Before Toys R Us, where he worked for two years, Mr. Lennox was
with Zales Corp. and also spent time as a senior-level executive at
J. Walter Thompson. Macy's worked with JWT on its 'Believe' holiday campaign, but
announced earlier this year, following sexual harassment claims at
the agency, that it would switch things up for holiday 2016 by
tapping Figliulo & Partners and BBH New York. The third largest
marketer in retail after Amazon and Walmart, according to Ad
Age's Datacenter, Macy's spent $718.7 million on measured media in
the U.S. last year.
Mr. Lennox, who is 51, was unavailable for comment about his
plans for the storied department store. He starts on Sept. 15.
Faced with declining sales—Macy's recently reported a 3.9%
drop in second-quarter net sales to $5.7 billion—and an
exodus of brands such as Coach from the department store sector,
the department store chain has been making some drastic measures to
regain its retail footing. Last week, the company announced plans
to close 100, or 14% of its 728 stores, by early next year.
Toys R Us has not been immune either to the malaise affecting
the traditional retail industry and closed one of its most
recognizable flagships, in Times Square, earlier this year after
the shuttering of its FAO Schwarz outpost. Net sales at the chain
declined 4.5% in 2015 to $11.8 billion as the toy company strives
for a turnaround.