News and Analysis
Brand Learnings From StackAdapt’s Political Ad Platform
Political advertising has long served as an early proving ground for advertising technology. The need to identify audiences quickly, optimize campaigns in real time, and measure performance under fixed deadlines has consistently accelerated innovation that later finds its way into commercial marketing. StackAdapt’s new Political Targeting and Measurement Suite is the latest example. While designed […]
Inside the Dutch Bros National Expansion Strategy
Opening more coffee shops may be the most visible part of the Dutch Bros growth strategy. Behind the scenes, however, the company is building something just as important: the marketing infrastructure needed to acquire customers more efficiently, personalize engagement, and increase customer lifetime value. As Dutch Bros expands nationally, that infrastructure may prove to be […]
Vevo Brings Premium Music Videos to MULO Brands
Vevo is bringing its premium music videos into brick-and-mortar businesses through a new partnership with Rockbot, giving MULO brands another way to create more engaging and consistent in-store experiences For multi-location brands, the in-store experience is becoming an increasingly important competitive differentiator. While digital channels continue to dominate customer acquisition, what happens inside a physical […]
Commentary
Your Locations Show Up in AI – But Are They Recommended?
A consumer asks an AI assistant for a local business recommendation near one of your locations. Your brand location appears in the response. By most current measures, that’s a win — and it is. But for MULO marketers managing local search performance for dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of locations, presence in AI-generated responses is […]
“Why Aren’t We in ChatGPT?”: The New Question Agencies Must Answer
A new question is starting to surface in agency client calls: “Why aren’t we showing up in ChatGPT?” At some point recently, you’ve probably gotten this call. A client — one with solid Google Maps rankings, an optimized Google Business Profile, and a steady stream of reviews — asks ChatGPT or Gemini to recommend a […]
Why AI Is Forcing Marketing to Move From Channels to Intent
For decades, marketing teams organized their strategies around channels—search, social, email, and paid—each measured and optimized separately. But as AI increasingly mediates how buyers discover, compare, and choose products, that channel-based model is breaking down, forcing marketers to rethink their infrastructure around something far more important: customer intent. That channel-based structure shaped everything from budgets […]
Latest Posts
TikTok and iHeartMedia Bring Social Discovery to Audio
TikTok is expanding beyond short-form video and into the audio world with the launch of TikTok Radio, a new collaboration with iHeartMedia that blends trending TikTok music, creator commentary, and viral culture into a broadcast and streaming format. Debuting during SXSW and now available on the iHeartRadio app and dozens of U.S. broadcast stations, the […]
Why AI Is Forcing Marketing to Move From Channels to Intent
For decades, marketing teams organized their strategies around channels—search, social, email, and paid—each measured and optimized separately. But as AI increasingly mediates how buyers discover, compare, and choose products, that channel-based model is breaking down, forcing marketers to rethink their infrastructure around something far more important: customer intent. That channel-based structure shaped everything from budgets […]
Why a Streaming TV Ad Platform Is Buying Billboards
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is increasingly becoming a channel for B2B technology companies looking to reach decision-makers in the real world. As SaaS platforms compete for the attention of enterprise marketers, AI founders, and venture capital firms, some are turning to highly targeted billboards and transit campaigns in tech-heavy markets. Streaming ad platform Vibe.co is the […]
The Missing Piece in Multi-Location Marketing: Location-Level Attribution
Multi-location marketing has become dramatically more sophisticated over the past decade. Brands now operate across dozens or hundreds of markets, running paid search, local SEO, social campaigns, listings management, and reputation programs simultaneously. But while marketing execution has scaled, measurement often hasn’t kept up. Multi-location brands often rely on dashboards that show total leads, conversions, […]
Gorilla Property Services Eyes U.S. Franchise Expansion
A leading property maintenance franchise is expanding into the United States, highlighting how home services brands are turning fragmented local trades into scalable franchise platforms. Vancouver-based Gorilla Property Services announced today that it has partnered with Franchise FastLane to accelerate franchise development across the U.S. The move positions the company inside one of the fastest-growing […]
Survey: How Rising Review Expectations Are Reshaping Brand Reputation Strategies
The BrightLocal 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey highlights a major shift for brands operating in local markets. Reviews from the last three months now carry the most influence in consumer decision-making, while rising rating expectations and AI-powered recommendations are redefining how consumers evaluate businesses. For brands with local footprints, maintaining a steady flow of fresh, […]
Gregorys Coffee Franchise Launch Signals Restaurant Expansion Trend
The launch of a franchise program by Gregorys Coffee highlights a broader shift underway across the restaurant industry. Increasingly, emerging concepts are turning to restaurant franchise expansion as a way to scale nationally while maintaining brand identity and operational consistency. Backed by Craveworthy Brands, Gregorys’ move into franchising illustrates how specialty coffee franchise brands are […]
AI Is Rebuilding the Local Marketing Stack — From TikTok to Mail
The AI marketing stack for local businesses is rapidly taking shape — and it’s transforming how consumers discover and choose brands. Platforms like TikTok are emerging as powerful discovery engines, AI assistants such as ChatGPT are influencing how consumers evaluate service providers, and even traditional channels like direct mail are being rebuilt with predictive targeting […]
How Digital PR Shapes AI Visibility for MULO Brands
AI platforms aren’t just a gateway to websites. They are narrators, deciding which brands are mentioned, how those brands are described, and which attributes are emphasized when recommendations are generated. For multi-location organizations (MULOs), this is important because search performance at the local level is no longer limited to whether a specific location ranks in […]
Kevel Integrates With Adobe to Enable Real-Time Retail Media Activation
Kevel has launched a native Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) Destination that enables retailers, marketplaces, and commerce media platforms to activate first-party audience data in real time for retail media campaigns. The new integration creates a direct streaming connection between Adobe Experience Platform and Kevel’s ad server infrastructure, allowing customer segments to update instantly at the […]
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
How MULOs Can Win Customers Without the Click