News and Analysis

Why Disney Gets Phygital Right Street Fight

Why Disney Gets Phygital Right

First, you’ll hear a lot of the term “phygital” (the convergence of physical and digital) throughout 2025. It’s the theme of our Street Fight LIVE Summit on September 18th. Although the term itself has been around for years, technology and devices have finally caught up to the word. Consumers expect brands to know them as […]

Snack Brand LesserEvil Discusses OOH

You’ve got to love OOH if you’re a brand marketer. It’s location-based, has real-time and locational relevance, and there are no pesky brand-safety issues to worry about. The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) is gearing up for the 2025 OOH Media Conference May 5-7, and some esteemed brands will be represented not […]

Does DEIB Make a Difference for MULO Brands?

Does DEIB Make a Difference for MULO Brands?

The issue of DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) has become hot in the U.S. these days. Programs are being slashed at a government level and some of the private sector is following suit. MULO (multi-location) brands now need to think even harder about their hiring policies and public images. Consumers have taken to social […]

Commentary

What GoWalla's Resurgence Says About the State of SoLoMo

What GoWalla’s Resurgence Says About the State of SoLoMo

GoWalla is re-launching. And what better place to do it than its original birthplace at SXSW? Now fourteen years later, the product will contain a mix of its original SoLoMo formula, features to address today’s demand signals, and other learnings from its first run.

Redefining NFTs by 10 Emerging Utilities

Redefining NFTs by 10 Emerging Utilities

As some forward-thinking brands have already found, the unexpected utilities of NFTs makes them good for much more than digital art.

How to Fix Costly Subpar Data at the Source

As marketers increasingly rely on their own first-party data, the elephant in the room needs to be addressed: subpar data will yield subpar outcomes. In fact, according to Gartner, data of poor quality costs organizations an average of $12.9 million every year. 

Latest Posts

The 3 Technologies MULO Restaurant Businesses Need Today: A Chat with Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour is the VP of Channel Programs at me&u. The company provides tech-powered ordering to restaurants.  He believes strongly that the right technologies, combined with the best possible human-customer interaction, can help solve many of the problems multi-location (MULO) restaurants face today in terms of service and satisfaction today. What are the top three […]

Applying the Golden Rule to Omnichannel Retail Marketing

Tim Mason is not only CEO of Eagle Eye, a SaaS company that provides global personalized retail marketing via its loyalty and promotions platform, AIR, he is also a 30-year retail industry veteran, author, and keynote speaker. Before becoming head of Eagle Eye in 2016, Mason held senior executive positions at Tesco, the largest multinational […]

Santa Needs Fewer Elves This Year: Trends in Retail Employment

A recent retail employment study by Indeed indicates that although people are still hunting for seasonal jobs this holiday season, the number of job postings has dropped to pre-pandemic levels. Postings are down 3 percent from 2019 and 6 percent year-over-year. About 39 percent of Americans have side hustles, and many consumers depend on holiday […]

Leverage a Single View of the Customer in Real Time With Generative AI

It’s been almost two decades since we first heard “data is the new oil” and companies have tapped into that resource ever since, fundamentally changing the way we do business and how we talk to customers on digital channels. Raw data must be refined to realize its full value, but even with limited refining capabilities, […]

The Search Landscape, Localogy, StreetFight, Humans & AI (& Pasta)!

The Search Landscape, Humans & AI (& Pasta)!

The New York City landscape has changed,  and so has the local search landscape. On November 7th, at Localogy‘s Place23 conference,  a range of powerhouse groups and more than 100 senior marketing professionals came together to be the architects of our new future. Two of the panels at the Place event covered the challenges faced […]

Finance Lobby and Placer.ai Partner to Elevate Data-Driven Insights

In a move aimed at reshaping the landscape of commercial real estate financing, Finance Lobby recently announced a strategic partnership with Placer.ai, the leading location data platform. This alliance signifies a monumental step for both organizations and underscores their shared commitment to revolutionizing the industry. Unlocking New Horizons For Finance Lobby users, this integration ushers […]

Deft CEO: the State of SEO and Search Advertising

Deft CEO: the State of SEO and Search Advertising

The team at Deft has some controversial takes on the state of SEO and search advertising. From the beginning, the company was founded on the belief that e-commerce is the most over-SEO’d and over-advertised search category — and the problem is only getting worse, as both Amazon and Google continue to make money by keeping […]

Hail Caesars Republic: Talking to Ryan Kirby about MULO Hotel Expansion

Hail Caesars Republic: Talking to Ryan Kirby about MULO Hotel Expansion

Many hotel companies now have different brands within their brand, offering various price points and experiences underneath their multi-location (MULO) umbrella. You may have thought of Caesars as just a casino experience in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, with giant statues and endless slots and tables. But Caesars is about to open its second non-gaming resort […]

The Cookie Is Crumbling: Americans Demand Better Privacy, Transparency, and Control

The ongoing debate surrounding the death of the cookie has prompted leaders in ad tech to reevaluate modern advertising practices and search for more privacy-conscious and user-friendly alternatives. Users are demanding greater privacy — including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used. In addition, Apple has diminished the retargeting connection through IDFA, […]

The MULO Dozen: October Brands in Review

Last month, we launched this new section,  recapping some of the highlights across MULO (multi-location) brands — retailers, restaurants, c-stores, service businesses, and any other establishment that have multiple locations (or aspires to scale to that level), as well as the agencies that help them flourish. We cover: INNOVATION: Here are the brands that are […]