News and Analysis

Apple and Snap Signal Local AR Commerce Ambitions

Share this:

Recent announcements from Snap and Apple at their respective developer conferences point to future connections between AR and local commerce.

Snap’s Local Lenses will let developers create geo-anchored persistent content that Snap users can discover through the camera interface. This will also include the ability for users to leave persistent AR graphics for friends to discover. The use case that Snap has promoted is more about fun and whimsy, including “painting” the world with digital and expressive graffiti. But the development could also include local storefront information.

Moving on to Apple, it similarly continues to show its AR aspirations. The latest is GeoAnchors for ARkit, announced at WWDC.  These evoke AR’s location-based potential by letting users plant and discover spatially anchored graphics that are persistent across sessions and users.

retail order pickup third-party data

During Covid Shutdowns, Brands Target Audiences with High Intent

Share this:

With consumer behavior changing quickly, and so much about the future in flux, retailers are working harder to get a complete understanding of their shoppers as they go about their journeys between the digital and physical worlds, says Ubimo Co-Founder Ran Ben-Yair. Strategies specifically designed to target high-intent shoppers are moving into the forefront, as large retail brands come to terms with the unprecedented challenges of this new reality.

‘A Buyer’s Market’: Why OOH Is in Demand During the Pandemic

Share this:

During a time when many other types of advertising have faltered, out-of-home (OOH) advertising is having a moment. Despite a nationwide pandemic, OOH activations are on the rise. Political spending on OOH media is up 75% compared to the same period in 2018, and direct-to-consumer brands are seeing increases in both aided and unaided brand awareness.

What’s driving the push? According to Quan CEO Brian Rappaport, there’s been a distinct change in consumer traffic patterns since the pandemic began. Brands that are capitalizing on those changes are reaching targeted groups of consumers at “firesale” prices.

Commentary

Google’s Local Improvements—Posts Become Essential, and Mike Wins the Bet!

Share this:

“Google’s made plenty of laudatory improvements to Google My Business and associated products over the past 24 months, and there does seem to be a qualitative shift in the way it’s approaching the space,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly column.

LBMA Podcast: Mapbox, GasBuddy, IKEA

Share this:

On this week’s edition of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Propellant Media, Singapore’s Lifesight, Mapbox API, Gasbuddy, IKEA’s sleepiest ad ever, Swrve + Bluedot.

GateHouse Media’s Kirk Davis Argues Chain Is Becoming a ‘Leader in Community Engagement’

Share this:

Cost-cutting equity funds have hollowed out scores of daily newspapers, turning their communities into “news deserts,” the critics say. But Kirk Davis, CEO of GateHouse Media, counters that the equity-funded conglomerate is transforming its 144 dailies into tribunes of the people. He makes his case in this Q&A.

Latest Posts

Case Study: Georgia Cleaning Service Uses AI Assistant for Targeted Promotions

Share this:

“We cannot afford for a campaign to be ineffective, which to us means that we need every campaign to bring in enough money to at least pay for itself,” says My Amazing Maid owner Royce Ard . “Almost all of our marketing expenses are for acquisition-type campaigns to attract new customers.”

Street Fight Daily: How Brands Fare on Snapchat, Facebook Reaches Out to Local Newsrooms

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… New Report from Snaplytics Breaks Down How Brands Fare on Snapchat… Facebook is Beginning to Reach Out to Local Newsrooms… Google Maps Adds Feature Allowing Users to Plan and Share Itineraries…

What Does It Mean to Practice Local SEO Ethically?

Share this:

It can be all too easy to give the client the impression that search marketing is too hard from them to really understand — so they should just trust you. But that sets the stage for a relationship that is not based on ethical behavior.

Here’s How Marketers Can Capitalize on Valentine’s Day Foot Traffic Trends

Share this:

According to a new analysis of Valentine’s Day foot traffic trends conducted by the location intelligence company Foursquare, movie theaters are the place to be on Valentine’s Day. Theaters see an incredible 255% lift in foot traffic, compared to the week before — and 64% of moviegoers opt to eat out before or after the show.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Disrupts Retail in Seattle, Oracle Makes IoT Data Actionable

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon’s Living Lab: Reimagining Retail on Seattle’s Streets… Oracle Launches Apps to Surface Predictions and Insights from IoT Sensor Data… Using Data to One-Up the Competition…

Raise Report: New Funding for MapAnything, Cuebiq, SIM Partners

Share this:

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 The Bouqs, Soundhound, Reserve, and Fuze.

Why Back-end Tech Is Key for Food Delivery Startups

Share this:

Outside of college campuses, local food delivery startups generally have larger neighborhoods to cover and customers with more niche needs. This may be why some of the biggest names in local delivery don’t seem as different at first glance, because their focus is on the back-end.

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Sees Growth in Local Ad Accounts, Facebook Agrees to Audit

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Stock Plunges After Sales Outlook Misses Mark, But Local Ad Accounts Grow… Facebook Agrees to Audit of Its Metrics Following Data Controversy… Lyft Has Hired the Head of Google Street View to Lead Its Mapping Team…

Swirl Launches Direct Facebook Integration for Online-to-Offline Attribution

Share this:

Retailers using Swirl’s platform can now connect “verified” real world store visits to Facebook ad impressions and more accurately measure the direct impact that Facebook ad campaigns are having on the way consumers move around inside their stores.

Newspapers Have High Level of Trust, but Will They Capitalize on It?

Share this:

The key will be not how Facebook shares its revenues or tinkers with its news-feed algorithm. How successful newspapers are in achieving sustainability will depend on the richness of the connections they build with their audiences.