Media Advertising

Wayne, N.J. — Toys“R”Us raised $4 million and collected nearly 350,000 toys during its 2012 charitable holiday campaign to benefit the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

The toy retailer teamed up with retired NBA basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, and encouraged customers to “Give Back with Shaq” by making new, unwrapped toy donations in Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores nationwide, as well as monetary contributions in-store and online.

NEW YORK — Tecate and Tecate Light announced the launch of their national retail program focused on helping U.S. Hispanics 21 and older celebrate their passion for football. The brand equity will place bilingual thematic POS materials with the slogan "A Man Knows How to Choose His Team," cross-merchandise and consumer promotions at off-premise locations across the country between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15, 2013.

GLENVIEW, Ill. —  Kraft has joined with other leading advertisers willing to plunk down several million dollars for the opportunity to air a 30 second sport promoting its MiO brand water enhancer during the Super Bowl XLVII on February 3.

St. Louis -- Famous Footwear, a division of Brown Shoe Co., said Tuesday it has selected Cincinnati-based Empower MediaMarketing as its media agency of record.

Empower will work with Famous Footwear to reach its target customer, as well as to help drive sales online and in-store.
 
“The landscape of paid, owned and earned media continues to change, and Famous Footwear needs to make sure its marketing efforts are effective and efficient,” said Amy Rose, media manager, Famous Footwear.

Kansas City-based advertising agency Barkley was hired by Big Lots to help the closeout retailer with a broad range of marketing and brand strategy initiatives.

Barkley will provide Big Lots with full-service advertising and marketing duties including brand strategy, and broadcast, print and in-store executions. Barkley will also partner with Big Lots on web strategy and execution.

PLANO, Texas — Dr Pepper has launched its latest advertising campaign featuring real people and their “one-of-a-kind” stories.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe’s Creative Ideas magazine is extending its reach into cyber territory to offer consumers home-improvement project ideas for the New Year.

Since its launch in 1998, the nearly 15-year-old magazine has enjoyed what it touts as one of the largest circulations for a free publication nationwide. Evolving with the times, the magazine now has a top-rated free iPad app in the iTunes Newsstand, as well as a robust following on Pinterest and more than 1,000 how-to videos available online at YouTube.com/Lowes.

The way in which retailers market to consumers has undergone considerable change in recent years, particularly in light of the popularity of social media platforms. Indeed, social media has become essential to retailers’ marketing efforts, according to a recent BDO USA survey, which found that 86% of retail CMOs included social media in their holiday 2012 marketing plans.