BUSINESS

THE IVIARKETING 111AVEN

From WXYZ to Kmart, Barbara Loren's name is a household word.

One of those leaders is
Kmart Corporation's Joe
Antonini.
Five years ago, Mr. Anto-
nini, then Kmart's newly-
promoted chairman, ap-
proached Ms. Loren with a
challenge — to increase
business in the chain's kit-
chen/home department.
The two met previously, dur-
ing Ms. Loren's tenure as
retail marketing director for
ABC Television, WXYZ, and
Scripps-Howard Television
Stations.
Mr. Antonini, then presi-
dent of apparel for Kmart, was
impressed with Ms. Loren's

SUSAN KNOPPOW

Special to The Jewish News

B

Susan Knoppow is a free-lance
writer from Royal Oak.

From her first job
at age 14, Ms.
Loren has
developed an
almost uncanny
ability to interpret
and predict the
buying public's
moods and needs.

.

research presentation.
"If I ever become president
of this company, I'm going to
get people like that from the
outside," he told others after
that first New Jersey meeting.
Soon after, Mr. Antonini
noticed a Detroit Free Press ar-
ticle about Ms. Loren's deci-
sion to leave ABC to begin an
independent marketing con-
sulting firm.
"In two weeks I'll become
president (of Kmart Corpora-
tion)," she recalls him saying.
"I'd love to have you on my
team."
She accepted the invitation.
And today, Ms. Loren remains
a key player, serving as a
member of a special four-
person advisory committee to
the CEO.
In response to Mr. An-
tonini's request to improve
Kmart's kitchen/home busi-
ness, Ms. Loren developed a
concept which has proven
more than successful. Pre-
liminary research led her to
libraries and favorite book-
stores, where Martha Ste-
wart's name was showing up
everywhere.
"I was too cheap to buy the
book," she says. "So I took the

Photo by Glenn Triest

arbara Loren Sny-
der appears slightly
amazed by her suc-
cess.
"I can't paint," she laughs.
"I can't play the piano. I can't
do anything with my hands
. . . but I create things here."
She points to her head.
Ms. Loren's multi-faceted
advertising and marketing
career testifies to her creative
spirit and ability to ac-
complish nearly anything she
puts her mind to. "I am so for-
tunate," she says. "I don't
know why, but I have this in-
credible career that started
from a fluke."
That "fluke" was the Wen-
dy Ward concept, developed in
the late 1960s with Loretta
Lorion, which launched her
career. Noting that depart-
ment stores appeared com-
pletely disinterested in young
people's business, Ms. Loren
recognized an opportunity,
and approached Ward's
Livonia store with a new idea
— why not reach out to teen-
agers? Encourage them to
shop, rather than hoping they
stay out of the stores.
While Loretta Lorion baby-
sat for Randy, Ms. Loren's
then-infant son, the young
woman met with Stan Hart
from Montgomery Ward. "He
said to me, 'You go home and
formulate your executive plan,
and come back for another
meeting. We like it.' "
"I didn't know what an exec-
utive plan was," she recalls.
It didn't matter. Her plan
worked. Barbara Loren spent
six years with Montgomery
Ward; Wendy Ward lasted for
20.
In the meantime, Ms. Loren
furthered her career, becom-
ing a vice president at Federal
Department Stores at 28, and
moving from there into adver-
tising, television marketing,
and eventually independent
consulting.
Over the years, she built her
own reputation among De-
troit's business leaders, and
increased her clients' success.

Barbara Loren Snyder
reads about the
image she created.

name and city off the book
flap, and I just placed a call to
information. I said 'Do you
have a telephone number for
Martha Stewart?' and they
said, 'Of course we do: I was
shocked! So I called her, and
the rest is history."
Kmart's Martha Stewart
campaign, originally con-
tracted for five years with an
option for an additional five
years, has been a success, and
will be extended again.
As with the Kmart busi-
ness, things have tended to
work out for this successful
businesswoman. From her
first job at age 14 in a Detroit
dimestore, to her current posi-
tion as head of Loren Snyder
Marketing, Ms. Loren has

developed an almost uncanny
ability to interpret and predict
the buying public's moods and
needs.
Clients, including Mr. An-
tonini, may not always
understand Ms. Loren's
methods, but they do trust her
instincts. Kmart was original-
ly quite skeptical of her
"Christmas in America" idea,
but they agreed to pursue it.
When Harper and Row ap-
proached Ms. Loren in 1987 to
market their book Christmas
in America, her wheels began
turning. The book, one in a
series called "A Day in the
Life of America," chronicles 50
photographers' images of
Christmas nationwide.
"You can create a Christmas

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

51