Marketing Tactics

Texans love their football so what better way to drive traffic at the opening of a new Sam’s Club in Austin than enlisting some of the game’s biggest legends and rising stars.

Sam’s opened a new club in Austin on April 16 and to turn up the heat in a market accustomed to warehouse club shopping the retailer drafted notable players to appeal to fans of every generation.

St. Louis -- One of St. Louis’ oldest public companies and one of the nation’s most diverse footwear companies, Brown Shoe Company, is putting a new foot forward and changing its name to “Caleres,” a Latin word that means “passionate, to glow.” The Brown name, however, will live on in a new men’s footwear business called Brown Shoe Bootmakers that the company plans to launch in 2016.

Chattanooga, Tenn. - CBL & Associates Properties Inc. and Horizon Group Properties Inc. have begun construction on the second phase of The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta. The 33,000-sq.-ft. expansion is scheduled to open before the 2015 holiday season and will bring several popular retailers to the center, including Gap Outlet and Banana Republic.

Publix is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year with an annual day of service in which more than 4,000 of its employees will participate in service projects.

Publix employees across the company’s six operating states will be volunteering with more than 125 nonprofits whose focus is on youth, education or the plight of the hungry and homeless.

Merchandising and marketing concepts such as shoppable videos, digitized stores and social campaigns on Instagram and Twitter were alien ideas to retailers just a few years ago. Not anymore, according to Tom Ebling, CEO of cloud-based e-commerce solutions provider Demandware, who has a unique perspective on what it means to be a “connected brand.”

Corporate identities don’t get more generic than Brown Shoe Company which helps explain the shift to a new name but most customers won’t even notice.

Indianapolis - In partnership with Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd., Simon has opened the expansion of the Shisui Premium Outlets located outside Tokyo. Shisui Premium Outlets initially opened in April 2013.

This first phase of the project opened 100% leased with 121 stores featuring a mix of international brands, Japanese brands and restaurants. The second phase, opening April 17, adds 62 new stores, including four restaurants, bringing the total store count to 183. The expansion adds 136,000-sq.-ft. of stores, bringing the total project to 375,000-sq.-ft.

Foot Locker introduced its first smartphone mobile app and a new series of “Shoemoji” emoticons that enable a new type of communication among smartphone users.