Marketing Tactics

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples has awarded five small businesses $50,000 in free advertising and cash as part of the “Give Your Small Business the Push It Needs” contest. 

Selected from hundreds of video entries submitted on Staples’ Facebook page (facebook.com/staples), each of the five small businesses will receive a total of $50,000 in local cable television advertising and cash in their home markets.

The winners include:

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Ikea, in partnership with American Forests, has planted 2 million trees across America through its Plant A Tree program.

Ikea launced the national in-store ‘Plant A Tree’ program in 1998 and since that time has raised $2 million through customer contributions and its own donations to plant the trees. During the month of April, Ikea Family ‘loyalty’ card member usage will also support Ikea in its donations to plant more trees through American Forests.

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Ikea, in partnership with American Forests, has planted 2 million trees across America through its Plant A Tree program.

Ikea launced the national in-store ‘Plant A Tree’ program in 1998 and since that time has raised $2 million through customer contributions and its own donations to plant the trees. During the month of April, Ikea Family ‘loyalty’ card member usage will also support Ikea in its donations to plant more trees through American Forests.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Bi-Lo noted last week that three of its locations along the South Carolina coastline had been refreshed in March.

“Bi-Lo believes in offering our customers the highest possible standards and this remodel program speaks directly to that,” stated Bi-Lo president Michael Byars.

The enhanced departments in the updated stores feature improved freshness, variety and quality, including:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Walmart Foundation has joined with The Band Perry, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and four of the nation's largest food companies — General Mills, ConAgra Foods, Kraft Foods and Kellogg Company — to fight hunger this spring. At an event in Nashville, leaders of this effort launched a campaign that will enable millions of Americans the opportunity to get involved by shopping at Walmart or visiting the company's Facebook page today through April 30.

New York -- Facebook will purchase the photo-sharing application Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday. The deal, which is the social-networking company’s largest acquisition to date, is expected to close later this quarter.

Instagram was named iPhone app of the year in 2011.

Facebook will acquire Instagram's entire team as part of the deal.

By Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin, [email protected]

Retailers are flocking to the visually enticing Pinterest site to engage with consumers. But the site can also be a powerful driver to engage employees.

Why is Pinterest suddenly such a big deal? For one thing, it’s exploding with growth. In September of last year, they had less than 2 million users. Now, it has 20 million users or more.

Is Walmart’s private brand White Cloud toilet tissue too good? That’s the question the company has to be asking itself about the product’s specifications after seeing recent test results from Consumer Reports.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target has committed $15,000 in cash and gift cards to assist the Texas communities impacted by recent tornados. Cash donations will be distributed to The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross. In addition, Target has donated gift cards to other local nonprofit organizations for essentials such as water and food.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Sam's Club is offering free screenings for brain health at all of its stores that operate pharmacies this month, the retailer said Friday.

The company, which has performed more than 1 million health and wellness screenings at it stores since 2011, said it would offer the screenings on April 14 for members and the public, including a memory test and educational materials on Alzheimer's and dementia provided by the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, as well as body mass index, blood pressure and glucose tests.