Entertainment Tie-ins / Licensing

Bloomington, Minn. -- Mall of America is adding a big experiential retail destination.

Crayola plans to open an interactive attraction that combines retail and entertainment in the nation’s largest shopping mall. The 60,000-sq.-ft. Crayola Experience is slated to open at the Bloomington, Minnesota, mega-mall in the summer of 2016. It will be the third location for the format, which recently opened in the Florida Mall, in Orlando, Florida. (The original Crayola Experience is in the company’s home town of Easton, Pennsylvania.)

Minneapolis – One way Target is trying to make shopping for school supplies hassle-free is with the School List Assist online hub. Currently in beta, School List Assist offers a curated assortment of the most common K-8 supplies on the list. Parents can purchase the school supplies their kids need and then pick them up in store or have them shipped to their homes.

The latest back-to-school promotion from Staples includes deeper discounts, a free trip to California for 50 students, and a new TV advertising campaign.

“This is our 29th back-to-school season at Staples. We’re using or knowledge and expertise to help parents, students and teachers get 110% ready for school with our lowest price guarantee,” Parneros said. “Whether shopping on Staples.com or in our stores with our amazing associates, Staples makes it easy to shop for students in elementary school through college.”

A unique sponsorship and promotional effort that only a retailer based in Southern California would think of is set to begin August 1.

Petco is the title sponsor of the Unleashed by Petco SurfDog Competition to be held in Imperial Beach just south of San Diego on August 1. It is the 10th time the event has been held and the second year San Diego-based Petco has served as lead sponsor to promote its relatively new 100 store Unleashed by Petco concept which focuses on natural and organic products.

Batavia, Ill. -- Comedian Ben Bailey is doing his thing in an Aldi supermarket as opposed to his usual taxi cab.

Aldi, the fast-growing deep-discount supermarket chain, has teamed up with Ben Bailey, best known as host of the former TV series "Cash Cab,” in an online video series. Described as equal parts education and entertainment, the series is designed to help introduce Aldi to new customers across the United States and in Southern California specifically, where it is planning to open approximately 45 new stores in 2016.

A revamped lineup of the heavily litigated, occasionally controversial and highly profitable line of Bratz dolls has returned to retail.

MGA Entertainment announced that the Bratz – Cloe, Yasmin, Sasha and Jade – would return to store shelves this summer. To give fans of the brands the opportunity to reserve their doll of choice, MGA partnered with Toys "R" Us to offer an exclusive online pre-sell of the new core collection. Until July 25, the public will be able to purchase Bratz dolls on the Toys"R"Us website and receive a free gift.

A new character line with first-of-its-kind multimedia elements is now available on Build-A-Bear Workshop’s web site and in its 400 stores.

San Francisco – Never mind Gen Y, the millennial generation that roughly ends with young consumers born in 2000.

Williams-Sonoma tween and tween banner PBteen is targeting the post-2000 “Gen Z” audience with an original six-episode Web series called “Revved Up Rooms.”