News and Analysis
‘Tis Swag Season: Year-Round Gifting Trends from Graham Walsh
This is the season of gifting for MULO (multi-location) brands and the suppliers, agencies and tech companies that support them. These brands: Give holiday and thank you gifts to their valued clients Buy giveaways for trade shows and conferences, and consumer activations Invest in employee incentives and keepsakes for team gatherings Stock their online shelves […]
SPB Now Stands for “Serve People Better”
Everyone loves a holiday miracle story! And that may be the turnaround of SPB, which took over a wide range of struggling brands. The abbreviation stood for “Steak, Pizza, and Beer,” but Josh Kern, the CEO, is now committed to changing its meaning to “Serve People Better.” That’s what he aspires to do with the […]
GumGum’s Grimace: The Ads that Stole Christmas
Forget privacy issues. Re-targeted ads are in cahoots with the Grinch, stealing the joy of surprise from Christmas. Nobody can be blamed when opening up a gift and thinking, “Now where have I seen that before? Oh yes, ads for it were sprayed across all my social-media accounts and everywhere I went on the Web.” […]
Commentary
BOOM: Upcycled / Pre-Worn Clothes and the MULO Brands That Sell Them
Buying pre-worn clothes is nothing new. But it’s now in style for a variety of reasons. After all, places like Goodwill have been around since 1902 and have more than 4,000 locations. In the 1960s and 70s, hippies and their wannabe equivalents flocked to army-navy and other surplus stores to buy jackets, overalls, and other […]
Career Moves: Yahoo!, Semify, Chatmeter, TikTok, Snap and more
In Street Fight’s biweekly roundup of career moves, Kelly Benish looks at new faces at Yahoo!, Chatmeter, Blackberry, SEMify and more, anniversaries at Spokeo, PartnerStack and beyond and numerous opportunities at companies including TikTok, Snap and Seismic Tressie Lieberman is a Chief Marketing Executive with over 20 years of experience building the marketing engine behind […]
In the Age of AI, 3 Must-Have Skills for Digital Marketers
Everything changed in November 2022. That’s when OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched to the public, and having a clear understanding of how to harness generative AI instantly became a requirement for digital marketers around the globe. In the eight months since generative AI went mainstream, the field of digital marketing has undergone a metamorphosis. Marketers today find […]
Latest Posts
A MULO Brand Scales With a Shark
CEO and Founder of Crispý Cones Jeremy Carlson is on his way to a total of 300 stores across the country. Shark Tank Barbara Corcoran gave him $200K for a 20% interest in his company, which he runs with his wife Kaitlyn. Their back story is a true inspiration to other MULO (multi-location) brands that […]
Navigating the Evolution of Digital Advertising: Merging Innovation with Privacy
Digital advertising is undergoing a seismic shift. Traditional methods no longer capture consumer attention or drive brand impact like they used to. This decline is exacerbated by the increased focus on privacy across platforms and publishers. However, one of the promising byproducts of this change is the emergence of new tools and channels that big […]
The MULO Dozen: February Brands in Review
It’s that time again! Every month, we report on new developments in the MULO (multi-location) space. We cover brands, trends, and the agencies and technologies that serve the MULO (or aspiring MULO) business. Love and the Super Bowl were in the air in February. And we saw our usual range of management and product changes. Have news? […]
Eagle Eye’s AI Product Can Scale, Personalize Promotions at Retail
When Eagle Eye introduced its data-centric solution powered by AI earlier this year, its intended business targets were grocery and retail verticals. The offering uses retailers’ existing customer data to generate personalized promotions for consumers at scale. In this way mass promotions can be segmented and curated specifically for individuals, said Cédric Chéreau, Untie Nots Co-Founder […]
Just For You: MULO Brands Built Around Personalization
The Bear Cave is a grown-up version of the kids’ multi-location (MULO) brand Build-a-Bear. Personalization or the concept of making something unique as a gift or for yourself is nothing new. Most people like to think of themselves as unique beings with specialized tastes. Mainstream brands like Chipotle, Starbucks, and salad and ice cream franchises […]
The Franchise of the Future
The franchise MULO (multi-location) business model has been around since 1731 and boomed in the U.S. in 1960, with the formation of the International Franchise Association (or IFA). The IFA now represents 1,300 franchisors, 10,000 franchisees, and more than 600 professionals and suppliers to the industry, according to its website (which also features a robust […]
BOOM: This MULO Diner Chain is Roaring
The diner as a concept seems to be timeless. Back in 1913, the first stationary diner was established and ultimately grew to 6,000 privately owned locations nationally. That’s a giant MULO (multi-location) venture! Fast forward to today. Although foodies have a wide range of options for where to eat — from single-unit locations to specific […]
When Gen AI Erodes Trust, Brands Take the Fall
Generative AI’s potential to change the way we work and shop holds amazing promise, but this new technology also poses heightened risks for brands. Maintaining customer trust will be a perpetual challenge as generative AI (GenAI) changes the fraud landscape in two important ways. First, GenAI is already making it easier for professional and amateur […]
BOOM: Retail Media According to Skai
We often use “BOOM” to identify a category or store brand that’s thriving. But BOOMing can also apply to trends in media buying and creative. So, for 2024 we’ve expanded the term to cover that as well, so MULO (multi-location) brands and the agencies that work with them can identify how to better reach consumers […]
‘Judge Beauty’ Wants this e.l.f. on Your Shelf
And the award for best non-sequitur in a Super Bowl ad this year goes to the TV personality known as Judge Judy: “Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining,” Judge Beauty said when learning a “defendant” claimed she needed to spend $92 on makeup products. The 30-second spot, “Judge Beauty,” was from […]
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