Key takeaways:
- JCPenney learned that creative format could matter as much as the discount itself during a crowded holiday season last year, according to VP of Integrated Marketing Lisa Schoder.
- The retailer’s spoiler ads delivered 34% higher return on ad spend than non-spoiler ads, per Reddit Ads Manager and Reddit Brand Lift data.
- For back-to-school 2026, JCPenney is moving interactive and immersive formats earlier in the shopping journey rather than saving them for the final promotional push.
When JCPenney reviewed its Holiday 2025 marketing, one conclusion stood out. The offer alone wasn’t doing the heavy lifting.
“One of our biggest learnings was that creative format can be just as important as the offer itself,” said Lisa Schoder, JCPenney’s VP of Integrated Marketing, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “During a competitive holiday period, consumers can be inundated with promotional messaging, so simply having strong deals wasn’t enough to stand out.”
That takeaway shaped how the department store is approaching back-to-school, another crowded retail window where discounts pile up and shoppers tune much of it out. The company is keeping the parts of its Holiday ’25 Reddit strategy that worked and shifting the timing of others.
What JCPenney Learned From Holiday 2025
JCPenney’s holiday work on Reddit, run with agency Dentsu X, leaned on two platform-native ad formats. The first was the spoiler ad, which hides the creative — or in JCPenney’s case the deal — until a user taps to reveal it. The second was the free-form ad, a longer post that mixes text, images, video and links.
The results gave the team a reason to keep going. Spoiler ads drove 34% higher return on ad spend than non-spoiler ads, according to Reddit’s figures. The free-form ad produced a 6.7-point lift in ad awareness and a video completion rate 2.5 times more effective than benchmark.
Schoder said the performance of the interactive format caught her team off guard.
“What surprised us most was how a relatively simple interactive element could have such a meaningful impact on performance,” she said. “Shoppers responded positively to the element of discovery and surprise, and that translated into measurable business results. The 34% higher ROAS compared to non-spoiler ads was a strong reminder that consumers still reward creativity when it’s thoughtfully integrated into the platform experience.”
The broader lesson was about matching creative to how people actually behave on a given platform.
“The results reinforced that when we tailor creative to platform behavior rather than relying solely on standard social assets, we can drive both brand impact and business outcomes,” she said.
Photo: JCPenney.
What Changed for Back-to-School
JCPenney didn’t overhaul the approach so much as adjusted where it landed in the funnel for the back-to-school season. The holiday campaign used interactive formats largely to close the sale during peak buying. For back-to-school, the retailer wanted those same formats working earlier, while shoppers are still figuring out what they need.
“The holiday campaign gave us confidence that platform-native creative can drive performance, so we’re continuing to build on that approach,” Schoder said. “For back-to-school, we’re thinking about how to use interactive and immersive formats earlier in the consumer journey, helping shoppers discover solutions rather than only promoting products.”
That reflects a larger view Schoder has about where purchase decisions get made. Shoppers, she argued, increasingly weigh what other people say in community discussions before they buy.
“Consumers increasingly look to conversations and community-driven content when making purchase decisions, so we need to earn attention rather than buy it,” she said. “The goal is to make JCPenney feel like a natural part of those moments, rather than interrupting them.”
Why Reddit-Native Formats Behave Differently
Reddit’s pitch is that its ad formats borrow from habits that the platform’s users already have. Evan Wolf, Reddit’s Head of Mid-Market Sales for North America, said that familiarity is the point.
“Reddit-native formats tap into behaviors that are already familiar to Redditors, so the ad feels less like an interruption and more like something to discover or engage with,” Wolf said. He noted that the spoiler tag started as a way for communities to talk about movies, TV shows and books without ruining the ending. Spoiler ads reuse that mechanic, turning the reveal into part of the experience.
Wolf pointed to the environment itself as the reason storytelling formats can outperform standard units. Reddit reported that the free-form work drove a click-through rate 5.3 times more effective than the retailer’s business-as-usual traffic efforts.
“Reddit engagement is shaped by interests and real-world conversations, and people love to go deep into the topics they love,” Wolf said. “People come to compare products, seek recommendations, ask practical questions and discuss topics they care about. That makes Reddit a strong environment for storytelling because brands can meet consumers during active consideration with content that adds depth, personality and relevance.”
He cautioned that showing up natively doesn’t mean disguising the brand. “The first thing we tell brands is to show up as a brand,” Wolf said. “Being native to Reddit does not mean hiding who you are. Redditors value transparency, but they also expect brands to understand the community they are entering and contribute something useful.”
That balance matters most during the busiest retail stretches, he added. “Back-to-school and holiday are crowded, high-stakes moments,” Wolf said. “The brands that stand out understand the context, speak to the needs people are actually discussing, and provide something genuinely helpful.”
Landing on a skeptical, conversation-first platform required a different tone than a typical promotion. Schoder said the team wrote for the room.
“Our aim was to participate on the platform rather than disrupt it,” she said. “We incorporated Reddit-forward copy, community-inspired language, and a more conversational tone to align with how users naturally engage on Reddit.”
