No Bones About It ... Craftsman Halloween Ads Bring Brand to Life

A 22-story skeleton towering over Times Square? While it might sound like a scene from the latest Hollywood horror flick, in reality, it's part of a Halloween ad campaign breaking today, courtesy of the nation's number one tool brand, Craftsman.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071022/AQM169)

"We wanted to inject a disruptive brand roadblock into our customers' lives," said Richard Gerstein, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Sears, Roebuck and Co. "The use of Craftsman mechanics tools to create a skeleton figure is not only relevant for this Halloween season, it also conveys our core brand message in a tongue in cheek way: 'There's a Craftsman in All of Us.'"

The campaign, developed by the Sears marketing team in collaboration with Y&R, breaks this week in USA Today and with :15 television spots on networks including: TNT, ESPN, Comedy Central, NFL Network and Discovery Channel. The integrated campaign also features home page "takeovers" on AOL and MSNBC, plus banner ads on AOL, Move.com, ThisOldHouse.com and a variety of sites published by Meredith and Scripps. These banner ads link to a Craftsman tool innovations splash page. Consumers will begin seeing the banner ads on Oct. 27.

  For a preview, go to: http://www.yrchi.com/craftsman/rm_160x600/
  username: happy
  password: halloween

"As the kickoff to our holiday season for Craftsman, this creative is designed to raise awareness among consumers to think of Craftsman when they want to grant someone's wish and not simply give a gift," Gerstein said.

  T-shirts depicting the print ads are on sale at 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/