Marketing

Sears has appointed Leveraged Marketing Corp. of America as its exclusive global licensing agent as it looks to capitalize on ways to sell its signature Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands outside its own stores. Sears said it will work closely with Leveraged Marketing to identify, evaluate and manage licensing opportunities around the world.

Details about H&M’s new retail concept, slated to open in 2013, are leaking out in dribs and drabs. Although the company announced last week it would open another chain when it gave its first quarter report, no name or other details were revealed. In the meantime, Dagens Nyheter, the Swedish news organization, reported that trademarks and logos for “& other stories” were registered by H&M last year. Today, H&M confirmed that “& other stories” is indeed the name of the new chain.

Verizon has officially opened its first trilingual FiOS retail store, where employees are ready to serve customers in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The store is located in Providence, R.I. “Having employees in our store who speak Spanish and Portuguese will enhance the experience for our customers," Susan Retta, vice president of marketing for Verizon, said. Employees at the new Verizon FiOS store will be able to help FiOS customers with questions about their FiOS internet, TV and voice service.

The advertising watchdog group Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad campaign by American Apparel featuring seminaked young women after investigating a complaint that it's "pornographic and exploitative." American Apparel ran a series of eight ads on its website, and one in Crack, a free lifestyle magazine, featuring women in various states of undress, some topless.

Online gallery overstockArt.com announced the launch of its enhanced "In Room View" web application. The augmented reality web tool is the next generation version of the original "View in a Room" tool, which first launched in May 2010. This innovative web application makes purchasing art online a personalized and interactive experience, revolutionizing the way people buy wall décor on the web.

Express, a specialty retail apparel chain, today announced the launch of Express NEXT, a new points-based loyalty program open to all Express customers throughout the United States. Inspired by customer feedback and extensive market research, Express NEXT replaces the previous loyalty program that was only available to Express credit card holders. Express NEXT is designed to meet the retailer's shoppers’ habits both in-store and online, as well as reward brand interaction via social media. 

German supermodel Claudia Schiffer will be revisiting her famous black-and-white ads for Guess?, shooting a series of similar spots in honor of the brand's 30th anniversary. Just as she did in her six campaigns shot between 1989 and 1991, Schiffer will be posing for photographer Ellen von Unwerth.

Abercrombie & Fitch has long had a marketing strategy that included catalogs and advertisements featuring young athletic men and women, with the males often captured in homoerotic moments.

In the quest for fans and movie ticket sales, studios are expanding their marketing arsenal to appeal to home shoppers, a largely female audience of proven purchasers. Universal Pictures and HSN are planning 24 hours of programming at the end of May featuring beauty, home and fashion products created specifically to evoke the sensibility of the coming movie, "Snow White and the Huntsman."

It seems as though the hiring manager at Old Navy's Funnovations is quite the fanatic of early ’90s sitcoms. After all, "Blossom" star Mayim Bialik revives her giant floral hat for a stint spent deploying "Bee Bots" on spring dresses.