Marketing Tactics

The North Central and Northeast states will be warmer than last year and normal for April 2013 overall with warmer trends arriving mid-month, a positive for spring products. However, an active jet stream will bring frequent showers and storms to much of the eastern half of the nation where precipitation will trend greater than last year which may soften spring category demand, especially for outdoor products. Temperatures in the Southeast and along much of the West Coast will be similar to last year and near normal.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Belk announced that the company, and its associates, customers and vendors contributed more than $19.3 million to local communities in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31. Of the total amount, Belk corporate dollars funded $6.2 million to more than 250 nonprofit organizations, with a focus on education, breast cancer research and awareness, and community strengthening.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Walmart and Target are targeting multi-cultural and health-conscious consumers with their private-label products directed at multicultural and health-conscious consumers.

Tampa, Fla. -- RetailSense, a marketing software company that accelerates retail and agile marketing processes, announced that Family Dollar Store has signed a multi-year contract with Retail Sense. This new partnership includes the implementation of the latest release of IntelliSense marketing resource management solutions.
 

WAYNE, N.J. — Babies"R"Us has partnered with WhatToExpect.com to provide expectant moms access to their combined content and retail resources. As part of this collaboration, the Babies"R"Us Registry is now available on WhatToExpect.com. Additionally, the retailer plans to feature content from WhatToExpect.com through various Babies"R"Us channels. 

NEW YORK — Harris Interactive has revealed the brands that Americans rank highest in brand equity. Surveying more than 38,000 American consumers, it measures the level of quality, familiarity, and purchase consideration for each brand, and then awards "Brand of the Year" status to the top-ranked brand from each category.

AVON, Ohio — Duck Tape, a product of ShurTech Brands, announced today a new Duck Tape print featuring the pop music group One Direction.

ATLANTA — Newell Rubbermaid announced plans to open a new design center by early 2014 in Kalamazoo, Mich. This will enable Newell Rubbermaid to add depth in new design specialties, join a strong local presence of design-led companies including Herman Miller , Steelcase, Whirlpool, Stryker and Wolverine, as well as participate in a growing educational community that includes Western Michigan University.

NORWALK, Conn. — Pepperidge Farm has launched a new website that will enable customers to create personalized packages of its Goldfish brand crackers.

The site offers users an array of fun options to personalize Goldfish packages. Users can add their own photos and custom messages, and even pick their favorite Goldfish cracker colors to create special combinations.

Plano, Texas -- A Tuesday report by Reuters said that embattled J.C. Penney Co. has recently revived its previously abandoned pricing strategy of raising prices on its own brands then discounting them as a way to spike sales and margins.

Citing an emailed statement by Penney spokeswoman Daphne Avila, Reuters reported that the retailer began changing price tags on merchandise earlier in March and expects to complete the process in April.