• Payless, Nike To Launch High-Performance Running Shoe
    Nike is partnering with discount shoe retailer Payless ShoeSource to market a high-performance $34.99 running sneaker. Exeter Brands Group, a subsidiary of Nike, will design and produce the shoes under the Tailwind collection, while Payless will be the exclusive retailer. Tailwind collection -- which consist of five styles -- hit 400 Payless stores on Monday and will expand to 1,500 by July. The Tailwind shoe is breaking new ground in the $3.5 billion athletic shoe mass market because of the footwear's technology, says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at NPD Group. Nike's athletes Brandi Chastain, 38, a World …
  • Reaching Active Boomers With Edgy Campaigns
    Realizing that the 79 million baby boomers in the U.S. are active consumers who are not following the patterns of previous generations, campaigns to reach the older demographic are a bit edgier than previous efforts. Some show "real" boomers doing bold things. Dove's TV, Web and print marketing campaign for its new pro-age line of beauty products includes discreet nude photos of real women 50 and older, for example. Others target boomers with nontraditional services. Match.com has homed in on single boomers, and they're the fastest-growing subscriber age group for the site that pairs singles. A current …
  • Hasbro Gets Innovation Clues Through Games
    At Hasbro's game division in East Longfellow, Mass., game designers, marketing managers and other employees gather every Friday to play board games. Some -- like Scrabble and Clue -- were invented decades ago. Others play games sold by competitors, or, they enjoy their own defunct childhood favorites. These lunch-time games are part of Hasbro's efforts to find ways to update classics and create new games. "We have an unbelievable heritage with our brands, but we have to keep them relevant to customers" to compete against videogames and other pop culture, says Philip Jackson, who took charge of the games …
  • Quigo Puts Some Pressure On Google, Yahoo
    A trickle of large media sites like ESPN.com and FoxNews.com have stopped using Google and Yahoo to provide contextual ad placement on their pages in favor of Quigo Technologies. The New York-based company gives advertisers the list of specific sites where their ads have appeared, plus the opportunity to buy only on specific Web sites or particular pages on those sites. A central point in Quigo's pitch to publishers is that it will let them keep control of their relationships with advertisers. Although Quigo remains a small competitor -- with less than 10% of the contextual ad …
  • Mattel Puts Polly Pockets Behind Matchbox Cars
    Long after the women's movement prompted equality in playthings, girls are finally getting their own versions of the Matchbox toy race cars. They're pink or purple and sparkly and come with a tiny doll. The company recently introduced its initial collection of 25 Polly Wheels -- cars driven by its Polly Pocket dolls -- at the American International Toy Fair in New York. In the fall, Mattel will follow up with 25 more Polly cars, each with a color-coordinated scent: blueberry for blue, grape for purple and so on. Then, in time for the holidays, Mattel …
  • Starbucks Continuing To Expand Outside The Store
    Starbucks is increasing its efforts to sell Starbucks pre-made coffee drinks, coffee beans for home brewing and other branded caffeinated products. The efforts include wider distribution, a new ad campaign and plans for vending machines that dispense hot coffee drinks. In the next few weeks, Starbucks and Kraft Food plan to expand their reach to include coffee bean sales in the United Kingdom. Bob Levi, senior vice president of global brands and partnership for Kraft, expects more international expansion of its beans sales in the future. Starbucks is working with Pepsi on the vending machines, which will …
  • Credit Card Vending Machines Show Sales Increase
    Cadbury Schweppes and MasterCard are testing 750 vending machines in the Dallas area, New York and Chicago to answer a key question: Will people spend more if they can use plastic? The early answer is, yes. Some of the machines were installed in January and have seen sales increases of 5% to 35% without any change in prices, says Mark Jackson, a vice president with Cadbury's U.S. beverages subsidiary. After three months, Cadbury will evaluate sales data and decide whether to retrofit more machines and introduce them in other cities. Cadbury's experience fits with sales increases that …
  • Marketers Like Oscar's Audience Reach
    Advertisers who plunked down $1.7 million for a 30-second spot in Sunday's Oscar telecast on ABC are looking forward to an expected audience of more than 40 million viewers who watch in real time, rather than digitally record the show so they can zip past the ads. Adding to the show's appeal this year is the range of Oscar nominees, from well-known stars, such as Clint Eastwood, to Jennifer Hudson, who went from obscurity to front-runner in the race for best supporting actress in "Dreamgirls." The diversity makes the Oscars "an ideal setting" for Bank of America, …
  • Car Crushed In GM's Revised Robot Spot
    The "Robot" commercial for General Motors that drew fire for its suicidal ending has been revamped and will premiere this Sunday during the Academy Awards telecast. The original ad portrayed a robot on an assembly line that was fired for dropping a bolt. The anguished robot toiled through a series of low-end jobs, including holding a sign hawking condo units, before jumping off a bridge. The new 30-second spot removes the jump -- which actually was a bad dream -- and substitutes a shot of a car being compacted in a scrap yard. It also shows the …
  • Dove Contest Winner To Debut At Oscars
    Dove will air the winner of its online contest for women to create a 30-second ad on Sunday's Oscar broadcast. Dove, a unit of Unilever, provided tools, such as product shots at DoveCreamOil.com, that were to be combined with consumer's video. About 1,000 ads--a selection of which are posted online--were entered by the Jan. 15 deadline. Dove then named three finalists. Dove also bought 30 seconds ahead of the contest winner, so "Grey's Anatomy" star Sara Ramirez can introduce the ad and its creator. Dove's Oscar ad is part of its TV, online …
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