• by Sarah Mahoney , November 19, 2010

To make sure it gets its share of Black Friday traffic, Macy's is launching a series of comical new 15-second spots.

In one, Martha Stewart brandishes a rooster and wakes a snoozing couple up. In another, Jessica Simpson serenades them with a song from her holiday album. And in a third, stragglers from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade wander through the bedroom, reminding the pair that Macy's is opening its doors at 4 a.m.

"Essentially, they are quick, fun 'wake up and get here early' messages," a spokesperson explains.

Target is also running a series of comical ads, featuring the same sweat-suited woman the Minneapolis-based chain introduced last year, in training for the big shopping event.

Retailers are hoping that this Black Friday will be a strong one. And industry experts are now predicting that Black Friday will be bigger than any since 2006 -- at least in terms of bodies storming the malls.

The National Retail Federation predicts 138 million people will hit the stores over Black Friday weekend. That includes 60 million who say they will definitely shop, plus another 78 million who plan to wait and see what kind of deals are out there. And 82.5 million say they definitely won't shop that weekend.

Women, younger people, and those in the south are somewhat more likely to brave the crowds than others.

"The rules for Black Friday have changed significantly," the NRF says in its release. "Instead of waiting until Thanksgiving Day to announce their promotions, many retailers are getting shoppers excited about Black Friday by offering sneak peeks of deals in advance, using social media to create buzz, or teasing upcoming deals on their websites."

The survey, conducted by BIGResearch, also reports that retailers will try to drive Black Friday traffic via the Internet, with 54.9% planning to email customers about in-store bargains, 39.2 and 39.2% posting information on their Facebook pages, 31% using the home page of their website, and 21.6% using Twitter.