"We've seen a flurry of activity from brands trying to break through the noise during back-to-school season," said our analyst Suzy Davidkhanian on a recent episode of "Reimagining Retail." "The winners are the ones who understood their audience and created something memorable."

Back-to-school is the second-largest sales opportunity by dollar volume for retailers, which is why the fight for attention gets so crowded. EMARKETER's unofficial monthly retailer awards (UMRAs) for August judged campaigns in three categories: Most Impactful Campaign, Best In Real Life Initiative, and Greatest Under the Radar Move.

Here are the three winners that stood out.

Most Impactful Campaign: General Mills reunites "Saved by the Bell" cast

General Mills won for celebrating the 30th anniversary of its Box Tops fundraising program by reuniting the cast of Saved by the Bell. The campaign targets millennial parents with nostalgic imagery including yearbook clippings and cast members appearing in commercials.

"I love the idea of targeting my generation of parents with this very nostalgic callback that also goes to a good cause," said our analyst Sarah Marzano.

Box Tops launched in 1996, letting parents clip coupons from cereal boxes to raise money for schools. Saved by the Bell belongs to that same era, which is what makes the tie-in land with the parents who lived through both.

General Mills skipped the usual play of getting kids to request sugary cereals and went after the actual purchasers: parents who remember Saved by the Bell and want to fund their children's schools. Nostalgia gets their attention, and the fundraising gives them a reason to put the box in the cart.

Other notable campaigns included Urban Outfitters' first connected TV (CTV) commercial featuring 76 students sporting multiple brand lines, and Clarks' reworked version of Kris Kross's "Jump" performed by British kids to promote affordable school shoes.

Best In Real Life Initiative: Decathlon launches sports "middle aisle"

French sporting goods retailer Decathlon won for creating a rotating discount section inspired by the treasure hunt experience popularized by Aldi and Lidl in Europe.

"They've taken that kind of addictive middle aisle experience, and they've launched it with a back-to-school campaign," said our analyst Carina Perkins. "I just think it's gonna get people going into stores because it is actually also available online, but I think people, for that middle aisle, you just love to go and rummage and have a bargain."

The stock rotates every few weeks at deep discounts, so anything a shopper wants has to be bought on the spot. Miss the window and it's gone, replaced by something else.

The real value to Decathlon is repeatability. Discovery, scarcity, and value drive store traffic and impulse purchases, and none of that is specific to back-to-school. Running the test during the busiest weeks of the year gives Decathlon a read on the format before it commits to running the aisle year-round.

Target also earned recognition for expanding its back-to-college events to 150 stores, with 120 locations timing activations around nearby college move-in dates and adding experiential elements like DJs and mascots.

Greatest Under the Radar Move: Wonderful Halos partners with children's character Blippi

Wonderful Halos, the mandarin orange brand, won for partnering with Blippi, a popular children's character whose orange and blue costume matches the brand's logo colors.

"Who knew that most fruits are not, there's very few fruits, fresh fruits that are branded that people recall the brand, and now everybody's gonna remember this brand," Davidkhanian said.

Wonderful Halos is going straight at children rather than their parents, and the lunchbox does the rest. Mandarins are a school-lunch staple, which turns the Blippi association into daily exposure.

Fresh produce is a category where branded products rarely earn any consumer recall at all, which is what makes the licensing deal worth watching. Borrowing a character children already love lets Wonderful Halos build loyalty in formative years and reach the parent holding the shopping list. Even a commodity can carry a brand if it borrows one.

Other under-the-radar moves included Whatnot, a live shopping marketplace, reaching $20 billion in valuation with first-half 2026 gross merchandise value (GMV) surpassing $8 billion, and UK retailer Very freezing prices on 141 school uniform essentials at 2023 levels.

Listen to the full episode.