I was sent this article from the NY Times today about JC Penney's new approach to advertising and wanted to share it with everyone. After years of dull product-focused ads, the middle-market retailer is looking to create an emotional connection with the brand.

As a follow up to reading this I jumped around on YouTube to track down some of the new ads from Saatchi & Saatchi. I hadn’t seen any of them. I stumbled across this one which — in my opinion — is a masterful example of short-form storytelling. No prices. No labels. No consumer benefits. Just emotion.

The summation given in the Times article is a poignant statement about speaking to today’s savvy audience — regardless of medium: “There is one thing I have learned. If you are doing the same old warmed-over product-based stuff that everyone else is doing, you are wasting your money.”

I’m really looking forward to seeing what JCPenny does with the “flipped” Webisodes.

Scott D. Lange