Marketing Tactics

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears' Craftsman brand is using the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions to show that two sides can come together.

The company has teamed up with Ty Pennington of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" fame, Sears Heroes at Home, Rebuilding Together, NextGen Home built by Champion and Bank of America to build two halves of one home -- one in Tampa, Fla. during the RNC and the other in Charlotte, N.C. during the DNC.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and its Associate Member Council (AMC) have awarded E. & J. Gallo Winery and PepsiCo Inc. with the 2012 CPG Awards for Innovation and Creativity. The award is given annually to companies that have demonstrated creativity, innovation, and have made a significant impact on the industry knowledge base.
 

Teen apparel retailer Delia's has debuted a new prototype at Providence Place Mall, in Providence, R.I. The store has a stylish, youthful vibe that reflects its core customer. The design met objectives to increase floor and wall fixture capacity and reduce overall store size while maintaining brand identification.
 
Shremshock Architects & Engineers, Westerville, Ohio, provided design, purchasing and construction management for Delia's store redesign in collaboration with Asset Strategies Group, also based in Westerville, Ohio.

By Jim Porçarelli, Active International

It’s an all-too-familiar sight these days. A man walks into a local retail establishment. He browses the products. He finds one he likes. He tests it out, asks a few questions of a salesperson -- and then snaps an image of the product’s barcode with his cell phone and walks out the door.

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys"R"Us has released the 2012 edition of the Toys"R"Us Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids. Published annually, this complimentary guide is available now in Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores nationwide and online, in both English and Spanish, at Toysrus.com/DifferentlyAbled. This year, mom, TV host and philanthropist Nancy O'Dell appears on the cover alongside Saskia Vogt, an 8-year-old girl with Down syndrome.

MINNEAPOLIS — Nash Finch Company, a Minneapolis-based food distributor, has joined with Leevers Foods, a North Dakota based grocery operator,  to provide funding for resource rooms for the Devils Lake, ND School District and St. Joseph’s Elementary School. The resource rooms will be fully operational and available to students when school starts this year, and each room will be equipped with 10 iPads. The two companies are also establishing and an annual scholarship, The Leevers Family Scholarship Fund.

New York -- Walgreens will launch a loyalty card on Sept. 16, Reuters reported.

The move follows the chain’s long insistence that it did not need a loyalty card, even as rival CVS Caremark Corp. and Rite Aid Corp had their own successful well-established programs. The CVS ExtraCare loyalty program claims more than 70 million households as members.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target's charitable Facebook campaign garnered more than three million votes in leas than four weeks, the company reported. Through its Give With Target campaign, the company was able to reach its goal of awarding $2.5 million in Target gift cards to schools across the country two weeks earlier than planned.

IRVING, Texas — Michaels Stores reported a second quarter same-store sales increase of 2.9% driven by a 3% increase in transactions and a positive impact of 0.9% from deferred custom framing revenue partially offset by a 1% decrease in average ticket.

Net sales for the quarter increased 4.1% to $892 million from $857 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2011.

Net income for the quarter increased 30% to $13 million, and as a percent of net sales increased 20 basis points to 1.4%.
   

Confectionary, food and beverage conglomerate Kraft Foods is selling part of its natural-food products line, Back to Nature, to private-equity firm Brynwood Partners.

While Kraft has sold two other brands to Brynwood, it’s keeping a minority stake — reported to be between a quarter and a half, according to Dow Jones— in the Back to Nature line, which currently includes crackers, cookies, granola and trail mixes that contain less-processed ingredients.