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Preserving prestige is what sets brands such as Burberry and Hermes apart from Gap and H&M, but that same elitism has previously kept certain luxury brands from engaging in the digital space/social media — one of the most powerful forms of marketing at the moment. Despite the initial industry-wide hesitations, we have seen a recent increase in digital marketing initiatives from select premium brands; with Burberry leading the way.

Given the increasing saturation of the “deals” market, Microsoft has made a much talked about and speculated move here. Consumers do not want to sort through the 6-10 different emails they are receiving daily from all of the deals sites they’ve signed up for, so Microsoft has come up with a convenient solution for these users. Bing says, “Instead of building another program, we're harnessing deals from major providers and retailers, including Groupon, LivingSocial, Nordstrom, Target and many others, to help you cut through the clutter and find the best deals in one central location.

Amazon is preparing to launch a new Kindle tablet in November, just in time to give Apple a run for its “iPad” money this holiday season.

RetailWire wrote about Safeway Canada's Safeway Club Elite Customer program and we see that as a great illustration of one of the fundamental tenets of loyalty:  that not all customers are created equal.

We are often asked about who has the the best loyalty program.  It's a good question but not necessarily the right one,  given our view that loyalty marketing is about much more than programs.  Programs are a beginning and a necessity for a lot of brands but they are, as we've long maintained, a means and not an end.

This week's announcement that the iPhone was coming to Verizon Wireless had become a not-so-well-kept secret in the weeks and months prior.  At the same time, there was one thing that probably surprised a lot of people, especially AT&T customers.

As we are now officially in holiday shopping season, it's always interesting to observe the good, the bad and the ugly of marketing.  This year is a bit different than last, as for one, we're in a better albeit not a great economy.  And let's not forget that we've moved on from the "year(s) of social media" to the "year of mobile".  (Of course for us, it's always the year of the customer.)

With all the hoopla (always fun to use that word) surrounding Gap’s new/now old logo a few weeks ago – which we wrote about on RetailWire – here’s something that Gap did which shouldn’t hurt them at all: Gap Give and Get.