Online marketing plays bigger role in Sears holiday campaign

Sears recently launched an integrated marketing campaign built around this year's return of the holiday Wish Book.

On the whole, the campaign is "more diversified," said Richard Gerstein, SVP and chief marketing officer at Sears, in a statement.

He added that the Internet is also playing a bigger role than in previous years. This includes a holiday-themed social networking site launched in collaboration with Yahoo! and the use of widgets and text messaging to alert customers to special promotions.

The campaign will consist of national TV and radio spots, magazine inserts for jewelry and tools, increased online media, new Sears.com functionality, sweepstakes, direct mail, circulars and catalogs. Granting wishes is a theme throughout and the featured tagline is "Don't just give a gift, grant a wish."

One of Sears' multichannel features being highlighted in the integrated campaign is the ability for shoppers to make purchases online and pick them up at stores. This program is being expanded after Thanksgiving to offer curbside service, with qualified products being delivered right to a customer's vehicle within five minutes of arriving at the store.