News and Analysis

Google's AI Chops and Local Search

Google’s AI Chops and Local Search

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ChatGPT celebrants have lauded it as a Google killer or questioned why Google wasn’t first to the generative AI phenomenon. But there’s a problem with that narrative: Google has been all over AI for years.

6 AI-Based Voice Ordering Systems for Restaurants

6 AI-Based Voice Ordering Systems for Restaurants

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A growing number of restaurant chains are deploying AI ordering systems to streamline phone orders and digitize their off-premise business. 

As GoodRx Stumbles on Privacy, Competitors Pounce

As GoodRx Stumbles on Privacy, Competitors Pounce

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Seven years after the European Union got the ball rolling on consumer privacy by adopting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced its first-ever financial penalty for inappropriate data sharing practices by GoodRx.

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7 Shoppable Video Platforms

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How do you engage customers when in-store shopping is in many places all but obsolete? One solution that brand retailers around the country have been digging into this year is shoppable video. Using recorded and live video streams, brands have been able to capitalize on the shift toward mobile video and give customers direct links to buy their products online.

Here are seven examples of shoppable video platforms brands are using right now.

Location Weekly: Party City and Nextdoor Launch Halloween Campaign

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In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Ferrara’s Trolli brand creating an AR game for Halloween, Party City and NextDoor launching a Halloween campaign, Burberry teaming with IBM for product traceability, and Walmart redesigning its stores with a touch of airport way-finding tech.

What Happens to Drive-to-Store Campaigns After Apple’s IDFA Update?

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Given that Apple’s Limit Ad Tracking feature already renders roughly one-third of iOS users totally anonymous, drive-to-store conversion measurement has been limited at the device-level for some time. The iOS 14 update from Apple simply adds another challenge on top of what was already a difficult endeavor. For marketers who haven’t done so yet, they should take this opportunity to pivot to measurement strategies that are less reliant on the ever-shifting policies of tech giants like Apple.

Latest Posts

Converting Prospects to Customers Through Event Marketing

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The marketing journey is not as predictable as it once was, and there are potential roadblocks to conversion at every stage within the funnel. Today’s buyers have access to high-quality information about products and services through digital media, so they’re not reliant on the sellers for insights. In the most successful companies, sales and marketing organizations overcome these roadblocks together. They work in concert to generate brand awareness, educate prospects, forge relationships, and ultimately to turn prospects into customers. Event marketing plays a key role in these efforts. 

3 Data Trends to Watch in 2020

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Data-driven marketing investments are growing rapidly. In the US, data spend grew almost $3 billion in the last year. Not surprisingly, the number of data-related challenges has increased as well. 2019 saw privacy regulations usher in broad changes across the ecosystem, causing widespread concerns around the future of data-driven targeting. 

Ahead of the new year, we identified three key trends to look out for. These trends — as well as some proactive steps companies can take today — will set up data partners for success in 2020 and beyond. 

6 Ways Wearable Tech Is Reshaping Retail

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Rather than being spooked by these new retail engagement strategies, surveys show most consumers are excited by them. Sixty-seven percent of wearables owners say they find dynamic user experiences that vary based on location “useful and exciting.”

Here are six examples of strategies that retailers can employ to improve the shopping experience using wearable technology.

The Future of Work Is Not That Far Away

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If you read through the litany of commentators who wax extemporaneously about what workplaces will be like in years to come, you hear about things like “open concepts” and “remote workers.”  You also hear a lot about creating effective workplace culture and crafting maximized organizational structures. And of course, you hear a lot about the benefits of AI.  These are buzzwords, and if I had a nickel for every buzzword that gets thrown at me on a daily basis, I would have retired many years ago. That said, if you peel away the buzzwords, you uncover some truly impactful trends that are driving the workplace of the future.

LBMA Presents Location Weekly: Bandit’s Mobile Ordering and AR Visualization at the NYT

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In this week’s episode, Asif and Aubriana discuss the New York Times’ location-based air pollution AR visualization, Bandit taking them to mobile order ahead only for coffee, Dentsu Aegis Network India launching hyperlocal insights tools for OOH, Mood Media combining divisions to create Technomedia, Chick-fil-A wanting people to spend time together this holiday season, and the Salvation Army unveiling donations via Apple Pay & Google Pay.

5 Tips for Growing Affiliate Programs Through Social Channels

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According to a recent study by the Performance Marketing Association (PMA), the affiliate marketing channel is expected to grow to over $6 billion by 2020. A Mediakix study found that US influencer marketing spend on Instagram alone is expected to grow $2.3 billion by 2020. The PMA study also indicated that content, bloggers, and social media accounted for 40% of ad spend by affiliate type in 2018, and that number is surely going up. All of these numbers support the idea that influencers and social media bring an incredible monetization opportunity to affiliate marketing.

Let’s look at five ways that brands active in the partner and affiliate channels can benefit from leveraging social media, and ultimately drive more revenue. 

Report: Reviews for Local Businesses Are Essential. Ratings Below 4 Stars Are Deadly

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If it had not already been clear that building up a significant inventory of positive online reviews is key to attracting new customers to a business, let doubt linger no further. 

A whopping 52 percent of consumers ages 18-54 “always” read reviews when searching for local businesses, and only 53 percent will consider a businesses with fewer than four stars, according to survey of 1,005 US-based consumers by marketing platform BrightLocal. Eighty-two percent of consumers overall read online reviews.

Follow the Money: Will Wearables Inflect in 2020?

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Apple is far ahead with Watch and Airpods, which may have sold 3 million units since Black Friday. Google meanwhile acquired Fitbit to buttress its wearables play. Amazon and Microsoft launched wearables lines in the past quarter, and smaller players like Bose and Snap are planting seeds for a wearables future.

There’s an underlying driver for this activity that goes back to the perennial analyst exercise of “following the money.” This is all about extrapolating product roadmaps based on tech giants’ motivations. This is often to future-proof their core businesses or diversify revenue in the face of maturing products.

Connected Consumers Are More Demanding Than Ever – How Retailers Are Adapting

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As the omnichannel approach to retail takes off, industry insiders are beginning to wonder whether giving shoppers what they want, when they want it, across any connected device, is causing consumers to develop unrealistic expectations about the types of experiences and services their favorite stores can provide.

For Luxury Brands, The Possibilities of Programmatic Cannot Be Ignored

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For luxury brands, creating customer relationships, and the revenues they bring, is everything. A $25,000 watch or $150,000 vehicle is rarely an impulse buy but instead a purchase achieved after many different points of engagement. 

Programmatic advertising is taking an increasingly higher percentage of all ad budgets, and luxury brands and their marketing efforts need to hop on board with this trend. Digital advertising has the power to use contextual targeting and select first-party data to find the right audiences at the right times and in the right places, no matter how high-echelon the product.