News and Analysis
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.
Valuing Diversity, Gen Z Searches for Tailor-Made Holiday Experiences
Gen Z shoppers, in particular, have more friends with different races, gender identities, and sexualities than previous generations. They are more likely to be influenced by social media stars, who come from a wide variety of backgrounds, than traditional Hollywood celebrities. As a result, members of this generation value diversity more than other generations, and that value influences their purchasing decisions year-around.
“If you look at baby boomers from this lens, they’re far more homogenous. Millennials and Gen Z are the antithesis [of] homogeneity,” Hebets says. “Brands need to understand that millennials and Gen Z don’t want to be put in the traditional box with respect to marketing or otherwise. They want brands to embrace and recognize their diversity.”
Retailers Wooing Holiday Shoppers Try AI On for Size
What if e-commerce retailers could use technology to replicate the role of the in-store sales associate, providing people at home with the type of personal attention that really drives sales?
Technology vendors are working feverishly to make that a reality. Using artificial intelligence and voice assistants, like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, and Siri, online retailers are beginning to imagine a world where shoppers can ask their voice companions for recommendations on product fit or gift suggestions in specific price ranges. There may even be a time, not too far in the future, when shoppers can get personal feedback during try-ons inside their own closets, thanks to “smart” mirrors and other virtual reality technology.
Commentary
Understanding Facebook’s Place as a Small Business Marketing Vehicle
“While [Facebook is] not yet anywhere near Google’s ability to generate leads, I have, over the past 6 months, started to see them surpassing Yelp in driving local key performance indicators on the pre-sale side,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm.
‘Deep Audience’: Reach, the Location-Rich Media-Mix, and the Whole Marketing Picture
TV and other legacy platforms are evolving to become more precise. These forces reflect brands’ desire to reach the people they’ve identified as most amenable to their products, and they reflect the desire to do so with messaging that is deeply relevant to consumers’ lifestyles and interests.
Retailers Need to Use Tech to Work Smarter, Not Harder
To have any chance for long term survival, retailers and brands need to bring more technology to bear in operating their businesses, enabling them to work smarter, not harder. Here are some strategic ways big retailers can use technology.
Latest Posts
5 On-Demand Platforms for Lawn Care
Hyperlocal technology providers believe they can be the conduit to connect homeowners with landscaping professionals, and they’re using the same on-demand model as startups like Uber, Handy, and Instacart to make it happen. Here are five examples.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Starts Selling Off-Site Ads, Snapchat Scores $1.8 Billion
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Starts Selling Off-Site Ads Targeting Non-Users Too… Snapchat Raises $1.8 Billion In New Funding Round… The Future of Voice-Related SEO for Local Business…
Connecting Dots in the Path to Purchase, Empyr Focuses on Pay-Per-Sale for SMBs
The company’s CEO Jon Carder says that when you can prove attribution to local marketers, their rate of attrition drops dramatically: “It just gets incredibly better because there’s proof of how well the advertising’s working.” Empyr’s solution for attribution connects credit card information with mobile impressions.
New App From GoDaddy Wants to Help Entrepreneurs Brainstorm Business Ideas
The app is a community space that fields and vets ideas from its users. People can log on and anonymously enter a concept they have for say, starting a local gardening service and receive support and advice in the form of “loves” — which is sort of like a Facebook like.
Local Papers’ Love-Hate Relationship With Facebook Is Proving a Heartbreaker
What if local newspapers, instead of chasing after ever-bigger traffic numbers via platforms like Facebook, cultivated fewer but more receptive users — the kind that would be more attentive to advertising messages, especially if the messages had less blare and more flair. Could going deeper on community coverage result in higher CPMs?
Street Fight Daily: Uber and Foursquare Join Forces, Twitter Disbands Commerce Team
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber and Foursquare Team Up to Make It Easier to Find Your Destination… Heavy-Hitter Investors Plan a For-Profit Launch Next Month in Denver… Twitter Disbands Commerce Team, Ceases Product Development on ‘Buy’ Button…
PlaceIQ Releases Location Data Accuracy Study, Debuts ‘Dynamic Distancing’ Tech
The company has released the results of an independent, third-party analysis of location data accuracy in 150 locations across five U.S. cities and also announced the launch of its Dynamic Distancing technology, which it says offers comprehensive, “reality-based” data for use by brands and marketers.
Yelp’s Richard: Local Will See a ‘Tendency Toward Collaboration’
Like many other companies with location at their core, Yelp is in the process of morphing its fundamental offering into something more. The company is hoping its user reviews are just the groundwork for a more holistic service for merchants and customers alike.
Street Fight Daily: Google Maps to Feature Local Ads, Foursquare’s Restaurants Bot
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Maps Will Feature Local Search Ads for Businesses… PlaceIQ Releases Location Data Accuracy Study, Debuts ‘Dynamic Distancing’ Tech… Foursquare Just Quietly Released a Bot for Finding Restaurants…
As Google Doubles Down on Mobile, How Can SMBs Keep Pace?
Google has been refocusing its efforts to create a “better web” by not only increasing the importance of mobile-friendly websites and better mobile browsing experiences but by fundamentally redefining what the mobile web experience is altogether.
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AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature