New Hires at OpenWeb, GeoPath, and Foursquare

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The monthly Street Fight new hires roundup features movers and shakers in adtech, martech, e-commerce, localized marketing, location intelligence, and more. This month’s roundup features new hires at OpenWeb, GeoPath, and Foursquare.

Where Location Intelligence Stands as Foursquare Founder Steps Back

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The story of Foursquare reflects what the evolution of smartphones and location technology allowed marketers to achieve — unprecedented awareness of where consumers are and how to cater to them on that basis. But data privacy concerns are pushing the narrative into new territory.

Foursquare’s New Audio Assistant is a Peek into the Future of Local Tech

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Dubbed Marsbot for Airpods, Foursquare’s virtual assistant will whisper insights to users about their surroundings, unprompted, as they move throughout the world. This may be a recommendation for a local coffee shop or a fun fact about a landmark.

For brick-and-mortar businesses and the technology providers that help them connect with customers, the marketing possibilities are tantalizing.

Foursquare Uses Location Data to Increase Shopper Safety During Covid-19

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Social distancing has become a new way of life, but in crowded metro areas, it’s not always possible to remain socially distant inside busy places like supermarkets and pharmacies. Shopping during off-peak periods is the best way to avoid crowds, but during the daytime hours, it’s anyone’s guess whether a particular store will be crowded or empty.

Foursquare thinks it has a solution.

Location Weekly: Uber Eats Moves into Grocery, Foursquare Merges with Factual

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In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Uber Eats moving into grocery delivery, Foursquare merging with Factual, Filipino super app SIF expanding services during Covid-19, and the OutStreets app pivoting to monitor store shelf levels during crisis. Gimbal’s CMO/COO Matt Russo joins for the first installment of the LBMA series “Members at Home.”

Foursquare Merges with Factual, Forming Location Intelligence Powerhouse

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Location intelligence firm Foursquare is merging with location data firm Factual, the companies announced today. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Factual founder Gil Elbaz will join Foursquare’s executive team and board of directors.

The deal pairs Foursquare’s best-in-class location-based attribution technology and developer tools with Factual’s top-notch audience segments, Foursquare CEO David Shim told the Wall Street Journal. Industry insiders say the move may portend additional consolidation during the COVID-19-fueled economic downturn and positions Foursquare as an even stronger leader in the space.

Location Weekly: Foursquare Partners with Vistar Media, Yelp Launches Store Visits

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In this 452nd episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Foursquare partnering with Vistar Media, Al Arabia Outdoor using Streach to measure OOH in Saudi Arabia, Walmart shutting down its Jetblack text service, Panera reaching 9.3M with AR campaign, Unilever piloting drones for ice cream delivery, and Yelp launching a new Store Visits product.

With Investment in Geo, Foursquare Focuses on Improving Data Access

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When it comes to location data specifically, Senior VP of Product Josh Cohen is seeing Foursquare’s partners put more emphasis on the quality of data. The company’s partners are developing more sophisticated understandings of the range of data quality when it comes to location, which means Foursquare has to dedicate more resources to make sure new industry-wide expectations are met.

Jeff Glueck Passes the Torch as David Shim Steps up to Foursquare CEO

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Shim now faces the challenge of steering a fast-growing tech business through uncertain times for data-driven companies. While location tech is a lucrative business that provides crucial insights for brick-and-mortar companies and has yet to hit peak productivity, the industry is also facing concerns of an unprecedented scale about how much it knows about the people who power its insights.

David Shim, Foursquare

After Foursquare Acquisition, Placed Founder David Shim Talks Teaming Up With a Major Competitor

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How did a Seattle-based ad tech company move up the ranks to become an industry darling, less than eight years after its launch? And how does the new relationship between Foursquare and Placed, which was previously the biggest competitor to the company’s Foursquare Attribution product, impact the location industry at large?

To find out, we caught up with Placed founder and CEO—and now president of Foursquare—David Shim. Here are his thoughts on what it’s like to go through an acquisition, and how two industry heavyweights who’ve competed for years are finding new ways to work together.

LBMA Vidcast: Foursquare’s Big Acquisition, Wendy’s Teams with GasBuddy

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On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Eleven-X + Skyhook, NCR Digital + SAFE Credit Union, Albert Heijn tries dynamic pricing, Foursquare buys Placed from Snap, GrandVisual + NCMEC finding missing persons, Wendy’s partners with GasBuddy for Memorial Day campaign.

Foursquare Acquires Placed, Announces $150M in Funding

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Foursquare and Placed are location tech’s new power couple.

The location intelligence firm is acquiring Placed, which had previously been bought by Snap for its top-rate online-to-offline attribution solution, and the two will offer one of the most powerful attribution solutions in the location industry, to be called Placed powered by Foursquare. 

As ad tech faces tougher times and a privacy-driven crackdown on data collection and ad targeting practices, more mergers and acquisitions are likely to transform the industry’s terrain. Teaming up and stockpiling as much first-party data as possible, thereby eliminating the need for less compliant modes of data harvesting, will boost the longevity of some firms while others flounder.

Foursquare’s Location-Based Loyalty Metrics Point to Best Practices for Casual Restaurants

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Brushing aside customer surveys and other imprecise measures of customer loyalty, location intelligence firm Foursquare released a location-based report this morning that evaluates best practices and practitioners in loyalty among casual restaurant chains. 

Most importantly for future considerations, the report suggests that brands can improve loyalty in all four of the areas that contributed to its index.

Foursquare Launches Hypertrending, A Next-Gen View of the Hot Spots in Town

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Foursquare announced on Friday, coinciding with the ten-year anniversary of its launch at SXSW, a new feature called Hypertrending that shows users the most popular places where people are meeting up around them.

Building the Location Layer: A Conversation with Foursquare

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Last week, location technology company Foursquare announced its new Pinpoint audience segments product. Building from its large corpus of data on places, spatial movements and behavioral patterns, Pinpoint represents the latest in Foursquare’s evolution as the “location layer,” for the internet. We got the chance to sit down with Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck in San Francisco to find out more. Here is the full interview. 

Foursquare Launches Self-Serve Audience Segments Accessible via The Trade Desk

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Having pivoted from a location-centric social app of sorts to a location intelligence platform, Foursquare has positioned itself well to offer brands attributable marketing success and verified data points at a time when concerns about both data quality and privacy are as widespread as ever. Foursquare says it throws out about 80% of the third-party data it consumes, an act intended to preserve the quality of its largely first-party data store.

LBMA Podcast: Reveal Mobile Launches Visit Platform, Foursquare Measures TV

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On this week’s LBMA podcast: RideYellow + LISNR, Bidooh goes to South Korea, Francesco Rinaldi’s “talking jars,” Reveal Mobile launches Visit platform, Foursquare measures TV with Inscape, Kroger finds its voice.

Raise Report: Foursquare, CrowdRiff, Mode Secure Fresh Funding

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Every two or three weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Instana, Hopper, Qonto, and Stringr.

LBMA Podcast: Placed & Adobe, Perry Ellis & Amazon, Foursquare

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On this week’s episode of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Innovative Foto, Airport Sherpa, Alaska Airlines goes VR, Cargo raises $22M, Foursquare for Good, Placed teams up with Adobe, Perry Ellis’s Alexa skills.

Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Lands Series F, AppLift Shifts Focus from Mobile Installs to Engagement

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TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Foursquare Picks Up $33 Million Series F Investment… Behind Applift’s Rebrand, a Shift Toward Engagement… Google’s Top Ad Exec to Leave for VC Firm…