News and Analysis
Retailers Hoping for Record Cyber Monday to Follow Friday Windfall
US retailers set all-time records on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, wracking up $11.6 billion in online sales. Adobe predicts that Cyber Monday will also set a fresh record of $9.4 billion, pushing the Thanksgiving weekend total to nearly $30 billion.
The increasing importance of online sales has forced traditional retailers to compete with e-commerce natives like Amazon not only by offering their own robust set of deals but also by investing in delivery infrastructure and reducing friction for consumers ordering online.
The Beauty Industry is Prepping for Small Business Saturday – Here’s How
Small Business Saturday is one of the most important events of the year for local beauty and wellness providers. Spas and salons rely on sales of gift cards and beauty products to sustain their businesses during leaner times.
Developed by American Express in the depths of the recession in 2010, Small Business Saturday is placed in the middle of two of the biggest shopping events of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. While proportionally fewer sales happen on Small Business Saturday than Black Friday or Cyber Monday, consumer awareness around the annual event is growing.
The Risks and Outsize Rewards of Political Branding
In a time of unprecedented political partisanship, the risks and rewards of corporate political messaging are amplified. Viral marketing strategies including Nike’s partnership with racial justice activist and football star Colin Kaepernick, Gillette’s toxic masculinity ad, and Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ stances rally political sympathizers to a brand’s side and alienate ideological foes.
Street Fight checked in with Jen Capstraw, director of strategic insights and evangelism at growth marketing company Iterable, to get a sense of how significant the benefits and drawbacks of political branding are, which ideological direction political ads are predominantly taking, and how strong the evidence is for the efficacy of partisan messaging.
Commentary
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.
Latest Posts
As Local’s Complexity Grows, What Does It Take to Build a Sustainable Agency Business?
“There are two paths for consultants or small agencies today,” writes David Mihm. “Either be a generalist who’s aware of all the major channels, and the kinds of businesses that are good fits for those channels, or develop an incredibly deep focus in a particular channel, and make a name for yourself as the go-to resource within that channel.”
6 Ways Mobile Shopping Apps Are Targeting In-Store Customers
More retailers are attempting to utilize the data breadcrumbs that shoppers leave behind when they use mobile devices in and around physical stores. Mobile shopping companion apps that add contextual intelligence layers — and target consumers in the moments when they’re most persuadable — are catching on among national retailers.
Street Fight Daily: Retailers Use Snapchat to Target Millennials, Walmart Buys Jet.com
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Walmart is Buying Jet.com for $3 Billion and Will Announce the Deal Monday… With Hype Faded, Foursquare Tries Reinvention as a Data Business… Some Retailers Ignore Snapchat, While Others Capitalize with Lens and Geofilter Ads…
How ‘Moment-based’ Targeting Will Impact Local Advertising
We are now onto the second phase of moment-based targeting, focusing on the combination of multiple factors in a moment to determine when a consumer will be most receptive. To find these receptive moments, an advertiser can identify and tap into many signals that will provide info about the end recipient’s state of mind.
Street Culture: Ampush Employees Driving Company Reinvention
Ampush employs about 125 people, COO Nick Shah said, and their level of satisfaction with their colleagues reflects the close relationship he has with his co-founders. In a recent company engagement survey, results showed that 98% of employees who responded really enjoyed working with their colleagues.
LBMA Podcast: Qualia + Ninth Decimal, Zagat, Euclid Analytics, and Yext
Welcome to This Week in Location Based Marketing, a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan and Aubriana Lopez. On the show: Beco battery free beacons, Localytics +DoubleClick, New York & Company + Shopkick, MobileXCo + GreenP, Redbox + 7Eleven, RoamingAround, and Gravy.
Street Fight Daily: Brands See Success with Kik Chatbots, Facebook Demotes Clickbait
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Kik Users Have Now Sent Branded Chatbots Nearly 2 Billion Messages… On Track to Bring in $850,000 This Year, Charlotte Agenda Says Its Model Works… Jet.com Has Been Trying to Beat Amazon at the Wrong Game,,,
Bloom Geolocation Puts Users Where News Is — And Can Guide Them to Nearby Advertisers
The plugin “empowers the user to pinpoint where they are and then the stories are brought to them. It’s like Pokémon Go for journalism,” says founder Stephen Jefferson. “Users can now walk around to different locations and see what events, what news or crime stories have been reported around them.”
New Report Identifies Enterprise Customer Types & Needs
In our latest analysis, we discovered that the integration needs of enterprise marketers reveal some clear correlations in terms of attitude, behavior and installed technologies. For example, the companies that found local store sites to be most effective were also doing well with local print, and planned to increase their social, mobile, and digital display advertising.
DevHub Launches ‘TXT a Restaurant,’ Enabling More Interaction With Consumers
The website-building platform can manage hundreds of local sites for a single agency or brand. This week, the company is launching DevHub Labs and is announcing the group’s first experiment, “TXT a Restaurant” — which will allow local businesses to try out a new digital tool: click-to-text, a new way to connect with consumers who may be hesitant to use the more traditional click-to-call.
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