Marketing Tactics

Now in its fourth consecutive year, the Crock-Pot brand’s Ultimate Crock-Pot Crock-Star contest has kicked off with a twist. The brand hopes to capitalize on America’s selfie obsession.

This year’s nationwide search for the most inspiring slow-cooker superstar requires aspiring “Crock-Stars” to create a one-minute “video selfie” prepping an original recipe with a Crock-Pot Slow Cooker for a chance at “crock-stardom.”

Mars Chocolate North America is bringing back M&M's Crispy Milk Chocolate Candies to store shelves in January 2015, following a 10-year absence.
 

Michaels is looking to generate traffic to its stores for Halloween with its annual in-store Great Pumpkin Event and the launch of its "Trick Your Pumpkin" sweepstakes Saturday, Oct. 4.

Every Friday from Oct. 10-31, Michaels will award a $250 Michaels gift card and gift basket of Plaid products to a randomly selected customer who creates a pumpkin craft. To enter, customers must post a photo of their pumpkin on Instagram with #TrickYourPumpkin and #sweepstakes, or at www.michaels.com/trickyourpumpkin, beginning Oct. 4.

How well many retailers perform this holiday season in store and online will be determined by the shopping preferences of a demographic group that doesn’t typically get a lot of love from marketers.

The consumer electronics category is expected to set a holiday sales record this season and one of the hottest brands going right now is the GoPro line of cameras and accessories.

That explains why Best Buy just expanded its offering of the popular brand to feature a striking 12 foot display that features an endcap with a 40 inch monitor to showcase the type of video the GoPro line is capable of capturing. A centerpiece of the display will be the brand’s new HERO4 model which will be available on October 5.

New York -- Most shoppers now actually like to grocery shop, according to research from Acosta Sales & Marketing, full-service sales and marketing agency. The company’s “The Why? Behind the Buy” report finds that 54% of total U.S. shoppers say they enjoy grocery shopping, up from 41% in 2011.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company and HBO will host a free, all-star concert to honor the nations veterans and their families on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to be presented live on HBO on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The line-up of performers scheduled to appear at The Concert for Valor include Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Jamie Foxx, Dave Grohl, Metallica, John Oliver, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood and Zac Brown Band, as well as special appearances by Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, among others.

San Francisco - Williams-Sonoma will reopen a retail store and cooking school in Sonoma, California, on Oct. 4, in the same location where the company opened its first store opened almost six decades ago. The timing also coincides with the 99th birthday of Chuck Williams, the company’s founder, on Oct. 2.

Denver - Wrap & Send Services, a luxury retail packing and shipping solution, is offering professional in-store and warehouse support for the 2014 holiday season. Currently, Wrap & Send Services works with many luxury big-box stores in New York City, as well as 30 cities across the U.S.

Wrap & Send's expert packing and shipping solution help manage the volume, cost, speed and branding standard that is required when shipping from the store.

Groupon has unveiled a free app that pays people cash for buying featured grocery and consumer-packaged goods items each week at any supermarket or retailer in the United States and Canada called Snap.

Android and iPhone users can now earn money when they buy an item listed in the app and take a picture of their receipt. To mark Snap’s debut, people who download the app and use it to submit any grocery receipt through Nov. 11 can enter a sweepstakes to win a year of free groceries for an entire family, a value of $13,000.