News and Analysis

New Partnership Focuses on Driving Incremental Reach

When it comes to CTV, streaming, and linear, viewers tend to think, “It’s all TV to me.” For advertisers, agencies, and publishers, however, there are tremendous differences and challenges in all three because they are concerned with engagement, platform, viewing frequency, demographics, data, ad targeting, and incremental reach. The Holy Grail lies in accurate and […]

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

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 […]

Commentary

How Retailers Can Prepare Omnichannel Operations for Looming E-commerce Fatigue

The aim of clienteling is to increase customer loyalty and drive sales, while also increasing associate motivation by rewarding staffers for the resulting revenue uplifts.

The Pandemic Prompted a Programmatic DOOH Revolution. Here’s What Comes Next

Rather than stunting DOOH’s long-term growth, the pandemic instead led to DOOH becoming a more nimble and integrated part of advertisers’ overall media mixes.

Latest Posts

How Covid-19 Is Speeding Up OOH Advertising’s Digital Transformation

Some OOH media providers have already moved beyond the traditional real estate-based approach in which advertisers focus on a specific region or even choose specific billboard locations. Instead, they are using data and technology to target specific audiences and measure the impact of their campaigns. For the laggards, the pandemic is proving a catalyst for overdue change. Let’s consider why OOH’s audience-based future is closer than ever as well as what is next for the industry’s evolution. 

Earnings Season Teases Retail’s Next Normal

Earnings results that rolled out from retail giants over the past week further demonstrate what our next normal will look like. Specifically, Walmart and Target both hit record numbers. This is partly a function of Covid-era circumstances, but it is also due to each retailer’s active e-commerce momentum.

The earnings validate consumer acclimation to digitally infused local shopping. What’s more, other retailers and down-market businesses will look to replicate this success. This can all therefore be viewed as a leading indicator for retail’s next normal.

Political Advertisers’ Impact on Brands

A recent report from eMarketer found that political ad spend will reach $6.89 billion in the 2019/2020 election period. This cycle’s spending is 63.3% higher than spend in the 2015/2016 season, showcasing a significant uptick in competition for brand marketers. That said, political advertisers are becoming savvier, expanding their breadth and scale into additional channels and further encroaching on brands’ digital bread and butter.

Here are a few ways political ad spend will impact brand marketers’ approach and how they can adjust their strategies so they don’t lose momentum in the coming months.

Super Bowl Advertising

More Americans Are Using Delivery. The Change Is Here to Stay

Delivery has perhaps been the industry most clearly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. When physically going to brick-and-mortar stores became a life-or-death exercise, delivery, which had already grown under the rise of e-commerce, became an even more essential part of how local commerce functions.

Khaled Naim, co-founder and CEO of delivery software company Onfleet, touched on how delivery has changed in the past months, how long those changes will persist, and what technologies are fueling the widespread increase in deliveries.

Covid-19 and Retail Survival: The Online-Offline Imperative

Covid-19 has upended the way consumers buy products. But the pandemic is hardly the only factor accelerating the shift from in-person to online purchasing. This trend has, in fact, intensified over the last decade. With more than 9,000 store closures last year in a strong economy, physical retailers for some time have been trying to figure out how they can thrive (and in some cases survive) in an increasingly digital marketplace.

It’s therefore imperative that retailers (of all sizes) embrace a hybrid business model, where online and offline assets are more integrated. Covid-19 has only made this more apparent.

Consumer Concerns Shift from Covid-19 to Economic Uncertainty

Local businesses have been forced out of their comfort zone this summer as the economic impact of Covid-19 lingers and uncertainty persists into the final weeks of summer. With so many questions unanswered, businesses are searching for resources to help guide their decisions in marketing and general operations.

A number of martech firms are looking to fill the information void by launching their own Covid-19 resource centers and consumer data projects. The location-powered advertising and analytics firm Blis launched its own consumer sentiment tracker, with data from consumers in the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Australia.

Foursquare Uses Location Data to Increase Shopper Safety During Covid-19

Social distancing has become a new way of life, but in crowded metro areas, it’s not always possible to remain socially distant inside busy places like supermarkets and pharmacies. Shopping during off-peak periods is the best way to avoid crowds, but during the daytime hours, it’s anyone’s guess whether a particular store will be crowded or empty.

Foursquare thinks it has a solution.

Google My Business Search and Engagement Trends Define the Next Normal

With the addition of call data from DialogTech, we’ve been able to add an important new layer of insight to our examination of consumer sentiment in 2020. 

The current report also adds two full months of new Google My Business data to our ongoing study. As you’ll see, the picture painted by the new data is one where consumers are continuing to limit their shopping activities in comparison with pre-pandemic trends, but have increased store visits and contacts significantly throughout the summer, likely with a focus on an expanded set of essential needs mixed with optimism about a return to normal.

How Brands Meet Evolving Customer Expectations with Creative Automation

What customers want from brands is transparency, product information, and available services. Tell audiences about new curbside pickup or what you’re doing to make deliveries safer. Think of how you are removing friction and easing customers’ worry and then speak about it, because not only are they listening, but they’re also paying attention to those who haven’t gotten it right.

Aside from finding the right story angle for customers, many marketing and in-house creative teams are struggling to produce enough new assets and push them quickly out the door, especially as they adjust to remote work. Here are some of the most common challenges brand-side creative teams face during these times and how creative automation can help overcome them.

Location Weekly: DoorDash Opening DashMart Stores

In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Verizon deploying 2cm precision location tracking, DoorDash opening DashMart stores, and Google launching earthquake detection on Android devices. Rich Ventura of Sony Electronics joins as a guest.