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Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart is upping the ante on holiday shopping. The chain announced that, starting Saturday, Nov. 1, it will reduce prices on more than 20,000 items. Walmart is also launching its holiday promotions on the first weekend in November to get a jump on what is expected to be a highly competitive selling season.  

Plug and Play brings together retailers and start-ups who offer specific technology and expertise that can relieve merchants’ pain points. Customer Disruption highlights one of those start-ups in each issue with a brief Q&A. This issue, the spotlight is on Aahlada Chennupati, CEO and co-founder of ProductPlay.   1) What does your company do?  

Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald’s USA will answer questions from customers through a multichannel effort called “Our Food. Your Questions.” The company invites people to submit their food questions via social media.    McDonald’s will respond with behind-the-scenes webisodes and other social content that provides facts on ingredients, how food is made and how it’s prepared in restaurants.    

Menomonee Falls, Wis. - Kohl’s Department Stores and multiplatform media company AwesomenessTV have launched a partnership to launch S.o. R.a.d., a seven capsule limited-edition junior’s fashion line and “Life’s S.o. R.a.d.,” an original four-season YouTube series featuring top teen influencers. The first S.o. R.a.d. junior’s capsule will launch at Kohl’s and Kohls.com on Sept. 22.

New York – Vertical specialty apparel retailer Ugg for Men is launching a global omnichannel advertising campaign in partnership with NFL quarterback Tom Brady. The campaign, “This is Ugg,” launches Sept. 2 and features a series of three 60-second video spots that will air on YouTube and TV.

The campaign will also feature a concurrent print component. Los Angeles-based M&C Saatchi served as creative agency.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – ShopYourWay, the digital loyalty, marketing and shopping platform of Sears and Kmart, is partnering with YouTube celebrities Ricky Dillon and Jenn McCallister. The two social media stars will serve as “curators of cool” on the Shop Your Way site.

Dillon and McCalister collaborated with Shop Your Way to deliver their first semester fashion picks, creating catalogs members can like, follow and share. They have nearly 10 million fans combined on social media networks such as YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

New York -- Teen apparel retailer PacSun is partnering with content creators from YouTube in a fun back-to-school marketing campaign. The campaign will feature YouTube stars from StyleHaul, an online community of YouTube subscribers dedicated to women’s fashion and beauty, AdWeek reported.

Mountain View, Calif. – Google Inc. has unveiled its expanded office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 300,000-sq.-ft. campus, in the Kendall Square neighborhood, combines space in three buildings previously occupied by Google into one connected campus with a combined 12 floors of office and work space.

The office spreads across one whole building and parts of the other two. It features a public rooftop garden, and a private one for Google employees, along with an employee café offering free meals.