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Here programs and key insights from commissary insiders including Land O’Lakes Heinz Kraft and Unilever plus everything you need to know to go in-network with America’s 11.7 million active and retired service men and women.Modern-day grocery stores can be challenging platforms for innovative marketing tactics. After years of consolidation most “local” grocery outlets have become part of nationwide conglomerates. For marketers that often means more layers of red tape more months of advance planning and less flexibility to execute events on the fly.

Last month EM heard from Stefania Pomponi-Butler just one of a handful of Nintendo Wii’s Mom’s Night Out event hostesses to find out what got her writing rave reviews and sparking positive word-of-mouth on her popular citymama.com blog. This month we dig deeper to find out how brands can best navigate the volatile world of online popular opinion. Whether they’re talking about your brands already or if you hope they might want to some words of advice (and warning) from the blogosphere for engaging their influential fingers of fire.

Remember when we all hated watching teenagers obsessively text away using their weird abbreviated jargon that no one over the age of 18 could understand? Yeah well how many times have you texted the phrase “cu l8r” in the last week? Don’t lie. We know. When it was only for teens texting seemed so superfluous. Now it seems kinda convenient. But at events it’s also a way to stay connected at a lower cost and engage consumers on the spot.

Consumers usually have a pretty clear idea about brands. Mention Q-tips and women associate the product with cleaning their babies’ ears or removing rings of mascara from their eyes. Coleman brings images of coolers stocked with sodas and beer for family camping trips or backyard barbecues. State Farm like a good neighbor is there or so the ad copy goes. But when that brand perception becomes outdated or no longer adequately reflects the attributes of the product event marketing is a powerful tool to change that image in consumers’ minds.

To really make the most of your sponsorship dollars it’s important to find ways to better connect with loyal music fans and that means a one-size-fits-all strategy just won’t cut it. Here’s a look at how some marketers have created multiplatform campaigns that sell their product while making a genuine connection between brand and artist.