News and Analysis
MULO Brands With Soul: February Pick
This year, some MULO (multi-location) brands declared that they were disbanding their DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) initiatives. As we all know, having a team dedicated to DEIB is not nearly as important as “walking the talk” if you declare yourself an inclusive brand. Read here about why having a DEIB policy today may […]
More Ad Transparency, Control Come to RE/MAX
Brands that advertise on real-estate site RE/MAX, now have the benefit of centralized control over their data and ad operations via a media automation platform called Unify. The platform also enables brands to precisely target local audiences. As with any big-ticket purchase, the journey to buying or selling a home begins online, often times with […]
A First Glimpse Into Street Fight LIVE 2025
Street Fight LIVE made its comeback in 2024. Now, we’ll give you a sneak peek at the 2025 version. Although dormant for several years (due to the pandemic), the curated and dynamic event at Meta’s headquarters in Chicago was met with rave reviews from attendees, sponsors, and speakers. We believe it’s the only think tank conference that […]
Commentary
The Pause that Refreshes – How Ads During Paused Content Can Refresh in 2024
Imagine this: You’re going through the motions and you take a quick break. You reach for your Coca-Cola and take a sip – it’s exactly what you needed. It was a small pause from your routine that captured and revived you, a pause that refreshes. This was the catchy tagline that encapsulated Coca-Cola as a […]
Retail Media – Enabling Brands to Shift to an Audience-first Mindset
While retail media can trace its history back decades to humble in-store signage, cardboard cutout displays, and sampling tables, the retail media networks of 2024 are some of the most advanced advertising channels ever created. And with this sector forecast to hit a staggering $140bn ad spend worldwide this year, it has yet to fully […]
Connecting Retail Media Networks with Custom Audiences
Retail media networks (RMNs) are becoming a dominant force in the advertising world, propelled by the valuable first-party data they generate. This rise, however, also presents unintended challenges: the creation of walls around this data to protect consumer privacy and the retailer’s competitive advantage, resulting in a fragmented view of consumers. While safeguarding privacy is […]
Latest Posts
Marketing Storytelling: 4 Success Tips from Props
Especially as automation changes the MULO (multi-location) marketing landscape and brands use AI to target and “talk” to their consumers and prospects, the value of human-to-human connection or storytelling becomes more important. How do MULO retail, restaurant, and service brands build real loyalty among the people who spend (or could spend) with them? Joseph Perello, […]
Who’s Minding the Store? Who’s Watching the Kids?
This election season, the issue of childcare is a significant topic of conversation. MULO (multi-location) brands are already challenged by labor shortages, rising minimum wages, and ongoing retention challenges. Add to that scheduling and expense challenges that arise from childcare duties and those challenges get even more complex. Childcare costs in the U.S. are staggeringly […]
Automotive Advertisers Set Sights on CTV
Fresh from releasing its H2 2024 H2 Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Market Report, Mediaocean, an omnichannel ad platform, is out with its H2 2024 Automotive report. While linear TV remains a much cited choice for ad spend because of its ability to raise and spread product awareness, CTV has come on as the new darling channel […]
Streets Ahead: Yelp 2024 State of Services, Google Review Policy
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi looks at Yelp’s 2024 State of Services report as well as the conclusion of Google’s new efforts to tackle fake reviews. Yelp Publishes 2024 State of Services Report The News Yelp’s annual report on the state of services indicates that the home services industry is set to break new […]
The Drive-Thru Keeps Growing (Literally)
A new Chick-fil-A concept store offers six-second meal prep and a four-lane drive-thru. After all, we live in a fast-paced, impatient world, and getting your food faster without leaving your car is a common practice these days. During the pandemic, the drive-thru became a regular part of our lives. Operators now realize that this model […]
Why is Waffle House So Successful? An FSR Conversation with Danny Klein
Danny Klein is the Editorial Director of FSR (full-service restaurant), a media company covering the food industry. A recent study on the top brands in the FSR world has implications for any MULO (multi-location) brand—restaurants, retailers, and service businesses. The study, created in partnership with Datassential, ranks the brands based on their number of units. The […]
AI in Advertising, According to Criteo
Romain Lerallut, VP of Engineering at Criteo, believes that AI will play a fundamental role in advertising for MULO (multi-location) brands. Enabling marketers to “speak” directly to consumers at all stages of the decision-making and purchase process, AI will not only result in more effective campaigns but also save companies advertising dollars and resources. What […]
Pharma, Healthcare Brands Optimistic about Tech and Its Impact on Media Spending
Media spending by big pharma and other healthcare brands is getting better all the time this year. New findings from Mediaocean’s 2024 H2 Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Market Report, based on surveys conducted via Tech Validate in July 2024, say so. The report references data collected from a specific subset of 151 leading pharmaceutical and healthcare […]
How to Get That Precious Email Address: A New Study by LiveIntent
Close to 40 percent of brands are increasing their email budgets. Although consumers’ inboxes remain packed, email marketing remains one of the most effective options for targeting and attribution. A new survey by LiveIntent offers some compelling data and implications for those MULO (multi-location) marketers using email as part of their marketing strategy. The biggest […]
Sports Innovation Lab Forms Partnership with Dentsu
Like most reasons for ad-marketing partnerships, it is all about the data. So too with the one just announced between Dentsu and the Sports Innovation Lab (SIL). The goal is for clients of both entities to have specialized access to sports audiences across any publisher or platform. Dentsu is the first holding company to partner […]
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