Street Fight’s April Theme: Mobile Madness
Privacy changes have been the big ad/martech and data industry story for the past year, and a major part of that story has been changes on mobile, especially those launched by Apple and to a lesser extent Google. We’ll be diving into those changes this month with a theme called Mobile Madness that centers on the latest approaches to mobile marketing as well as the challenges and opportunities currently facing mobile measurement.
Street Fight’s March Theme: The Long Pandemic and Local Commerce
The pandemic spurred fast change in local commerce and thousands of think pieces on that change. We watched as local delivery soared, as did use of BOPIS, curbside pickup, and contactless payments. But what local trends have persisted even as consumer concerns about Covid have waned? And which trends are decreasing in intensity or going away entirely?
Street Fight’s February Theme: Personalization and Data Parties
The martech industry has been having an intense conversation over what level of personalization is appropriate, effective, and feasible and how companies should collect data to drive that customization. This month, Street Fight will focus its coverage and opinion columns on personalization and the various kinds of customer data as determined by degrees of proximity to the consumer.
Street Fight’s December Theme: Predictions
Street Fight will be focusing on 2022 predictions as we plan our December reporting and consider contributor op-eds. Of course, contributors are welcome to pitch us on other topics in e-commerce, martech, etc., but we encourage submissions making bold predictions about how martech and ad tech, retail tech, location intelligence, and consumer data will evolve in 2022.
November Theme: Hybrid Holidays
Sometimes, a theme is so central to the conversation in martech, retail tech, location intelligence, and the other subject areas Street Fight covers that we double down on it, focusing on it for two months in a row. That is the case this November, when we will be concentrating on the hybrid holidays for a second consecutive month.
Street Fight’s August Theme: Doubling Down on Data
When we ask ourselves which way those winds are blowing, the clear answer this month is heightened attention to the evolution of consumer data. That’s right, we’re doubling down on last month’s theme. This happens every once in a while when topics are weighty enough. We did the same mid-pandemic regarding Covid’s impact on local commerce.
SOCi Acquires Brandify, Melding Location Marketing Strengths
Brandify has been acquired by SOCi, a fast-growing market leader in location and social media management for enterprise brands. Brandify and SOCi will combine their technologies and expertise under the SOCi name to serve more than 700 major national and international brands, accounting for over 3 million total store and office locations worldwide. The acquisition includes Street Fight, which will continue to operate as an editorially independent media outlet.
Street Fight’s July Theme: Data’s Next Era
This month, Street Fight’s monthly focus is data. Of course, this entails more coverage of the disruptions to the ecosystem surrounding privacy — how will companies understand and build experiences for consumers as tracking gets more complicated? But the theme also pertains to innovations in data management and analysis and new use cases for AI, among other topics.
Street Fight’s June Theme: Mapping the Future
The new month signals that it is also time for a fresh Street Fight editorial theme. As these themes often reflect the macro environment, we’ve chosen one that’s endemic to (renewed) physical-world interaction: mapping. We’ll see increased usage of mapping tools as consumers emerge from their homes and return to the pastimes of local commerce.
Street Fight’s May Theme: Payment Power
This month, we change focus to payment innovations with a theme we’re calling Payment Power. Most digital marketing aims, however indirectly, to drive transactions. But what a transaction looks like is rapidly evolving today, and that’s true not just of the technologies that power the point of sale but also of the way brands and retailers are leveraging the point of sale itself to increase revenue, collect data, and differentiate themselves from the competition. The upshot is that payments are powerful, and this month, we investigate the innovations driving that power.
Street Fight’s April Theme: Targeting Location
When huddling to determine April’s focus, it was evident that one topic flows naturally from March’s privacy theme: location targeting. Indeed, among all of the subdivisions of privacy reform, location-based data collection is one of the most sensitive. And it’s where many data collection restrictions will focus, such as Apple’s iOS location tracking notifications.
Street Fight’s December Theme: Leaving 2020
What will the “next normal” look like in the post-Covid era of local commerce? Will things go back to the old normal or be a hybrid reality that cherry-picks components and new perspectives from the past nine months? Will e-commerce dip back down to pre-Covid levels or keep surging?
We’ll be answering these questions and others throughout the month, along with 2021 predictions (’tis the season) for our theme, Leaving 2020.
Street Fight’s November Theme: Google’s World
Google’s World is shorthand for the fully fleshed-out concept: “It’s Google’s world… we’re all just living in it.” The main thrust is that Google’s search dominance gives it enormous control in impacting the fate of businesses everywhere who rely on search for traffic and customer acquisition.
Google’s ongoing updates to the search algorithm, ranking factors, and SERPs continue to have ripple effects on marketers everywhere. It’s becoming more challenging to follow the moving target of SEO effectiveness. This game has its own set of rules when it comes to local search.
Street Fight’s October Theme: Home for the Holidays
Entering Q4 means many things, but to us it points to the media and commerce world’s annual culmination. That’s right — in this time warp of a year, we’re entering the holidays. Considering the oddities of 2020, what will this year’s holiday season look like? We know for sure it will not be normal.
Answering that question will be Street Fight’s October editorial focus. Branded with the cheeky title “Home for the Holidays,” (title credit: Damian Rollison), this month’s focus will be defining the holiday shopping dynamics of a socially distanced and sheltered-in-place world. What will be different?
Street Fight’s September Theme: Mapping the Future
What does “Mapping the Future” entail? As a primary tool for consumer local search and discovery, mapping continues to undergo UX innovations and structural changes. We’ll examine these areas as well as mapping’s interplay with local search and SEO strategies.
Though mapping is more of a Street Fight staple than a trending topic, market signals indicate that the timing is right. In fact, we already got started last month with a look at Snapchat’s moves into local mapping — not just UX upgrades to Snap Map but also self-serve advertising for local businesses.