Street Fight Daily: Microsoft & Amazon Integrate Cortana/Alexa, USA Today Personalizes Homepage

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

In Surprising Move, Microsoft and Amazon Integrate Voice Assistants (NYT)
For the past year, the two companies have been coordinating behind the scenes to make Alexa and Cortana communicate with each other. The partnership, which the companies plan to announce early Wednesday, will allow people to summon Cortana using Alexa, and vice versa, by the end of the year.

Report: Matching Up with Local Merchants’ Marketing Objectives (Street Fight)
David Card: Our analysis of local merchants shows that SMBs are spending more money on digital marketing — particularly social media and email — because they find those channels most effective. But there appears to be some missing links between new customer acquisition and their favorite tactics.

USA Today’s Facebook-Like, Personalized Mobile Site Succeeds in Grabbing User Attention (Digiday)
Users who got the new homepage spent about 45 seconds on each article they read, while users with a traditional homepage spent about 25 seconds on each article, said Jason Jedlinski, USA Today’s head of digital product.

Is Your Local Dealership Prepared for a New Era of Car Buying? (Street Fight)
Gary Galloway: The automotive space is extremely competitive and with automotive sales down 13.2 percent, the competition could not be fiercer. In order to remain afloat in today’s challenging sales environment, auto marketers need to rethink how they get high-intent buyers to their stores.

For New Uber CEO, Fresh Challenges Already Emerge (WSJ)
Even before he takes the job as Uber Technologies’ new chief executive, fresh challenges confront Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, with news of a federal bribery probe into Uber and public disagreement over how the board’s decision to hire him unfolded.

For Verizon, Customer Experience Combines Data and Design (AdExchanger)
In April, Verizon joined the ranks of Apple, Samsung, Citi and other enterprises when it hired its first chief customer experience officer.

40% of Consumers Want Brand Emails to Be More Informative, Less Promotional (AdWeek)
Consumers are sick of hard-sell email messages that are not informative enough and irrelevant, but they’d still rather get email offers from brands compared to direct mail, mobile apps or social media. 

L’Oréal Sees In-Store Results with Geotargeting (MediaPost)
Aruna Paramasivam, Head of Data Acquisitions & Partnerships and her team are employing various techniques that drive retail conversion for L’Oreal’s 36 brands. One of them is geo-targeting for Kiehl’s, a well-known brand, popular among men.

Grab Nets Strategic Investment from Toyota (TechCrunch)
The Japanese automotive giant has been named as one of the participants in Grab’s Series G round, which is targeted at $2.5 billion. 

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