The Week in Commerce Marketing — Retail, E-commerce and DTC: August 23, 2024 edition

Welcome to The Week in Commerce Marketing — Retail, E-commerce and DTC, a weekly roundup for marketers from Quad Insights.

DTC smokeless firepit brand Solo Stove just launched “Blunt Marketing,” a new campaign starring Snoop Dogg and Warren G in which the pair demonstrate “a clear intent to sell consumers high-quality and innovative products from Solo Stove,” per a brand statement. “Blunt Marketing” follows an earlier campaign — also featuring Snoop Dogg — called “Snoop Goes Smokeless” that “generated buzz but missed sales goals,” Marketing Dive’s Sara Karlovitch reports. The largest campaign ever from Solo Stove, “Blunt Marketing” includes video, digital, social, influencer, audio and search, and will run through the end of the year across programming and channels including “Thursday Night Football,” “NFL Ticket,” “The Voice,” TikTok and Amazon.

Previously: “Solo Stove livestreams ‘Deepest Dish,’ a deep dish pizza cooking class set 10 stories beneath the Earth’s crust,” from the April 12 edition of The Week in Direct-to-Consumer.

More celebrity and influencer campaigns:

• “What Does Kendall Jenner Smell Like? Leather, According to This Tory Burch Fragrance Campaign” (Variety)
• “HEYDUDE Announces Sydney Sweeney as New Global Spokesperson” (Sports Illustrated)

In its first campaign since the announcement of its planned merger with Saks, Neiman Marcus is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its recurring brand platform The Art of Fashion, the luxury retailer announced this week. Starring actors Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”) and Colman Domingo (“Euphoria”), among others, the digital-first fall campaign features stills and a short film, titled “Extraordinary Pursuits,” that pay “homage to cinematic style and Hollywood glamour” and will include styling events across Nieman Marcus stores.

Previously: In July, Saks parent HBC finalized a deal to acquire Neiman Marcus for $2.65 billion, as we noted in a recent edition of The Weekly 10.

More retail campaigns: 

• “Troye Sivan Gave Himself Permission to Dance and ‘Get Loose’ in New Gap Campaign” (Rolling Stone) 
• “DKNY’s Fall 2024 Campaign with Kaia Gerber Embraces NYC’s Creative Spirit” (The Daily Front Row) 
• “Best Buy hosts late-summer tech extravaganza” (Chain Store Age)  
• “Bloomingdale’s to host ‘From Italy, With Love’ retail event” (Fashion United) 
• “Big Lots to hold massive Halloween sale” (Chain Store Age) 
• “Target Adding Fall Seasonal Offerings To Own Brand Mix” (Store Brands) 

That’s the just-announced cost of Amazon’s annual grocery delivery subscription for Prime members, which follows the April launch of a monthly $9.99 grocery delivery subscription. The service includes unlimited free delivery on grocery orders over $35 from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market as well as select retailers on Amazon.com, per Progressive Grocer.

More Amazon news:

• “Amazon Prime Big Deal Days returns in October” (Chain Store Age)
• “Amazon allowing sellers to ditch physical returns” (Retail Dive)
• ICYMI: “Amazon Warehouse for Used Goods Is Rebranded to Amazon Resale” (Retail Wire)

In the first-of-its kind NIL (name, image, likeness) deal, Blenders Eyewear has partnered with 99-year-old University of Colorado (CU) football superfan Peggy Coppom, Ad Age’s Tim Nudd reports. The longtime Buffaloes fan will now be featured on a sunglasses sleeve from the DTC eyewear brand — “with $1 from each sale going to Peggy and her family,” Nudd writes, adding that CU head coach Deion Sanders worked with his management team at SMAC Entertainment to secure the deal with Coppom.

Previously: “Sprouts Farmers Market signs 8 new sponsorship deals with female college athletes,” from the March 22 edition of The Week in Retail.

Netflix and Google have teamed up to make the new season of the streaming platform’s show “Emily in Paris” shoppable, Retail TouchPoints’ Nicole Silberstein reports. Only available to subscribers of Netflix’s ad-supported tier, the shoppable ads appear when an episode is paused and feature images that, when scanned using Google Lens, “will direct fans to similar items available for purchase,” Silberstein reports.

Previously: “Amazon partners with GroupM to develop shoppable streaming content,” from the June 21 edition of The Week in Retail.

More shoppable content partnerships:

• “Love Island fans can bring the villa vibes home via Instacart” (Brand Innovators)
• “YouTube Expands Shopify Partnership to Amp Up Creators’ Affiliate Efforts” (Retail TouchPoints)

• Katy Perry Collections has launched a new Hello Kitty–inspired shoe collection to celebrate the Sanrio character’s 50th anniversary, and it couldn’t be more, well, purrfect. Read more from Footwear News.  
• Wayfair brand Perigold just announced plans to open a series of brick-and-mortar locations, with the first one opening in West Palm Beach, Florida in fall 2025 — another example of Wayfair’s strategic expansion into physical retail. Read more from Furniture Today
• DTC humidifier and showerhead company Canopy is launching an assortment of its products in over 100 Sephora locations nationwide, making it the first home-devices brand to do so. Read more from Modern Retail.  
• Foot Locker has debuted a reimagined version of its 34th Street flagship in New York City, which includes an immersive Foot Locker “Home Court” concept developed in partnership with Nike and the Jordan Brand. Read more from Retail Dive. 
• Mattress Firm is partnering with DoorDash to offer two-hour delivery from its 2,300-plus U.S. stores, as we noted in this week’s edition of The Weekly 10. (The companies also announced a joint effort this week to recruit a group of student brand ambassadors “to promote the importance of quality sleep at colleges nationwide.” Read more from Chain Store Age.)