Marketing

As summer is usually a slow period for Ikea in Belgium, the retailer asked advertising agency Forsman & Bodenfors to come up with an interactive campaign highlighting its summer offers and the Swedish tradition of Midsummer’s Eve. The interactive YouTube game called Catch the Swedish Light was made up of 48 different ads featuring Ikea products.

Overstock.com officially rebranded itself as O.co about six months ago. It changed the sign on the NFL stadium to which it owns the naming rights, revamped its website with O.co signage and began an aggressive run of TV commercials that declared, "Overstock.com is now O.co."

Etsy’s online recommendation tool, Gift Ideas for Facebook Friends, provides a list of suggested items that relate to the likes and interests of your friends on the social network.

As Zellers gears up for the holiday shopping season, the retailer has decided to put its fans in charge of holiday planning during the busiest time of the year. The Festive Finale campaign will see Zellers' shoppers making the tough decisions — choosing the Facebook exclusive coupon each week, picking the in-store music playlist and recording the radio ads for national broadcast.

Toys"R"Us will air two beloved TV ads from its archives which celebrate the heritage of the Toys"R"Us brand. In addition, the toy retailer will air ads that feature exclusive products on major networks.

The tracking of user activity via smartphones isn't too uncommon these days. Now, an Australian shopping center will obtain fit receivers that track shopper's locations within two meters by identifying unique mobile phone radio frequency codes.

The week before Halloween is always zombie week. This time last year, Sears hit it big with a zombie campaign that turned its website into a zombie-infiltrated dot-com of the walking undead, including the "Blue Zombie Crew, your trusty undead experts."

Tommy Hilfiger just signed on with DailyFeats. In the new campaign, users earn points by completing feats such as having family fun, calling your parents, walking the dog, riding your bike and spending an evening at home. The Hilfiger brand will reward participants with a $10 donation in their name to Millennium Promise, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating poverty, to which the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation announced a $2 million commitment in 2009.

Old Navy has partnered with Telemundo to launch a telenovela-style miniseries for the web. The Spanish-language web novela, "Estilos Robados" (Stolen Styles), is a six-part miniseries that launched Oct. 14 and will air on Fridays through Nov. 18.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month turns even the manliest organizations like the NFL into pink-laden landscapes, all in support of breast cancer research. One way consumers can show their support is by shopping for the cause. Many popular retailers and brands are currently offering products with some or all of the proceeds going to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. For a more comprehensive list of participants, consult the organization's Corporate Partners page.