News and Analysis
Pre-gaming: MULO Brands at the Super Bowl
When Super Bowl LVIII kicks off in Las Vegas on February 11th, marketers will be on their couches and in the stands, eager to critique the advertising campaigns (and surrounding digital buzz). Just as CES is the “see and be seen” of technology brands (and the companies that use their products and services), the Super […]
AI Innovations Drive SymphonyAI’s 30% ARR Growth in Retail CPG
SymphonyAI witnessed remarkable growth and profitability in 2023, driven by it’s AI SaaS solutions in the retail and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sectors. The company, known for its predictive and generative enterprise AI applications, reported a surge of over 30% in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) within the retail CPG vertical. This significant growth was fueled […]
Life Beyond the Storefront: Breakthrough Branding
What constitutes a brand these days? Some MULO (multi-location) brands are known for their shopping bags. We often see Ikea bags in use for moving or other heavy lifting. The iconic blue carry-alls are even available on Amazon. The concept of “bag as brand” has been around for a while. Grocery chain Fairway used to […]
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LBMA: PayPal’s Interest in Acquiring Pinterest
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers PayPal looking to acquire Pinterest, Starbucks exploring cashier-less stores with Amazon tech, Walmart testing text-to-shop technology, and Fast Simon debuting shop-by-image search.
Why Affiliates and Influencers Are Critical to Business Growth
With modern consumers trusting traditional advertising methods less and less—combined with consistent cost increases across other digital channels—it is more important than ever for businesses to leverage new, more trustworthy, and cost-effective channels. So if you have yet to invest in your partnership channel this year, now is the time to shift your thinking, and here’s how.
Google Local Search Trends IV: Federation
The initial launch of the GMB API in late 2015 allowed partners to maintain listings in near-real-time and at a much greater scale than was possible before. Now we’re in the midst of another sea change. Since the beginning of 2021, the API has been undergoing a complete overhaul from the ground up, a change that, once completed, will leave us with a totally different architecture that is more flexible and capable of much quicker iteration. This means, in all likelihood, that Google My Business as it is used by partners and the businesses who work with them will be able to move faster to fix issues and release new features.
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Clinch Launches Dynamic Circular Ads for Connected TV
Clinch, an omnichannel AI-powered personalization platform, launched Thursday morning a hyperpersonalized advertising product that brands can use to convert offline and app-based promotions to digital, social, video, and connected TV. The ad format allows for real-time personalization and contextual optimization in CTV ads.
LBMA: Digital Envoy Acquiring Location Sciences
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Digital Envoy acquiring Location Sciences, Campbells Soup and Universal Music’s QR code experiences, Stirista launching their Crosswalk geo-attribution platform, and Text Request launching location tracking by SMS.
Privacy-First Mobile Marketing in 4 Steps
Developing a privacy-first strategy is not only about getting creative in how you message or target; it’s also about being creative in how you find your audience and evaluate your campaigns. Data and audience building is key, and investing in gaining more control of your audience and measurement data will be the best way to succeed.
Text Marketing Delivers Massive Lift for Restaurants in 2021
New data from the customer relationship management platform Mobivity shows that text message marketing subscribers visit businesses 44% more frequently than non-subscribers, and once a consumer joins a restaurant’s text messaging program, the guest’s spend increases by 23%. Measured over six months, a single text subscriber can be valued at $12.15 on average in incremental revenue.
Unpacking Holiday Trends: What Retailers Need to Know
Although the forecast is relatively rosy, retailers are competing for every dollar. Many are taking a more strategic approach to capitalize on pent-up shopping energy than they did last year. Let’s take a closer look at what we can expect from the 2021 holiday season, including best practices for maximizing sales.
BNPL Firms Spend Big in Battle for Market Share
Digital ad spend from Affirm, Klarna, AfterPay, and PayPal as a collective group increased by 130% in the past year, totalling more than $52 million, according to new research by the advertising intelligence firm MediaRadar.
Digital Ads Are Getting Much More Expensive as E-Commerce Booms
The cost of digital advertising has skyrocketed over the past 18 months, climbing along with e-commerce spending. That’s according to a report by digital marketing firm Merkle.
Retailers Use AI to Combat Shrinking Seasonal Workforce, Surging Customer Demands
Increases in customer service tickets are expected to come just as seasonal workforces are hitting all-time lows. According to Puneet Mehta, founder and CEO of the AI platform Netomi, about 25% fewer agents are working in seasonal customer service roles now than before the pandemic. Customer service accounts for a lot of the seasonal roles retailers have traditionally hired for, and now retailers are looking at leveraging technology to fill that labor gap.
What You Need to Know about the Google My Business Name Change
The GMB name change brings with it a fair degree of uncertainty. Google may be retaining, for instance, the model of an API that helps partners manage listings for both SMBs and larger brands, but if the company is simultaneously building out a snazzy new interface for those same multi-location brands to manage Google profiles on their own, does this fact represent an existential threat to listing management companies?
Marketers Want Multiple IDs to Replace Third-Party Cookies
Marketers and publishers asking which will be the next-generation ID to rule them all are misguided, according to a new study by data solutions provider Lotame. The company surveyed 200 senior US marketing and publisher decision-makers, and 33% of marketers said they were open to “any number” of IDs, while 33% said three identity solutions would do the trick.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem