Macy’s (NYSE: M) has been struggling to find its place in the modern retail world. The department store chain has been closing stores and looking for focus as it tries to battle e-commerce companies. It wouldn’t be accurate to call the company a failing retailer, but it’s certainly a flailing one.
One thing Macy’s does have in its favor is its massively successful Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. The event attracted more than 22 million viewers for NBC last year, making it one of the most-popular non-sports special events of 2015. In fact, according to AdWeek, NBC estimated that more than 41 million people watched at least some part of that year’s parade.
That’s a huge number of people being positively reminded of the Macy’s brand, and it’s a powerful platform for it to connect with viewers who might not have been shopping at the chain. The challenge for the retailer will be turning that good publicity into something tangible.
What Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade does for it
It’s very likely that the 2016 parade approached or even beat the numbers put up by last year’s. That’s a lot of mentions of the brand name, and the implied approval of NBC’s Today Show team of Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker.
For Macy’s, the problem is getting consumers to make the leap from “I love the parade,” to “I think I should go shop at Macy’s.”
That’s not a simple leap because nothing about a gigantic Garfield balloon or a marching band from Omaha connects directly to the store. The event is a clear win for NBC — which pulled in over $30 million in advertising for the parade last year, according to AdWeek — but its financial benefit for the retailer is less obvious.
How can this help?
In some ways, the biggest advantage for Macy’s from the Thanksgiving Day Parade may simply be that it reminds people that it still exists. The chain has been investing in its e-commerce operations, so perhaps its online sales will get a bump due to people hearing its name repeatedly a few hours before holiday shopping starts in earnest.
Macy’s has a huge marketing asset here, but it’s a difficult one to turn directly into sales. Macy’s actually pushes other brands during the event — the ones associated with the balloons — and it’s not like the company can add a balloon pushing tasteful business attire.
Still, being in front of tens of millions of eyeballs can’t be a bad thing — especially when it’s as part of an event that makes people feel warm and fuzzy. Ultimately, the retailer should be able to leverage all those viewers into some sort of business benefit beyond vague good will. That may or may not happen this year, but the parade should be a powerful tool as the company advances it turnaround efforts.
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