I “Cooked Up” the Term MULO

I’ve been writing profiles of all our MULO speakers and sponsors for Street Fight LIVE 2025, so why not include a little something about myself as well? After all, I will be chairing, emceeing and had the pleasure to line up many of this year’s speakers.

If you’re reading this and are interested in scoring a ticket, please let me know! (Hint, hint!) A couple of great brand sponsorships (coffee and content) are still available, too. You don’t have to attend to grab one!

1. Leading marketing and branding for 600+ branch banks in the 1980s was a challenge, especially without technology to assist with data analytics, distribution planning, communications, and local market support. But that just makes me appreciate the speed, accuracy, and ultimately ROI that we all take for granted. (Fun fact: I was trained on the first computerized POS system at Macy’s in 1976. Needless to say, the machine was gigantic!)
2. Fast forward to the early 2000’s…I was around for the birth of Street Fight, when the battle was just between big brands and SMBs and SEO was in its early stages. I founded my brand marketing company in 2003 and was an early adapter of social media and wrote a book about AI in 2017. I consulted to SaaS companies and other businesses on how to use content to generate leads, build customer loyalty, and enhance their social media profiles.
3. Now, we find ourselves in a new era of multi-location marketing. I came up with the term “MULO” to save syllables and define the commonalities among these types of businesses, and it seems to have stuck. It refers to any brand that has (or aspires to have) multiple locations like retail, restaurant, service, hospitality, convenience stores, groceries, healthcare, and more. Franchise businesses are growing (and being bought up by PE firms). Search is now AI-driven. Content creators and influencers augment conventional marketing, and advertising is hyper-personalized. Screens (both giant and tiny) reach us where we are, and we decide how and where to spend (physical or digital or some combination of both). Restaurants and retailers are now entertainment centers, and malls are multi-use complexes for living, working, shopping, and playing. Some legacy brands are alive and thriving (and morphing). Others are struggling.

But, the big question is what #4 will look like? I guess you’ll have to join us at Street Fight LIVE 2025 to find out!

P.S. Because the speakers all revealed their outside-of-work hobbies, fair is fair. When I’m not organizing conferences, creating content, and tracking (and predicting) MULO, consumer/business behavior, tech, and other trends, I’m enjoying travel (especially to conferences) and live music (I’m a big English Beat fan), learning new creative AI tools, practicing Pilates, spending time with my kids and grandkids, and knitting and baking (old school hobbies are making a comeback and have been proven to reduce stress. Crafts stores like Michael’s are booming (projected to hit $6B this year), and crafting communities abound in both the physical and digital ecosystems. Clearly, I have MULO on the mind 24/7!