News

Toys"R"Us is unveiling a new hashtag — #LetsPlay — for its latest ad campaign, which features traditional television spots. The retailer will also be leveraging Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and The Toys"R"Us YouTube Channel to share 'C'mon, Let's Play' content, including commercial clips, behind-the-scenes photos and video from the campaign shoot.

The strategy includes a cross-platform presence on desktop, mobile and tablet with premier placements on Hulu and Hulu Plus.

San Diego – ProFlowers is offering the “Love is a Journey” campaign, on Twitter and Instagram in August. Qualified entrants can post photos of what romance means to them via Twitter and Instagram using #LoveIsAJourney and #ProFlowersSweeps for a chance to win a Princess Cruises vacation.

Entrants can see their photos at Loveisajourney.proflowers.com. ProFlowers will also run a Paris-themed pop-up shop in the Times Square pedestrian plaza on Broadway between 42nd and 43rd Streets on Aug. 5.

Asheville, N.C. – Ingles Markets Inc. swung to a profit of $13.83 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from a net loss of $14.42 million in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year. The elimination of debt refinancing costs from the previous fiscal year helped push Ingles Markets into the black.

Net sales rose 5% to $978.26 million from $934.01 million. Same-store sales increased 2.1%, benefiting from an Easter shift to the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from the second quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Sandra Gudat, President & CEO, Customer Communications Group

Retailers often have trouble balancing their overall promotions plan with offers and discounts for their loyalty program. In fact, it may be enough of an issue that they keep loyalty as an independent P&L entity, or even steer clear of loyalty altogether to avoid the problem. After all, every retail business is about profit, and adding another layer of promotional discounts into the mix could be seen as a threat to the bottom line.

Recent enhancements to Walmart’s website ensure that Andy Murray, the company’s SVP of creative, will have plenty to talk about later this year when he addresses the topic of “Evolving with the omnichannel shopper,” at the Shopper Marketing Conference & Expo.
 

Seattle - Attribution analytics company Tune has acquired MobileDevHQ (MDHQ), provider of a SaaS solution for mobile marketers. The MDHQ solution includes app store visibility, search rankings, and competitive intelligence.

Combined with MobileDevHQ, Tune will provide more clarity into the impact and influence of app stores and other organic efforts on paid user acquisition and re-engagement. Existing MDHQ customers will continue to login as before, view their existing data, and otherwise continue using the current MDHQ product during the transition.

If you’ve ever wished you could have bacon on the go, then the Oscar Mayer Institute for the Advancement of Bacon (OMIFAB) has some good news for you.

Oscar Mayer has unveiled Bacon Jerky, available in two flavors — Bourbon Barbecue and Teriyaki Ginger — and packaged in an on-the-go bacon jerky pouch.

New York -- Epson, a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) solutions, and Mobivity Holdings Corp., a provider of retail customer engagement and marketing technologies, have entered into a partnership to transform receipts from transactional to actionable.