J.C. Penney apologizes for screwing up (Video)

The struggling chain tries to put its best foot forward in a spot that acknowledges all the mistakes it made under CEO Ron Johnson, who stepped down last month. "It's no secret, recently J.C. Penney changed," the ad begins. "Some changes you liked and some you didn't, but what matters with mistakes is what we learn." Apologies of this sort are fine - Netflix, BP, and Coca-Cola all came out of their miscues - but J.C. Penney's problems require a wholesale overhaul and that won't be easy. From Bloomberg:

Leading the charge to fix J.C. Penney's brand is Sergio Zyman, the former Coca-Cola Co. advertising executive. He was brought in as an adviser by Johnson in February and oversaw the development of the ad. Now he's heading the chain's marketing efforts. He's best known for overseeing the disastrous release of New Coke in 1985, and now he has another reclamation project on his hands. At Coca-Cola, he rebounded from New Coke by reversing course quickly and bringing back the original formula. He branded it Coca-Cola Classic, won back customers and sales increased.