Digital Marketing

Walmart will have to trust that their @WalmartLabs team is ready to take on the growing challenges of the company's online business now that Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman have stepped down as co-heads.

Harinarayan and Rajaraman became the heads of @WalmartLabs last year when Walmart bought their company Kosmix as a means of enhancing its e-commerce platform through social media.

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You can learn a lot by monitoring consumer conversations in social media. It can predict political elections, the Oscars and even the next reality show winner. If you are a CPG marketer, social media can also be a real-time predictor of your new product’s success.

Armonk, N.Y. -- A survey released Thursday by IBM found that chief marketing officers and chief information officers must join forces in order to connect with today’s consumer across new channels including mobile devices and social networks.

Retailers are always looking for new ways to reach customers, and the race to get onto Facebook walls and news feeds to increase brand exposure has never been greater.

But instead of shelling out dollars to pay for traditional Facebook ads and online banners, many companies are allowing shoppers to do the grunt work for them in an organic way. One of the latest trends is combining social sharing with gift giving, so consumers can send presents — from gift cards to apparel — to others via Facebook.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif — Struggling specialty retailer PacSun is hoping a new campaign and some re-branding will help turn things around. To rebuild its image, the company has enlisted Juxt Interactive to create an immersive brand experience designed to coincide with the formal unveiling of the retailer’s new “Golden State of Mind” positioning, which includes the website GSOM.com, and is supposed to reflect the fluid, relaxed nature of the Golden State.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Callaway Golf Company has named Harry Arnett as SVP marketing. In this role, Arnett assumes leadership of the company's global marketing, communications and go-to-market functions.  The announcement was made by Chip Brewer, president and CEO, Callaway Golf.

New York -- School is just ending in some areas of the Northeast, and already the first back-to-school shopping survey has been released. The survey, by online shopping site PriceGrabber, reveals that nearly half (46%) of consumers are planning to spend more this back-to-school shopping season than in 2011. In comparison, only 13% of shoppers planned to spend more last year, and this data was reflected in an overall disappointing back-to-school season for retailers in 2011.

New York  -- Macy’s, Sephora, Michael Kors and Lancome were ranked as Facebook “geniuses” in the second annual L2 Facebook IQ Index, developed in partnership with Buddy Media, a social enterprise software firm.