Marketing Tactics

All eyes will be on Walmart’s new CEO Doug McMillon next week when the company reports worse-than-expected fourth quarter results on Thursday, and McMillon makes his first public comments since becoming CEO.

McMillon is no stranger to providing financial updates during the company’s pre-recorded earnings calls, investor conferences and analysts’ meetings. He performed those duties on numerous occasions during the past decade while serving as president and CEO of Walmart International and president and CEO of Sam’s Club before that.

The Integer Group, a leading global promotional, retail and shopper marketing agency, has named Todd Miller as SVP/executive creative director.

Canton, Mass. — Dunkin’ Donuts is launching a Valentine’s Day marketing campaign that includes the Zoosk dating site as well as Twitter. On Feb. 13 and 14, people who register at Zoosk will have the chance to win a $5 Dunkin’ Donuts mGift.

Consumers leveled off post-holiday shopping and spending in the beginning of the year due in part to severe winter weather in much of the country. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), January 2014 retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, were flat seasonally adjusted month-to-month, yet increased 3% unadjusted year-over-year.

Kind filed a lawsuit against Clif Bar in federal court in Manhattan seeking to prevent Clif from releasing its Clif Mojo snack bars in packaging which Kind contends mimics its bars’ unique and distinctive packaging.

Washington, D.C. — Consumers leveled off post-holiday shopping and spending in the beginning of the year due in part to severe winter weather in much of the country. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), January 2014 retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, were flat seasonally adjusted month-to-month, yet increased 3% unadjusted year-over-year.

Shopkick, a real-world shopping app, has expanded testing of its shopBeacon technology. The new technology, which was deployed in late November at two Macy’s stores, will be active in thousands of stores nationwide by the end of the first quarter.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  — Catalogs.com has launched Dynalog, a new dynamic digital catalog solution that enables retailers to create interactive e-catalogs that are optimized for Web and mobile devices. The solution does not use PDFs or shrink down existing catalogs into digital format, but allows retailers to develop, customize and launch customized digital catalogs within 30 minutes.