News and Analysis

Meta's AI-Powered Features Bring In New Era for Advertising Tech

Times are Changing: Meta’s AI-Powered Features Bring In New Era for Advertising Tech

In a move that could potentially reshape the adtech landscape, Meta has announced its latest foray into the world of artificial intelligence for advertising. The company formerly known as Facebook is set to roll out a suite of new generative AI features that can create ad backgrounds, expand images, and generate multiple versions of ad […]

BOOM: The Designer and Basic Milkshake

BOOM: The Designer and Basic Milkshake

Despite many consumers’ focus on healthy and lactose-free beverages, a new MULO (multi-location) trend is picking up steam (or should we say whipped cream?). Milkshakes first came on the scene in 1885, and were made with booze. Ironically, the boozy milkshake is now having a moment again! In 1922, Walgreens began serving milkshakes and the […]

Macy’s Goes From Malls to Micro-Mini Model

Are mega department stores like Macy’s becoming a thing of the past? Although big box multi-location (MULO) stores in some categories like home improvement and groceries still make sense, the mall-based department stores may be due for a reconfiguration. Macy’s just announced that it is opening 30 small format stores. Leveraging the timeless reputation (founded […]

Commentary

5 Best Ways to Market Your Growing Franchise

With the post-pandemic market in mind and the larger availability of digital marketing techniques, here are five current ways to best market your growing franchise.

Anti-Surveillance Group Claims Privacy and Antitrust Are Intertwined Issues

Two of the major policy complaints to arise about the technology sector over the past few years have been that advertising platforms, most notably Google, Facebook, and Amazon, compromise user privacy and that a select few companies — the aforementioned names plus Microsoft and Apple — are so powerful that they prevent new innovators from competing. An open letter by privacy-oriented enterprises alleges that the two issues are intertwined.

LBMA: OneNav Raises $21 Million

In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Buffalo’s Olmstead Park using AR to bring history to life, Quan Media and AdQuick helping FreshDirect measure OOH ad performance, Kinetic and MyHome.ie teaming up on location-based real estate ads, and OneNav raising $21 million.

Latest Posts

B2B Strategy: How to Use Video Marketing to Build Your Brand

There’s no denying it now: Video is the future of B2B marketing. Time and again, studies show that B2B marketers get the most significant results and highest ROI from video marketing efforts. Perhaps it’s no surprise that 93% of marketers say that video is an integral part of their strategy, and 99% intend to continue using it, per Wyzowl research.

Retailers Turn to AI to Assist with Forecasting Challenges

With machine learning and AI, retailers have been able to navigate the continued imbalance between supply and demand. This is especially true for digital-first retailers and on-demand businesses. The number of online grocery shoppers increased by 35 million during the pandemic. That opened the door to new opportunities, but it also opened the door to certain logistical challenges that grocers never experienced previously. For example, online grocery shoppers expect the items in their mobile apps to be in-stock and available for delivery immediately, which is different from a shopper who casually browses store aisles to see what’s available at a brick-and-mortar location.

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.

4 Ways Video Management Systems Are Disrupting Retail

Surveillance cameras, typically associated with theft-prevention and security, not only help stores enforce social distancing regulations but also improve the customer experience. Here are four ways retailers can capitalize on video management technology.

Locations Are Pointing the Way Forward After Third-Party Cookies

When marketers store and analyze location data on the device, they reap the benefits of location-based marketing without running afoul of privacy standards. They are able to marry real-world insights with other types of data such as app behavior and online interactions while keeping all the consumer’s data on their phone.

local city location

Expert Roundup: How Will Location Intelligence Transform This Year? Part II

To define the current state and future trajectory of location intelligence, we’ve rounded up top industry voices and thought leaders. Executives at GroundTruth, Blis, and Stirista weigh in.

LBMA: Amazon Opens a Hair Salon

In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Amazon opening a hair salon in London with magic mirrors and AR, Japan’s Mitsubishi and Unerry partnering on a smart city project in Jakarta, CVS rolling out digital audio messaging with In-Store Audio Network, and Gentle Monster creating experiential retail with robots and donkeys.

Verizon Provides FLoC Alternative. Will It Work?

Verizon became the latest player to compete against Google’s FloCs this month with the launch of its new Next-Gen Solutions tool. The move marks a broader shift in ad tech toward contextual ads.

Private Ad Marketplaces Pave the Way for Post-Cookie Advertising

Private marketplace ad programs (PMPs) are becoming more and more popular with advertisers. In 2020, eMarketer announced that programmatic ad spending on private marketplaces will exceed open exchanges for the foreseeable future. Let that sink in for a minute — the exchanges that have long underpinned the way we way buy digital media are no longer the most popular tactic for media buyers.

The Era of Zero-Click Consumer Engagement Is Here

Location marketing has now had its testing moment, a moment that Google and its contemporary alternatives have been priming themselves for, whether knowingly or not, for quite some time. The era of zero-click consumer engagement has arrived; if that had been apparent to local SEOs prior to this year, it’s now clear to consumers and everyone else concerned with the business of local commerce.