Street Fight Daily: GroundTruth CEO Out, Marketers Struggle With Location Data

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

GroundTruth CEO Resigns Amid Investigation One Month After xAd Rebranding (Recode)
Dipanshu “D” Sharma, the head of the ad tech startup GroundTruth, stepped down Monday “amid an investigation into allegations of violations of company policy,” according to a companywide email obtained by Recode.

Facebook’s Self-Serve Ad Creative Can’t Be SMBs’ Only Choice (Street Fight)
Lynn Tornabene: By removing some of the barriers to ad spend for small businesses, Facebook is trying to become a one-stop shop for their ad dollars. SMBs are likely aware of the problem, but they shouldn’t be willing to rely on Facebook exclusively for their marketing and advertising needs.

Marketers Face Challenges in Working with Location Data (eMarketer)
Location data can help marketers better reach their target audience. But according to new data from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by location-based mobile marketing platform Verve, many say they don’t have a good understanding of how to best leverage it.

Case Study: Ski Resort Uses Triggered Campaigns to Convert Passholders (Street Fight)
At Mission Ridge Ski Area in Wenatchee, Washington, director of marketing Tony Hickok is in the midst of launching and scaling a learn-to-ski program called Freedom Pass, and he’s using an automated marketing platform to target the right skiers and snowboarders at the right time.

Google Redesigns News Feed to Personalize Search in Mobile App (MediaPost)
Google on Wednesday began rolling out a news feed that personalizes a stream of articles, videos and other content in its search app for Android and iOS based on the mobile phone user’s preferences.

Amazon Launches Spark, a Shoppable Feed of Stories and Photos Aimed at Prime Members (TechCrunch)
Amazon today is launching Amazon Spark, a new feature aimed at improving product discovery, which is seemingly inspired by Instagram and its use of shoppable photos.

NBC News is Creating Snapchat’s First Daily News Show (AdWeek)
Stay Tuned, which launched this morning at 7 a.m. ET, will air twice a day, with special episodes that will cover breaking news, NBC News and Snap Inc. announced. Those are all firsts for Snapchat’s Discover shows.

Investors Pour $159 Million into a Self-Driving Car Startup (Fortune)
Nauto, the automotive tech startup that uses a combination of artificial intelligence, cameras, motion sensors, and GPS to understand and improve driver behavior, has raised $159 million from a diverse group of investors that includes General Motors, venture capital firm Greylock Partners, and the Softbank Group Corp.

Uber Discriminates Against Riders with Disabilities, Suit Says (NYT)
While Uber offers wheelchair-accessible cars through its UberWAV service, the lawsuit claims that these special cars, which typically have lifts and ramps for mobility devices, account for a tiny fraction of the 58,000 for-hire cars dispatched by Uber in New York City’s five boroughs.

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]