Retailers Use Video Blog's To Attract Teenage Back-To-School Shoppers

According to consumer experts, the back-to-school shopping season is one of the biggest for retailers.

Big corperation's are now taking their marketing campaigns to the next level in hopes of attracting their target audience.

JCPenny department store has started a new campaign that encourages teenagers to show off their new clothes through "haul" videos. "Haul" videos are clips that you can make using your computer's camera and upload them to websites like You Tube. Many teenage girls have taken to the trend and have posted hundreds of the videos on the site.

In the videos, consumer can show off what they purchased and give a real-life review of the product. JCPenny decided to use the unconventional marketing tactic as a way to increase revenue for the 2010 back-to-school shopping season.

The company gave six girls $1,000 to go shopping at a JCPenny store in Dallas, Texas. The deal was simple: the girls would post their purchases online and JCPenny would not edit the content. JCPenny representatives said they hoped the clips would go viral; however that was not the case.

"They created a little piece of video that is less likely to go viral than almost anything," said University of Pittsburgh professor Cait Lamberton. "People forward things that are awesome or exciting or heart-wrenching or funny, but they didn't really get there."

Lamberton said JCPenny's idea didn't work because all the company got was boring footage. After three weeks on You Tube, the most popular video only got 10,000 hits. Lamberton said in the world of viral videos, that's nothing.

"All the girls say upfront they got a $1,000 to buy the clothes; now you're back in the world of skepticism," Lamberton said.

While it wasn't the buzz JCPenny had hoped for, they're now using some of the same girls in their back-to-school advertising.

"So it might work. It's not crazy. And it's certainly low-cost, but there are a lot of reasons why it's not going to go the way they wanted it to," said Lamberton.

• E-Mail Newsletter: Get The Latest News Sent To Your E-Mail! • Mobile: Get WPXI Headlines On Your Phone, iPhone, More • RSS: Add Us To Your Page!