News and Analysis
Just For You: MULO Brands Built Around Personalization
The Bear Cave is a grown-up version of the kids’ multi-location (MULO) brand Build-a-Bear. Personalization or the concept of making something unique as a gift or for yourself is nothing new. Most people like to think of themselves as unique beings with specialized tastes. Mainstream brands like Chipotle, Starbucks, and salad and ice cream franchises […]
The Franchise of the Future
The franchise MULO (multi-location) business model has been around since 1731 and boomed in the U.S. in 1960, with the formation of the International Franchise Association (or IFA). The IFA now represents 1,300 franchisors, 10,000 franchisees, and more than 600 professionals and suppliers to the industry, according to its website (which also features a robust […]
BOOM: This MULO Diner Chain is Roaring
The diner as a concept seems to be timeless. Back in 1913, the first stationary diner was established and ultimately grew to 6,000 privately owned locations nationally. That’s a giant MULO (multi-location) venture! Fast forward to today. Although foodies have a wide range of options for where to eat — from single-unit locations to specific […]
Commentary
Digital Advertising Has a Promising 2022 in Store — for Those Who Get Ready for It
The industry is moving away from third-party cookies, toward VR/AR experiences, and into a rebounding economy. We’ll see more things transform in 2022 — and here are some trends that I see accelerating, which advertisers, agencies, and publishers need to watch.
LBMA: Google Maps Goes Head to Head with Instacart
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers SPREE Interactive taking its VR platform global, a Robot mixologist serving drinks and collecting data, Google Maps going head to head with Instacart, and Square launching a Photo Studio app.
Holiday Marketing Amid Current Supply Chain Disruptions
By using marketing to communicate transparently about potential shortages while at the same time helping shoppers either locate hard-to-find items or come up with alternative gift ideas, companies can overcome the current challenges and actually deepen their relationship with consumers, leaving them well-positioned for when the supply chain does return to something resembling normal.
Latest Posts
Opportunity In the Metaverse Isn’t Just About NFTs — It’s About Interactions
While there is certainly opportunity for brands to sell additional product in the metaverse—fashion retailers like Nike and Gucci are already working on developing pricing strategies for digital goods and services—branding experts believe the greatest long-term gains will be won through marketing approaches that focus on quality interactions and engagement.
Reputation Lands $150 Million to Power Reputation Experience Management
Reputation announced Tuesday morning that it has raised $150 million in fresh funding to power what it calls reputation experience management, or RXM.
4 Steps to Build the Ultimate Consent Management Platform
This guide will show you exactly how to increase consumer consent and safely monetize data, including best practices based on changing global regulatory requirements and cross-device management. You’ll learn how to build the ultimate CMP, which will empower your marketing and privacy teams to help your organization meet consent requirements.
The 4 Ad Tech Trends Mobile Marketers Need to Understand In 2022
2022 will be a year for the mobile advertising industry to find its footing again — and an opportunity for fast-moving players to stake new claims. The momentum these trends — contextual advertising, machine learning, consolidation, and bidding in lieu of the waterfall — have accrued over the past few months suggests there are ways to prepare yourself for what’s coming, whatever that may be.
Report: Retail Lags in Omnichannel Customer Service
Retailers around the globe learned to adapt during the pandemic, quickly pivoting to offer curbside pickup, mobile payments, and online storefronts. Despite making strides in digital adoption, a new report finds that many retailers are still missing the mark on omnichannel customer service.
How Will the Metavearth Materialize?
Back to the metaverse’s meaning, concrete definitions are elusive … mostly because they don’t exist yet. But broadly speaking, there are two metaverse tracks. One involves virtual and synchronous worlds. The other adds digital dimension and context to the physical world. Both will take years to materialize.
Location-Based Marketing Association: Vendasta Acquires MatchCraft
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association discusses Catalina partnering with Place IQ, Japanese dating agency Matching Advisor Press using vending machines to find matches, Seattle launching an NFT Museum, and Here Technologies launching Indoor Map as a service.
Here’s What Happens When Brands Start Micro-Communities for Digital Engagement
“[Micro-communities] foster a collaborative relationship between brands and customers. So instead of spying on consumers through cookies, brands can simply ask consumers for feedback and offer them recommendations based on their likes and dislikes,” says Philip Smolin, chief platform officer at 100.co, an AI-powered consumer brand group that works in the CPG space.
5 Tips for Maximizing Your Performance CTV Strategy
From an advertising standpoint, OTT has some inherent advantages, especially for performance marketers. In the linear world, advertisers have to find programs or channels that over-index against the desired audience. On OTT, this audience filtering is done pre-bid. That means if you want to reach audiences who are in-market for a product or service, you can use real data to reach that exact audience with very little waste because of the dynamic ad insertion.
Evocalize Banks $12 Million to Scale its Local Digital Marketing Platform
Seattle-based collaborative marketing startup Evocalize has grabbed $12 million in Series A funding for its data-driven digital marketing solution designed for local businesses and the real estate industry.
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