With private label, JC Penney goes upscale

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: What do you get when the JC Penney Co and the Polo Ralph Lauren Corp team up to sell an extensive new line of clothing and home furnishings? A branding mash-up that some might call Polo Penney.

Actually, the new brand, arriving at Penney next week after a year of planning, is grandly named American Living. Penney is describing the campaign to herald the arrival—on TV, in print, online, in movie theaters, through the mail and in stores—as the largest for any brand introduced since its founding in 1902.

Although the 40 categories of American Living merchandise are being supplied by Polo Ralph Lauren—the first time the company is creating a brand for another retailer—they will not bear the Ralph Lauren name nor any sub-brand like Chaps, Lauren Home, Polo or RLX.

“We really think the American Living brand can stand on its own,” said Michael Boylson, chief marketing officer at Penney in Plano, Texas, because “customers told us it really fills a void we had in our assortment.”

Besides, “if it had the Lauren name on it,” he added, “I think it would create some confusion.”

Some corporate-identity consultants wonder if the mash-up of two such disparate brands will mush up their images in the minds of consumers. “It’s an attempt to borrow equity from the Ralph Lauren brand, the absolute gold standard in fashion brands,” said Robert K Passikoff, president at Brand Keys, a research company that studies brand and customer loyalty.

“Are people willing to believe it?” Passikoff asked rhetorically. “It’s a great idea, but you’re likely better off putting something like that into a Macy’s.”

Passikoff likened the project to recent, failed efforts by Wal-Mart to elevate its image by selling more stylish and expensive clothing, which was advertised in unlikely places. “May I remind you that Wal-Mart ran ad pages in Vogue?” Passikoff said. “The ads were lovely, but no one would buy the clothing.”

Boylson said he believed that American Living’s presence in Penney retail outlets—600 stores, catalogs and two websites, americanliving.com and jcp.com—will “cast a halo effect on the total JC Penney brand, like Sephora.” His reference was to the successful opening of shops inside Penney stores by Sephora, the chain owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton that sells cosmetics and fragrances.

The American Living products will cost about 15% more than the highest-priced private labels now sold by Penney under brands like Concepts by Claiborne, Joneswear and Liz & Co.