San Francisco Seminar 2009 – Day 4

Macy’s, Saks, and Emotional Brand Building in a Time of Crisis

Minimalist illustration of a shopping cart with a shopping bag, used as a symbol of e-commerce, online shopping, and the digital customer journey. The icon represents the evolution of modern commerce, where technology, user experience, and accessibility come together in digital shopping experiences. The illustration features a clean, timeless design suited to professional topics related to digitalization, omnichannel, and innovation.

Introduction and Context

On Day 4, the seminar moved into one of the most complex topics in retail history:
How does a major department store chain navigate an economic crisis—and what happens when online and physical stores pull in different directions?

Macy’s and Saks represented two different strategic paths:

Saks: deep cost cuts, workforce reductions, postponed investments, and a focus on survival
Macy’s: investment in digital growth, emotional brand building, and local adaptation

The documentation you uploaded illustrates this very clearly. Saks’ dramatic measures—a 9% reduction in its workforce, capital expenditures cut in half, suspension of pension accruals, and a salary freeze—are described directly in the BNET article Saks, Macy’s Make Cuts at Store…

Macy’s, by contrast, reported 15.5% growth in online sales in January, 24% growth in Q4, and 29% growth for the full year 2008, according to its official press release:

Macy’s, Inc. Press Release

Where Saks cut back, Macy’s invested.
Where Saks talked about survival, Macy’s talked about identity, hope, and community.

Day 4 therefore left a powerful impression:

Digitalization is not technology—it is strategy under pressure.

Program Overview

The seminar day was structured around four main components:

The macroeconomic picture:
1. How the financial crisis affected U.S. department stores. The BNET article documents declining demand for luxury goods and shopping malls facing the threat of bankruptcy.
2. Saks, Macy’s Make Cuts at Store…
Case 1 – Saks Fifth Avenue:
1. Drastic cost-cutting, downsizing, and defensive market decisions.
Case 2 – Macy’s:
1. The “My Macy’s” strategy + the national Believe campaign → a new approach to digital brand building.
Discussion:
1. What can Norwegian organizations learn from how two retail giants chose fundamentally different paths?

Key Academic Themes

A. The Psychology of Crisis and the Brand Value of Hope

The BNET articles are clear: customers were buying less, were more price-sensitive, and were willing to switch brands in search of better value. Saks, Macy’s Make Cuts at Store…

While Saks responded with cost-cutting, Macy’s responded with:

storytelling
community
emotional engagement
digital accessibility

This culminated in Macy’s Believe campaign—documented through the campaign page (promo and PDF).

Here, Macy’s combined a Christmas tradition, the children’s story “Yes, Virginia,” charitable giving, and technology in a way that was entirely new in 2008–2009.

B. Restructuring and Cultural Change

Macy’s official press release reveals something crucial: My Macy’s—a major restructuring that shifted greater responsibility to local markets—significantly strengthened sales in the pilot cities.

Macy’s discovered that:

customers shop locally
assortments must be adapted to local culture
digital communication can reinforce local relevance

This was a radical approach for a national department store chain.

C. Online Growth as a Strategic Lifeline

The figures from Macy’s—29% growth in online sales for the full year 2008—stand in sharp contrast to the decline in in-store sales. This is confirmed directly in the press release: “Online sales (macys.com and bloomingdales.com combined) were up 29% for the full year.”

Online sales became a lifeline.

Watercolor illustration inspired by Macy’s digital commerce platform and the evolution of modern e-commerce in the aftermath of the 2008–2009 financial crisis. The image depicts an early e-commerce solution featuring product cards, promotions, personalized offers, and seasonal sales aimed at male customers. The illustration symbolizes how major department store chains began using data, categorization, and digital customer experiences to create more relevant and targeted online shopping experiences.

The image represents the transition from traditional retail to digital retail, where products, promotions, and customer behavior moved into a new technological reality. It also shows how e-commerce gradually became more visually structured, segmented, and customer-oriented—long before today’s advanced AI and recommendation systems.

