Road Map (column) | Street Fight

Commentary Road Map (column)

The ABC’s of AR: Always Be Closing

February 5, 2018May 24, 2018 by Mike Boland

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In these early days of augmented reality (AR), we’re learning a lot about consumer behavior and preferences — the same learning curve defined the early days of smartphone apps. One lesson so far is that consumer AR use cases will be fairly limited. It’s not a silver bullet and it’s not for everyone.

Commentary Road Map (column)

‘SMB OS’: Expanding the Local Pie

January 8, 2018August 26, 2019 by Mike Boland

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SMB OS isn’t a new concept, though it’s now emerging and crystallizing in new ways. Advancing it are supporting technologies like cloud computing, mobility and cash-flow friendly SaaS pricing. Much of this trickles down from enterprise world, as it often does.

Road Map (column)

How Voice Assistants Could Transform Local (Part II)

November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 by Mike Boland

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Voice assistants continue to evolve as a medium for local search, as I examined here last month. But what does it mean for local media players and startups? If consumers are increasingly searching with voice, how do you wedge your way into that conversation?

Road Map (column)

Is the Camera the ‘New Search Box’ for Local Discovery? Part II

October 30, 2017November 2, 2017 by Mike Boland

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It’s often said in the ad-tech world, and other sectors that are reliant on data, that “Content is King, but Data is God.” This is increasingly true in local ad-tech and martech given the need for “ground-truth” conversions to attribute ROI. And it will equally apply in local AR.

Road Map (column)

AR and VR — Will Local Advertisers Bite?

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017 by Mike Boland

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Local advertising is a $150 billion market, and is particularly conducive to AR, given the technology’s ability to qualify purchase decisions in the commerce-heavy offline world. There will be a land grab for this digital real estate as mobile AR gains consumer traction. There will be also questions about who “owns” that virtual space.

Road Map (column)

Voice Assistants Could Transform Local — But Not Necessarily How You Might Think

October 16, 2017September 27, 2019 by Mike Boland

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Voice search and AI are widely misunderstood. Generalist tech coverage has painted the picture of an opportunity that resides mostly with stationary devices like Amazon Echo. But the real scale will happen elsewhere.

Road Map (column)

Is the Camera the ‘New Search Box’ for Local Discovery?

October 6, 2017October 5, 2017 by Mike Boland

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Though still nascent, visual search builds on a few key trends. Smartphones have increasingly powerful optics; AI and machine learning support computer vision to identify items; and there’s behavioral alignment with millennials who use the smartphone camera as a communication tool.

Road Map (column)

Where Will VR Fit Into Local Advertising? Part II

September 26, 2017September 25, 2017 by Mike Boland

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It’s important to step back and look at the reality of consumer adoption of VR. The technology is pretty nascent and future-looking — but to what degree? That question can partly be answered by original data on consumer VR behavior and sentiments.

Road Map (column)

iPhoneX, AR & Local: How Do All the Pieces Fit?

September 18, 2017September 17, 2017 by Mike Boland

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There are lots of ways that augmented reality (AR) is a natural fit for local commerce. But questions remain: How will AR will materialize in local? How long it will take? And how do these factors signal local startups and media companies where to place their chips?

Road Map (column)

Where Will VR Fit Into Local Advertising?

September 12, 2017September 9, 2017 by Mike Boland

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How will advertising play out in (admittedly nascent) VR, especially in local? We’ll likely see the same early and ongoing misfires, such as banner ads. Or, as in video experiences, we’ll likely see a fair share of legacy formats — like pre-roll ads — ham-handedly shoehorned into VR.

Commentary Road Map (column)

Pokémon Go and Local: Why Now?

July 18, 2016November 6, 2019 by Mike Boland

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The lesson from the phenomenon isn’t for local tech companies to try and build the next Pokémon Go — but rather to build a similarly justifiable value exchange for sharing location. Advertisers and ad networks should likewise work with apps that have that higher likelihood of user opt-in.