Google, Inc.

Five Brands to Watch in 2015
Brand-building expert and consultant Denise Lee Yohn has released her annual outlook for the year, “Brands to Watch in 2015.”
Target turns stores into mobile game for the holidays—with help from Google

Minneapolis - Target Corp. continues to invest in new mobile and digital investments to drive traffic. The retailer announced it is partnering with Google on an interactive mobile game experience that has a big in-store component. The project is part of Google’s Art, Copy & Code program, which Google describes as partnerships that explore how creativity and technology can work hand in hand to build brands.

Holiday shopping just one big video game at Target

Facing a holiday shopping season in which consumers will be more digitally engaged than ever, Target is partnering with Google to introduce a new mobile experience aimed at driving traffic to its stores.

Bullseye’s Playground is a mobile game experience featuring Target’s bull terrier mascot Bullseye and other characters. In select Target stores, guests will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Bullseye’s Playground using Google’s new Project Tango Development Tablet, which will transform the store into a 3D winter playground.
Study: Twitter top social brand on Black Friday

New York – Black Friday was a more social event than Cyber Monday, with 3.5 million tweets and 838 million impressions compared to 839,000 tweets and 309 million impressions. According to a study from StatSocial, women were more likely than men to socially comment on both events, accounting for 59% of

Black Friday comments and 63% of Cyber Monday comments.
Survey: Amazon tops in online customer satisfaction

New York - Amazon is once again tops in online customer satisfaction, but its leadership is eroding, according to a study by Answers.com, a provider of cloud-based customer experience solutions. Amazon is down four points from its 2013 score of 84 (on a 100-point scale), and leads QVC.com and Netflix by just one point.
Plug & Play’s CEO Corner: John McIntyre, Sightly

Plug and Play brings together retailers and start-ups that offer specific technology and expertise that can relieve merchants’ pain points. Chain Store Age’s Customer Disruption newletter provides a Q&A with the CEO of one of those companies in each issue. This time, the spotlight is on John McIntyre of Sightly. What does Sightly do?
Study: Facebook dominates social media

New York --Facebook, You Tube, Instagram and WeChat are the most important social media platforms, according to a new report by business intelligence company L2 Inc. The company's second annual Social Platforms Report, which assesses the social investment and performance of 382 brands across eight verticals and 17 platforms, finds that Facebook is the most dominant platform.
Gap Raises Bar on Digital With New CEO

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Commentary: Why The Big Hype Around Apple Pay?

By John Gessau, ACI Worldwide Wow. What a month in the world of mobile payments. So much has been said and written since Apple Pay was announced on Sept. 9th, up to its official launch on Monday, Oct. 20. If I had dollar for every time Apple Pay was mentioned in the press and in blogs, well… But Apple Pay isn’t the only thing that has happened since Sept. 9th. There has been a lot going on around the globe:
Analysis: Gap Raises the Bar on Digital Revolution with New CEO Appointment

By Les Berglass The appointments of new chief executives of major brands always cause a stir, but Gap Inc.’s recent announcement that Art Peck would succeed Glenn Murphy hit Wall Street like a truck. Why? Because the investment community wanted a more predictable, standing CEO—it likes stability. But the truth is, this is a positive and revolutionary change.