Corporate Brand and PR

Macy's is known to the general public as one of the top retailers in the country. With that said, the company wants their brand too show they are not just that, but that they are also a company that gives back to the community in many ways. Macy's wants their customers to feel good about shopping with them, which is why they offer so many ways for their customers to help them give back along with them.

Macy's brand is known for caring about the community in which they are apart of. In honor of the 40th celebration of Earth Day Macy's has launched its Great Give Back campaign which runs from April 5 to April 20. From April 17 to April 25 Macy's is the official partner of the National Park Foundation's, National Park Week.

Macy's does a great job of creating campaigns and teaming up with their marketing and advertising teams to create a campaign on a much bigger scale. One Public Relations campaign that was very successful during the holiday season is the Magic of Macy's at Christmas campaign. The company created a Believe part of their website. The website provided holiday spirit and interactive activities for people to enjoy. One of the activities allowed you to upload a picture of someone and transform them into a Santa Claus. Another asked children, with parents help, to write letters to Santa and bring them into the store. For every letter received the company donated money to the Make A Wish Foundation.

Macy's has a strong reputation within the community, because it is a company that isn't only concerned with making a profit off of its customers. Macy's cares about people. This is shown in the many different charities and events within the many Macy's communities that the company participates in, such as the Believe campaign with the Make a Wish Foundation or National Park Week with the National Park Foundation.

It is also shown in the ways that the company tries to help the environment. Macy's knows that they are a leading retailer in this country and if they can make a difference in helping the environment. The company is committed to making a difference internally and with the help of employees, by being less wasteful and choosing environmentally friendly options whenever possible. But Macy's is also demanding action within their stores, by participating in fluorescent bulb recycling, offering eco friendly merchandise and recyclable shopping bags to name a few. The company has also been praised by the EPA for having the most green electricity on site.


Macy's is trying to make a difference, with their employees, and within their stores, and because Macy's takes pride in helping the communities they are in customers feel good when they shop Macy's. Shareholders also feel good about investing in the company, because they give back in so many different ways. So when people hear Macy's, they don't just think retail store, they think about all the good the company does for the community.

Corporate Crisis

In August of 2008 and March of 2009, Macy's had a nationwide recall on 33,000 children's sweatshirts and sweaters. The recall was for a drawstring the sweatshirt had that has been prohibited since 1996 on children's clothing because of a choking hazard. The strings are nonfunctional ties on the garment, but still are not allowed under the Consumer Product Safety Commission rules and regulations. The recalled products were sold in Macy's stores.

Macy's posted the recall on their website, where it also gave information as to why the product was being recalled and what customers who had the defective product should do, either return the product for a full refund or cut the ties off the product. The crisis was handled by trying to inform customers who bought the product about the recall.

As far as I can tell nothing was done to notify shareholders about the recall, other than the recall posting on the company's website. Despite that, I think Macy's did a good job handling this crisis. Macy's needed to make sure that the customers who bought this product knew about the recall, to avoid this crisis from escalating and someone being hurt from the product. No deaths were reported from using this product, so the company did a good job of making people aware of the harm that could come from the product. I would have made sure that this was one of the first things that customers could find on the website at the time of the initial recall. Right now the recall information is somewhat hidden in the customer service portion of the website. So that customers have to know where to look to find the recall information.

Investor Relations

Macy's annual report can easily be accessed through the company’s website on their For Investors Tab, by clicking on the Annual Report / Fact Book tab on the left side of the screen. Once there you can decide to look at the company’s annual report, which is mostly financial information, or their Fact Book for 2009. Being that the annual report for 2009 is not yet ready, you can access the 2009 Fact Book, which gives more information about the company. The goal of Macy’s annual report is to basically give the facts about how well the company did or didn’t do in that year. Macy’s Fact Book has more information other than numbers and statistics about the company.

One of the first things in Macy’s annual report is a letter to the company’s shareholders, written by Terry J Lundgren, the company’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. In the 2008 letter, Lundgren talks about how the economy had an affect on the company. Yet despite the hardships from the economy, Macy’s was still able to outperform almost all of their competitors. He talks about the company in three different areas, Organizational Improvements, Other Strategic Advancements and Financial Actions.

Under Organizational Improvements, Lundgren talks about the pilot of My Macy’s, which was created based on customer research and input from store managers, senior executives, merchandise vendors and industry exports. The goal of My Macy’s is to increase the growth in sales by making sure that customers find a variety of merchandise and have a shopping experience that is specific to their needs. Lundgren explains why My Macy’s is beneficial to the company and how it will help them continue to succeed.

The letter continues to talk about how Macy’s and Bloomingdales made more advancements in areas that are strategic priorities. The last part of the letter talks about financial actions that the company took in 2008 and early into 2009, to increase profits, conserve cash, modify balance the sheet and maintain investor confidence in the company.

Reading this letter I think that investors will continue to have faith in the company. The tone of the letter is informative. Its purpose is to relay the facts about what the company has been up to in the previous year, to investors. And despite 2008 being a hard year because of the economy, Lundgren does a good job of expressing that there is no need to worry about Macy's future. I find the letter to be believable, because he uses facts to support what he is saying about the company.

Press releases can be found on Macy’s website again under the For Investors Tab, but by clicking the Press Releases tab instead. The company released a press release on February 23, 2010 about their fourth quarter results, called, Macy's, Inc. Reports Strong Fourth Quarter Results That Exceed Expectations. The beginning of the press release is reader friendly, but as it continues it becomes more technical and harder to follow. There are two quotes from Lundgren in the release, both are well written and believable. Being the CEO, Chairman and President of the company it also sounds credible. Both quotes instill confidence in investors because he talks about how despite the fact that the economy is bad right now, Macy’s is doing well, and better than they had expected.

Macy's and the Community

Macy's believes in giving back to the c0mmunities where they live and work. Funding is focused on arts and culture, education, HIV/AIDS, and women's issues (emphasizing minority issues within each area) and the environment. While Macy's doesn't state exactly what their mission statement is one their website, I believe it is stand out from other retail stores and always focus on their customers, providing them with a variety of merchandise.
http://www1.macys.com/store/about/community/index.jsp?keyword=community%20relations

Macy's gives back to the community in many different ways, the company's community relations program is divided into 3 areas, corporate and foundation giving, customer gifts and associate giving. The corporate and foundation giving includes grants that the company and the Macy's foundation gives, these grants are dispersed to over 5,000 nonprofit organizations in different communities that Macy's is part of. It also includes the exhibits at museums that Macy's has helped sponsor, the company has also formed partnerships with symphonies theaters and zoos in hopes to create family days that would be educational and fun. Macy's has provided scholarships and mentoring for disadvantaged youth, raised money for the fight against breast cancer, as well as supported women's shelters and rallied behind HIV/AIDS funding for testing.

Pictured left to right:
Alice Calabrese-Berry, executive director of Metropolitan Library System; Judy Hoffman, marketing communications specialist, North Suburban Library System; Stuart Strahl, CEO and president of Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo; Brad Poterack, district vice president for Macy's; Pam Kramer, director of educational services, Dupage Library System; and Gretel Stock-Kupperman, director of member services, Metropolitan Library System.

http://www.brookfieldzoo.org/czs/pass.aspx
http://www.macys.com/store/event/index.ognc?action=search&storeId=902

In an effort to get Macy's customers to give back to the community also, Macy's holds events throughout the year and their customers are invited to join the company in giving back and supporting causes that make a difference not only locally but nationally as well. These events known as "give back" opportunities include Go Red For Women, Shop for a Cause, Thanks for Sharing, and Back to the Books.

Macy's associates are also committed to the "give back" philosophy the company has. Associates are given the opportunity to participate in Partners in Time which is a volunteer program that was started over 20 years ago, Matching Gifts, is a program where the Macy's Foundation matches whatever money associates raise and contribute to nonprofit organizations. Earning for Learning are grants that associates and their immediate families can earn, each grant is $250 and the money goes to the associates local school. The grant is given after the associate (and his/her family) volunteer their time mentoring and tutoring. Lastly associates are given the chance to give back to the United Way by raising and donating money.

http://www.federated-fds.com/diversitymanagement/community/unitedway.aspx


Macy's does a lot to give back to the community and while the ways they give back aren't immediately connected to what I think the mission of the company is, I think the company's community relations plan is in fact a good plan. I like that Macy's incorporates their customers and their employees into how the company gives back. It would be easy for the company to just donate money to charities, but Macy's found a way to actually get involved with their communities and give back to them at the same time.

I feel that this is good public relations for the company, because Macy's is such a well known company and it's admirable that they give back in so many different ways. It's also good public relations, because when customer's are invited to join Macy's in giving back, the company advertises the events and they are well known. I think Macy's is doing more than enough to give back, but if I could suggest anything, I would suggest to incorporate the fact that Macy's is a retail store into their community relations plan and maybe provide clothing to needy people or donate linens to shelters.

Gobble Gobble

The table's set. The food is out and now the turkey is put on the table. The family has gathered to dig in and the TV is on... no it's not the big game that has grabbed everyone's attention. Instead the screen is filled with people, giant sized balloons, floats and the streets of New York City. It's the well known Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that has captured everyone's attention. For over 80 years American's have been watching the parade. It has become the kick off of the holiday season.

