Hearst Magazines and Sears Help Americans ReImagine You Through Unique Multichannel Program
Hearst Magazines and Sears have launched ReImagine You, a first-of-its-kind integrated program that combines print content, digital media, video, and promotion to engage readers with the unique ways Sears can inspire fresh new looks inside and out, with a focus on fashion, home, and eco-friendly products for Spring. This program coincides with Sears' Spring ReImagine You marketing campaign, which includes in-store, print, television, and digital components.
"The Spring season is a time of hope, optimism and renewed spirit," said Sears Chief Marketing Officer Richard Gerstein. "By taking a great idea and top-notch content from Hearst Magazines and combining it with the products, services and know-how of Sears, we hope to capture that spirit and inspire imagination this season."
This March, 7 million subscribers to Cosmopolitan; Country Living; Good Housekeeping; House Beautiful; Marie Claire; O at Home; O, The Oprah Magazine; Popular Mechanics; and Redbook will receive a copy of a custom Sears 36-page standalone magazine outsert created by Studio H, Hearst's in-house ad agency, titled ReImagine You!, which will come polybagged with the April issues. The outsert will include branded content by the authoritative voices of select Hearst titles, as well as TheDailyGreen.com, Hearst's Web site about green living, covering reimagined people and rooms of the home. An additional 2 million copies of the publication will be available at Sears and other outlets and 400,000 copies will be distributed with four Hearst Newspapers -- Albany Times Union, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, and San Francisco Chronicle. Similar to a traditional magazine, ReImagine You! will be edited to consist of three distinct sections:
-- ReImagined People: Unique individuals who have reinvented their lives
in a compelling way, shown in their home environment. Content will
focus on the products they used for their reinvention.
-- ReImagined Homes: Shots showcasing a series of rooms and the people who
live in them with call-outs of great apparel and appliances. Content
will include a kitchen by Country Living, a bedroom by House Beautiful,
a garage by Popular Mechanics, a family/media room by O at Home and
fashion by Redbook.
-- ReImagined Stuff: A "favorite things" grab bag of unique products with
tips on why a variety of Hearst Magazines' editors love them.
"ReImagine You is a great way to extend the message of affordable aspiration," said Michael Clinton, executive vice president, chief marketing officer and publishing director, Hearst Magazines. "Through this program, we hope to show consumers that reinventing their home, wardrobe, or overall lifestyle is well within reach."
The ReImagine You program will include a digital campaign with a co- branded online destination featuring unique content also created by Studio H. The Web site, http://www.reimagineyourself.com/, will consist of a digital magazine timed to coincide with the launch of the outsert, featuring the same makeover spreads from the print publication with direct links to purchase the products on Sears.com. Site visitors will be inspired by advice from "Team ReImagine, "a group of experts including Hearst editors and well-known faces including Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's Ty Pennington, designer Eric Cohler and HGTV's Eric Stromer. Online content will also provide green tips, makeover videos, motivational tips, custom design content and a chance to enter the Sears Home Giveaway sweepstakes on Sears.com.
The Sears Home Giveaway sweepstakes, promoted in the Hearst print and digital content and other Sears marketing vehicles, will allow consumers to win $300,000 toward their mortgage or toward the purchase of a new home. Customers will be entered to win every time they use their Sears credit cards.
Sears is extending the ReImagine You theme across its entire spring campaign. Hearst editors will appear in national television broadcast spots, providing trend information and inspiration for consumers as they reimagine themselves this Spring. Products and other ideas from the outsert will appear in store circulars and online. Beautiful ReImagine You vignettes -- taken straight from the pages of the outsert -- are being installed in stores. In addition, Sears is taking the theme of Reinventing Your Kitchen to the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Chicago in April to give consumers a sneak peek at the exciting products and trends from the show.
The ReImagine You online program will receive prominent promotion throughout the Hearst Digital Network, which includes the Web sites for Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, Kaboodle.com, Marie Claire, Redbook and TheDailyGreen.com.
About Hearst Magazines
Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (http://www.hearst.com/), one of the nation's largest diversified communications companies with interests in magazines, newspapers, digital media, business media and television. As one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, Hearst Magazines has nearly 200 editions around the world, including 19 U.S. titles and 20 magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines in the U.S. (77.4 million total adults, according to MRI, fall 07). Through its digital media unit, Hearst Magazines operates 18 Web sites and nine mobile sites for brands such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire and Seventeen, as well as non-magazine brand sites such as TheDailyGreen.com, MisQuinceMag.com and MyPromStyle.com. In 2007, Hearst Digital acquired the eCrush Network (eCRUSH.com, eSPIN.com), Kaboodle.com and RealAge.com to round out its growing portfolio of interests for teens and women.
About Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services. Sears, Roebuck offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through more than 2,400 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the United States and Canada, which includes approximately 926 full-line and 1,100 specialty stores in the U.S. Sears, Roebuck also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com, and specialty catalogs. Sears, Roebuck offers consumers leading proprietary brands including Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Lands' End -- among the most trusted and preferred brands in the U.S. The company is the nation's largest provider of home services, with more than 13 million service calls made annually. For more information, visit the Sears, Roebuck Web site at http://www.sears.com/ or the Sears Holdings Corporation website at http://www.searsholdings.com/.
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SOURCE: Sears, Roebuck and Co.
CONTACT: Corinne Kotler, +1-212-649-2583, ckotler@hearst.com, or Jessica
Kleiman, +1-212-649-2545, jkleiman@hearst.com, both of Hearst; or Kirsten
Whipple of Sears, Roebuck and Co., +1-847-286-3037, kwhippl@searshc.com