News and Analysis
Night Market and Keen Join Forces to Transform Marketing for Brand Advertisers
At CES 2025, Night Market, the commerce agency affiliate of Horizon Media, and Keen Decision Systems introduced a strategic partnership designed to tackle pressing challenges in modern marketing. This collaboration brings together Night Market’s NEON platform—an AI-powered retail media and storefront optimization solution—and Keen’s adaptive marketing mix modeling software to deliver a unified, next-generation approach […]
What I Saw in 2024: 10 MULO Trends and Predictions
As a journalist, I’m used to telling the stories that others pitch to me. (BTW…keep sending me your stats and news throughout 2025! You can reach me at [email protected].) Indulge me for a few minutes while I offer my perspectives on the year of MULO (multi-location) brands based on everything I’ve gathered. Here are my predictions […]
2025 Social Media Playbook: Authenticity, Originality, and Community-Driven Engagement
The era of trend-chasing is over. According to the newly released 2025 Sprout Social Index™, consumers are reshaping their expectations for brand behavior on social media. The verdict? Authenticity, originality, and personalized connections are no longer optional—they’re essential. This shift is more than a passing phase. As Rachael Goulet, Director of Social Media at Sprout […]
Commentary
BUST: Walk-In Weight Loss Jenny Craig Trims Down (and Disappears?)
Jenny Craig once had more than 600 locations and nearly $500M in revenue. But, like many industries, digital communications have been part of its downfall. The company announced this week that, after 40 years, they are shuttering all their locations. What are the factors that precipitated the massive change? New solutions for weight loss are […]
BUST: The Very Public Demise of Bed Bath & Beyond
Who will remember the brand Bed Bath & Beyond in a few years, and what will they say? Only time will tell, but in the interim, the retail media has had no fodder shortage over the past few weeks, dissecting how and why this iconic multi-location brand declined and ultimately declared bankruptcy. Monday morning quarterbacks […]
Pop Goes the Pop-Up Shop — For Big Brands and Mom & Pops
The Pop-up shop has long been part of the retail and restaurant landscape. They are temporary locations. Multi-location brands may take their products into small footprints or new configurations and venues and small brands may start with a limited-run concept and then expand it. 5 Pop-Up Models Some are seasonal. For example, Bryant Park in […]
Latest Posts
Unity – Walmart Partnership Redefines Gaming and Retail Collaboration
In recent years, we’ve seen an increasing comfortability with traditional retailers and the gaming industry. Fortnite may have been the first to really make this big business – through can’t-miss concerts and exclusive in-game and IRL shoe sponsorships with Nike – but the industry has certainly grown its ability to attract high-end partnerships like Unity […]
Yelp If Ya Hear Me
Whether you’re looking for pizza, pozole, or a plumber you can find some of the best local destinations on Yelp, a review site that crowd-sources recommendations from actual customers. For businesses, Yelp.com promises a reach of 80 million visitors per month, more than half of whom have a household income exceeding $100k. This year marks […]
Pre-gaming: MULO Brands at the Super Bowl
When Super Bowl LVIII kicks off in Las Vegas on February 11th, marketers will be on their couches and in the stands, eager to critique the advertising campaigns (and surrounding digital buzz). Just as CES is the “see and be seen” of technology brands (and the companies that use their products and services), the Super […]
AI Innovations Drive SymphonyAI’s 30% ARR Growth in Retail CPG
SymphonyAI witnessed remarkable growth and profitability in 2023, driven by it’s AI SaaS solutions in the retail and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sectors. The company, known for its predictive and generative enterprise AI applications, reported a surge of over 30% in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) within the retail CPG vertical. This significant growth was fueled […]
Life Beyond the Storefront: Breakthrough Branding
What constitutes a brand these days? Some MULO (multi-location) brands are known for their shopping bags. We often see Ikea bags in use for moving or other heavy lifting. The iconic blue carry-alls are even available on Amazon. The concept of “bag as brand” has been around for a while. Grocery chain Fairway used to […]
Chatmeter Advances Multi-Location Reputation Management with Pulse AI: Signals
Chatmeter, a leader in reputation management and multi-location intelligence, unveiled Pulse AI: Signals, a tool that leverages AI to provide real-time, actionable insights from customer commentary. This recently released solution marks a shift in how multi-location businesses can approach reputation management, setting new standards. Real-Time Insights for Multi-Location Businesses Traditionally, multi-location brands relied on keyword-matching […]
Interest in Alternative Currencies Grows, But Legacy Currency Still Reigns
The U.S. joint industry committee (JIC) granted “conditional certification” to three alternative ad currencies for cross-platform negotiations: Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp. The certification of these alternative currencies suggests that the industry is more open to the usage of alternative currencies, and that there is room for multiple currencies to transact against. Our insights back up […]
Pinstripes Goes Public
Eatertainment (the combination of dining and entertainment) is ringing the consumer bell these days, as multi-location (MULO) brand Pinstripes became a publicly-traded company under the ticker symbol PNST. The business deal with Banyan Acquisition Corporation (which changed its name to Pinstripes Holdings. will allow Pinstripes to expand to more locations. The brand currently has 14 […]
Navigating the Fragmented CTV Landscape: Strategies for Brands and Agencies
2023 was a year of exploration and education. As the industry begins 2024, agencies and brand marketers will continue to gain a better understanding while leveraging necessary campaign elements like transparency, incremental reach and co-viewing to navigate the new challenges and opportunities within the CTV (Connected TV) landscape. Today’s brand marketers are confronted with crucial […]
Is the Digital Agency Dying?
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal quoted Forrester Research as saying that the “digital agency” will face its demise in 2024. As in the direct mail era, talent that specialized in a new medium was in demand, but then mail campaigns were replaced in part by digital marketing and most full-service agencies began […]
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