News and Analysis
How 5 Brands Adapted Their Loyalty Programs for a Post-Covid World
According to McKinsey, more than 75% of consumers tried new brands, places to shop, or methods of shopping in 2020. The reason? Product availability was high on the list, but so were price and the availability of promotions. Now, as the vaccine rollout continues and states work to get back to normal, brand marketers are finally coming up for air and looking at how they can adapt their loyalty and rewards programs for the post-Covid world.
Commentary
The Inside Story on the GMB App Rebuild
Damian Rollison: Google’s Curtis Galloway, software engineering manager from the Google My Business app team, offered a fascinating peek into that team’s development process this week in a presentation at LSA19 in Dana Point, California. Galloway’s presentation revealed aspects of Google’s user-oriented focus when revising the app as well as its customer-centric orientation.
AR in Local Commerce: Google Shows the Way
Mike Boland: A recent and relatively understated development from Google could portend the future of augmented reality. Its previously teased “VPS” was released into the wild for a small set of users. For those unfamiliar, VPS (visual positioning service) guides users with 3D overlays on upheld smartphone screens. Sort of a cousin of AR, this type of experience could represent the sector’s eventual killer apps. Though we’ve seen the most AR success so far in gaming (Pokemon Go) and social (Snapchat AR lenses), it could be more mundane utilities like navigation that engender high-frequency use cases.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Uber Loses London License, Facebook Upgrades Mobile Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Loses Its License to Operate in London… Facebook Will Introduce Canvas Templates for Its Collection Ads, Aiming to Boost Brands… Google and Its Partners Will Issue Refunds to Advertisers over Fake Traffic…
Facebook on Local News Partnerships: ‘We’re Just Getting Started’
The “Facebook Journalism Project” was launched recently to meet the “needs” of a news industry concerned about all the free editorial content being made available to the giant distribution platform. In this Q & A, Josh Mabry, manager of Facebook’s local news partnerships, details what FB is doing and plans to do for community news.
Street Fight Daily: Duopoly’s Strength Exceeds Expectations, Pubs Struggle with Apple News
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google and Facebook Tighten Grip on US Digital Ad Market… Publishers Continue to Encounter Problems with Apple New… Alphabet’s Waymo Wants Uber to Pay $2.6 Billion for Single Stolen Trade Secret…
How Showroom Concept Stores Are Changing the Retail Industry
A number of major retailers and startups have been pioneering a local showrooming strategy, divorcing the purchasing of products from the distribution, and focusing more on experiences than in-person sales. Here are six examples of retailers that have been able to navigate this merchandise-free (or light) approach to local retail.
Sophistication, Efficiency, Control: Unlocking the Future of Programmatic Direct for App Publishers and Advertisers
As it splits the difference between real-time bidding and totally manual ad-buy systems, programmatic direct allows publishers and advertisers to create specific agreements around how the process will work. It guarantees protected inventory and premium placements without requiring much in the way of hands-on operation.
Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Empowers Brands, Uber Sues an Agency
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands Can Now Tap Pinterest’s Pin Collective Via a Self-Serve Customer Platform (AdWeek) Pinterest formed Pin Collective last October as a way to give brands access to the social network’s best content creators—publishers, production shops and individuals—to work directly with them on their campaigns. How […]
The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation