News and Analysis
In Age of Social Media, Brands Must Stay On Top of Reputations Capable of Changing on a Dime
A single video posted to YouTube was all it took for Chuck E. Cheese’s online reputation to go up in flames this month, at least temporarily, when an internet celebrity posted his theory about the pizza chain’s misshapen pies. As viral conspiracy theories on social media become increasingly common, brands are finding that their initial response can set the tone and create a carry-on effect that impacts customer sentiment across dozens of multimedia channels.
AR in Local Commerce: Google Shows the Way
Mike Boland: A recent and relatively understated development from Google could portend the future of augmented reality. Its previously teased “VPS” was released into the wild for a small set of users. For those unfamiliar, VPS (visual positioning service) guides users with 3D overlays on upheld smartphone screens. Sort of a cousin of AR, this type of experience could represent the sector’s eventual killer apps. Though we’ve seen the most AR success so far in gaming (Pokemon Go) and social (Snapchat AR lenses), it could be more mundane utilities like navigation that engender high-frequency use cases.
Communicating on GMB Poses Some Challenges, but the Local Ecosystem Has Answers
Google has been hard at work on local in 2018 and 2019, taking strides toward making its Google My Business app the one-stop-shop for local businesses hoping to connect with customers through digital means. Nevertheless, local is a tricky, 24-7 business, and when it comes to connecting brick-and-mortars with customers nearby, Alphabet’s core business has some room for improvement.
Commentary
Street Fight Launches 2nd Annual ‘State of Hyperlocal’ Executive Survey
In last year’s State of Hyperlocal report, over half of our survey respondents said they were investing in mobile. Respondents also deemed their own company’s brand awareness as their biggest challenge, even more than proving ROI to customers. What investments will make sense in 2017? With your help, we’ll find out, and present the results at our upcoming Street Fight Summit NYC next month…
As Google Pushes for Users to Stay on Its Platform, What Are the Effects for Local Search
“Obviously Google still controls a fair bit of the searcher’s pre-purchase mindshare, and they obviously want to retain that role,” writes Mike Blumenthal. “They are also fighting like crazy to be relevant in a world where 50% (and growing) of users’ total digital media time is spent in Apps.”
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Instagram’s Massive Ad Spending, Capitalizing on Consumers’ ‘Zigzagging’ Journeys
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Ad Buyer: Spend on Instagram Has Increased ‘Something Like 11,000%’ Between Q3 and Q4 (Business Insider)… The New ‘Zigzagging’ Customer Journey: Think Local, Act Mobile (GeoMarketing)… Google Plans New, Smarter Messaging App (Wall Street Journal)…
Daily Voice Shows Scale and High CPMs Can Mix in Hyperlocal News
Trying to scale community news has many pitfalls. Sites that go for scale can end up publishing glorified “bulletin boards” as they seek to spread budget-limited journalistic resources across multiple communities. The end result can be bottom-fishing remnant CPMs that can be as low as $1. Carll Tucker, CEO of six-year-old Daily Voice, which recently expanded into North Jersey, says its scaling model has produced average CPMs that “hover a few pennies under $8.”
10 Top Location-Based Marketing Campaigns of 2015
Beacons emerged two years ago but only seemed to come into their own in 2015. Despite hurdles to overcome in terms of consumer acceptance, marketers don’t lack impressive numbers for engagement and store visitation, particularly when combined with more commonplace techniques such as geofencing and targeted mobile ads. We asked our friends at GeoMarketing to look back at 10 campaigns that pioneered in the space in the past year.
Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Raising a “Down Round,” Google and Ford Partner for Driverless Cars
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Foursquare Raising Round to Capitalize on Data Business (TechCrunch)… Google Is Partnering with Ford to Build Self-Driving Cars (Business Insider)… With 100,000 Sellers Connected, Square’s App Marketplace Builds a Bridge (TechCrunch)…
ReachLocal Retrenches to Focus on Markets with ‘Potential for Positive, Sustainable Economics’
Local digital marketing firm ReachLocal has been engaged in a lengthy turnaround effort. It announced last week that it was exiting direct sales in the U.K. and focusing on markets with “potential for positive, sustainable economics.” The announcement indicates ReachLocal is still focused on cutting things that aren’t working rather than regaining growth momentum.
Ad Blockers: One Big Distraction from the Real Issue
In a year of overblown topics, the grand prize goes to mobile ad blockers. The backlash is not only disproportionate to real impact but also has fueled the wrong conversation. Instead of fighting ad blockers — or fueling them in the case of biased reports — the ad industry should ask itself how it got in this position to begin with.
Street Fight Daily: Amazon Could Launch Air Delivery Service, Yelp’s Stoppelman Goes After Google
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon in Talks to Launch Its Own Air-Cargo Business (Seattle Times)… Google Has Lost Its Mind, Says Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman (Recode)… Etsy Launches Trendy Local Maker Guides for U.S. Cities (The Next Web)…
LBMA Podcast: Absolut Bottles Become Media Platforms, Swedish Bakery Sends Real Treats in Exchange for Web Cookies
On the show: Pernod Ricard turns Absolut bottles into IoT play; Swedish bakery Pågen sends real treats in exchange for web cookies; Google provides $1 million grant to Wayfindr in London; Irisys launches Gazelle 2; Jane Goodall launches Tapestry of Hope map. Plus, news from PlaceIQ and IRI; Walmart; Sears; Dwolla and Seamless; and GameStop.
Openings and New Hires at Citymaps, Indochino, and Urgent.ly
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s column, Citymaps brings on ex-Nokia HERE CEO as executive chairman, made-to-measure menswear company Indochino appoints a new CEO, and Urgent.ly beefs up with a strategic sales hire.
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation