The advertising industry is abuzz with the potential of shoppable television. But the concept of buying something directly from your television isn’t new; it began back in the ’80s with channels like QVC and HSN.
Of course, there’s no real place for standard commercial spots in a QVC-like program; the programming is the commercial, and the channel often serves as publisher, advertiser and retailer all at once.
For other retailers, that’s an alluring but difficult business to replicate.
Macy’s is certainly eager to try. And part of the department store’s strategy involves new streaming ad products.
This year, Macy’s partnered with NBCUniversal (its usual publishing partner for Thanksgiving and holiday content) on a new half-hour-long streaming special. “Macy’s Parade of Deals with Jill Martin” premiered on Peacock for four days around Thanksgiving weekend and featured QR codes that linked viewers directly to the Macy’s website.
During the special, Martin walked around holiday displays of products on pedestals, like tennis bracelets and cashmere sweaters, all of which were reportedly selected by her. (“They let me in Macy’s in the middle of the night,” she said on “The Today Show” that weekend.)
While Macy’s refused to share specific sales data or other metrics, the special appears to have been successful in proving viewers will purchase directly from a TV stream.
“In real time, we’re watching the numbers go up, and you can kind of see what products and what deals are really resonating with our customers,” Jen Brown, Macy’s new head of content, tells AdExchanger. “Then, we can use those learnings to start programming other channels as smartly as possible.”
Starting the parade
The Macy’s live-shopping special was spearheaded by Brown, who worked at NBCUniversal for 16 years and previously served as the SVP of program planning and content partnerships at Peacock.
But “Parade of Deals” was also modeled heavily after Jill Martin’s recurring “Steals and Deals” segment on “The Today Show,” which has featured shoppable elements since 2008 (using the technology available at the time).
The QR codes, in particular, Brown tells me, are “really powerful in terms of tapping into audiences who are looking for this type of content, meeting them where they are and giving them useful calls to action.”
Was it all a stream?
To drive awareness for the special, Macy’s ad-buying teams used a combination of paid social, vendor partnerships and collaborations with teams at “The Today Show,” NBCUniversal and Peacock, not to mention Jill Martin herself.
Macy’s also tracked metrics like completion rates, visits and sales, according to Justin Hergianto, VP of communications planning, media strategy and investment.
Their choice of targeted audience both informed their digital strategy and their decision to go with streaming TV in the first place.
“If we’re going to get super specific in the bull’s-eye of our target audience of that 35- to 45-year-old mom, that’s where she is,” says Brown.
In-stream shopping
Will this experiment usher in a trend of live-streaming or TV shopping programming for Macy’s?
Brown is open to trying it again. But she says the focus for Macy’s overall is to capture shopping opportunities on live video and events, including social media channels, where advertisers are also trying to make the live-shopping revolution happen.
“It comes back to how we take advantage of those live moments,” says Brown.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Float ’em my way at victoria@adexchanger.com.
