News and Analysis
Hyperlocal Pioneer Howard Owens Sees New Mobile App as Key to Scaling Beyond His ‘Batavian’
Eight and a half years after launching his hyperlocal news site The Batavian, in upstate New York, Howard Owens is looking at growing his base company, Album Corp., beyond Batavia to multiple locations. His plan for expansion is driven by a homemade mobile app that he’s experimenting with for the site.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Unveils Tools for Brand Marketing, How the Best Brands Do Mobile
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Two New Facebook Tools Will Help Brands Craft Ads for Every Environment… What Sets the Best Brands in Mobile Apart from the Pack… Understanding Amazon as an Advertising Platform…
Brands Struggle to Keep Up with Demand for Cross-Channel Personalization
Consumers want offline shopping experiences to be just as personalized as online, but new research from the customer data firm Segment shows that most major brands are failing to meet those expectations.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Responds, Apple Exposes Passbook
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Foursquare Responds To Facebook Nearby By Tapping Facebook’s Friend Graph (Search Engine Land)… Apple files for Patent Passbook’s Digital Coupon Feature, Hints at NFC (The New York Times)… How Google Maps May Have Actually Helped Apple (GigaOm)…
Information Wants to Be Free, but Local Data Is Currency
The sizable overlap between consumer-generated information and enterprise control is experienced every day in the world of local search.Though few local search companies could exist without licensed data, once that data gets inside their walls, it becomes a foundation upon which consumer-generated data adds value to a service…
Spindle Tries to Pre-empt Local Discovery With Social Alerts
Last week, social discovery app Spindle rolled out a place-based alerts system designed to inform users of interesting and relevant social media updates from local businesses around them. Street Fight recently spoke with Spindle CEO and cofounder Pat Kinsel about about what makes Spindle’s value proposition so vital…
2013: The Revenge of the Merchant
Next year, merchants will start to gain the upper hand in online marketing. That gain will come from lessons in the consumer market, where simple UI and UX have become paramount for success and sophisticated filtering has given way to three-click processes.
Street Fight Daily: Mobile Ad Spend Jumps, Web Only Gets Physical
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… US Mobile Ad Spending Jumps to $4 Billion (eMarketer)… Once Proudly Web Only, Shopping Sites Hang Out Real Shingles (The New York Times)… Garmin Integrates Foursquare and Glympse with Mobile Apps for Non-Creepy Location-Sharing on the Go (The Next Web)…
Native Advertising Could Spell Trouble for Foursquare With Brands
Given that Foursquare’s user base isn’t going to get as big as Facebook’s or Twitter’s (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and considering the pressure to justify its valuation, putting too much faith in a native ad model could potentially spell trouble for the company…
Mobile Digital Mood Ring? Gravy Targets Hyperlocal Events — All of Them
I recently caught up with Jeff White, the serial entrepreneur behind timeRAZOR’s app. Among other things, Gravy asks users what kinds of events and experiences they are in the mood for — rather than presenting them with a menu of options…
5 Location-Based Marketing Platforms for Brands Without Retail Stores
Figuring out where to purchase products from a brand that doesn’t have its own retail establishment can present a challenge for many consumers. Increasingly, major brands like Vicks and Nestlé are using location-based marketing platforms to help point potential buyers in the right direction. Here are five platforms offering brands a way to take advantage of such technology on their own terms…






































AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature