News and Analysis
Captivate and Hivestack Partner to Expand Programmatic DOOH Ads
Location-based digital video network Captivate and location-based mar tech company Hivestack are teaming up to expand access to programmatic digital out-of-home ads, the companies announced.
Hivestack’s marketplace and ad exchange will allow customers to buy video inventory on Captivate, which will bring engaging video ads to offices across North America. Captivate offers a professional audience of particularly high interest to marketers.
How Retailers Use AI, Mapping to Boost ROI on Store Remodels
Walmart, Walgreens, and Sephora are all using artificial intelligence technology to improve the retail experience. While the majority of use cases for AI in retail have focused on enhancing the shopping experience for customers, forward-thinking analytics firms are innovating and developing new uses for their existing AI technology.
The analytics firm Fractal Analytics is pushing forward in the retail space with its own solution that relies on AI to forecast the cost of retail store remodels, as well as determine the ROI from large-scale renovation projects. Although Fractal works solely with Fortune 500 companies, the solutions it is developing could be adopted more broadly throughout the retail space.
Google Hit With Another $500+ Million Fine
Google is in the news for the wrong reasons again. The search giant agreed to pay a 500 million euro fine (about $550 million) to settle a French fiscal fraud probe after investigators in the country accused it of dodging taxes, Reuters reported.
Google’s headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, where it settles all sales contracts to avoid paying higher taxes in the rest of Europe. Alphabet isn’t the only company to take advantage of tax loopholes to avoid paying its fair share; Apple and Facebook also have large operations there.
Commentary
Optimizing for Mobile Search: New Tips and Old Tricks
It used to be that you wanted to be situated as close as possible to the city centroid, or clustered with similar businesses. Now you might literally have to be the closest shop to the place your potential customer happens to be standing. How in the world do you optimize for that?
Why the Creative Director of the Future Stands at the Crossroads of Marketing, Tech, Product, and Ads
Think of the evolving creative director as a technological and marketing pentathlete, a dynamic force who’ll need to satisfy more than just the traditional advertising imperative. Envision a product-strategy role; that is the model to come.
Tried and True Marketing Tactics SMBs Can Borrow From Premium Brands
Many small-but-growing businesses have a multi-store operation and a dynamic online presence, but simply can’t afford the custom-built, integrated retail and ecommerce systems that keep a premium brand’s customer experience tight and consistent. Here are some tactics they can employ to hack that problem.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: HERE Wants to Compete with Google Maps, Yahoo’s Grim Financials
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Seeking Investments from Microsoft and Amazon, HERE Signals Intent to Compete Aggressively with Google Maps (Search Engine Land)… Yahoo Paints Grim Financial Picture as Deadline for Bids Nears (New York Times)… Why Pinterest Forces You Off Its Mobile Site and Into Its App (VentureBeat)…
On-Demand Is Tricky to Build, but ‘Very Much a Net Positive for Everybody’
“On-demand is much harder than people think. It’s supply and demand — you have to make sure companies can grow, and that this growth can be matched,” says interim.team’s Rorie Devine. Growth in supply and growth in demand need to be in sync, which makes it “twice as hard.”
Street Fight Daily: HomeAdvisor Growing Fast, Mcommerce’s Customer Service Impact
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Diller’s Home Services Bet Could Hit $1 Billion in a Few Years (Bloomberg)… How Mobile Commerce Is Changing Customer Service (VentureBeat)… Second Measure Is the New Secret Weapon Investors Are Using to Outsmart Each Other (Business Insider)…
5 Platforms for Cross-Promotions Between Local Businesses
In communities around the country, small business owners are considered local influencers. And rather than go it alone with their local marketing campaigns, some of these merchants are finding success by partnering with peers and implementing new cross-promotional marketing strategies.
Google Finally Reveals How to Improve Your Local Ranking
Google has significantly updated its help page on the topic of local ranking to include, for the first time, specific common-sense guidelines showing businesses how they can increase the likelihood that online searchers will find them in Google Maps on desktop and mobile.
7 Smart Ways to Deliver Loyalty Rewards Based on Buying Patterns
Hyperlocal vendors are increasingly marketing their high-tech loyalty programs at small and mid-size businesses, with easier ways for business owners to deliver loyalty rewards based on data captured through the point-of-sale. Here are seven ways merchants can use purchasing behaviors to offer more relevant rewards.
Street Fight Daily: Comcast-backed Firm Bets $250M on Groupon, OOH Advertising’s ‘Renaissance’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Comcast-Backed Firm Makes $250 Million Investment in Groupon (Bloomberg)… Technology Fuels Renaissance in Out-of-Home Advertising (AdAge)… Does Google Stand a Chance Against Facebook in Mobile Display? (Marketing Land)…
Automating Local Commerce: Rise of the Chatbots
Bots could displace apps just as apps displaced search. “Search started with consumers typing into a box,” Pingup’s Ron Braunfeld said recently. “[AI] is all about knowing where you are, time of day, what’s in your refrigerator; and giving you the right information without having to search.”
Case Study: How a New York Car Dealership Generates Online Leads
At his family-owned used car dealership, Anthony Curran works as a salesman and also handles marketing. He says a recent campaign with Facebook had a lot of success: “In the first week we had over 80,000 people reached. Since then, everyone has been mentioning seeing us on Facebook.”
Street Fight Daily: Reserve Acquires Dash, Shoppers Save Big Purchases for Desktop
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Reserve Acquires Mobile Payments Startup Dash (TechCrunch)… U.S. Shoppers Save Big-Ticket Online Purchases for Desktop (Quartz)… Report: Search Drives 10x More Traffic to Shopping Sites Than Social Media (Search Engine Land)…
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem