News and Analysis

Amazon’s Retail-as-a-Service Expands into Payments, AR, and Salons

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As Amazon continues to mature, it needs to find revenue growth in new, creative places. The company’s booming advertising business is one such conquest. Iterating on the AWS playbook by bringing tech-fueled logistical innovations to physical stores could be another.

Airkit Raises $40 Million to Fuel the Future of CX

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Just this morning, the low-code digital customer experience platform Airkit announced a $40 million round of Series B funding, led by EQT Ventures. The Series B will be used to accelerate the company’s investments in go-to-market and product development. The announcement comes just seven months after Airkit came out of stealth with a $28 million Series A.

2021: All Upside for Digital

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As retailers try to determine how to welcome customers back in person while expanding digital efforts that accelerated last year, NetElixir CEO and founder Udayan Bose weighed in on what to expect from commerce and why retailers should invest aggressively in online channels.

Commentary

LBMA Vidcast: Kroger Partners with Pinterest

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On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Hermes AR package delivery, NFC forum’s payment standard, Lego + Snapchat + Kabooki, McDonald’s + Waze billboards, Geon Network, Glympse partners with Albertsons.

How Will 5G Unlock Location Targeting?

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5G goes far beyond just a speed boost. The quantitative advantages are joined by qualitative factors that will enable all kinds of new consumer use cases and content delivery strategies. This notably includes more precise location tracking/targeting and even some indoor use cases (think: retail). 5G-enabled phones will phase in over the next three years. Then, it’s off to the races.

Apple Strikes a Foreboding Tone with Big Ad on Privacy

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Apple’s privacy-first policies should prove beneficial for the company and for the hundreds of millions of people who use its products. Still, the iPhone maker’s ad, light in tone as its soundtrack may be, strikes a decisively dark note representative of broader national anxiety about Silicon Valley and the danger of its increasingly unavoidable products. Beneath the ad’s veneer of levity, thinly constructed in the form of a small guard dog and man wary of using a urinal too close to his neighbor, the video sends a clear warning to smartphone users entrusting their private information to rival phone makers: The intimate details of your lives may already be compromised. Lean into your worries about your data’s theft and monetization, and fork over 10 Benjamins at the nearest Apple store for the sake of your own security.

Latest Posts

Voice Assistants Could Transform Local — But Not Necessarily How You Might Think

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Voice search and AI are widely misunderstood. Generalist tech coverage has painted the picture of an opportunity that resides mostly with stationary devices like Amazon Echo. But the real scale will happen elsewhere.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Adds Food Ordering, Apple Throws Advertisers a Curve Ball

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Adds Food-Ordering Feature… Publishers Are Already Feeling Pain from Apple’s Move Against Ad Tracking… Mobile-Ordering Apps Trouble Restaurants…

Street Culture: Female Leaders at Main Street Hub Highlight Group Dynamics and Diversity in Communication

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At marketing automation and CRM company Main Street Hub, the product engineering team has grown from six people to 30 in three years. The entire company employs more than 500 people, so in the product, engineering, and design department, the leadership is proud of the diversity and success they have achieved.

LBMA Podcast: Casper, Urgent.ly, Samsung, PlaceIQ

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This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan and Aubriana Lopez. On the show: ComScore, Swarovski, KFC, Target with Pinterest. Special Guest: Herve Utheza – Here Technologies.

Street Fight Daily: Google Builds an Anti-Amazon Retail Alliance, Inside the War on Delivery

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Target Takes Voice-Activated Shopping Nationwide with Google, Joining Walmart… How Walmart, Amazon, Target, and Others Are Fighting to Forge Best Delivery Practices… Lyft Will Use Google Maps as Default Navigator for Drivers…

Brands Aren’t Effectively Planning for Personalization and Segmentation Ahead of the Holidays

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A report from B2C marketing and analytics company Zaius shows that many companies, though they claim to be spotlighting personalization and segmentation as a way to engage customers, are actually not capably following through.

JustPremium CEO Details Industry Campaign Against Ads That Users Hate

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Among the most hated by both desktop and mobile users are pop-ups, auto-play videos with sound and large sticky ads. The Coalition for Better Ads, which includes many members of the ad industry, trade associations and a few news publishers, is developing new standards to give users a better experience when they encounter an ad message.

Street Fight Daily: Clothing Brands Use AI to Boost Mobile Sales, BuzzFeed Innovates on Ads

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… How Fashion and Beauty Brands Use AI to Drive Mobile Purchases (Digiday) Working with personalization platform Qubit, DvF set up an algorithm-based discovery feed on its mobile site that’s curated using artificial intelligence and tailored to each user. The feed reflects an assortment that changes, […]

5 Ways to Target Moviegoers with Location-Based Marketing

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Ticket sales are down at movie theaters across the country, leaving some of the largest cinema chains scrambling as they search for innovative ways to reverse the slump. Here are five examples of some of the most innovative strategies that firms are using to promote films and encourage ticket sales.

Case Study: North Dakota Tourism Uses Location Data to Reinforce Media Buying Strategies

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At North Dakota Tourism, marketing manager Heather LeMoine found a way to use mobile location tracking to learn more about the differences between U.S. and Canadian travelers. Using the information, she’s been able to adjust her organization’s media plan to ensure more successful campaigns.