Googly-eyed robots, aisle 9

The owner of Giant grocery stores is teaming up with a company called Badger Technologies to launch robots in 172 of its mid-Atlantic stores.

At 6'3", it's a rather tall robot, unlike small roombas that scoot around partially undetected. It's end result helps consumers in some way, by making sure products are stocked on shelves and spills get cleaned up quicker, but it also benefits store operations and brands by checking for things like planogram compliance and price integrity.

To make the robot more appealing to consumers as it makes its rounds, checking shelves, the company has placed LARGE GOOGLY EYES on it. And apparently consumers are eating it up and taking selfies with it.

See a video of Marty the Robot in action here.

Arby's-themed subscription boxes

Awareness is often a key, and important, marketing objective for brands to get consumers started on the path to purchase. However, sometimes not enough effort is placed on, or invested in, their true brand loyalists.

Take Arby's, who created a 6-month monthly subscription box, that doesn't contain food, but rather sandwich and Arby's themed merchandise for their fans. The limited quantity being offered apparently sold out in an hour (who knows exactly HOW many enthusiasts they were planning on to sign up). Of course, the brand is banking on generating some awareness by getting people to talk about this ridiculous subscription box, but it's still a nice offering to let fans revel in their love of all things sandwich meats.