Street Fight Daily: Alphabet Mulls Big Investment in Lyft, Pubs Not Making Money on Facebook

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

Amid Waymo-Uber Drama, Alphabet Considers Lyft Investment of About $1 Billion (Bloomberg)
Alphabet Inc. has held conversations with Lyft Inc. about a potential investment in recent weeks, signaling strong support for Uber Technologies Inc.’s main U.S. competitor, according to people familiar with the matter.

Street Culture: Blind References Help Weed Out Drama at Zaius (Street Fight)
“In the hiring process, we often use the terms ‘smart, hungry, and humble,’” says Zaius CEO Mark Gally. “This notion of being humble is really a critical component of culture. We don’t take ourselves seriously, but we take our work extremely seriously.”

Study Finds Publishers Are Not Making Much Money on Facebook (Nieman)
For years publishers have held onto the hope that all their investments in Facebook will, at some point, pay dividends when it comes to revenue. But a new report from WAN-IFRA suggests that, for most publishers, that’s still far from the case — and they’re not happy about it.

Local Marketing Tricks and Treats for Halloween 2017 (Street Fight)
Michael Buttigieg: Last year some 171 million Americans spent an astounding $8.3 billion for Halloween, shattering past records. And it’s entirely likely that spending will smash last year’s total. If you’re a CPG marketer, you’ll want to get in on the action.

Why Amazon Is the New Google for Buying (MediaPost)
Scott Gillum: Facebook and Google account for 75% of the U.S. digital ad spend — and almost all of its growth. But are these behemoths about to be blindsided by a fierce competitor with a better ROI?

Oath’s Revenue Chief Charts a Path for Verizon’s Ad Tech and Publisher Brands (AdExchanger)
“Priority one is cultural alignment and making sure we have clarity on who our clients are and where we’ll win in the marketplace,” DeVine said. “We’re going through the process now to bring the two sales teams together, which as you can imagine, is a complex process.”

How Bozoma Saint John Plans to Fix Uber’s Brand Problem (Recode)
Bozoma Saint John, Uber’s newly minted chief brand officer, wants to take a brand with an ugly image — sexual harassment, stolen trade secrets, profiteering off protests — and make it something people love.

How Data from Connected Cars and Appliances Will Rocket AI Marketing (AdWeek)
The digital transformation that is building speed with brands and agencies will be powered by more nimble use of data derived from IOT connections, then filtered through AI’s machine learning by executives that have the merged mindset of a CMO and a CIO.

From Facebook to ‘Finstagram,’ Teens Use Each Social App for Distinct Reasons (eMarketer)
Jane Buckingham, founder of research firm Trendera, spoke with eMarketer’s Maria Minsker about why teens are losing interest in Facebook and why one-to-one messaging apps are becoming more popular with them.

LBMA Podcast: Facebook, KFC China, Verizon (Street Fight)
This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan and Aubriana Lopez. On the show: Wasteless, Hong Kong tourism, Nestle Purina PetCare, Gravy Analytics + V12. Special Guest: Casey Binkley from Hauler Ads.

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