News and Analysis

The MULO Dozen: January in Review Street Fight

The MULO Dozen: January in Review

January, the first month of 2025, was jam-packed with announcements of leadership changes, innovative new store designs and menu items, and game-changing technologies. Brands are suiting up for the Super Bowl. The TikTok “pause” created mass panic among influencers and agencies. As the 2025 progresses, watch this space for the trends, perspectives, and data that […]

Consumers Do This 69% of the Time Street Fight

Consumers Do This 69% of the Time

Do what? A new study by Salsify revealed that 69% of consumers now make purchases while doing other things — scrolling through social media, browsing YouTube, or even watching shows on Netflix. The days of someone saying, “Let’s go shopping” still exist, but multitasking is now the norm for close to 70% of the population, […]

Just Salad Tosses in AI & Personalization Street Fight

Just Salad Tosses in AI & Personalization

We know that consumers are okay with personalization and targeting, providing it adds value to their lives and saves them time. A whopping 64 percent of consumers report liking custom-tailored experiences. Just Salad was founded in 2006 and now has more than 90 locations. I remember being excited when the fast-casual chain opened in New […]

Commentary

amazon playbook

Amazon Takes a Page from the TikTok Playbook

Social commerce provides the promise of an additional revenue stream for social platforms that have largely relied on advertising for monetization. The giants are copying each other to get there, and Amazon has taken a page from the TikTok playbook to spur its latest advance.

green shopping

Consumer Trust and Green Shopping Lead the Way in 2023

With almost every business continuing to evolve, 2023 is going to build on the success of this year. In fact, next year will present new opportunities to build trust, innovate digital marketing tactics, and advance our industry’s effort to reduce our industry’s climate impact. 

deeper customer relationships

Elevating Subscriptions: Turning Transactions into Deeper Customer Relationships

What brands need to do to maximize the value of subscriptions is deliver—and differentiate themselves—on exceptional customer experiences (CX). This includes real-time support and service to meet high demand while furthering customer relationships. 

Latest Posts

Quotient Launches DOOH Retail Network

Out-of-home and omnichannel. That’s how Quotient worked with OTC pain-relief brand Tylenol to increase brand awareness among shoppers with certain health conditions while much of the world was deep into pandemic lockdown. Quotient is a digital promotions and media technology company that helps brands and agencies develop omnichannel media and promotions strategies to drive sales. […]

Bombora VP: Digital Marketers Still Struggle with B2B2C

Bombora VP: Digital Marketers Still Struggle with B2B2C

You’ve heard of B2B. You’ve heard of B2C. But if you’re like many digital marketers, you might still be unsure about what B2B2C is or how it factors into the way brands today are reaching professional targets with relevant content. A recent partnership between Gravy Analytics, a provider of enterprise location intelligence, and Bombora, a […]

Why Did the Chicken Expand Beyond Guatemala?

You may not have heard of Pollo Campero (yet) in the United States. But this family-founded brand started in 1971 and has passed down its fried chicken recipe since then. The brand is now investing in U.S. expansion and plans to grow from 90 units to at least 250 over the next five years. Pollo […]

How 3 Brands Have Modernized Their Loyalty Programs in 2023

Virtually every top retail brand today has a mobile app designed to build loyalty, but the majority of those apps aren’t delivering the kind of return on investment that their creators expect. With so many branded apps and loyalty programs vying for consumers’ attention, companies are learning that they have to lean into personalized experiences […]

The Branding Implications of SEO: Why Franchise Brands are Embracing CMS

In the dynamic world of brand marketing, the digital experience is paramount. Historically, the speed of a website’s load time was not just a technical metric, but a reflection of franchise brands promises to consumers.  Today, with the advent of Core Web Vitals (CWV), the narrative has evolved. It’s no longer just about speed; it’s […]

BOOM: Barry’s Bulks-up its MULO Brand

The boutique fitness industry is having a moment.  And Barry’s (formerly Barry’s Boot Camp) is making moves to grow along with it. With plans to quadruple its 48-location footprint by 2030, Barry’s offers a “unique blend of high-intensity (HIIT) cardio, strength training, music, and signature red lights,” according to a profile of the company CEO […]

Mastering the Retail Supply Chain to Drive Intelligent Outcomes

Retail has been ramping up digital transformation for a few years now, in an attempt to keep pace with consumer expectations for frictionless, more personalized, omnichannel experiences. This transformation has been further accelerated by current external factors like the pandemic, global conflict and economic headwinds. As part of this effort, reimagining supply chain practices has […]

What the Cadent Acquisition Means for the Future of Converged TV

As consumers grow more comfortable with the idea of combining live TV, streaming services, and on-demand content into one platform, private equity firms are betting that converged TV startups are about to become a revenue goldmine. In the latest example of what’s become a trend in the space, Novacap, one of the most well-known private […]

Data Privacy Compliance Report Shows Slow, Positive Movement 

Five years have passed since the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect, and companies across the U.S. are still struggling with compliance. According to a new report on the state of CCPA and CPRA data privacy compliance by CYTRIO, just 13% of non-compliant companies in the first quarter of 2022 moved to manual […]

On and Off the MULO Shelves with Dan Oliver and His Seasoning

On and Off the MULO Shelves with Dan Oliver and His Seasoning

We recently saw a LinkedIn post by Tyler Watson, Vice President of Sales for Dan-O’s Seasoning. Intrigued, we Googled the brand and discovered it’s available both online and in MULO (multi-location) retailers.  Dan-O’s actually had its roots in social media when Dan Oliver (a former bartender) started making TikTok videos about his seasoning in 2020. […]