Hhgregg is a retail company that specializes in electronics and appliances. The company has a mascot, known as "hh," which is depicted as a large blue letter "H" with arms and legs. The mascot is often seen in the company's advertisements and promotional materials. The hhgregg mascot is designed to be friendly and approachable, with a smiling face and a cheerful demeanor. The mascot is often shown interacting with customers and employees, helping to create a positive and welcoming atmosphere in the store. The mascot has become a recognizable symbol of the hhgregg brand, helping to create brand loyalty and attract customers to the stores.
What Today’s Retailers Can Learn from the H.H.Gregg Bankruptcy
Location, location, location. It’s the #1 rule in real estate and very important in the retail landscape we’ve been dealing with since 2010, when the retail apocalypse began. H.H. Gregg’s story is a cautionary tale that can teach us much about how stores can survive if they are in a mall that suffers the closure of a retail giant.
H.H.Gregg filed for bankruptcy in March 2017. About 60 days later, all 220 of the American appliance and electronics chain’s stores had been closed. Since June 2017, the brand and all H.H.Gregg intellectual property have been owned by Valor LLC, which turned the brand into an online retailer. This bankruptcy was different, partly why University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business associate professor Wilbur Chung and his co-author Siddharth Sharma, of the Indian School of Business, decided to focus on it.
“What’s kind of unique about this is there’s this whole retail apocalypse, store chains are dying,” says Chung. “They’ve been dying this slow death like Toys “R” Us didn’t go belly up all at once. They closed a bunch of stores, then some other stores, but what’s unique about H.H. Gregg is they went belly up all at once like the whole thing.” This provided the opportunity to look at how that quick closure affected stores that were in the same malls as H.H. Greggs.
Chung and Sharma’s research finds that when an H.H. Gregg closed, “on average all of the stores in the mall suffer. The likelihood of death (closure)is 6 times more if you’re in a mall that had an H.H. Gregg depart.” Chung says it’s about demand agglomeration. If you look at a shopping mall as a demand agglomeration economy, there’s a confluence of anchor stores that draw a lot of consumer traffic, and the smaller stores in the mall benefit from that. Some of the stores are competitors, but the volume of shoppers that come into all of the stores outweighs that competition. Size matters as well. Other anchor stores in a mall with a closed H.H. Gregg, “they can slough it off,” says Chung but as for small stores, “the closer you are to the H.H. Gregg, that’s bad.” They tended to see sales decrease and may have ended up closing.
What can today’s retailers learn from this ill-fated retail giant’s story and the research that Chung has co-authored regarding it? He says there are a couple of ways of thinking about it. “Given that there are stores shutting down, you can think about if you’re a retailer, which malls are going to be healthier versus less healthy?” Look at “the composition of tenants(what they sell) and if certain chains are going to shut down how you might be affected by that.” Chung adds, retailers “can use (the research) in some sense like I’m in the mall with a Bed, Bath and Beyond, how far am I away(from it), how big is my store and what’s the composition of other stores (in the mall).” Retailers should also consider, “what’s the likelihood that this store (Bed, Bath and Beyond) is going to be a problem store for me.”
CNN reports though America’s retailers have remained surprisingly strong during the pandemic, a slowing economy may bring a fresh wave of store closures and bankruptcies. The report says Bed, Bath and Beyond is one of several retailers that may not survive a recession.
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Advertising / hhgregg
hhgregg is a electronics and appliances retailer from the United States. They have a series of commercials featuring their mascot, hh, a sentient rolled-up hhgregg advertisement. The commercials primarily feature him, but he does interact with other hhgregg employees in certain commercials, voiced by Wally Wingert. hh was featured in commercials between 2009 and 2011. When hhgregg became an online business in 2017, they brought back hh as the company's mascot and featured him in social media posts.
A mostly complete collection of commercials featuring hh can be found here .
The mascot has become a recognizable symbol of the hhgregg brand, helping to create brand loyalty and attract customers to the stores. The mascot is often seen in television commercials, billboards, and other forms of advertising, helping to spread awareness of the company and its products. Overall, the hhgregg mascot is an important part of the company's marketing strategy, helping to create a friendly and inviting atmosphere for customers and reinforcing the brand's image as a trusted provider of electronics and appliances.
Tropes exhibited by hh and the commercials featuring him:
- Abandoned Mascot: hhgregg didn't use hh during the last few years of the company's original lifespan, but they brought him back after they became an online retailer.
- all lowercase letters: hh's name is rendered in lowercase letters, to fit the name of the retailer which is usually stylized with lowercase letters as well.
- . And 99¢: Everything hh lists off in the "Christmas in July" commercial is just one dollar below an even number.
- And the Rest: In the "Red Tag Sale" commercial, hh acknowledges Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Whirlpool, LG, and everybody else.
- Animate Inanimate Object: hh is a sentient version of an hhgregg paper ad.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: hh addresses the viewer in a New Year's commercial to talk about family discounts.
- Character Narrator: In some commercials, hh himself narrates the commercials on top of other footage/graphics related to the store.
- Christmas in July: The well-known "Christmas in July" commercial features hh singing the store's latest deals to the tune of "Deck the Halls" while mentioning that it's Christmas in July. Based on the end of the commercial, nobody else is celebrating with him.
- Christmas Songs: hh sings "Deck the Halls" in multiple commercials. He sings "The 12 Days of Christmas" in another commercial.
- Dreaming of a White Christmas: Despite it being July, it's just cold enough for somebody to throw a snowball at hh at the end of the "Christmas in July" commercial. hh lampshades this:
"A snowball in July?"
"Was I supposed to know this stuff?"
"No, we are, at TV Tropes!"
H. H. Gregg "H. H." (partially lost advertisements from American retail chain; 2009-2011)
H. H. Gregg (stylized as "hhgregg") is an American then-retail chain, now-online store for home appliances and consumer electronics. From 2009 to 2011, the company used a mascot called HH (also referred to as "h.h.") for its TV commercials, radio spots and other media. After H. H. Gregg's revival in 2017 from filing for bankruptcy previously the same year, HH was briefly used again on the company's social media and website, although no new commercials were made using him.
HH has the appearance of a rolled-up H. H. Gregg newspaper with floating limbs similar in fashion to the video game character Rayman. The mascot was voice acted by Wally Wingert, who also played characters like Jon Arbuckle in The Garfield Show and Almighty Tallest Red in Invader Zim. [1] The television commercials mostly featured HH goofing around either inside or outside an H. H. Gregg store, announcing what the retailer has to offer. A common format within the commercials includes HH parodying classic songs, like The Twelve Days of Christmas. Another common format starts with HH checking out an item, before an H. H. Gregg employee steps in to boast about the item; all while HH listens in awe. These usually end with HH asking the employee: ". Am I supposed to know this stuff?" to which the employee answers: "No, we are, at H. H. Gregg!"
Two renders of HH.The character was largely forgotten about after its original run, until 2015, when the Christmas in July Sale 2010 commercial gained attention from meme communities. The commercial features HH standing outside an H. H. Gregg store, singing to the melody of Deck the Halls about a Panasonic Blu-Ray player for $99, a 32-inch LCD TV for $299, and an LG 42-inch HDTV for $489. HH then gets hit by a snowball, which he in response asks: "A snowball in July?" before finishing his song. The commercial became commonly used in music mash-ups, such as one with the Daft Punk song Doin' It Right called "doin", which garnered more than half a million views on YouTube. Since gaining meme status, commercials starring HH became fairly sought after.
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Reviews for "The Hhgregg Mascot's Social Media Strategy: Engaging with Fans Online"
1. John - 2 stars - I really did not enjoy the Hhgregg mascot. The character just seemed so forced and awkward. It did not add any value to my shopping experience. In fact, it was quite annoying having this mascot constantly trying to interact with me while I was browsing. I found it to be a distraction rather than something enjoyable. I think Hhgregg should really reconsider the use of this mascot as it does not enhance the customer experience at all.
2. Sarah - 1 star - The Hhgregg mascot was absolutely awful. I don't understand why they thought it was a good idea to have a human-sized appliance running around the store. It was creepy and off-putting. Instead of focusing on finding what I needed, I couldn't take my eyes off that mascot, constantly trying to grab my attention. It made me feel uncomfortable and I couldn't wait to leave the store. Hhgregg needs to listen to customer feedback and get rid of this mascot as soon as possible.
3. Michael - 2 stars - The Hhgregg mascot was an unnecessary addition to the store. It didn't serve any purpose and felt like a desperate attempt at being quirky. The mascot didn't fit the brand image at all and seemed out of place. It was also quite noisy and disruptive, continuously making loud noises and gestures that were more annoying than entertaining. Overall, I was not impressed with the mascot and found it to be more of a nuisance than anything else.
4. Emily - 1 star - I absolutely despised the Hhgregg mascot. It was incredibly annoying and did nothing but annoy customers. I felt like I couldn't browse in peace without being bothered by this mascot trying to engage me in some sort of silly act. It was very unprofessional and made the shopping experience unenjoyable. I can't believe a company would think that having a mascot like this would be a good idea. Hhgregg should focus on improving their customer service instead of relying on gimmicks like this mascot.
5. David - 2 stars - The Hhgregg mascot was just plain weird. I didn't understand the purpose behind it and it didn't add anything positive to my shopping experience. It felt forced and unnecessary. The mascot was constantly in your face, trying to grab your attention, instead of letting customers browse in peace. I found it to be more of a distraction than anything else. Hhgregg should reconsider their decision to have a mascot and focus on providing better customer service instead.