News and Analysis
Retail Media Growth Depends on Faster Execution
New research from GrowthLoop and Ascend2 shows how slow audience activation and delayed reporting put retail media budgets at risk A retail media campaign can reach the right shoppers and still arrive too late. For a brand coordinating a weekend promotion across hundreds of locations, several days spent waiting for an audience segment can consume […]
Albertsons’ Turnaround Tests the Value of Local Control
Albertsons is trying to become a more efficient national retailer without weakening the regional banners and market knowledge that differentiate its stores. Its turnaround will test whether greater centralization can coexist with local execution while preserving the relevance customers expect from Safeway, Jewel-Osco, ACME and its other grocery brands. Why Albertsons Is Restructuring Albertsons has […]
DOOH Finds New Growth in Existing Screens
Digital screens already operating inside commercial buildings are creating new opportunities for DOOH advertising. Vertical City’s expansion to 10,000 elevator screens shows how existing infrastructure can become a scalable media network and why accessibility and measurement will determine its value to advertisers. Digital screens installed for building operations are becoming a new source of advertising […]
Commentary
Local vs Brand-Level AI Visibility for MULOs
A multi-location brand can have strong national AI visibility while individual locations remain absent from local AI recommendations. Understanding that gap is critical. A fitness franchise with 60 locations can have a polished national reputation and still lose a new member to a rival gym when someone in one particular suburb asks an AI assistant […]
What Brands Get Wrong About How Consumers Make Decisions
Consumer decisions are rarely as rationally as marketers assume. From Apple and Starbucks to Liquid Death and Duolingo, ten brand examples reveal how emotion, memory, identity and trust shape buying behavior and why traditional marketing often misses what matters most. Most marketing is addressed to a fictional consumer: attentive, articulate, rational, and delighted to compare […]
Franchising’s Overlooked Growth Lever Is Already in the FDD
Franchise brands spend enormous energy searching for new growth levers. Yet one of the most underused may already be built into the economics of the franchise system: local marketing dollars that franchisees are expected to spend but often struggle to deploy effectively. Every franchise system operates around a Franchise Disclosure Document, or FDD, that spells […]
Latest Posts
Local vs Brand-Level AI Visibility for MULOs
A multi-location brand can have strong national AI visibility while individual locations remain absent from local AI recommendations. Understanding that gap is critical. A fitness franchise with 60 locations can have a polished national reputation and still lose a new member to a rival gym when someone in one particular suburb asks an AI assistant […]
What Brands Get Wrong About How Consumers Make Decisions
Consumer decisions are rarely as rationally as marketers assume. From Apple and Starbucks to Liquid Death and Duolingo, ten brand examples reveal how emotion, memory, identity and trust shape buying behavior and why traditional marketing often misses what matters most. Most marketing is addressed to a fictional consumer: attentive, articulate, rational, and delighted to compare […]
Retail Media Growth Depends on Faster Execution
New research from GrowthLoop and Ascend2 shows how slow audience activation and delayed reporting put retail media budgets at risk A retail media campaign can reach the right shoppers and still arrive too late. For a brand coordinating a weekend promotion across hundreds of locations, several days spent waiting for an audience segment can consume […]
Albertsons’ Turnaround Tests the Value of Local Control
Albertsons is trying to become a more efficient national retailer without weakening the regional banners and market knowledge that differentiate its stores. Its turnaround will test whether greater centralization can coexist with local execution while preserving the relevance customers expect from Safeway, Jewel-Osco, ACME and its other grocery brands. Why Albertsons Is Restructuring Albertsons has […]
DOOH Finds New Growth in Existing Screens
Digital screens already operating inside commercial buildings are creating new opportunities for DOOH advertising. Vertical City’s expansion to 10,000 elevator screens shows how existing infrastructure can become a scalable media network and why accessibility and measurement will determine its value to advertisers. Digital screens installed for building operations are becoming a new source of advertising […]
Best Buy and LG Expand Retail Media Into CTV
Best Buy is extending its advertising business into connected television through a new partnership with LG Ad Solutions, bringing its shopper audiences and sales measurement capabilities to television advertising. The agreement makes LG’s premium connected-TV inventory, including its Home Screen, available to U.S. advertisers through Best Buy Ads. The resulting combination gives brands a way […]
Magnite Connects Retail Media’s Push Into CTV
Magnite is strengthening its role in retail media’s expansion into connected TV. Recent announcements from Walmart Connect and Best Buy Ads place its technology behind two arrangements connecting retailer audiences and sales measurement with television advertising inventory. For multi-location brands and agencies, the significance extends beyond another way to buy streaming ads. These connections raise […]
Chick-fil-A Draws a Line on Drive-Thru AI
Fast-food chains are racing to automate one of their most important customer touchpoints. Chick-fil-A is choosing a different route. CEO Andrew Cathy recently said the company does not intend to replace employees taking drive-thru orders with artificial intelligence. While competitors including McDonald’s and Wendy’s are testing or expanding voice-ordering systems, Chick-fil-A considers face-to-face service central […]
Franchising’s Overlooked Growth Lever Is Already in the FDD
Franchise brands spend enormous energy searching for new growth levers. Yet one of the most underused may already be built into the economics of the franchise system: local marketing dollars that franchisees are expected to spend but often struggle to deploy effectively. Every franchise system operates around a Franchise Disclosure Document, or FDD, that spells […]
Your Sellers Are Not Using the Data You Bought
Between a third and a half of purchased software goes unused, with analytical tools among the worst offenders. Our industry’s fix was to hire a translator instead of opening the audience data black box. Somewhere in your operating budget is a six- or seven-figure line for audience data. You approved it. It produces real value. […]
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