Marketing Tactics

Framingham, Mass. - Staples Inc. is launching a new brand campaign featuring the “Staples Guy,” who showcases how the company helps small business customers succeed. The new campaign, which features radio, digital and social media, builds on the tagline “Make More Happen” to highlight the value, convenience and services that help Staples customers achieve success in surprising and affordable ways. The national campaign begins Sunday, Feb. 8.

The CVS Health Foundation is making a $5 million five-year commitment to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to launch a new grant program.

Through the “Making the Next Generation Tobacco-Free” program, the CVS Health Foundation will partner with Tobacco-Free Kids to provide grants to organizations committed to implementing public health strategies to reduce youth tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Austin, Texas – The husband or boyfriend who forgets to buy Valentines flowers until late in the day Feb. 14 now has a safeguard. Whole Foods Market and the Instacart grocery delivery app are offering Valentine’s flowers delivered in as little as one hour across 15 major U.S. metros.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in January 2014 vs. January 2015 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Target boosted circular pages used in January 2015 by 18%. Get Fit, Choose Well Eat Well, and Baby circular themes were seen at Target Y/Y. Target added a “Halftime Spread” theme Wrap section in the pre-big game circular featuring PepsiCo products and private label snack foods.

Sales of an exclusive holiday cookbook will allow Dillard’s to donate more than $900,000 to of Ronald McDonald House Charities.   For the seventh year in a row, Dillard's offered for sale a special edition of the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook to benefit RMHC.   

The Emerging Trends in Retail conference will take place at a new data and time, but the big news is that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Doug McMillon will headline the annual event put on by the Center for Retailing Excellence.  

Sally Beauty Holdings reported decreased profits for the first quarter, but the company’s just-named CEO says new marketing programs will be paying off soon.   Sally Beauty reported a profit of $54.9 million, or 35 cents a share, in its first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of $58 million, or 35 cents a share last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast a profit of 38 cents a share and sales increase of 3.7 percent to $975.1 million.  

New York -- U.S. retailers seeking to grow business with online shoppers across country borders should look to Canada, according to a report by Borderfree, a provider of international cross-border ecommerce solutions.