• Schools, Clinics Get Sanyo Air Scrubbers to Combat Flu
  • Bing Takes Wing: Massive Campaign For Microsoft Search
    Bing is now the name of Microsoft's new search engine, whose launch will be backed by a giant $80-100 million ad campaign to include online, TV, print and radio. Agency is WPP Group's JWT. Can Bing emulate iPhone's marketing success by seeking to redefine the possibilities of search itself? Growing search share based strictly on product attributes didn't work two years ago for a revamped Ask.com, which ran a $57 million campaign. Sources tell reporter Abbey Klaasen that Microsoft won't go after Google directly the way it has recently been fighting Apple successfully with its PC …
  • Papa John's, USPS Start Augmenting Reality
    Papa John's and the U.S. Postal Service are among companies trying out "Augmented Reality," or AR, in marketing campaigns. With AR, images held in front of Webcams result in holographic-like 3-D, writes Suzanne Vranica. This week, the Postal Service debuts a "virtual box simulator" on its prioritymail.com site. The simulator allows consumers to hold an object in front of a Webcam and use the resulting 3-D image to determine the right size box for shipping the object. Starting next month, Papa John's plans to affix an AR image to the back of 30 million pizza boxes. …
  • The Hundreds: Retailer Aims To Sell, Not Sell Out
    The Hundreds, a clothing retailer with high "street-wear" cred, has already expanded from Los Angeles to San Francisco, but further growth could ruin its hip edge amongst the skater and hip-hop subcultures. Street-wear features T-shirts with bold graphics, layered pieces, strong colors on baseball caps and shoes, hooded sweatshirts and dark denims. The Hundreds made $4.8 million in sales in 2008, up from $1.8 million in 2007, but fears losing its "underground" stature through too much expansion. Case in point: the Ed Hardy brand, which expanded into mainstream stores and lost its popularity on the street. The Hundreds has …
  • Malls Increase Event Lineups To Lure Back Shoppers
    With the recession causing Americans to cut back on their shopping trips and the days of "hanging out at the mall" in a long decline, the nation's biggest shopping centers are pumping up their event menus this year, adding music festivals, wine tastings, art fairs, high school fundraisers, and kids' cooking seminars, to name a few, as they try to work their way back into Americans' daily lives. One mall event planner estimates the number of events at shopping centers has increased 20% this year. Charity and community affairs are particularly in vogue as they allow malls with …
  • Fire Sale At Chrysler Dealerships Across Nation
  • Toyota Falls, Honda Climbs In Auto Supplier Survey
  • Beefing Up Smith & Wollensky's Brand
  • Victoria's Secret Goes Mobile Secretly
    Victoria's Secret secretly launched a marketing initiative that uses the mobile Web and text messages to promote its products and on-the-go shopping. The main menu on the mobile site, with a tagline reading, "Get Sexy Anywhere," includes such clickable entries as "gift cards," "sale and clearance," "most wanted bras," "top picks" and "catalogue quick order." The latter feature allows users to browse the Victoria's Secret print catalog and order directly from their phones. Other features of the mobile site include "click to call," which connects mobile users directly to a customer service rep, "should they need to …
  • Bzz ... Philips And Walgreens Join New WOM Social Network
    Electronics company Philips and the Walgreens pharmacy chain are amongst the first paying companies on BzzScapes, a new social networking site specifically designed for discussions about brands. Launched by BzzAgent, a Boston-based word-of-mouth marketing firm, BzzScapes allows users to follow and interact with brands by creating "communities" where they can upload pictures, add links and upload videos to each brand's profile. Companies can, in turn, respond back to consumers with pictures, comments, coupons and even private conversations. Brands can pay BzzAgent to receive trend reports and detailed personal profiles of users. …
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