News and Analysis
BOOM: “Bruschetta and Bocce Near Me?” Eatertainment is Surging
Can you possibly eat cornbread without a rousing game of cornhole? Or what’s a game of mini-golf without a Moscow Mule? Combine a dining experience with one or many games — physical or digital — and that defines “eatertainment,” a category that’s been growing steadily over the past decade (but paused during the pandemic). But […]
Flashtalking Social Ads Manager Includes Social Media Activation
Omnichannel advertising platform Mediaocean has deepened its relationship with Google, striking a unique deal as it relates to the former’s Flashtalking Social Ads Manager (in the past known as Scope by 4C). For the first time, brand marketers who access the Flashtalking Social Ads Manager, an independent tech platform, will be able to activate against […]
BOOM: Multi-Location (MULO) “Needles” Businesses: Part 2
We’ve already established that people will overcome a childhood fear of needles (or at least cope with it) if they see an upside benefit — like vitamin therapy. The other reason people will allow themselves to be poked with a sharp metal object (in addition to vaccinations and blood tests) is beautification. Multi-location (MULO) aesthetics businesses […]
Commentary
FocalPoint Raises $8m to Improve GPS Accuracy
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers TmrO app creating connections between freelancers and the music and film industries, FocalPoint raising £6 million to improve GPS accuracy, Chipotle investing in driverless company Nuro, and Whole Foods tapping into AR cosmetics try-on tools.
The Privacy Endgame
There is an endgame that can put a stop to drip-drip privacy changes. A reality in which large corporations go back to not knowing the intimate details of their consumers’ lives and are still able to use technology to provide better user experiences through hyper-personalized engagement. A reality in which consumers can enjoy personalized experiences at exactly the right moment without broadcasting their location to anyone. A reality in which it is technology, not fine print, that protects both consumers and corporations.
The Deprecation of Cookies Leads to a New Probabilistic Playbook
The upshot is that deterministic approaches via walled gardens will still have importance, but they will simply become a strategy play as opposed to a catch-all approach for digital marketing. It’s apparent that any brands buying or relying on deterministic audiences need to augment their solutions to ensure they meet their ongoing campaign goals.
Latest Posts
Square and Adobe Spark Team Up to Give SMBs a Holiday Marketing Boost
In addition to selecting three small businesses to receive a holiday marketing overhaul — pairing each up with local designers to modernize their brand marketing materials — Adobe Spark and Square are helping businesses digitize their shops to process transactions in a touch-free environment, utilizing mobile technology and QR codes. The firms have also announced a plan to give five small businesses a $10,000 media buy credit and a subscription to Adobe Spark Premium.
How Email Publishers Are Thriving and Adapting amid the Pandemic
Over the past eight months, while so many channels have faltered, email publishing has flourished. Email open rates grew by 13% year-over-year between January and April, while conversion rates rose by 17%, peaking in March. Media companies have increased their email frequency significantly since the pandemic began, and retail email volume has risen as well.
Getting the Most Out of Email This Holiday Season
Email, whether for acquiring or engaging with current customers, still remains one of the most effective and important ways to drive ROI — if marketers do it right. Consumers are already being inundated with email messages, sometimes multiple in a given day from the same vendors, so the more relevant the message, the better the return.
Here are some ways marketers can ensure that their email messages get to the right people at the right time to deliver the most revenue and build loyalty.
Covid-19 Will Make the Workplace a Privacy Hotspot
More than a third of the 2,600 respondents in the survey said they want no relaxation of privacy laws due to the pandemic, 43% don’t want employers conducting medical checks and requesting health information, and nearly two-thirds don’t support disclosing information about infected individuals. While everyone wants to get back to business as usual, employers need to be careful that their efforts to monitor the health of employees and prevent the spread of the virus remain respectful of employee privacy and aren’t intrusive.
Have Generational Shopping Habits Changed for Good?
During the pandemic, we took a fresh look into generational shopping habits, surveying 2,000 UK and 2,000 US consumers to find out if and how Covid-19 and the measures taken to fight it had permanently altered shopping behavior. These findings reveal that shopping behaviors are converging across generations.
This E-commerce Startup Is Helping DTC Brands Navigate the Pandemic
While other firms in the retail infrastructure and logistics space are struggling, Whitebox is closing on a Series B funding round of $18 million. CEO Marcus Startzel says timing has played a key role in his company’s success. Whitebox was focused on solving e-commerce challenges for brands before the pandemic began, but the opportunities to work with major brands to improve and automate the e-commerce process have only grown over the past few months.
Why Marketers Must Invest in Localized Media Strategies
We’re seeing uneven recoveries in both localized Covid-19 outbreaks and economies across the nation. This unpredictability, coupled with new essential needs, supply chain disruptions, and business realities (stores closing, competition rising), have rendered previously effective marketing tactics virtually irrelevant. A ground-up, local approach can help brands and marketers solve for all these new challenges by reducing waste and delivering on those essentials that consumers need during these atypical times.
The World Outside is Frightful—Drive Holiday Sales with Social Media Instead
The challenges of driving holiday sales in 2020 do not signify the end of retail, as many sensationalized headlines would have you believe. This e-commerce-focused season is, however, a siren call to local retailers who have yet to take social media marketing seriously.
In the absence of typical frantic holiday shopping foot traffic, social media is a necessary part of holiday marking to effectively reach consumers who opt to stay inside.
What First-Party Data Can and Can’t Do For Agencies
Make no mistake, first-party data will play a critical role in the future of marketing, as it always has. But agencies as trusted advisors, and the industry overall, need to be realistic about what first-party data can and can’t do for clients, especially in the face of a global pandemic that has upended everything we thought we knew about consumer behavior.
Managing a Remote Team: 3 Tips From a Cool Manager
Striving to be a cool manager in the workplace is one thing, but managing a remote team in a global pandemic presents a whole new set of challenges that none of us had ever experienced before. Your team may face distractions when working from home, technical difficulties with video calls, a poor internet connection, among other unusual challenges.
When confronted with these issues, it can be hard to hold your team accountable and maintain positive relationships in the same ways you did previously. But as a manager, it’s your time to step up to the challenge, reassess your leadership strategy, and keep your cool while navigating the new normal.
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