Marketing

Naperville, Ill. – OfficeMax Inc. is expanding its offering of private-label writing products by 75%. The new products include pens, mechanical pencils, highlighters and permanent markers. OfficeMax is offering more private label writing items while it is also restyling existing ones.

"Our new and re-styled OfficeMax brand writing products round out our private brand solutions to meet a variety of price points and writing needs for our customers," said Ronald Lalla, executive VP, chief merchandising officer at OfficeMax.

Secaucus, N.J. – The Children’s Place is partnering with Israeli fashion chain Fox-Wizel Ltd. to open stores in Israel, starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. The two companies inked a 10-year franchise agreement.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy has appointed Ivo Weevers as the company’s creative director of mobile design. Weevers will be charged with leading and managing the mobile consumer experience team.

Weevers has 15 years of experience in creating mobile, web, device and desktop products across multiple platforms. He has directed design work and lead international design teams in the telecom, device, social media, banking, travel, entertainment, medical automotive industries.

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack has named marketing and communications executive Merianne Roth as the company’s new VP of communications, a newly created role at the electronics retailer.

She joins RadioShack from the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she was VP of marketing and communications. Her background includes leadership roles for J.C. Penney, where she was director of consumer brand marketing and publicity, and Pier 1 Imports, where she served as senior manager of public relations.

PLANO, Texas — Snapple has taken a page from Seinfeld, the often self-described “show about nothing,” in its latest marketing gambit. 

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney became the latest retail chain to say it will stop selling products associated with celebrity chef Paula Deen following her admission she has made racially derogatory remarks.

In addition, Ballantine Books has ended an agreement with her to publish five books. That agreement included "Paula Deen's New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up,” which was scheduled for release in October 2013 and had reached number one in presales on Amazon.com and the Barnes and Noble website.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Anheuser-Busch’s Fort Collins brewery is celebrating its 25th birthday.

The brewery took nearly three and a half years to construct, and according to the company was designed based on generations of brewmaster expertise. The state-of-the-art fixture has since undergone three expansions, with the last one having been completed April 2003, and which included a brewhouse renovation, additional grain silos, expansion of the fermentation and aging cellars, an additional warehouse and a new truck entrance.  

Minneapolis -- Target said it plans to open a new store in Spokane, Wash., in July 2014.

The 135,000-sq.-ft. store, part of the Regal Plaza shopping center, will be the retailer’s third location in the Spokane area.