Marketing Tactics

Walgreens is launching a new national campaign highlighting how people are aging well beyond their HIV diagnosis.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a traveling art exhibit, curated in collaboration with the Graying of AIDS, an independent documentary project and educational campaign.

The exhibit provides a glimpse into the lives of older adults living with HIV and will make its first stop in Miami on Jan. 17.

With two Pixar movies hitting theaters this year — Inside Out (June 19) and The Good Dinosaur (November 25) — Disney Consumer Products has a slate of innovative new toys in the works for retailers.

Both movies will have robust toy lines from Japaneses licensee TOMY, whose innovative approach, strength in international markets and ability to reflect Pixar’s unique storytelling in its product lines made them the ideal choice for Pixar Animation Studios’ most exciting year yet, the company said.

New York -- Grocer Heinen’s has teamed with Symphony EYC to adopt customer-driven retailing operations that stretch from shopper, throughout the store and back to the warehouse.

San Luis Obispo, Calif. -- Canada’s Home Hardware chain has jumped on the in-store pickup bandwagon, tapping Shopatron to complete an implementation of Canada’s largest dealer-owned hardware, lumber, building materials and furniture cooperative’s in-store pickup platform.

Sam’s Club is taking its efforts to help and recognize small businesses to a new level with a $700,000 grant to SCORE.

The American Small Business Championship through SCORE will award 102 small businesses, two in every state and the District of Columbia, for their sacrifice and dedication to the success of their business. The Small Business Champions will receive a $1,000 Sam's Club gift card, an all-expense-paid trip to a training event, SCORE mentoring for one year, and promotion throughout the year to showcase each Champion's story.

Los Angeles -- Fast-casual pizza franchise PizzaRev kicks off 2015 with the opening of the chain’s 20th location in just over two years. The new restaurant will open in La Habra, California, one of eight locations scheduled to open in first-quarter 2015. The upcoming expansion will include entrance into four new markets: Bakersfield, San Diego and Santa Barbara in California, as well as Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

New York -- Retail spending growth for the holiday period totaled 3.2%, and Christmas Eve, not Black Friday, was the busiest spending day of the year. Those are just two of the findings in the First Data SpendTrend annual holiday wrap-up.

The report, which includes only card-based forms of payment, is based on analysis of over 400,000 retail merchant locations across the nation, from Nov. 1, 2014 through Jan. 4, 2015, and had processing activity with First Data for the same period during the previous year.  

Exeter, N.H. -- Ice hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer Hockey is throwing its puck in the retail arena. The company will open its first-ever store this summer, in the Boston suburb of Burlington, Massachusetts. It will be followed by a second location in the fall, in the Minneapolis area.

New York -- Bloomingdale’s is celebrating the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 64th NBA All-Star Game in a big way with 16 basketball-inspired in-store pop-up shops filled with NBA team and All-Star merchandise.

From Valentine’s Day to Christmas, the year is filled with big moments for retailers – but a retailer’s strategy should be much more than a numbers game during these times. Rather, these moments present an opportunity to build momentum for the entire year with a 360-degree brand strategy that gives shoppers an unforgettable experience that will keep them coming back.

To maximize the potential benefits of big retail moments throughout 2015, keep these five pillars in mind: