Marketing

Let's face it, video has taken the online world by storm over the last few years and we're really only just beginning to learn how to best harness its power. Furthermore, the technology, data and tools being made available to retailers with respect to video are changing at an even faster pace. So while it may be premature to discuss best practices at such an early stage, here are five imperatives for working with video:

Nordstrom, the conservative, upscale Seattle-based retailer, is going after a younger, hipper customer with a new, quirky regional online brand campaign.The retailer — which traditionally has handled the creative work for its advertising in-house — has hired Mekanism to develop the new campaign, aimed at promoting the concept of "Youphoria." This includes videos featuring young adults involved in activities like chopping wood or riding a motorcycle while fashionably dressed.

You did what to your pants, exactly? Ooooh, ship! If you've been online at all in the last week or so, you've likely seen this amusing and suggestive play on words circulating via social media and traditional news outlets. Who can resist a double entendre that alludes to the gold standard of embarrassing situations? Surely not the internet. The fact that a clever one-line concept racked upwards of 13 million views on YouTube in one week is hardly surprising. The fact that it's a commercial for Kmart, however, is.

Perhaps fashion designer Kenneth Cole should stay off Twitter during sensitive political moments — or at least his social media manager should. After provoking harsh criticism for a February 2011 tweet, in which the designer used the protests in Cairo to promote his spring collection, Cole was at it again last Thursday. This time, the brand used the fact that the Senate voted down a mild gun control measure on background checks — one supported by 90 percent of Americans, according to polls — to make a joke about footwear.

Social media has forced brands to be transparent because consumers now want to know more about the companies they patronize. That means the pressure is on for brands to develop a robust content strategy that tells their story. Eighteen months ago, Target quietly began "A Bullseye View," its "online magazine." The site is meant to tell the stories behind Target's products, events, partnerships and other happenings at the company. One thing it doesn't do: pitch products. 

Advertising featuring coupons, one of the first casualties of the Ron Johnson era at J.C. Penney, are returning. The retailer also won a $100 million reprieve in its legal fight with Macy's over its right to sell Martha Stewart housewares.

This week, yet another sexy American Apparel ad was banned by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). It's the third time this year, begging the question: Who is picking the fight here, the ASA or American Apparel? According to American Apparel, it ain't them. An anonymous source from AA's corporate team told us they think the ASA is looking for publicity by singling the brand out.

It's official: J.C. Penney scrapped its every-day-low-price strategy for the rollercoaster world of markups and markdowns. Merchants, marketers and graphic artists waited with bated breath, hoping J.C. Penney could make this strategy work. Imagine the time it would save! Price changes and errors would be a thing of the past.

Shoppers at a Target store in Brooklyn say a label that listed the color of a plus-size dress as "manatee gray" was insulting. The label for the same dress in smaller sizes described it as "dark heather gray." Target apologized for the label. Michelle Ho, shopping at the store at Atlantic Terminal Mall, told the New York Post that Target was "putting down one set of people over another" with the different labels.

Yesterday was April Fool's Day, which meant that practically the whole internet was abuzz with pranks. We rounded up a couple of the best fashion and beauty pranks from around the web, including