News and Analysis
Keeping the Shelves Well Stocked: A Conversation With Joe Spisak
Joe Spisak is the CEO and Founder of Fulfill.com. Supply chain issues are certainly not as sexy and creative as that new ad campaign, AI-powered marketing system, or redesign of a MULO (multi-location) brand footprint. But they are critically important to brands and customers alike. After spending a small fortune on SEO and media campaigns, […]
BOOM: Brands & Concepts On the Rise in 2025
Who would have ever guessed that the bookstore would make a comeback? Barnes & Noble plans to open 60 new stores this year. Once considered a dying retail category, the bookstore is back and on the rise, selling more than just reading materials. Although physical books remain the brand’s main revenue source, stores have tapped […]
Stanley Tucci Hosts Allbirds New Series
It might be common knowledge by now that Allbirds, a footwear brand favored in Silicon Valley (and elsewhere), has launched an unscripted series in collaboration with actor Stanley Tucci, who hosts, and production company OBB Pictures and Salt Productions. It isn’t hard to find and stream the 20-minute episodes: They’re running all month on Rolling […]
Commentary
Tinuiti Sees Real Bright Spots in the Digital Ad Landscape
Tinuiti, the largest independent performance-marketing firm that measures across Streaming TV as well as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, has published “Q1 2023 Digital Ads Benchmark Report”. This report looks at trends across the digital ad landscape of paid search, paid social, digital marketplaces, and video and display advertising. Tinuiti has nearly $4 billion in digital […]
BOOM: Multi-location Target from 1902 to the Future
We have no shortage of companies that go BUST. Just in the past few days, we covered the demise of Bed Bath & Beyond and Jenny Craig. The failure of multi-location brands cannot be attributed just to digital options, consumer trend shifts, and bad hires or financial bets. More complex factors seem to go into […]
BUST: Walk-In Weight Loss Jenny Craig Trims Down (and Disappears?)
Jenny Craig once had more than 600 locations and nearly $500M in revenue. But, like many industries, digital communications have been part of its downfall. The company announced this week that, after 40 years, they are shuttering all their locations. What are the factors that precipitated the massive change? New solutions for weight loss are […]
Latest Posts
Pinstripes Goes Public
Eatertainment (the combination of dining and entertainment) is ringing the consumer bell these days, as multi-location (MULO) brand Pinstripes became a publicly-traded company under the ticker symbol PNST. The business deal with Banyan Acquisition Corporation (which changed its name to Pinstripes Holdings. will allow Pinstripes to expand to more locations. The brand currently has 14 […]
Navigating the Fragmented CTV Landscape: Strategies for Brands and Agencies
2023 was a year of exploration and education. As the industry begins 2024, agencies and brand marketers will continue to gain a better understanding while leveraging necessary campaign elements like transparency, incremental reach and co-viewing to navigate the new challenges and opportunities within the CTV (Connected TV) landscape. Today’s brand marketers are confronted with crucial […]
Is the Digital Agency Dying?
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal quoted Forrester Research as saying that the “digital agency” will face its demise in 2024. As in the direct mail era, talent that specialized in a new medium was in demand, but then mail campaigns were replaced in part by digital marketing and most full-service agencies began […]
Snack Tech: The Ultimate Brand Loyalty App
Cookies and chips are tech terms. But now digital meets dough (both kinds) as one MULO (multi-location) bakery brand is getting noticed for its loyalty app. Crumbl (a 700-location brand) has been shouted out in food and beverage media as having one of the top 10 apps. It is #6 in the top 10 most […]
Industry Changes Ahead for Marketers: Cookie Deprecation, Dirty Data, and AI
With 2024 here, marketers need to prepare for a few big industry changes. The deprecation of third-party cookies and the death of the traditional customer journey will greatly impact marketing strategies, transforming how businesses engage with their customers. Marketers also must tackle the elephant in the room: dirty data. Accurate, unified data is the vital […]
BOOM: Tutoring & Learning Centers
It’s a (sad) fact. About half of students in 2023 started the school year behind grade level.The pandemic, combined with digital distractions, has had an impact on how kids are performing in school. But MULO (multi-location) tutoring centers are coming to the rescue. The private tutoring market is expected to grow to $106 billion by […]
Breaking Boundaries: Microsoft’s App Store and the Epic vs. Google Ripple Effect
It has been an earth-shattering few weeks in the app ecosystem. First, in a groundbreaking move that has sent shockwaves through the tech industry, Microsoft has announced its plans to launch an app store within the Apple App Store – a move that holds significant implications for app developers, especially those in the gaming industry. […]
The New Grocery Store
The General Store of the 1800s eventually became the supermarket (when the Astor Market in New York and Piggly Wiggly in Tennessee opened their doors in the early 1900s. From 1915 to 1975, A&P was the largest grocery store in the U.S. (and the biggest retailer of any kind). Fast-forward to our current omnichannel and […]
Report: Retail Is Robust Again
The fickle finger of fast fashion just got longer in the U.S. market. According to findings from the Consumer Edge Insight Center fast fashion, defined as the reproduction of high-end fashion designs cheaply and selling them at retail for the masses, is even holding its own against luxury fashion. Retailers such as Shein, Temu, The Gap, Zara, Uniqlo, Topshop, […]
The MULO Dozen: December Brands in Review
As MULO (multi-location) brands prepare for the new year, they make bold moves — from new leadership to hot consumer trends we look at December brands in review. Here’s what we saw this month. Have news for 2024? Please e-mail me. Love’s names two new executives. The C-store “experience” is now officially a trend. (LEADERSHIP) 50 […]
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem