Macy’s is wedging itself into a popular novel based on women who shaped the department store business and adapting the bestseller by Julie Satow into a scripted television series.
Satow’s book, “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion,” features executives like Dorothy Shaver, a chief merchant at Lord & Taylor in the mid-20th century who eventually led the company and whose signature became its sweeping cursive logo, as well as Hortense Odlum from Bonwit Teller and Geraldine Stutz from Henri Bendel.
The retailer said it is adding Margaret Getchell, “the trailblazing executive who transformed Macy’s in the 19th century” and was reportedly responsible for its red star logo, to the adaption.
These women recognized the potential of the department store and female consumer power, and their innovations helped evolve and propel the retail format.
“These are stories of resilience, ambition and creativity — women who understood the power of storytelling and branding long before it was a business strategy,” Macy’s Chief Marketing Officer Sharon Otterman, who led the deal, said in a statement.
Brands are increasingly leveraging their history and IP for various projects, epitomized in recent years by the blockbuster success of the Barbie movie in 2023.
The project is in its early stages, with a showrunner and cast yet to be attached. It is part of a wider content strategy that includes Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and 4th of July Fireworks, which attract not just attendees but also TV viewers. The retailer recently signed a 10-year rights deal with NBCUniversal, for both events to be featured on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo. Last year, the 98th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade reached a record 31.7 million viewers and the fireworks drew 7.6 million viewers, the company said.
