that is trusted [and well known for quality], where you really get your money’s worth, and with such a huge range of products—from the inexpensive to the more premium—it’s Kenmore. We really do have a product for every pocket. So, from a value [standpoint], the Kenmore brand is so aligned with where Americans are right now that I don’t think we could’ve picked a better time to do this.

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Why Sears Is Rebranding Kenmore

Elaine Wong

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Elaine Wong