Marketing

Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Wal-Mart have launched a new shopping experience that uses big trucks, free samples and QR codes to generate online sales of P&G products. 

Delia's, a 113-store national apparel chain (stores in 33 states, almost all in malls), is trying to master finding the sales promotion silver lining inside various Web crash clouds. On at least three occasions over the last several months, the chain's site suffered a non-trivial outage. It happens. But Delia's cleverly turned these outages into a marketing opportunity by sending an E-mail to all of its customers, where the chain apologized for the outage and offered to show its sincerity by offering free shipping on all products—but only for a couple of days, if that. 

The British label Burberry under the direction of Christopher Bailey is one-upping everybody else with its fall/winter 2012 campaign. Sure, there are the stunning photographs of Gabriella Wilde and Roo Panes by Mario Testino, London landmarks, fog, rain and all. And yes, there are the videos too-a series of small films that call to mind the brooding cinematography of The English Patient. But what sets these videos apart from the rest of the pack is that they are, to use the digital age's favorite marketing term, shoppable.

A magazine for teenage girls will try, joined by marketers and retailers, to add another “special” day to the American marketing calendar already crowded with celebrations both real (Christmas, Halloween) and fanciful (Black Friday, Cyber Monday).

Sports Authority has announced the launch of its first-ever customer rewards program, The League, which offers members 5% back on their total point balances of 100 points or more earned quarterly. The program offers one of the highest reward funding rates, as well as the lowest reward threshold amongst leaders in the full-line sporting goods retail industry, allowing members qualify for rewards sooner, the retailer said. 

Conventional wisdom suggests that putting a mobile ad as close to the point of sale as possible is, for all the obvious reasons, the smartest local mobile targeting method. Geo-fencing and location profiling are, after all, two of the hottest areas of mobile ad tech right now. We presume that proximity aligns best with either intent or opportunity. Suprisingly, the highly geotargeted campaign of banner ads and mobile circulars actually enjoyed higher clickthrough rates when the user was furthest from a RadioShack.

What matters most to online shoppers? Hint: It has less to do with specific products and everything to do with communication, and that includes shipping and returns. You'll find key insights into what makes online shoppers click, consumers’ online shopping preferences, what shipping and post-purchase services enhance the customer experience most, and more with this fact-filled whitepaper. Check it out here!

Foot Locker announced the launch of a new marketing campaign involving the social media phenomenon Instagram. The campaign encourages Instagram users to tag pictures of themselves wearing their favorite kicks using #kickstagram and @footlocker. Uploaded photos will have the chance to be showcased on Footlocker.com, Foot Locker's Facebook page as well as in-store windows nationwide this summer. 

The Container Store is introducing themed, interactive digital catalogs to highlight different subsets of its eclectic mix of storage and organization products. A new web-based catalog will be published every six weeks, allowing the retailer to more effectively target specific audiences or shopping seasons. The Container Store also plans to expand into mobile and social channels and integrate features such as audio and video. The newest catalog, Go Organized! Travel Sale, features luggage and travel accessories, with a design that's both online- and tablet-friendly. 

Critically, it's time to admit that attributing the full value of the marketing investment to the last or "converting" click is fundamentally flawed. By ignoring all previous activities which have contributed to the eventual sale, this approach is inaccurate, untrustworthy and often results in investment in key activities being reduced or cut.