News and Analysis
MULO Brands With Soul: KINDR
This month, our “brand with soul” is not a MULO brand at all. It’s KindR, an organization committed to making workplaces kinder, which attracts the best talent and ensures retention and growth. The war for talent at MULO (multi-location) restaurant, retail, and service brands does not have to be a bloody battle. In fact, by […]
The MULO Dozen: March in Review
As we closed out March and the first quarter of 2025, here’s what CEOs were searching for: Although these vast critical issues are top-of-mind for business leaders, March as well as the first three months of the year were filled with strategies and decisions in the MULO (multi-location) ecosystem. AI, tariffs, and hiring freezes are […]
The Robot is Carrying Your Pizza: Timothy Tanksley Predicts the Future of MULO Serving
One of the biggest challenges bars and restaurants face today is finding skilled labor. Add to that the cost of overserving expensive cocktail ingredients (both in terms of product expense and product quality). Timothy Tanksley is the Director of Marketing at Richtech Robotics. At the Bar & Restaurant Expo, one of the company’s robots served us a […]
Commentary
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 […]
How Generative AI is Propelling Local Advertising
The digital advertising landscape has never been more dynamic or more complex. As small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) grapple with these changes and challenges, they also face opportunities for growth. Generative AI technologies are empowering marketers with intuitive, powerful, and personalized advertising strategies, helping them to save time and effort and compete like never before. […]
How AI Is Transforming Phone Calls Into Data
“This call may be recorded for training and quality purposes” We’ve all heard a version of this ubiquitous message a thousand times. Chances are we don’t even notice it any more due to a form of audio “ad blindness”. Still, if we stop and think about it, interesting questions arise. What are these recordings actually […]
Latest Posts
Retail Media: Is it Working? Perspectives from Perion
Perion is a company that connects advertisers with consumers. They work with leading global retailers and brands such as Albertsons, Kroger, Macy’s, and Home Depot. Perion’s CEO and Director, Tal Jacobson, recently spoke with us about the surge in retail media networks. As more MULO (multi-location) brands develop their own advertising networks, we are starting […]
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 […]
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