News and Analysis
The MULO Dozen: February in Review
The MULO (multi-location) ecosystem is continuously re-inventing, expanding and shrinking, and enhancing the consumer experience with a wide range of new products, technologies, and ways to buy. Here are the trends of the month. Have news to share? Please e-mail [email protected] and join us in September for our Street Fight LIVE 2025 gathering, which will […]
Netflix Takes on YouTube. Should Podcasters and Advertisers Rejoice?
If we’re “Netflix and Chillin,’” consuming movies, streaming series, and other entertaining and inspiring content, why don’t we listen, watch and learn from podcast content creators too? Now we can. Netflix is entering the podcast market, leveraging its massive database of more than 300M subscribers (and growing). Podcasts also show no sign of slowing down […]
Church’s Wants to Make Your Day
A new female buddy comedy is playing in theaters, and Church’s Texas Chicken not only has a cameo role, but a marketing tie-in. “One of Them Days” stars SZA, who had her own star turn in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl half-time show earlier this month, and Keke Palmer (“Akeelah and the Bee)” playing roommates who […]
Commentary
From Google to Social to Generative AI: The Evolution of Search Journeys
Remember when search ads were just a bunch of blue links? Believe it or not, that wasn’t that long ago – when a mention of search conjured a near-identical image in everyone’s minds. If you asked 100 people to describe their search journeys today, you might get 100 different answers. Those answers would almost certainly […]
Impossible? How to Actually Get a Return on Your Technology Investments
Technology investments have been a priority for most companies since before the pandemic, which brought new urgency to the implementation of new solutions. However, fully implementing a digital transformation is surprisingly uncommon – a new study found that only 15% of businesses with digital transformation programs have completed them. That low success rate is concerning because […]
Multi-Location Marketing Mistakes That Could Tank SEO Success
As a marketing professional, you probably know how to avoid common industry pitfalls. But even if you think you’ve got a foolproof strategy, you can always count on Google to throw another curveball your way. And if you’re not thinking ahead, you could easily fall behind. With that, consider these five commonly overlooked marketing mistakes […]
Latest Posts
Embracing AI in Media and Advertising
History changes slowly and then overnight. A mere two years ago, the early publicly-available generative AI models from OpenAI, Microsoft, Google looked like curiosities–intriguing but plagued by obvious limitations. Today these models have advanced so far and so fast that they are already well on their way to changing media and advertising forever. AI is […]
Voices Amplified: How Consumers Are Rewriting the Rules for Brand Accountability
Today, consumer voices can be magnified across channels with the click of a button. The power of the consumer is undergoing a seismic shift, providing both opportunities and challenges to businesses around the world as they rewrite the “rules” of brand accountability. Traditional online review sites are no longer the only medium to share opinions. […]
How NXTDRIVE’s Data Can Target without Cookies
When American Furniture Warehouse (AFW) wanted to expand its customer base in Texas and Arizona it turned to Vericast, a marketing technology and data company, whose NXTDRIVE™ customer data marketing platform (CDMP) was made available to retail marketers nationwide earlier this year. Using NXTDRIVE, AFW and Vericast were able to supplement and enrich the retailer’s […]
How to Find the Perfect Spot for Your Restaurant
A huge key to the success of MULO (multi-location) brands is knowing which cities, neighborhoods, streets (and even which side of the street) to put a location. Technology is now playing a huge role in distribution planning. Brands used to pick their locations using maps and a wide range of demographic data. They would also […]
One Location Wonder: MULO is Not for Everyone
Some MULO (multi-location) brands measure success by the number of locations they have. However, other retail, restaurant, and service businesses choose to remain small and mighty. Lisa Richards, Founder and CEO of RPZL (as in Rapunzel), falls into the second category. She has one location now but has found ways to scale creatively without adding […]
And the Oscar Goes to…
No, this isn’t a big reveal of the Oscar for the best of MULO (multi-location) advertising and media. No ad spending red carpet here. (But watch for our “Dozen” reports each month for key news highlights.) A recent article in Ad Age noted that ad spending on awards ceremonies is still a “star,” despite the […]
Caffeine and Commerce: MULO Coffee Perks
Starbucks and Dunkin may be the giant-size MULO (multi-location) players in the brew space (with 38K and 13K locations respectively). However, coffee is a staple of many consumers’ routines and represents a market size of close to $500B. Many regional and national players are heating up the field and coffee brands are offering a wide […]
Birdeye Social : Insights into Social Media Management
The significance of a robust social media presence cannot be overstated, particularly for multi-location brands aiming to connect with local audiences. Acknowledging the complexities of managing social media across diverse locations, Birdeye, a leading reputation and customer experience platform for local businesses, has just introduced Birdeye Social. With this move, the company is aiming to […]
BUST: Multi-Location Movie Theater Chains Struggle
With Oscar season around the corner, let’s examine the silver screen (or lack thereof). A 100-year-old movie theater MULO (multi-location) operation just declared bankruptcy. Founded in the day of silent films, Metropolitan Theaters has 16 theaters and 87 screens, including two IMAX auditoriums in California, Colorado, and Utah. The pandemic and the rise of the […]
As Cookies Crumble, Lotame Launches Solution to Help Digital Marketers
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, the ability to harness and utilize data effectively is becoming even more important. Lotame has taken a significant step forward in enabling data collaboration with the launch of Lotame Collaborate and Lotame Onboarding. These innovative solutions, available through their data collaboration platform, Spherical, promise to change how digital […]
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