Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
It Offers Classic Lessons in Corporate PR, Advertising and Promotion
Whether it is called public relations, advertising or special events, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a textbook lesson in long-term corporate promotion built on continuing commitment to well-defined guidelines.
That commitment has developed and maintained an event that:
- Has survived and grown for over 80 years;
- Attracts more than 2 million direct viewers and a television audience that NBC estimates at 50 million;
- Generates international publicity and audiences every year;
- Has inspired numerous books;
- Is loved by children, their parents and grandparents;
- Projects an image of management and employees working closely together for decades;
- Leads consumers into the store’s greatest sales day of the year;
- Provides an international stage for many new products;
- Contributes tremendously to New York’s pride and economy and gives its employees across the nation reason to boast of their company;
- Has school bands and other performers across the nation waiting years to march in a late November parade;
- Attracts entertainment celebrities;
- Radiates happiness.
Evidence of all that success can be found on Macy’s website and in a study conducted by three College of William & Mary students. It is also evident in the abundant media coverage the parade recieves each year.
Keys to Parade Success
The keys to that success are less known. For starters, Macy’s does not reveal how much money it spends on the parade, or how much money it receives in sponsorships, television rights, etc. Details about the first parade in 1924 have also been confused by Shana Corey's fictionalized version titled Milly And The Macy's Parade.
But some guidelines to the parade’s success, while not published as such by Macy’s, can be found in the history of the parade and from the William & Mary study.
Both indicate that Macy’s management has unwavingly:
- Promoted the parade as "the official start of the holiday season" and the official arrival of Santa Claus.
- Maintained its focus on children as the parade’s primary audience, promoting one annual theme: "Holiday Entertainment for Children Everywhere."
- Concentrated on family entertainment, avoiding trends toward more current, adult-oriented entertainment.
- Promoted Americanism whenever called for by current events such as 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination;
- Partnered with some of America’s most respected companies in the sale of its famous balloons and other sponsorships, insisting that each sponsored unit "be based in entertainment, institutionally showcasing a sponsor’s promotional message."
- Recruited a steady stream of celebrities to provide entertainment and promote the event;
- Featured bright, energetic youth through the use of outstanding high school bands and cheerleaders from across the nation;
- Practised effective damage control over the few negatives that have struck the parade in its eight decades;
- Kept pace with changing American culture without detouring from its primary theme and audience;
- Maintained a reputation for top-of-the-line entertainment by investing in state-of-the-art technology, craftsmanship and entertainment practices.
Company executives with promotion responsibilities may find worthwhile lessons in Macy’s commitment to those guidelines.
Reference: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a study by students Zarah Burstein, Tamurlaine Melby, Susannah Stoessel in the College of William & Mary "American Studies" program..
