Marketing Tactics

Mars Petcare has opened a state-of-the-art, Gold-LEED certified $110 million global innovation center in Thompson's Station, Tennessee. The new campus is the third Mars Petcare innovation center and first in the United States.

The company selected the location in Thompson's Station in part because Tennessee is home to Mars facilities in Cleveland, Chattanooga, Lebanon and Franklin (two locations).

Seattle - Starbucks Corp. opens its first community store in Korea, located in the Daehakro neighborhood of Seoul, on Oct. 1. Thirty cents from every purchase at this store will go to Green Umbrella ChildFund Korea (GUCFK) to directly support lifelong skills development for youth through the Starbucks Comprehensive Youth Leadership Program.

Austin, Texas - Based on previous savings experienced during the holiday season in 2013 and projected industry growth in 2014, U.S. shoppers have the opportunity to save more than $5 billion dollars by using deal and offer websites during the upcoming holiday season. According to a new study from RetailMeNot and Dr. Jason Abrevaya, Ph.D., economics department chair at the University of Texas at Austin, consumers have the potential to save more than $200 an hour while using RetailMeNot.com, or $34 in 10 minutes.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Shoppers are planning to spend less money and purchase gifts for fewer people this holiday season compared to last year, while also maximizing their budgets through Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and online cost comparison, according to the CFI Group 2014 Holiday Retail Spending Report: Black Friday is Back.  

PowerReviews, a leading provider of ratings, reviews and question-and-answer technology, is partnering with Olapic, a visual commerce platform for collecting, curating and sharing customer photos and videos on e-commerce sites.

The companies believe their strategic partnership can help brands and retailers create more authentic and compelling e-commerce experiences by capturing and embedding user-generated content such as ratings, reviews, images and video directly into the purchase path.

Staples has kicked off a nationwide tour called "Refresh. Recharge. Refuel." The tour aims to encourage office workers across the country to take a break from the daily grind by visiting a large-scale, popup break room stocked with free snacks, coffee and other beverages.

As part of the tour, Staples will host public break room events in 10 major U.S. cities including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, San Diego and Los Angeles.

Port Washington, N.Y. – Spending during the total back-to-school season (nine weeks ending Sept. 6, 2014) on traditional supplies increased 2% from 2013, with e-commerce acting as a key catalyst at more than 20% growth during the same time period. According to new data from The NPD Group Inc., most back-to-school shopping occurs at retail brick-and-mortar stores (88%), but 2014 online sales claimed an estimated $33 million previously held by brick-and-mortar retailers.

San Francisco - Only one-in-nine marketers use advanced cross-channel attribution methods, and among those using attribution, 28% still use single click methods. According to a new survey of 106 advertisers, agencies, and analytics professionals in the U.S. and Europe performed by Forrester Consulting for predictive marketing software provider Kenshoo, advanced marketers use sophisticated multi-touch attribution models to inform a broad array of strategic and tactical decisions in more detail and with more speed.