Media Advertising

New York -- Applied Predictive Technologies announced that Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen will license APT's Test & Learn software to test business initiatives such as menu strategies, pricing, and capital investments.  

Perhaps the most aggressive traffic and sales generating promotional effort this Black Friday comes courtesy of Old Navy.

The Old Navy division of Gap, Inc., plans to open its more than 800 stores at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving day and will price all merchandise at half off for 31 hours until stores close at 11 p.m. on Black Friday. And, if the 50% markdown isn’t sufficient to motivate shoppers, the retailer plans generate store traffic by giving away $1 million to one lucky customer and 1,000 $200 gift certificates.

General Growth Properties has unveiled Adventure to Santa, a DreamWorks DreamPlace first-of-its-kind holiday experience that starts with Shrek, ends with Santa and seamlessly blends storytelling with cutting-edge technology.   

New York -- Crocs Inc. has named McKinney as its global advertising agency of record. The agency will provide everything from creative and strategy support to media activation and brand management for all Crocs shoe collections.  

Recently, I participated in a strategic conference that included several sessions on how to effectively use advertising and promotion to reach moms, millennials, multiculturals and other shopper segments. Not surprisingly, significant emphasis was placed on the use of emerging digital and mobile media. But each session also reinforced that traditional media including television, radio, retail feature ads, and Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupons should not be undervalued.

London -- Leading British retailer Asda has partnered with ecommerce performance marketing company HookLogic to launch the company’s first venture into the European market.    

At a time when physical books are becoming an alien concept for younger consumer, Barnes & Noble has introduced a new ad campaign that positions books as, “a gift like no other.”

Pleasant Ridge, Mich. -- Belk has teamed with HelloWorld, a provider of rich engagement solutions, to launch Santa Baby Sweepstakes, a holiday-themed multi-channel incentive program accessible across digital and mobile channels.