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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Bring Back the Blue Light Specials

I was watching an ad for K-Mart the other day. I haven't been in that store in probably fifteen years at least. I used to go in all the time as a kid, and I remember very distinctly the Blue Light Special. For those of you too young to remember, Blue Light Specials occurred at surprise moments when a store worker would light up a mobile police light and offer a discount in a specific department of the store. At the height of Kmart's popularity, the phrase "attention Kmart shoppers" became a favorite phrase in pop culture.

Whatever happened to the blue light special? Times changed and Kmart changed their focus on their other acquired businesses like Waldenbooks, The Sports Authority, etc. I saw an article recently that said K-Mart tried to bring it back in 2001 with a $25 million ad campaign, which failed.

Call me crazy but I'm proposing K-Mart try to bring it back again but don't spend money advertising it. Just try it in a few select stores and see whether it takes off again. Times are tight. The economy is tanking. People need the comfort of their blue light specials again.

And K-Mart doesn't have to be the only store to offer Blue Light Specials, either - Target and Walmart can jump on the bandwagon too - they can call theirs red light specials and yellow light specials.

What do you guys think?

2 comments:

Mommy Meryl said...

No need to fear - Kmart still does Blue Light Specials. . at least they did the day I was in there in July. I would say I am only in that store once or twice a year - but they definitey had it when I was there. It was quite funny and the best part - it was a pretty good deal!! :-)

t said...

It's not a bad idea but today it would not take off in the same way. It's kind of a cultural thing. Now with so many mediums of communication people feel overburdened with advertising. I love the memory of the blue light special though.