Chicago Sun Times ad columnist Lewis Lazare doesn’t care for the new Sears campaign from Young & Rubicam/Chicago.
It’s obvious to us hedge fund guru Eddie Lampert and company still haven’t a clue where Sears is headed. Why do we say this? Because the campaign’s new tag line — “Sears: Where It Begins” — is so hopelessly weak and non-specific. It’s a collection of words that say absolutely nothing, primarily because the “it” meaninglessly hangs there, leaving us feeling frustrated as we wonder what “it” all means.
What’s the big deal with a weak tag, you might wonder. Here is Lazare’s read:
For us the tag line almost always says it all. Of course, some so-called experts in the advertising industry will argue the familiar advertising tag is but another outdated fixture in a rapidly evolving ad industry where “hip” is always happening in some cutesy online video or in television product placements, and all manner of unexpected guerrilla marketing tactics.
I don’t know about you, but I find comedy in Lazare’s scathing indictments.