News and Analysis
Groceries Have Opportunities to Build Customer Loyalty
Global consumers, feeling cautious in an uncertain economic climate, are going on fewer holidays and eating out less frequently, according to data analysis from Eagle Eye. This SaaS company powers real-time customer loyalty programs and promotions for grocers and retailers in the U.S. and abroad. In a report, “Grocery’s Great Loyalty Opportunity,” the findings suggest […]
Criteo Expands Shopify Integration, Giving Merchants Greater Access to High-Intent Buyer Audiences
The commerce media company Criteo expanded its Shopify integration this week, making it easier for merchants to access its app through new self-registration capabilities and integrate their Shopify storefronts with Criteo’s network. The expansion to Criteo’s Shopify integration is the latest in a string of recent updates designed to make it easier for merchants on […]
Lauren Niehaus Shares 7 Things Retailers Can Learn from the Cannabis Industry
On 4/20, now considered the “national holiday” for cannabis retailers and consumers, I spoke with Lauren Niehaus, Executive Director of Government Relations at Trulieve.Trulieve has the largest retail footprint of cannabis dispensaries today, spanning 185 locations across 10 states — and growing. Growing is an aspect of what Trulieve currently does. Cultivation is part of […]
Commentary
The Most Important Local Search Updates of 2020
This has been the most active year in the history of local search when it comes to the introduction of new features. Google recently announced that it had made nearly 250 updates to Google Maps since the start of the pandemic, and just about every other local publisher, including Yelp, Bing, Foursquare, TripAdvisor, and even Apple Maps, has been busy.
As we near the end of this unusual year, I thought it would be useful to take stock of these changes and note the ones that are the most significant.
Will 2020 Be the Year to End Black Friday?
Black Friday this year will probably look a lot like it would’ve been in about a decade; we’ve just accelerated the online shift. 2020 will be the year that Black Friday and Cyber Monday stop being shopping ‘days.’ They’ll be turned completely upside down for years to come as retailers embrace a holiday shopping season of deals, strategized and targeted based on insights from online data.
Locating Holiday Success for Small Businesses
Because of the enormous spike in online transactions, there are more ways for customers to shop than ever before, creating new opportunities for small businesses to connect with core segments and personalize messaging with data-based insights grounded in historical trends and real-time behaviors. The ability to target individuals based on where they have previously been is tremendously valuable as consumer behavior has been required to adjust to ever-changing guidelines at the state/city and local level.
Latest Posts
The Data Protection Act: Dangerous Pitfall or Hope for the Future?
Though the Data Protection Act is in the beginning stages, 19 states already have similar regulations underway, indicating that these policies are part of a fundamental shift that will impact all Americans over the next decade, marketers included. Marketing leaders need to realize that this new commitment to customer privacy is not a passing trend and must prepare accordingly without wasting any more time.
How The Canucks Use Chat to Optimize the Fan Experience
Telephone surveys are notoriously unreliable. So are email questionnaires. When it comes to engaging consumers in two-way market research, companies are increasingly looking toward chat-based technologies as a potential solution.
Case and point: the Vancouver Canucks. The ice hockey team has started using chat-based technology to capture fan feedback in real-time during home games in the team’s Vancouver stadium.
10 Ways to Evaluate Text Message Marketing Solutions for Retailers
As the popularity of text message marketing has increased, so have the number of providers offering text message marketing software. What features do you need? What provider should you choose?
With so many product options available, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. On the surface, these options may look alike, but when you take a closer look, you’ll find some key differences.
Location Weekly: FCC Fines Location Data Purveyors; Adidas Taps WhatsApp for Mobile Marketing
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers the FCC proposing hefty fines on mobile operators for selling location data, Apple turning your photo into a car key, Adidas tapping WhatsApp to reach consumers, KFC Canada integrating Google Maps and Assistant, Uber offering car-top signage for new driver revenue, and JCDecaux leveraging facial recognition for Yoplait in Australia.
Heard on the Street, Episode 46: Improving Road Safety with Your iPhone
Insurance is typically viewed as an old-school industry that’s not very sexy. But Cambridge Mobile Telematics VP Ryan McMahon thinks insurance gets a bad wrap in that respect. As the latest guest on Street Fight’s Heard on the Street podcast, his company is innovating actuarial work and safer roads.
McMahon’s firm accomplishes that by capitalizing on the powerful computer we all carry around (and drive around) in our pockets. Given all its sensors like GPS and accelerometers, the modern smartphone packs ample situational awareness. One of the things it can do is detect signals that indicate driving quality.
PUMA Goes Big with OOH Ad Campaign
With consumers today asking for more authentic, personalized experiences, the German apparel manufacturer PUMA recently launched an outdoor campaign that involved audience targeting, programmatic capabilities, and situationally aware screens with hologram technology. PUMA worked with Havas Media and the outdoor ad platform Firefly to design a weekend-long campaign during the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago. Together, the companies outfitted smart media displays with hologram projectors to display 360-degree images of PUMA’s newest sneaker on the roofs of parked cars in front of multiple Chicago landmarks.
Street Fight’s March Theme: Word of Mouth
One of the oldest and still most influential drivers of local commerce is word of mouth. Though that’s sustained at a high level, the delivery vessel for local chatter has evolved. Social channels like Facebook and Yelp now shape the reputations of brick-and-mortar businesses, not to mention the kingmaker authority of Google.
This month, we will delve into the latest trends and insights driving reputation management, taking Word of Mouth as our theme.
Consumers Split on Personalized Ads
In the year of the California Consumer Privacy Act, the data privacy movement is ascendant, and marketers are likely more aware of consumer concerns about tracking than ever before. But a fresh survey of 993 Internet users from audience intelligence firm DISQO suggests that marketers will need to continue navigating the trade-off between providing consumers the only type of ads they widely welcome — personalized ones matched to their interests — and transparently requesting consent for the kinds of tracking that make personalized ads possible.
Creating and Maintaining a Cohesive Digital Brand Image
Visual consistency is about perception. It’s the ability to pick out, recognize, and immediately understand something you see. Coca-Cola is a great example. You can instantly recognize the simple, iconic red and white colors paired with its cursive font anywhere and in any language. Even for its holiday campaign, Coca-Cola used its colors to its advantage. Remember the famously adorable polar bears wearing red scarves that stood out from its soft, white fur and snowy background? Classic.
This goes to show the power of strong, cohesive branding. Customizing the language, photography, color palette, layout, and written content of your brand’s digital marketing materials can go a long way. In fact, a recent study by LucidPress discovered that consistent brand presentation increases overall revenue and growth by 33%.
Influencer Marketing Moves into the Mainstream
Influencer marketing is working its way into the toolboxes of major corporations, and I’m not just talking about Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s meme squad. Household brands including McDonald’s, Walmart, and Anheuser-Busch have turned to Linqia to test the practice.
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem