Marketing Tactics

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- “The Chore Score,” an app that allows parents to create chore lists for their kids with rewards that can be redeemed at Sears stores or Sears.com, won the recent Sears Startup & Developer Challenge. The contest, held for three days, featured more than 150 participants using the Sears development API to create apps that would strengthen the experience of the Sears Shop Your Way membership program.

Seattle -- Nordstrom is expanding its partnership with Britain’s fashion-forward women’s apparel brand, Topshop, as well its men’s unit, Topman. Beginning in September, Nordstrom will add 28 Topshop departments and eight Topman departments in stores across the country.

As part of the expansion, Nordstrom and Topshop will partner on a national campaign.

It could be a smaller-store footprint. Or a design makeover. Or a totally new format. But there comes a time when even the largest and most successful retailers need to freshen up or rethink their store identities. Here's a look at four brands that are trying on new looks.

San Francisco -- Levi’s announced several management changes in an effort to drive innovative product and consumer engagement campaigns around the globe.

Jennifer Sey, the current senior VP of e-commerce, will become the global chief marketing officer for the Levi’s brand.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Kellogg's has teamed up with Scholastic as well as actor and children's book author Taye Diggs to promote childhood literacy and the importance of having books in the home. 

In a public service announcement, Diggs explains how U.S. families can help give kids great starts with great stories by placing 200,000 books into home libraries, schools and local communities.

By Dawn Palmer, Accenture

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General is teaming up with Procter & Gamble to honor the nation’s schools and teachers as part of the company’s Every Day Heroes program.

Through its “Success Starts Here” national marketing campaign, including an advertorial in Better Homes & Gardens, the program recognized Boone County High School in Florence, Ky., and one of its teachers, Kimberly Shearer.

New York -- Parents shopping for back –to-school goods react positively to ads that focus on sales and deals to maximize their appeal to shoppers, according to SAP Retail, and they react negatively to commercials that only serve as a reminder of the season. Using SAP’s social media analytics software, the company gathered social sentiment around the 2013 back-to-school season, analyzing more than 600,000 conversations across social channels, including Twitter and Facebook.