News and Analysis
How Major Brands Are ‘Gamifying’ the Consumer Buying Experience
Although gamification itself is not a new marketing strategy, advancements in mobile apps and location technologies are providing brands with new opportunities to engage customers using these time-tested techniques. Here’s how six major brands are using gamification to change the consumer experience and promote loyalty.
Commentary
Newspapers + GeoMesh of Providers = Interesting
In the olden days (1991) I earned a stipend-like salary working for a Gannett newspaper outside Philadelphia. I did a number of things there, some of them poorly (i.e. quickly copyediting stories on tax rate hike debates) and some well (writing headlines; teaching desktop publishing).
But one of the most fascinating jobs I got to do was man the Associated Press wire. On the old glowing-green terminals they had us looking into in the smokey and nearly windowless newsroom, the AP feed would pour in like a precursor to The Matrix’s cascading code imagery…
Grocery Guide: The Hyper-GeoMobileSavvy List!
OK ShopKick, ShopSavvy, CardStar and all the rest of you: Time for a new challenge. We the lazy, the lost, the hurried, the ignorant need someone to not only lead us to water; we need to be led from pond to pond.
I’m talking of course about those of us (particularly of a certain gender) who when entering a grocery store with list in hand (or more likely on our phone) proceed to criss-cross the place looking for sugar among the paper towels and ice cream near the butter. Who lays out these places? And forget about the wayfinding provided by signage. There needs to be a better way…
‘Hyperlocal’ – Everyone’s Sold Except Advertisers?
This guest post, originally here, is from BRANDWEEK writer Elena Malykhina
Hyperlocal is not all it’s hyped up to be as an ad medium – but such venues are making efforts to juice up their offerings and turn the focus on targeted consumer-centric content and experiences into increasingly compelling opportunities for advertisers…
Latest Posts
Conference Notebook: For SMBs, Content Marketing May Not Be So Easy
Brands are lauded when they post or tweet the right thing at the right time — and many social media evangelists spread the gospel that in an always-on, interactive consumer culture small businesses need to do the same. But that line of thinking neglects the high costs associated with content creation, and ignores the problematic economics of content marketing for small businesses…
LBMA Podcast: Microsoft’s Nokia Buy, Gucci and Google Maps, and Moasis
On the show: Nymi uses your heartbeat as a password; OnOurRadar enables on-the-ground reporting in emerging economies; Toopher uses location as authentication; Microsoft acquires Nokia but not the juicy parts; Plus our Mobile Minute with Chuck Martin on the emerging market for shopper segmentation based on device and special guest Ryan Golden of Moasis…
Street Fight Daily: More Users Share Location, Twitter Files For IPO
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… Three quarters of smartphone users share their location, says study (MarketingLand)… Twitter Files for Initial Public Offering (Wall Street Journal)… Senator Asks Cellphone Carriers: What Exactly Do You Share With Government? (New York Times)…
AdMonsters to Tackle Digital Ad Challenges During Advertising Week
Since the first banner ad appeared in 1994, just one thing has remained constant in digital advertising: change. On September 26 during Advertising Week in New York, OPS NY will bring together ad operations and media technology leaders to tackle challenges and work to navigate the latest shifts in our industry, while staying competitive and profitable. Click for a Street Fight discount…
Daily Voice Reports First ‘Unit’ Profitability (With an Asterisk)
The regional hyperlocal news network Daily Voice says it has recorded its first “unit” profitability for operations covering its 41 sites in the hotly competitive suburban Connecticut and New York market. The profit — which does not include corporate costs — was a tiny $2,000 for August, according to CEO Carll Tucker. But it comes after the company burned through $18 million in four years and experienced near-death six months ago…
Street Fight Daily: McDonald’s Tests Mobile Ordering, ‘Showrooming’ Threat Wanes
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… McDonald’s Testing Mobile Order App for U.S. Stores (Business Insider)… Maybe Showrooming Isn’t Killing Retailers After All (Businessweek)… SMB Twitter Followers Show Devotion (eMarketer)…
Local Media Companies Need to Decentralize to Survive
As applied to information technology, centralization is an error that needs correction. The concept of centralization is counterintuitive to the network, because the network sees every node as equal. The real business opportunities are all local, not in bundling everything together to create scale in order to accumulate digital pennies…
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