News and Analysis

Live Commerce Guides Retailers to Success in the Metaverse

Immerss Co-Founder Patrick Jacobs says his company is working with a number of retailers to leverage live commerce as a way to blend the physical and digital worlds. Jacobs says sales rates with live commerce are on par with or better than in-store conversion rates, and that merchants jumping into live commerce now will be better prepared for the metaverse boom in the future.

6 Contactless Shopping Solutions for In-Store Retail

The retail industry took notice when Merkle debuted its newest contactless shopping solution at CES 2022 this month, but the company’s Scan & Know product isn’t the only touchless retail solution on the market. Thanks to the continued adoption of augmented reality and virtual reality among consumers, more technology providers are developing in-store retail experiences that keep physical contact to a minimum.

Catalina Partners with PlaceIQ to Connect Omnichannel with OOH

A new partnership between the shopper intelligence provider Catalina and the data provider PlaceIQ could have a major impact on the way multi-location brands run optimized OOH campaigns in the coming years.

Commentary

Teaching An Old Brand New Tricks

An agile brand strategy allows organizations to update traditional brand messages in the moment as events happen, while still remaining true to their core values and identity. Agile branding is not about changing things all the time; it’s about responding and iterating in order to stay relevant.

Technology is the driving force behind agile branding. Modern consumers expect more from their favorite brands, and through a variety of tech platforms, they interact with them on a daily basis. Connecting to consumers through digital and largely interactive channels (like social media) gives brands access to a valuable supply of consumer data. In this “always-on” culture, knowing what consumer audiences are saying, thinking, and feeling about your brand in real time is at the core of an agile brand. 

Why Texting Is Indispensable for Mobile Marketing Today

Historically, because of cost and resource restrictions, text messaging was a marketing tool reserved for Fortune 500 companies. But thanks to new advancements in digital marketing platforms, it’s now available to businesses of any size, with any budget and in any industry. Whether you’re a non-profit group, government entity, corporation or startup, your organization can and will likely benefit from this need-to-have approach to engagement. 

To establish meaningful relationships with customers and ultimately build brand loyalty, consider these mobile messaging strategies as one part of your company’s overall digital marketing campaign.

LBMA Vidcast: Sam’s Club and Instacart Partner on Alcohol Delivery

On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Brands form “Voice Coalition”, CherryPicks navigation + translation app, Paytronix + FriendShip loyalty, Signify’s new LiFi, Coca-Cola Italy drives recycling, Sam’s Club + Instacart for alcohol delivery.  Special – new white paper from Digital Element.

Latest Posts

A Vision for One of Tech’s Most Valuable Startups: The Airbnb Card

Airbnb has already created a trusted network. It now merely needs to extend that trust to get local hosts and merchants working together to create great experiences for their mutual customers.

Pursuant Health, Vistar Media Look to Change How Brands Connect In-Store

In a move that could impact the way marketers connect with more than 30 million shoppers inside physical stores around the country, Pursuant Health is partnering with the location-based advertising technology firm Vistar Media to provide better access to its digital advertising inventory.

What 1-800-Flowers’ Search Dominance Means for Local Florists

With more consumers researching purchases online than ever before, and major e-commerce retailers like 1-800-Flowers and ProFlowers flooding the playing field with paid search ads, there’s a looming question of what will happen to local florists.

National Brands Must Take Advantage of Tech and Reap Benefits of Going Local

The marketplace is now offering media inventory that can be localized even in channels like national magazine titles. Advances in data management platforms, programmatic exchanges, and ad operations workflows allow national brands to go local at scale in order to reach customized audience segments.

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Tests Offline Attribution, Gannett Bets on Local Businesses

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Tests Offline Attribution Using Guest WiFi and Email Matching… Gannett Leans Into Local to Grow Its Share of National Ad Pie… Walmart Fights a Bloody Battle Against Amazon…

6 Vendors Using AI to Facilitate Live Events

Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, vendors are finding ways to streamline some of the most complex operations—such as estimating the number of attendees and anticipating how many products each attendee will need—in live event organizing.

How Augmented Reality Will Change Local SEO

Ultimately, local SEO is all about engagement, and AR helps brands engage customers. Incorporating AR also shows that your brand is not just up on trends but actually ahead of the curve.

Street Fight Daily: Publishers’ Facebook Traffic Keeps Falling, Walmart’s E-Commerce Growth Flags

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… As Promised, Facebook Traffic to Publishers Declines Again… Walmart Tumbles As Flagging Online Growth Jolts Investors… Google Chrome Blocks Irksome Ads. That’s Good, Right?…

Raise Report: Unacast, Attentive, Adikteev Score Fresh Funding

Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for 8th Wall, Front, Asana, and Lumi.

Openings and New Hires at SOCi, Foursquare, BrandMuscle

Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest openings and new hires in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Interbrand, Visto, and MediaCom.