The watercolor style gives the image a soft and almost nostalgic feel while documenting an important era in retail history: a time when department stores such a

Case Studies

Case: Macy’s “Believe” – Digital Emotional Brand Building

Two versions of the campaign page online

Both featured:

interactive Christmas ornaments
the “Believe Meter”
links to Santa’s Post Office
the Make-A-Wish connection
a strong visual presentation of “belief” and magic

Believe was not just a campaign. It was a cultural event.

It was a digital space where people could:

write letters
share stories
express hope
participate in something bigger

At a time when people were afraid of the future, Macy’s created a space for optimism.

Case: Saks – A Luxury Brand in an Economic Storm

The BNET article documents a company in crisis:

the luxury customer disappeared
the cost base was too high
the company was forced to take drastic measures
investments were halted
even 401(k) matching was eliminated

Saks, Macy’s Make Cuts at Store…

While Macy’s invested in digital development and emotional capital, Saks attempted to “cut its way to health.”

Reflections and Discussion:

Based on the documents, the group discussed:

Why do some companies succeed in times of crisis while others fail?
Why do some brands use storytelling while others rely on discounts?
How can technology carry a traditional brand through a financial crisis?
How do you build emotional relevance digitally?
Can Norwegian companies do the same—and should they?

The main conclusion was clear: Macy’s won through vision, not cost-cutting.

International Perspectives

United States: Emotional brand building as part of national identity.
Europe: More product- and price-oriented communication, with less emphasis on storytelling.
Nordic countries: High levels of trust, but less tradition of emotional marketing.

Watercolor illustration inspired by Macy’s work with digital commerce, personalization, and customer experience during the major transformation of American retail around 2008–2009. The image shows a laptop displaying Macy’s online store, product recommendations, categorization, and data-driven commerce, surrounded by coffee, a notebook, and a pen symbolizing analysis, strategy, and continuous development.

The illustration represents a period when the retail industry began to understand that e-commerce was not just about technology, but about insight, structure, customer behavior, and organizational change. Products were no longer simply displayed on shelves and in catalogs—they were digitally curated through search, recommendations, segmentation, and user experience.

The image also symbolizes how major companies such as Macy’s sought to build a seamless customer journey between physical stores, online stores, and marketing during a period marked by financial crisis, uncertainty, and

What Do We Take Home?

Stories create lasting value—numbers alone do not.
Emotional campaigns can unite national and local levels.
Online and physical stores must be viewed as one ecosystem.
Values must be activated, not merely communicated.
Corporate social responsibility creates authenticity when it is integrated naturally.

Relevance Today

More than 15 years later, Macy’s Believe still stands as a textbook example of emotional digital brand building. The principles—connecting technology, community, and meaning—remain just as relevant today for the public sector, tourism, and education. Macy’s understood early on that human belief and digital action are not opposites, but can reinforce each other.

Peder Inge Furseth

Peder Inge Furseth was a key academic driving force behind the San Francisco seminars and played an important role in making the encounter with Silicon Valley relevant to Norwegian and European organizations. Through his role as a professor at BI Norwegian Business School and as academic director of the program, he helped participants place the presentations within a broader context—one in which technology, innovation, business development, and people had to be understood together.

In San Francisco, participants met entrepreneurs, researchers, technology leaders, and investors from some of the world’s most innovative environments. Furseth’s strength was his ability to connect these experiences with practical challenges and opportunities facing Norwegian organizations. He helped translate Silicon Valley’s ideas and ways of working into a

Nordic context where collaboration, trust, and long-term value creation play a central role.

Throughout the seminar series, he served as an important bridge between research, business, and technology. For many participants, he therefore became more than an academic leader—he was also a mentor who inspired them to think differently about innovation, digitalization, and commercialization.

Learn more about Peder Inge Furseth here

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