Need Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Your Loved One? Just Ask Your 'Inner Craftsman'

Grasping for ideas of what to get your loved one for Valentine's Day? Consider consulting the "Inner-Craftsman" character at Craftsman.com where you'll find suggestions created within seconds by the iconic character, a concept that was introduced during Halloween 2007. It's part of a marketing blitz the Craftsman brand team is launching this week through all customer touchpoints including Sunday circular, magazine, newspaper, in-store, broadcast and online media.

The "Inner-Craftsman" character will present gift options of perfume, fine jewelry, and intimate apparel from Sears. And customers who spend more than $25 on these items will get a free limited edition "Inner-Craftsman" NASCAR t-shirt.

"For our Valentine's Day promotion, Craftsman.com will feature a poster offer, desktop wallpaper downloads, a video of the television commercial, and an innovative off the wall representation of your 'Inner-Craftsman'," said Richard Gerstein, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Sears, Roebuck and Co. "Your 'Inner-Craftsman' will offer some Valentine's gift ideas with the well-intentioned, albeit misguided view of a tool fanatic," Gerstein added.

One example is the "Inner-Craftsman" saying, "Honey, here's a bouquet of Cross-Force Reversible Ratcheting Combination Wrenches."

"The use of Craftsman tools to create the 'Inner-Craftsman' figure is not only relevant for Valentine's Day, it also conveys our core brand message in a tongue in cheek way: 'There's a Craftsman in All of Us'," Gerstein said.

The display ads will feature the next evolution of the "Inner-Craftsman" skeleton character that was introduced last Halloween. This time, he will be comprised largely of Craftsman power tools to help promote Craftsman as the "Official Tools of NASCAR." He will be promoting a limited time offer of a Craftsman NASCAR T-Shirt with an in-store $25 purchase of fragrances, fine jewelry or intimate apparel.

The campaign, developed by the Sears marketing team in collaboration with Y&R, runs in USA Today and in the top 50 newspapers in the U.S.

Online display advertising runs through February 14th with high impact site takeovers on:

  --  AOL.com (Sports & Finance)
  --  ESPN.com
  --  Sports Illustrated (SI.com) and Swimsuit Edition
  --  Menshealth.com
  --  Maxim.com
  --  Blender.com
  --  ThisOldHouse.com
  --  AmericanGreetings.com

Broadcast ads will blitz the airwaves with 30-second television spots on the following networks: NFL Network, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, Speed. CBS, ABC (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), TNT, TBS, Nick at Nite, Family Channel, Lifetime, BET, Bravo!, Food Network, HGTV and USA Network. The TV spot also will be featured during the Budweiser Shootout, which kicks off the NASCAR season.

T-shirts depicting the "Inner-Craftsman" will go on sale following the promotion at select Sears stores and on sears.com.

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 935 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 website at http://www.sears.com/ or the Sears Holdings Corporation website at http://www.searsholdings.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

SOURCE: Sears, Roebuck and Co.

CONTACT: Larry Costello of Sears, Roebuck and Co., +1-847-286-9036

Web site: http://www.sears.com/
http://www.searsholdings.com/