News and Analysis
At Retail Conference, Google Dangles Shiny New Visual Ad Format
The visual-first ads are here. Google announced at the retail conference Shoptalk on Wednesday that it is launching shoppable ads in image search, propelling the search giant into the center of the visual zeitgeist that has made Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat hot targets for advertisers.
Native Ad Industry Booms, Capitalizing on Hunger for Ads That Don’t Look Like Advertising
Native ad firm AdYouLike is staking its reputation on the assumption that the ads you like may not look like ads. That bet appears to be paying off, as a report from the firm shows the native ad industry set to grow to $400 billion by 2025, a 372% jump from the projected size of the market in 2020.
Poor Data Quality Is Hurting Location-Based Campaigns—Here’s How to Fix It
“Location data offers the ability to turn universal ads into local ads. Same as local TV. The issue is how location targeting is being executed,” says location-based ad veteran Warren Zenna. “People don’t look at ads on their phones when they are out doing things like shopping and driving around. They look at them, sometimes, when they are inactive. Mobile ad creative needs to be better — more engaging and more contextual — and presented when someone is in a contextually relevant mindset.”
Commentary
Can Google Shift Its Revenue Model From Advertising to Products?
“Google rolling out integrated hardware and software is a big change,” Mike Blumenthal says to David Mihm. “They have tried their hand at manufacturing many times and failed, but this feels more strategic. Clearly their AI assistant effort is central and it seems that AI is table stakes for the coming battles.”
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo Faces Major Layoffs, Inside Uber’s ‘God Mode’ Privacy Battles
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Is Prepping to Lay Off 10% or More of Its Workforce (Business Insider)… Uber Settles with New York Attorney General Over ‘God View’ Tracking Program (BuzzFeed)… GoButler, the Messaging-Based Personal Assistant, ‘Pauses’ Operations in Germany to Focus on U.S. (TechCrunch)…
Facebook Continues to Experiment in Local — But Its Focus Is Long-Term
The company isn’t trying to build a unified local search portal at all. Instead, they’re launching trial balloons, turning developers loose to experiment with the company’s local data in order to surface features and nuances that might eventually be useful as subtle additions to the Newsfeed…
How Top Marketers Are Curating the In-Store Mobile Experience
With consumer behavior in place, and solutions making technology like beacons as simple as a media buy, mobile proximity is poised to become the fasting growing piece of mobile advertising in 2016. The brands that have tested and learned early on are in great position to scale up and reach their audiences this year.
Street Fight Daily: The Relationship Between Mobile Messaging and Commerce, GM Invests in Lyft
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Future of Mobile Chatting: Commerce (Wall Street Journal)… General Motors, Gazing at Future, Invests $500 Million in Lyft (New York Times)… For Sensors Focused on Local Commerce and Loyalty, Privacy, Battery Life, and Location Accuracy Are Top Concerns (GeoMarketing)…
Washington Post Uses Its Journalism to Breathe New Life into Display Ads
The display ad, which has powered the revenue behind much of online media in the past, has taken a lot of flak in the past couple of years, as many publications have touted new formats (like native advertising) as the future. But Washington Post Director of Ad Product and Engineering Jarrod Dicker thinks the paper’s […]
The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation