News and Analysis
No Wallet, No Problem. Yombu Scans Your Fingerprint for Payments, Loyalty Rewards
Credit cards made it possible to leave cash behind. Then, digital wallets like ApplePay let you leave home without your wallet. Now, Washington, D.C., startup Yombu is making it possible to pay and get access to membership rewards with just your fingerprint.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook May Have Knowingly Inflated Video Metrics, Programmatic Prices Rise
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Facebook May Have Knowingly Inflated Its Video Metrics for Over a Year… No Wallet, No Problem. Yombu Scans Your Fingerprint for Payments, Loyalty Rewards… First-Price Auctions Are Driving Up Ad Prices…
Despite AI Advances, Consumers Crave Human Interactions
Using the latest artificial intelligence technology, brands are finding new ways to streamline and automate the customer experience. But a new report shows that type of streamlined experience might be the exact opposite of what consumers actually want when they interact with their favorite brands.
Commentary
Google’s Cities Initiative and the Ownership of Local Data
Google’s recent announcement of a new initiative called “Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map” belongs to the larger story of the company’s attempt to gain a critical mass of participation from small businesses…
5 Ways You’re Doing Mobile Wrong
For consumers, it’s basically a mobile-first world. And as more and more money and activity moves into the mobile advertising ecosystem, marketers must move beyond the old models and start to think like consumers – mobile-first…
What Google’s Entry Into the Home Services Space Means for Local
Google revealed earlier this week that it was readying an entry into the hotly contested home services category. Will Google have enough long-term commitment to a serious standalone product in this space to produce a real game-changer for local?
Latest Posts
xAd CEO: Forget Mobile — Location is the New Category for Marketers
New York-based xAd has doubled its annual revenue in each of the past two years, expanding to London, China and India. We recently caught up with Dipanshu “D” Sharma, chief executive at xAd, to talk about mobile, data and why location is becoming the new category…
5 Ways You’re Doing Mobile Wrong
For consumers, it’s basically a mobile-first world. And as more and more money and activity moves into the mobile advertising ecosystem, marketers must move beyond the old models and start to think like consumers – mobile-first…
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Nears Big Deal, SMBs Balk at Social
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… KKR Investor Group Nears Deal for Ticket Monster (Wall Street Journal)… Small Businesses Are So-So About Social (eMarketer)… Linking Digital Ads To In-Store Visits Continues To Spread: Tapad, Placed Ink Dea (MediaPost)…
Yik Yak Makes Inroads as a More Serious News Service
In its less than two years of existence, Yik Yak has spread across the country, mostly at communities centered around college campuses. It’s true that a lot of the company’s content is sophomoric. But I think that will change, based on a new pilot that the service has launched with the University of Florida…
First Data Wants to Turn Its Payment Empire Into a Local Marketing Juggernaut
First Data, the payment processing giant, wants to be more than just a black box on the counter. We caught up with Peter Karpas, global head of SMB product, to talk about moving beyond the payment business, the company’s acquisition strategy, and where the world’s largest payment process fits into the future of small business…
Street Fight Daily: Nokia Weighs Sale of Maps, GoDaddy Keeps Buying Startups
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Nokia Weighs Sale of Maps Business to Focus on Networks (Bloomberg)… GoDaddy Acquires Marketplace Startup Elto To Expand Its Services For Web Pros (TechCrunch)… Amazon, Google and More Are Drawn to Home Services Market (New York Times)…
What Google’s Entry Into the Home Services Space Means for Local
Google revealed earlier this week that it was readying an entry into the hotly contested home services category. Will Google have enough long-term commitment to a serious standalone product in this space to produce a real game-changer for local?
Openings and New Hires at Uber, ShopKeep and Gravy
Every two weeks, Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, new jobs and hires at Soleo, Location3, Moz, and many more…
LBMA Podcast: Amazon’s Dash Button, Gimbal COO Kevin Hunter
On the show: Pac-man Easter egg from Google; MasterCard partners with KIIP; Adobe partners with Vibes Media; AirBites – the AirBnB for home-cooked meals; Tworlds shows is the grass is greener over there; KeepTrax raises a modest $1M…
Street Fight Daily: Google Wallet Opens Up, PayPal’s Big Change
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Mobile Payments Become Marketing Tool For Dunkin’ Donuts, Shopify, ChowNow (MediaPost)… PayPal’s Big Change: It Can Work With Amazon After eBay Split (Recode)… Google vs. Amazon: Does Small Business Benefit? (US News)…


















































Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem