News and Analysis
MULO Brands Are Reinvesting in Human Service
For years, the direction of store and restaurant technology seemed clear: move more transactions into apps, kiosks and self-checkout, and ask employees to do less of the routine work. That investment has made many visits faster. It has also made the human service interactions that remain more consequential. Aritzia, Macy’s and McDonald’s are approaching that […]
Yelp Moves Voice AI From Conversation to Conversion
Yelp and Hatch are among the first platforms integrating OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1, giving restaurant and service-business callers more natural conversations with AI. The resulting voice AI is connecting conversational models with the location data, business rules and operating systems required to turn a call into a booking. Voice AI is getting better at sounding human. OpenAI’s […]
The Shopping Mall Is Becoming a Media Platform
The shopping mall has spent years evolving beyond a collection of stores. Dining, entertainment, events and other experiences have increasingly turned major shopping centers into places designed to give consumers more reasons to visit and stay. Now that evolution is moving into advertising. Simon Property Group has launched Simon Media Network, a commerce media platform […]
Commentary
Franchising Has a Local Marketing Execution Problem
By every headline number, franchising is having a fine year. The International Franchise Association projects industry output will top $920 billion in 2026, with franchise GDP climbing 1.8% and nearly 13,000 new units opening. On a boardroom slide, that’s a growth story. Walk the sidewalk in front of any given location, and the story looks […]
AI Is Changing the Ad Fraud Fight
Ad fraud isn’t new to anyone running acquisition budgets across dozens or hundreds of locations. Multi-location marketers and agencies have dealt with click farms, bot traffic, and inflated app installs for years. What’s changing is the machinery behind the fraud. AI-driven ad fraud can now manufacture outcomes that mimic campaign success at a scale and level […]
AI Hallucinations: The Risk for Multi-Location Brands
AI search is quickly becoming a default research step before a customer visits a store, books a service, or calls a support line. For multi-location and enterprise brands, that often means AI-generated answers are shaping decisions across hundreds or thousands of locations, and those answers aren’t always accurate. When AI is asked about a brand, […]
Latest Posts
MULO Brands Are Reinvesting in Human Service
For years, the direction of store and restaurant technology seemed clear: move more transactions into apps, kiosks and self-checkout, and ask employees to do less of the routine work. That investment has made many visits faster. It has also made the human service interactions that remain more consequential. Aritzia, Macy’s and McDonald’s are approaching that […]
Franchising Has a Local Marketing Execution Problem
By every headline number, franchising is having a fine year. The International Franchise Association projects industry output will top $920 billion in 2026, with franchise GDP climbing 1.8% and nearly 13,000 new units opening. On a boardroom slide, that’s a growth story. Walk the sidewalk in front of any given location, and the story looks […]
Yelp Moves Voice AI From Conversation to Conversion
Yelp and Hatch are among the first platforms integrating OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1, giving restaurant and service-business callers more natural conversations with AI. The resulting voice AI is connecting conversational models with the location data, business rules and operating systems required to turn a call into a booking. Voice AI is getting better at sounding human. OpenAI’s […]
The Shopping Mall Is Becoming a Media Platform
The shopping mall has spent years evolving beyond a collection of stores. Dining, entertainment, events and other experiences have increasingly turned major shopping centers into places designed to give consumers more reasons to visit and stay. Now that evolution is moving into advertising. Simon Property Group has launched Simon Media Network, a commerce media platform […]
Ace Hardware Makes Retail Media More Local
Ace Hardware is expanding its retail media network around weather, store proximity, customer intent, and local inventory. Ace’s approach is showing how physical context can give retailers an advantage that audience targeting alone cannot. Retail media networks have generally been built around first-party customer data and proximity to a transaction. Ace Hardware is adding the […]
AI Is Changing the Ad Fraud Fight
Ad fraud isn’t new to anyone running acquisition budgets across dozens or hundreds of locations. Multi-location marketers and agencies have dealt with click farms, bot traffic, and inflated app installs for years. What’s changing is the machinery behind the fraud. AI-driven ad fraud can now manufacture outcomes that mimic campaign success at a scale and level […]
When Falling Store Traffic Isn’t a Marketing Problem
Lululemon plans to increase marketing as sales weaken across stores and ecommerce. Its challenge is determining which parts of the customer journey need fixing before applying the same response across an 825-location network. Lululemon plans to increase its marketing investment as it attempts to reverse declining sales and weakening brand sentiment. But before spending more […]
Yext Pushes AI Visibility From Measurement to Action
AI visibility is creating a new scale problem for multi-location brands: individual locations need to remain accurate, active and relevant across more digital surfaces than ever. Yext’s latest expansion reflects a broader shift from monitoring AI discovery to actively managing it. Knowing whether a brand appears in ChatGPT, Gemini or other AI-driven discovery experiences is […]
OOH Growth Signals Opportunity for Brands
World Cup-fueled revenue surge is highlighting how OOH has evolved beyond broad awareness. Digital inventory, localized activation and improved measurement are making the channel more flexible, relevant and accountable. Out-of-home advertising entered the summer with strong momentum as major events, digital-first advertisers and more flexible buying options helped drive increased spending. U.S. OOH revenue rose […]
AI Hallucinations: The Risk for Multi-Location Brands
AI search is quickly becoming a default research step before a customer visits a store, books a service, or calls a support line. For multi-location and enterprise brands, that often means AI-generated answers are shaping decisions across hundreds or thousands of locations, and those answers aren’t always accurate. When AI is asked about a brand, […]
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Franchising Has a Local Marketing Execution Problem