Every year when the event is upon us you can find advertisements and commercials on TV and in newspapers. Promotional materials can also be found in Macy's stores as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0wwwXKm30U

Because the event has been ongoing for over 80 years now, it is something that the public has come to expect and look forward to. It's not an event that the company needs to work on promoting.

In 2006, Macy's celebrated the 80th year its Thanksgiving Day Parade. Information about the parade could be found all over the internet. For the 80th parade there were a number of appearances from famous celebrities and performers, including Julie Andrews, Chris Brown, Miley Cyrus, Gloria Estefan, Barry Manilow and many more. To celebrate Macy's 80th parade, The History Channel had a float. The float had important times and landmarks of New York's history. Not only was it the first year that the History Channel had a float in the parade, but after taking part of the parade, they also produced a documentary on the parade, called Inside Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The documentary aired November 22 at 7 p.m.
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5854994/History-in-the-Making-The.html

Macy's does a great job of drawing people to their TV's or to the actual site of the event to watch the parade. Every year about 3 million people go to New York City to watch the parade live and another 50 million watch the parade in the comforts of the home on NBC or Telemundo. Because the event is well known it doesn't need to be changed or promoted any differently. I think the company is doing a great job already and they don't need to change anything.
http://www.nbc.com/Macys_Parade/
http://social.macys.com/parade2009/
http://www1.macys.com/store/marketing.jsp

Macy's and New Media

Like most business's, Macy's uses both Twitter and Facebook to communicate with their clients.
http://twitter.com/MacysInc
http://www.facebook.com/Macys?v=wall&ref=search#!/Macys?ref=ts

Currently Macy's is having a contest on Twitter, asking for fans to send in "sweetesttweets" and possibly win a prize. So both Facebook and Twitter are concentrating on trying to get followers to tweet their "sweetesttweets." But prior to the contest Macy's Twitter has tweeted to remind followers about sales, like the President's Day Sale, or special promotions the store was having, like customers wearing red on National Wear Red Day would receive 20% off that day.

Macy's Facebook also promotes the contests and sales the store is having as well as gives its followers more information about each promotion. In celebration of Black History Month Macy's is holding in-store events. Fans on Facebook can get information about the event as well as click on a link that directs followers to the Macy's website for more information.
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Macy%27s&init=quick#!/notes/macys/were-celebrating-black-history-month-with-exciting-in-store-events-hosted-by-she/300157627512

Macy's is doing a good job utilizing new media outlets. They update Twitter more frequently than Facebook, even though they have more followers on Facebook. They also do a good job of tying together the information on their website and what they post on their new media outlets.

However, I think Macy's could do more to utilize social media more effectively. I would update the Facebook page more frequently and give followers more up to date information about what's going on in the stores as well as with the company. Because Macy's isn't a new company they don't need to use social media as a way to build their brand, but they can use it to communicate better with customers. I think that Macy's should look at how their competitors are using Facebook and Twitter.

All About Macy's

Red Star is a blog dedicated to the popular department store, Macy's. This blog will explore the different aspect that Macy's and Macy's Inc., the corporate website, have to offer not only its customers but the public as well. I'm blogging about Macy's because while it is a company that most of us know and even shop at, the company does so much more than just sell clothing, shoes and home and personal accessories.

First, a little history about the symbol of the company, the red star. The history of the red star dates back to the founder of the company, Rowland Hussey Macy's, days as a sailor. Macy was a sea captain and one day he was lost at sea and didn't know how he would return, until a star appeared in the sky. He was able to guide himself back to land using the star to steer. When he arrived safely back to land, he got a tattoo of a star on his arm to always remember that day. Once Macy opened his first store, in 1858, he decided to use a red star as the symbol of the company.

Macy's is, as I said, known for being one of the largest retail stores in the country. But their stores also help raise money for different charities. In past years Macy's has helped raise a record amount of money for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement, the National Park Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It has also been named of of the top 20 partners by the EPA for generating the most green electricity on their site.
http://www.macysinc.com/aboutus/sustainability/epapraise.aspx

Macy's has had a good reputation with its communities and the public. However, they don't really emphasize all the positive things they have done like complying with the government's policies on child labor laws, the recognition from the EPA and how diverse of a workplace it is, to name a few. You can find all this information on the company's corporate website, but most people either don't know to look there, or simply don't. I think that the company can and needs to do a better job with informing the public and the community about what they are doing and more importantly, what they are succeeding in. Thus far I don't think Macy's needs to improve its reputation so much as they need to inform the public about it.