News and Analysis

How AI is Evolving Ad Creative

The creative process is notoriously challenging for advertisers and publishers. Beyond the difficulty of the creative talent that goes into the ad, publishers and advertisers struggle to settle on creative and match it to viewers at appropriate times. It’s a huge logistical challenge.

retail store

More Brands Are Going DTC. Here’s Why

Yeti’s recent decision to no longer sell its products at Lowe’s and transition to a direct-to-consumer model is not an anomaly. A growing number of traditional brands are moving away from wholesale and opting to sell to consumers directly through their own e-commerce channels.

The Growth of Visual Search

Claire Carlile, in a recent post on visual search that contains useful tips for local businesses, shows us that Google is now making it possible to conduct a search that starts and ends with images. Her example search is conducted using Google Lens, where an image of a Sony headphones package is the “query” that produces a local pack result replete with its own images. This may or may not be the future of search, but it’s highly representative of the visual-first orientation that Google is embracing to a growing degree.

Commentary

Google Accelerating Its Path to the Transaction Layer of the Internet

Mihm to Blumenthal: Our mutual friend and Local U speaker Cindy Krum has long highlighted Google’s ambition to become the “presentation layer of the internet.” 

It’s been apparent for the last four years that they want to take that one step further and become the “transaction layer of the internet,” as we’ve discussed in this space before.

A little birdie told me that you’re seeing that ambition accelerate.

LBMA Vidcast: Vibenomics, Southwest Airlines and ApplePay, Blis and Location Sciences

On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Vibenomics AOOH platform, Cerberus Interactive takes on location-based gaming, Southwest Airlines with ApplePay, Blis partners with Location Sciences, 7Eleven launches mobile checkout in NYC, Unacast releases Turbine platform.

Is Visual Mapping the Next Google-Apple Battleground?

As Google and Apple lead the way, we are getting closer to ubiquitous visual mapping. If that happens, there will be significant implications for entities that currently use search and mapping for marketing or online presence. They’ll need to make sure they are optimized in this new format.

This could lead to an extension of SEO to cultivate presence in visual experiences. Just like in search, correct business location and details will need to be optimized to show up in the right places. You don’t want the AR overlay for your restaurant floating above the salon next door.

Latest Posts

Report: Smartphones, Developer Kits Drive Local AR and Visual Search

A new white paper from Street Fight examines how developer kits from Google and Apple have jumpstarted approaches to AR and visual search and sketches strategies for developers, marketers, and media companies hoping to tap into an exciting new trend.

Street Culture: Sitter.me CEO on Owning Mistakes and Terrible-but-Fun Team Building

“How we view mistakes is you admit it, you learn very quickly, and then turn it around,” says Sitter.me CEO and co-founder Kristen Stiles. After quoting a client a wrong price, Stiles owned up to the error, and the company develop a new procedure to ensure similar stakes would not be made again.

Street Fight Daily: Google & Apple Boost Local AR, Foursquare’s New Location-Based Creative

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Report: Smartphones, Developer Kits Drive Local AR and Visual Search… Foursquare’s New In-House Agency Will Pump Out Location-Based Creative… Marketers Still Shy Away from Venturing Too Deep into Ad Tech…

Sprinklr Launches AI Solution to Help Brands Manage Customer Experiences at Scale

Dubbed Sprinklr Intuition, Sprinklr’s AI tool can process an average of 700 million messages per day across social channels, and it becomes smarter with each customer interaction.

Top Experts Hold Conclave in Major Effort to Save Local News Industry

“The news industry now has to be very much focused on understanding users and delivering to them a very powerful, useful experience so they will be happy to pay for it,” says veteran journalist Bill Densmore.

Street Fight Daily: Scandal Fails to Dent Facebook’s Growth, AI Biz Expected to Boom

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Increased Facebook Ad Prices Drive Revenue Growth… Gartner Expects the AI Business Market to Grow 70% This Year… Advertisers, Agencies Agree Transparency in Ad Buying Is A Problem, But Disagree on the Blame…

Makeup Product Reviews

Influenster Launches Solution to Help Brands Leverage Organic Reviews

In a bid to help retailers take advantage of the growth in user-generated reviews, the product discovery and reviews platform Influenster recently launched its own service to continuously supply organic, non-incentivized reviews to brand and retail websites like Walgreens, Target, and Bloomingdales.

Blaze Pizza Leverages Mobile App, Instagram, Events to Entice and Keep Customers

Blaze Pizza has branded itself as the on-the-go pizza option for millennials. In-app mobile ordering, location technology, and a focus on partnering with local franchise owners who know their neighborhoods have allowed Blaze to maintain a robust loyalty program and keep its customers coming back.

Heard On The Street, Episode 2: Jiu Jitsu and the Art of Content Marketing, with Monica Ho

“I’m a big believer in a value exchange,” says Monica Ho of SOCi. “Whether you’re a brand or an agency, or maybe you’re an entrepreneur, everyone is starved for more data on more information on certain things that are affecting the landscape.

Street Fight Daily: Blaze Pizza Innovates in Local, The State of In-App Mobile Ads

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Blaze Pizza Leverages Mobile App, Instagram, Events to Entice and Keep Customers… Is There Hope for In-App Mobile Advertising?… Buyers Warm Up to Amazon’s Ad Biz…