Spotlight On: Jennifer Kasper, Macy's

During this year’s Advertising Week, Jennifer Kasper (JK), group vice president of digital media and multicultural marketing at Macy’s, made the rounds to speak in sessions about Macy’s approach to retail marketing, brands transcending their category to become a part of digital culture, localization, and Pinterest, among other topics.

She also discussed the department store’s love of demo events that have now moved into great content for online video.

“There’s a long history of doing how-to demos in our store: cooking, makeup, fashion. We capture a lot of video at the event itself and they have an impact, whether you were there or not,” she said. “The demo of Bobbi Brown putting on a smoky eye isn’t just happening at Macy’s Herald Square.”

Kasper was all over Ad Week, but we caught up with her to chat about event marketing, social media, and much more.

CZ: You talked about how Macy’s is big on event marketing. Which events tend to resonate most with customers?

JK: How do I answer this question without starting with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? From the millions of people who line up along the parade route every year, to the millions more who watch it on TV, no other event that we produce reaches as large an audience or generates more good will and brand affinity.

That said, we host thousands of local events in our stores every year – events that bring our product assortments to life, and help educate and entertain our customers. While at a much smaller scale, these special events cement Macy’s relationship with the communities where we do business and bring the magic of Macy’s to life.

CZ: Social plays a big part in the new “Age of the Customer.” Of all Macy’s social platforms, which one do you think you do best?

JK: It’s as if you’ve asked me to tell you which of my children I love most! I’m most proud of how we’ve leveraged the individual strengths of each platform to bring our Macy’s events to life. An event like Fashion Rocks or the Thanksgiving Day Parade has stories to tell across all of them. We use Facebook for reach at scale, Twitter for breaking news, Instagram for an insider’s perspective, and Pinterest to connect products and drive commerce.

CZ: Is there one particular Macy’s campaign that stands out as being the one you’re most proud of?

JK: Most recently, I was exceptionally proud of the work our team did integrating into Fashion Rocks. We created content from an insider’s perspective before, during, and after the event; brought in a few amazing YouTube influencers to create video and social content on our behalf; and helped drive engagement and sales of the products featured during the show.

CZ: Mobile has been a huge underlying theme throughout Ad Week. What are the apps you can’t live without?

JK: Personally, I’m addicted to OpenTable, and I can’t wait to see how they integrate payments in the next few months.

CZ: We covered your new holiday initiatives on ClickZ a few weeks ago. How are they going so far?

JK: So far, so good. Our mobile app adoption is healthy, and its performance and stability are vastly improved. And we’re excited by the results we’re getting from our Lucky Stars mobile activation in stores this week.

Homepage image via Shutterstock.