1998 Volume 121 No 1–4 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

L U M N I
NOTES
Phi sells softer side of Sears
Akron alumnus helps retail giant be known for more than tools
By Holly Pupino
T
HE
NEXT TIME YOU CATCH
yourself humming,
"Come see the softer side of
Sears," thank John Costello.
The 1968 University of
Akron and Ohio Epsilon
graduate is senior executive
vice president/general manager
of marketing for Sears,
Roebuck and Co. Since joining
Sears and launching,
among other innovative marketing
programs, the widely
successful "softer side" advertising
campaign, he has
helped transform Sears from
what Fortune magazine
dubbed "a dinosaur" just back
in 1993 into one of the alltime
great retailing success
stories.
The transformation of
Sears continues but industry
analysts haven't held off heaping
praise on Costello, Sears
CEO Arthur Martinez, and
the rest of the company's new
management team.
Sears, of course, is an
American institution - the
merchant to America for 110
years. This company wrote the
book on retailing from the
late 1800s, as a mail-order
firm that understood the
needs and desires of farmers,
through much of the twentieth
century, as its 500-some
page catalog expanded to
include shoes, women's garments,
stoves, baby carriages,
and glassware.
Holly Pupino is a
freelance writer. This piece
originally appeared in the
University ofAkrott's
alumni magazine.
But more recently, the
mammoth organization
seemed to have lost touch
with its customers while
struggling to keep a handle
on costs.
When Martinez moved
from upscale Saks Fifth Avenue
to take the helm at Sears
in 1992, one of the first outsiders
he brought in for his
new executive team was
Costello, who had crafted a
distinguished marketing career
at companies like Procter
& Gamble, Pepsi-Cola and
Nielsen Marketing Research.
When Costello arrived in
AprU 1993 Sears was beginning
a five-year, $4 billion
restructuring program.
He headed into his new job
with a daunting challenge.
Sears, it seems, had become
undistinguished amidst an
onslaught of new retail
choices.
An American icon
"Like so many people, I
thought of Sears as an American
icon," says Costello. "I
bought my first blazer for my
first job at Sears and, like others.
Sears was an important
part of my life growing up.
Like so many others, though,
I hadn't visited a Sears store
in a number of years."
Making Sears a store customers
would once again
want to shop was Costello's
goal from day one. The company
unveiled a five-part
business strategy: focus on
core businesses, become a
more compelling place to
shop, become more local market
driven, aggressively pur-
Akron Phi John Costello
sue cost improvements, and
establish a winning corporate
culture. The plan's success
depended on marketing.
Costello conducted extensive
research into just who the
target customer for Sears
should be. Despite what many
might expect, the answer
wasn't a man In search of a
hammer but the American
woman. She is between 25
and 54 and has a home and a
family with an average annual
income of between $25,000
and $60,000. She is the chief
purchasing and financial
agent of the family, making or
influencing purchase decisions
for the family more than
70 percent of the time.
Although Sears had developed
a sound reputation for
its hardware and appliances
(Craftsman, Kenmore, and
DieHard are among the most
recognizable brand names
anywhere) over the years,
Costello and company had to
convince women there was
more to the new Sears - that
the store did, indeed, have a
softer side.
Television commercials
juxtaposing phrases like "garden
suppUes," "electric cookware,"
and "lacquered paints"
with images of women in sim
dresses, bright bathing suits,
and neon-colored sandals
THE SCROLL SPRING 1998 http://www.phidelt-ghq.com