News and Analysis

in-store media platforms

5 In-Store Digital Retail Media Platforms

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Is it retail media? Contextual advertising? Digital out-of-home? The latest crop of in-store digital retail media platforms are all of the above — and more.

dooh out-of-home advertising

4 Ways DOOH Will Break Open the Metaverse Ad Market in 2023

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The writing is on the wall. From the Trade Desk’s push into in-game advertising to IAB’s decision to update its in-game measurement guidelines, the foundation of what will eventually become the metaverse advertising market was laid in 2022. Now, as we look ahead into 2023, what comes next?

QR codes

Don’t Call It a Comeback: QR Codes Poised for a Resurgence in 2023

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It may be too soon to pinpoint the biggest takeaways from the 2022 holiday marketing blitz, but one in-store technology stands out from the rest: QR codes.

Commentary

How Local Businesses Can Survive Without a Website

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It is hard to imagine operating a business without a website. However, it can be done. In fact, it is already being done by the over 40% of American small businesses that still don’t own a website of any kind. It should be noted that the lack of a website by some businesses isn’t usually due to choice, but rather due to cost. 

Even so, local businesses that lack the wherewithal to launch and maintain a website need not despair because there are a host of other viable marketing and communication methods at their disposal to bring awareness to their goods and services.

Location Weekly: Unilever and Orbital Insight Deploy Location Tech for Supply Chain Management

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In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Mars/Wrigley getting ready for virtual Halloween trick-or-treating, Unilever and Orbital Insight piloting the use of location tech to monitor their supply chain, Foursquare using location data to increase shopper safety with LinkNYC screens, and CVS rolling out an in-house digital advertising network.

Blocking Third-Party Cookies Will Not Mean the End of Marketing Attribution

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The demise of third-party cookies will not mean the end of digital advertising and the ability to assign proper attribution to individuals engaging in various touchpoints along the buyer journey. Several entities are currently hashing out other methodologies brands can leverage to retrieve audience analytics.

Marketing attribution providers will continue to provide reliable data to enterprise marketers on consumers and their customer journeys through the sales funnel. Attribution providers worth their salt will not only make sure they are compliant with the tightened rules around cookies but also ensure their clients are following the letter of the law.

Latest Posts

Pared Expands to DC, Connecting Gig Economy Workers with Restaurants

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Pared, the platform matching restaurant and hospitality workers with businesses in need of staff to cover shifts, is expanding to DC. Pared is already live in New York and San Francisco, and it plans to expand to Philadelphia, Boston, and other locations in 2020.

 The San Francisco-headquartered startup claims its service offers a prime deal for workers and businesses alike. It says it offers hospitality and food service workers higher wages and flexibility while offering businesses a ready workforce amid perennially high turnover in the industry.

How Engaging Online Games Can Shape Your Rewards Program

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My experience managing product for both the “Farmville” and “Words With Friends” franchises at Zynga afforded me critical insight into the lessons smartphone games offer marketers looking to engage with and create loyalty among all types of people. 

Today, there’s a smartphone game for everyone. Regardless of topic, most games tend to follow a few basic principles that are critical to keeping people entertained, attracting attentionm and incentivizing players to return. Using these same principles, marketers can create campaigns that are more engaging, effective, and enjoyable for the consumer. 

Google Revises Policy Asking Users for Permission to Listen to Their Assistant Recordings

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The fact that this was an open practice that at least some consumers simply did not understand they were either opting into or automatically participating in points to calls for greater transparency and regulation. Google says it “fell short” of its “high standards” on the issue, but legislation like Europe’s GDPR, CCPA, and legislation in some 10 other US states indicates those standards may be imposed on tech companies by government agencies going forward.

Channels Are the New Citations

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Enter Phase Three. As my column’s title suggests, I would argue that the old concept of citation building has largely lost its relevance, and that thinking of the local network as a system of channels — parallel, somewhat independent sources of consumer traffic — is a more appropriate paradigm for where we are now. 

In all, there are approximately 10 independent sites and site categories that together make up the primary channels where any business should be well represented in order to be competitive.

What Facebook’s Second Wave of Data Privacy Tools Means for Advertisers

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Facebook finally rolled out the ‘Clear History’ feature, now known as the ‘Off-Facebook Activity Tool.’ This tool will show users a summary of the apps and websites that have shared their user data with Facebook and gives users the opportunity to control what information, if any, is shared with these websites. According to Facebook, the company “won’t know which websites you visited or what you did there, and won’t use any of the data you disconnect to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger.”

As advertisers, it’s important for us to understand how to prepare for the impact and to keep these updates top of mind as we move further into the second half of the year. 

LBMA Vidcast: Factual Returns to Europe; Gimbal Releases Trends

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On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Factual returns to Europe post-GDPR, WeChat releases new facial rec. payments, Curiosity Lab teams with Georgia Tech, Gimbal releases Trends, iOS 13 changes location game, McDonald’s acquires Apprente. Special Guest: Kipp Jones, Chief Technology Evangelist, Skyhook.

5 Privacy-Focused Mapping Solutions

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Mainstream navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze seem to dominate the marketplace, but consumers who are interested in maintaining as much online privacy as possible have options to choose from, too.

Innovative mapping and navigation companies are launching new platforms with user privacy in mind. Framing themselves as the “private” alternative to general use navigation apps, these platforms collect minimal personal data from users and often work without tracking user locations.

Here are five examples of privacy-focused mapping platforms.

California’s Gig Economy Bill Becomes Law

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The landmark California gig economy bill that may force companies such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash that employ thousands of drivers as independent contractors to hire those people as employees became law today. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill.

If the bill does ultimately affect Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other companies in the so-called gig economy thriving on venture capital for the last decade, it will severely disrupt their business models, which rely on cheap labor. 

Heard on the Street, Episode 34: ‘Drive-to-Store’ Marketing, with Teemo

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Location intelligence has become an important but crowded sub-sector of local media and commerce. When it comes to value for retail brands, marketing tactics are all about driving (and measuring) foot traffic. This is where Paris-based location marketing and analytics company Teemo continues to innovate.

As we discussed with CEO Benoit Grouchko on the latest episode of Heard on the Street, the company works with multi-location brands like JoAnn Stores to boost return on ad spend by growing physical foot traffic.

Constant Contact Expands Beyond Email, Adds Website Builder for SMBs

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Constant Contact, known for its email marketing platform, is expanding to offer an AI-driven website builder as well as tools for branding, productivity, and e-commerce. It’s the first major expansion for Constant Contact since its acquisition by Endurance International Group.

The company’s new website builder is specifically designed for SMB owners and operators without the time or expertise typically required to build an effective site from scratch. Constant Contact claims sites can be created in minutes.