• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, March 1, 2010

JC Penney says it will unleash its spring campaign, emphasizing its commitment to a higher level of fashion, during the Academy Awards presentation on Sunday.

While the Plano, Tex.-based retailer has spent as much of the recession slashing prices as the next chain, it has also been trying to add to its style stable, introducing exclusive brands and partnerships, ranging from Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen to Cindy Crawford, as well as the continued rollout of its Sephora and Mango store-within-a-store concepts.

The new ads, themed "New look. New day. Who knew," are intended to highlight those introductions. The broadcast will even include a spot for men's fashion, a first for the company. (Once again, Penney is the show's exclusive retail sponsor.)

"We have made it our mission to bring a level of affordable style to our customers that they cannot find anywhere else. For those who have not shopped with us recently, customers will see it as a new day for JCPenney," the company's CEO says in its release. "Highlighting some of our most-coveted brands, our new, integrated marketing campaign is designed to show America what they will discover at JCPenney."

A company spokesperson says it makes sense to launch the Saatchi & Saatchi-created ads during the Academy Awards, since "we consider the Oscars the Super Bowl for women," she says. "We expect at least 33 million viewers for this year's awards show, and maybe more, now that the Oscars is including 10 films for Best Picture."

In addition to several spots highlighting women's fashion brands and the men's fashion spot, it will also air a spot for the Cindy Crawford Style brand of home furnishings, and a spot for its new Juniors brand, Olsenboye, is set to break during pre-Oscar coverage on both ABC and E.

The company says the campaign will also include print, social and online components, with broadcast commercials continuing to run over the next few weeks during primetime, cable, and to Hispanic audiences during Penney's exclusive retail sponsorship of Univision's Premio lo Nuestro show.

The spokesperson ads will not focus on the American living collection, the Penney partnership with Ralph Lauren. "No additional/separate broadcast spots for American Living are planned," she says.

Recently, the company announced that its fourth-quarter sales had fallen 3.6%, while comparable-store sales had slipped 4.5% -- somewhat better than its earlier forecasts.