News and Analysis

Mobile Apps Show Strong User and Engagement Growth

Privacy headwinds as well as the advent of the metaverse and a new wave of hardware have led many to question the future of mobile’s place at the center of digital marketing. But according to a new report by mobile marketing measurement company Adjust, mobile is experiencing significant growth despite headwinds.

Camera IQ Helps Brands Leverage AR on TikTok

Camera IQ, an AR creation tool, launched support this week for brands using AR on TikTok. Camera IQ is already helping brands and publishers such as Cartoon Network and Smashbox creative native AR experiences on TikTok to captivate users and create shareable social experiences.

5 Predictions for Influencer Marketing

It is getting hard to tell one influencer marketing platform apart from another, a problem for brands questioning where to go and investors, M&A actors, and industry watchdogs wondering what really distinguishes them. To wit, I caught up with Pierre Cassuto, global chief commercial officer at influencer marketing platform Humanz, to understand how those of us looking at the space from the outside should be judging its many players.

Commentary

Three Ways Indoor Maps Do More for Complex Retail Buildings

Once a venue’s maps have been digitized for wayfinding purposes, there are many ways to drive additional ROI from that same set of indoor maps. When location technologies are designed with interoperability in mind, it becomes possible to blend different technologies together to create smart solutions that provide value not only to business operations but also to consumers. By integrating digitized, layer-based indoor maps with other solutions such as the indoor equivalent of GPS, known as Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS), asset tracking and business intelligence, great things become possible. 

Here is a shortlist of the top use cases that malls can implement to generate further ROI from their indoor mapping investments.

LBMA Vidcast: Snapchat Using OOH & AR; Gig Economy Under Fire

On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Snapchat using OOH + AR, Zippin has store at Sacramento Kings stadium, Gig Economy under fire in California, Michael’s Stores + UPS, Wirecard partners with SES-imagotag, UPS gets drone fleet approval in U.S.

Adapting to New iOS13 and Android Q Location Sharing Permission Changes: What to Expect

This month, both Apple and Google released significant updates to their operating systems (OS) that will have a big impact on the way location data is shared and collected. It is just one of many ways the tech industry is trying to self-regulate and protect consumers’ information in the absence of federal-level privacy regulations.

These new location-sharing permission changes impact an app’s ability to gather the necessary data they need to build location-based app features, and while it’s too early to understand the significance of the impact, these changes give a clear indication of how the tech industry must evolve to be more transparent with consumers and provide clearer, opt-in consent through any data exchange.

Adapting and adjusting to these changes first and foremost require a high-level understanding of what specifically these updates include, and how they impact the interaction between an app and its users. 

Latest Posts

#SFSNYC: Verve’s Mark Fruehan Talks Being a Tactician in Location-Based Advertising

Mobile and local offer huge opportunities in potential revenue to advertisers smart enough to capitalize on them. But location data will ultimately hold value for marketers only if its collection and analysis rests on accurate audience identification, said Mark Fruehan, executive vice president of enterprise platforms at Verve, at Street Fight Summit Wednesday.

#SFSNYC: Broadly CEO: Brick-and-Mortars Need to Become Messaging Centers

Phone calls and contact forms are dead, but what about websites? Not so much, said Josh Melick, CEO of Broadly, at Street Fight’s annual summit in New York Wednesday. With this trend showing no signs of stopping, websites—especially those of local businesses—need to become messaging centers.

#SFSNYC: The Growing Power of SMB OS

Until recently, brick-and-mortar shopping relied on the digital world for advertising functions and not much else. But now, local retail has a new digital arena—the full-service operating system. Three leaders in this expanding set of technological solutions for SMBs laid out the state of the field, known as SMB OS, at Street Fight Summit in New York Wednesday.

#SFSNYC: Making Conversational Interfaces the Frontline for Customer Interaction

The development of conversational language to interact with chatbots, digital assistants, smart devices, and other machines is changing the ways consumers make use of such platforms to find the information and services they want—and this change is only going to get more important for brands and local businesses to address.

How Peoria Journal Star Did a Lot More With Less After Deep Cuts Shrank the Newsroom

“We made it our mission, working with our publisher at the time, Ken Mauser, that we would reach out to the people of the South Side and make sure they had a place where they could tell us about the good things happening where they live,” Peoria Journal Star Executive Editor Dennis Anderon says of reaching out to neglected community members.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Expected to Bring Bidding to In-App Ads, Barriers to Online-Offline Attribution

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Offers Brands In-App Ads… Performance Pricing Pitfalls: The Truth About Offline-Visit Data for Advertisers… TGI Friday’s AI-Powered Marketing Drives $150 Million…

Report: Brands Abandoning Social Media Measurement

The rise of tools like IoT and chatbots, along with reliable channels like email, have cut into the diminished albeit still powerful role of social along the customer journey, explains Mark Smith, president and CEO of Kitewheel.

Most Local Merchants Unfazed by Facebook Controversies, Though Some Signs of Trouble

By now, consequences of the negative aura surrounding Facebook’s role in customer info abuse, fake news, and Russian political meddling should have started to take hold. Yet over half of local merchants we polled said they would continue to use Facebook as they had previously, and only one in five said they may use it less.

Street Fight Daily: Local Merchants Unfazed by Facebook Controversy, Consumers Apprehensive on Voice

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Most Local Merchants Unfazed by Facebook Controversies, Though Some Signs of Trouble… Report: Brands Abandoning Social Media Measurement… Microsoft’s GitHub Deal Marks Latest Shift from Windows…

Report: 71% of Retailers Now Leverage Location Data for Advertising

Nearly eight in 10 retailers now partner with third-party data providers to collect geolocation data, and 71% are leveraging location data for advertising purposes, according to a new report sponsored by Blis.