Marketing

Kellogg’s has teamed up with New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-nominated TV personality and board-certified emergency medicine physician Dr. Travis Stork in a campaign that touts the importance of breakfast and positions the brand as a valuable source of protein grains.

The company plans to promote various cereal brands such as All Bran, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Raisin Bran and Special K Original by pointing out how much protein and other essential nutrients can be found in one serving plus one cup of skim milk.

Jos. A. Bank continued the positive trend of increases in adjusted earnings that it saw in the second half of 2013. Comparable brand sales increased by double digits in the first two months of the first quarter, and despite slowing down after Easter, still resulted in an 8.4% increase.

According to a Reuters report, Amazon is making headway into the online payments arena, which has long been dominated by PayPal.

The article says Amazon will start managing subscription payments for startups and other companies as soon as Monday. The service, according to the report, will allow the company's more than 240 million active users to use credit card details stored on Amazon.com to pay for services such as a monthly phone bill or a digital music subscription — for a fee on each transaction payable to Amazon.

Lowe's has named Paul D. Ramsay as chief information officer, effective immediately. Ramsay, who has been serving as acting CIO since March, will report to Richard D. Maltsbarger, who was himself appointed chief development officer. 

Ramsay is responsible for day-to-day operations of Lowe's IT organization, including the continued development of a technology portfolio designed to seamlessly support the operations of the company's stores, distribution network, e-commerce platforms and future business technology needs. 

Shopzilla, a leading platform that connects 50 million retail shoppers monthly with online marketers, has consolidated three marketing-centric business units — Audience Discovery and Activation Services — under the Connexity brand name.

“Connexity will uniquely combine consumer insights and media buying within the same programmatic platform, helping marketers to learn more about their customers, discover valuable audiences, and activate new consumers at scale,” the company said in a statement.

The OurPet's Company, a leading proprietary pet supply company, has promoted Gabriella DeSantis to VP of marketing.

DeSantis joined the company in July 2012 as senior director of marketing and has been responsible for overseeing the execution of the company's new two-brand marketing strategy. The company also credits her with the successful launch of several new products.

Ulta Beauty has announced that Vanessa Wittman, SVP and CFO of Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility, has been appointed to its board and as a member of its audit committee.

Activist investor Carl Icahn on Friday reported a 9.4% stake in Family Dollar, making him the company’s largest shareholder and prompting concerns of a hostile takeover.
 
Family Dollar has responded by adopting a one-year shareholder rights plan with a 10% trigger that would prevent any investor from gaining a controlling interest of the company without board approval.
 

Silicon Valley saw some drama late Monday when PayPal announced that president David Marcus was leaving to lead Facebook’s messaging products.

The split was amicable with eBay president and CEO John Donahoe wishing Marcus well at Facebook.

Oak Brook, Ill. — The Inland Real Estate Group of Cos. has appointed Chong P. Huan chief information officer. He will direct all information technology initiatives for Inland and its member companies. In addition, Huan will serve as CEO of Inland Computer Services, Inland’s in-house IT and computer services department.