Marketing Tactics

Denver -- Office Depot will celebrate the ‘Office Depot Grand Opening Street Party” on Dec. 15 in downtown Denver. The one-day action sports exhibition was created to showcase Office Depot’s new store concept and kick off the company’s commitment to being one of the sponsors of X Games Aspen 2013.

AVON, Ohio — Duck Tape is teaming up with the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards to get students to stick with the arts. To that end, it will sponsor the Mixed Media category and offer a $500 prize to five works within the category, chosen by Duck brand from a pool of National Gold Medal Scholastic Award winners.

Atlanta -- Dollar volume growth remained solid at 5.8% in November, down from 6.7% in October, according to the First Data SpendTrend analysis for the full month of November 2012 compared with November 2011. SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.

Wayne, N.J. -- Ubisoft  and Toys “R” Us announced that they have teamed up to create Toys “R” Us Towers, a free-to-play toy store simulation game with real-world benefits, available now on Facebook. The game will also be available on mobile devices in the coming months.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot announced it is launching one-hour, in-store pickup for items purchased on its website. There is no shipping fee for the new pickup service.

“The holiday season is in full swing, and this is another way to enhance the shopping experience for Office Depot customers regardless of whether they choose to do so in-store or online,” said Mike Kirschner, SVP e-commerce for Office Depot. “We are proud to be the first office supply chain to offer this free one-hour pickup service for our customers.”

TORRANCE, Calif. — Smack Sportswear, a maker of custom-designed volleyball and beach active apparel, has lured the former True Religion Apparel executive Charles A. Lesser out of retirement and into its CFO spot.

Smack manufactures its Southern California-inspired apparel in its headquarters, five miles away from the home of beach volleyball.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Columbia Sportswear Company will sponsor three freestyle ski teams during the 2012-13 World Cup season and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Russia completes the trifecta, having signed on with Columbia this year. It joins Canada, which signed up in 2008 and the United States, which signed on last year.

The March of Dimes trustees elected Deidra Merriwether and Will Smith as the charitable group’s newest board members.

Merriwether serves as SVP and COO of Kmart and Sears format at Sears Holdings and Smith is SVP of marketing for Brown Shoe Company. Merriwether and Smith join a group of more than 30 trustees as the organization prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary next year. March of Dimes trustees, who serve as volunteers, represent the public in governing the organization and advancing its mission. They serve five-year terms.