Dive Brief:
- Best Buy has debuted a series of advertising campaign spots to showcase how the retailer’s technology can enhance customers’ holiday shopping experiences. The spots, announced on Friday, address common customer issues like finding the perfect gift, getting a good deal and preparing a home to host holiday events.
- The ads will appear on TV, streaming platforms and social media. They will also appear in major movie theater chains nationwide for the first time, the retailer said. All of the 30-second ads feature “Gram,” Best Buy’s holographic spokesperson character, which was introduced earlier this year as part of a larger brand refresh.
- Best Buy in recent weeks has also announced several holiday-related sales and promotions. They include extended store hours, doorbuster offers, an early Black Friday sale and new in-store experiences highlighting the latest consumer tech offerings.
Dive Insight:
As holiday shopping begins in earnest, Best Buy is leaning into the power of technology for its holiday marketing push.
“We know the moments that matter the most to our customers during the holidays is time together with their loved ones, the joy of gifting and the amazing deals that make it all possible,” Jennie Weber, chief marketing and design officer, said in a statement. “This is Gram’s first holiday season and he’s ready to show shoppers how technology can elevate those important moments in really extraordinary ways across our holiday campaign and inspire with what’s possible.”
Best Buy changed its tagline to “imagine that” and introduced the “Gram” character in July. The retailer has made several tech improvements this year, including introducing AI-powered delivery and home installation tracking, a redesigned mobile app with enhanced personalization and product discovery features, and shoppable video content.
It also announced the addition of more in-store experiential spaces to feature name-brand tech. Best Buy further said it would add in-store staff in its computer, appliance and home theater sections, and that it plans to open 167 small-format stores in Canada.
The changes resonated positively with Telsey Advisory Group analysts led by Joe Feldman. During a store visit last week at a Best Buy in Paramus, New Jersey, according to the analysts, the store looked good, had solid inventory, customer traffic was strong and employees were friendly and attentive. Telsey also noted that Best Buy was promoting its membership offering, which it revamped last summer, throughout the store.
“Overall, we believe Best Buy has a sound strategy, strong management team, and is ahead of many retailers in its omnichannel capabilities, optimization of real estate, and new revenue streams, like membership and health. This strategy, together with strong execution, positions the company well once the industry stabilizes and returns to growth,” Telsey analysts said.
Still, the retailer’s financial performance has been stubbornly soft during the last few quarters, and the retailer ended its most recent fiscal year with a 6% revenue decline, and warnings of layoffs and store closures.
In the current market, Best Buy should focus its efforts on driving traffic to stores and online by showcasing new technologies, offering more events and classes, “and just generally creating more noise in the category,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said via email to Retail Dive on Tuesday. “These things can help at the margins,” Saunders said.
And while a good ad campaign may help the company grab more share of the consumer electronics market, it won’t fundamentally alter the company’s trajectory, Saunders said. “The overall electronics category remains soft, and consumers are not going to be convinced to splash out thousands of dollars on big electronics products just because of an advert. The only real thing that will seriously boost the category is a change in consumer finances.”
