Media Advertising

Swedish clothing retailer H&M will be celebrating the July 17 opening of its museum-inspired Fifth Avenue flagship store with the help of artist Jeff Koons.

The partnership — H&M’s first artist collaboration — will take the form of a handbag that Koons designed in the shape of his famous stainless steel balloon dog sculpture. The handbag will be sold starting July 17 at H7M stores in New York, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Vera Bradley has named Angel Ilagan as EVP, chief marketing officer, effective July 21.

Since 2010, Ilagan has served as marketing chief and VP of marketing in the Americas for Pandora Jewelry, where he oversees consumer advertising, promotions, marketing research, public relations, co-op advertising, Web management, customer relationship management (CRM) and social media management. His additional global responsibilities at Pandora include branding, strategic marketing and e-commerce content.

The clever marketers at Jack Link’s have outdone themselves, creating a replica of Mount Rushmore out of meat snacks in New York City’s Columbus Circle.

Kellogg’s has teamed up with New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-nominated TV personality and board-certified emergency medicine physician Dr. Travis Stork in a campaign that touts the importance of breakfast and positions the brand as a valuable source of protein grains.

The company plans to promote various cereal brands such as All Bran, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Raisin Bran and Special K Original by pointing out how much protein and other essential nutrients can be found in one serving plus one cup of skim milk.

Although comparable-store sales at Fred’s declined slightly in May, the company said sales strengthened in the last week of the month thanks to the first ad in its new marketing and branding program, designed to increase traffic and heighten customer awareness of category diversity.

The company’s total sales for the month stayed flat at $151.9 million, compared with $152.3 million in May last year. Comparable-store sales for the month declined 0.4% compared with a 0.5% decrease in the same period last year.

Skechers Performance Division has signed seven-time PGA Tour champion Matt Kuchar — currently ranked fifth in the world — as the first brand ambassador for the Skechers GOgolf line.

The multiyear partnership will feature Kuchar in a global advertising campaign that covers TV, print, digital and outdoor mediums. The company will also collaborate with Kuchar on a namesake signature shoe line.
 

Dublin, Ohio - The final installment of Wendy's first-ever digital short film, "L'Estrella de la Toscana" – The Star of Tuscany, featuring the new Tuscan Chicken on Ciabatta sandwich, premiered this week on Wendy's Facebook Page and YouTube channel. To promote the sandwich, Wendy's created a three-part video series that gives homage to dramatic Italian cinema of the 1960s.

Throughout April and May, Wendy's asked consumers to be its screenwriters by submitting captions on social media to subtitle the Italian-dialogue video.  

Destination XL Group has named Peter H. Stratton Jr. as SVP, CFO and treasurer, effective June 1. Stratton replaces John E. Kyees, who was serving as interim CFO, and will report to president and CEO David Levin.

Stratton has been serving as the company’s SVP of finance, corporate controller and chief accounting officer since Sept. 2009. He joined the company in June of the same year as VP of finance.