News and Analysis
How Retailers Are Reaching Back-to-School Shoppers
It’s that time of the year. As summertime comes to an end, parents around the country have started filling up shopping carts with pencils, notebooks, and binders. Families in the U.S. are expected to spend an average of $696 on back-to-school supplies this year, the highest amount ever recorded by the National Retail Federation.
Back-to-school shopping has become an important event for retailers like Target, Walmart, and Office Depot. While ecommerce is king at other times of the year, parents shopping for their kids’ back-to-school supplies are just as likely to shop in-store as they are online.
How FlashParking Is Turning Isolated Lots Into Connected Hubs
The parking technology company FlashParking wants to reimagine the way parking lots are managed. But rather than pushing “smart” technology on individual operators, the company is taking a decidedly different approach to decreasing traffic congestion in cities.
Operating under the belief that most technology solutions to urban challenges are unnecessarily complicated, the team at FlashParking is working toward solutions that redirect energy away from smart-city technology. Instead, FlashParking is pushing a system that embraces so-called “dumb cities” — cities planned and built with durable approaches to infrastructure.
German Tech Provider Bosch Developing 3D Displays for Cars
In the long run, this technology could pave the way toward an even more connected car. That means local advertising that could collect more data on user habits and lead drivers toward local businesses when they are on the go. As autonomous vehicles grow more common and sophisticated, the 3D displays could also be used for entertainment or other yet unseen purposes to enhance the auto experience of the future.
Commentary
Why Location-Based Machine Learning Is the Smart Path to Personalization
With the right data, a brand can keep the relationship with the customer warm while they’re off-property, out-of-town or on a budget. Offering the right deals and communications that are relevant to real interests means that the relationship between man and machine is getting better all the time.
Local’s Next Battleground: In-Car Media
A few recent moves have begun to triangulate how Uber might build out auxiliary revenue channels. It will be all about enhancing your ride, then, down the road, an ad model. And it won’t involve in-car signage or digital displays.
3 Mobile Changes That Will Affect Marketers in 2017
In 2017, the total number of worldwide mobile users is expected to surpass 6 billion across 11 billion mobile devices. So, what does the future of mobile look like for marketers? More specifically, what data-related trends will dominate in the coming year?
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: The Quiet Success of Ecommerce App Wish, LinkedIn Launches B2B Marketing Tool
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Ecommerce App Wish Has ‘Hundreds of Millions of Users’ (Plus Other Stats About the Company) (TechCrunch)… LinkedIn Debuts New Targeting Feature for Marketers (AdAge)… SoundHound’s Virtual Assistant Launches Out of Beta (VentureBeat)…
As Ad Blockers Proliferate, IAB’s Rothenberg Tells Local Publishers to Stick to Their Guns
“Ad blocking represents the new normal in the media industry,” he said at Borrell’s local advertising conference in NYC. And if present trends continue, ad blocking could soon “surpass 50% on most sites.”
How Data Is Poised to Significantly Transform Local Marketing
It is becoming clear that this is the year when our industry effectively leverages data integration across the marketing ecosystem. One significant aspect of this industry evolution is the injection of physical-world data with other data sets, as well as mobile. Mobile data is the glue that connects all data with the broader ecosystem.
Good Uncle’s Cerilli: ‘We Could Change the Face of Franchising’
If Wiley Cerilli’s new venture has its way, geography won’t be as limiting a factor in determining who has access to gourmet food and celebrated dishes from famous chefs. The company, which recently raised $2.2 million, will launch this fall in smaller cities and towns, linking local populations to big-city food via a mobile app and delivery service.
Street Fight Daily: Google/Facebook vs. Publishers, Will Alibaba Buy Yahoo Stake?
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… In Battle with Google and Facebook, More Publishers Join Forces (Digiday)… Alibaba Raises More Cash, Yahoo Stake In Sight? (Forbes)… Most Mobile Marketers Are Using Location, But How Do You Do It Right? (Marketing Land)…
Making Sense of Google’s Changes that Just Blew Up Online Ads for Local Businesses
There’s really no way to overstate what a massive change Google’s ad reconfiguring is for everyone in the SEM industry. But it’s going to have a more profound — and even devastating — effect on locally-oriented businesses who had relied on Adwords as a key marketing tool.
Case Study: New England Dessert Bar Grows Email List With Monthly Contests
At Treat Cupcake Bar, Sarah Waters’ responsibilities run the gamut from online and offline marketing and social media management, to event organization and employee development. Of all her responsibilities, it’s online marketing that creates some of her biggest challenges.
Street Fight Daily: Billboards and Location Marketing, Wikipedia’s Search Plans Causing Controversy
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… See That Billboard? It May See You, Too (New York Times)… Head of Wikimedia Resigns Over Search Engine Plans (The Guardian)… As Advertisers Clamor for Location Data, Can Publishers Deliver? (AdExchanger)…
Snowcap Data Launches Leadbird, a Local Lead-Gen Toolkit for SMBs
The new platform, which aggregates real-time local data, looks to give small businesses the same kind of access to data that big businesses have, but on a hyperlocal level, CEO Carl Rohling told Street Fight. From there, SMBs can design direct marketing campaigns based on information about the consumers in their proximity.
Openings and New Hires at TruMeasure, Brandmuscle, MapQuest
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes a new digital strategist at Emagine, and a promotion for Vendasta’s Jackie Cook.
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature