News and Analysis
What I Saw in 2024: 10 MULO Trends and Predictions
As a journalist, I’m used to telling the stories that others pitch to me. (BTW…keep sending me your stats and news throughout 2025! You can reach me at [email protected].) Indulge me for a few minutes while I offer my perspectives on the year of MULO (multi-location) brands based on everything I’ve gathered. Here are my predictions […]
2025 Social Media Playbook: Authenticity, Originality, and Community-Driven Engagement
The era of trend-chasing is over. According to the newly released 2025 Sprout Social Index™, consumers are reshaping their expectations for brand behavior on social media. The verdict? Authenticity, originality, and personalized connections are no longer optional—they’re essential. This shift is more than a passing phase. As Rachael Goulet, Director of Social Media at Sprout […]
Walmart Credits In-Person Retail for Its Growth, and It’s Not Alone
Walmart’s Q3 earnings call revealed something interesting: Walmart places much of its recent revenue growth and success on in-person shopping. “In-store volumes grew, pickup from store grew faster, and delivery from store grew even faster than that,” the company wrote about its U.S. locations. The growth of in-store shopping in an era of e-commerce accessibility […]
Commentary
4 Common Dynamic Pricing Myths Debunked
With so much at stake, why aren’t more retailers relying on dynamic pricing? Some retailers are hesitant to implement this AI-driven solution because they misunderstand the technology and how it impacts the retailer’s control and the customer’s shopping experience.
How Brands Can Navigate the Economic Downturn
Brands can make the most of their ad dollars during the downturn by leaning into point-of-purchase activations, switching to cost-effective channels, and investing in creative.
Brands Leveraging Affiliate Channel to Move Retail Inventory
With consumers expecting discounts this season, here’s how brands can leverage affiliate partners to effectively move inventory and make sales.
Latest Posts
“Podcast Studio Near Me”: A Chat With Brian Howie Who is Bringing New Media to the MULO World
Multi-location (MULO) marketing services storefronts are nothing new. Brands offer printing and swag to small businesses and conference-goers, delivering flyers, brochures, posters, signage, and even tee shirts to consumers and companies. Companies like AlphaGraphics, Minuteman, Signarama, and Staples fulfill those needs. Custom Ink started as an online-only creative and production resource but now has multiple […]
Amazon Leans Into Livestream Shopping to Promote Prime Day Deals
More than a decade after livestream shopping first took off in China, it’s yet to reach critical mass in the U.S. Now, Amazon could finally be changing that. Companies like Shopify, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon have all invested heavily in live selling in recent years. Although Facebook famously bowed out of its investments […]
How MULO (Multi-Location) Brands are Using Threads
The newest social media app, Threads from Meta, has already close to 100 million users after its launch on July 5th. (As of this publishing, the number may even be higher, reflecting the viral spread of the app.) Despite skepticism about its functionality and staying power, big brands have already “threaded up” and are claiming […]
Study: Half of Marketers Don’t Trust Their Own Data
Nearly half of marketers have doubts about the reliability and accuracy of their digital data, despite spending thousands per month on their technology stacks. That’s according to a new study by Forrester and Zeta Global, which found that data challenges increase as more solutions get added to a company’s tech stack. Although 85% of companies […]
Beyond the Billboard: Trends in OOH Advertising
As we drive along the highways and backroads this summer (or wander through Times Square or on the Las Vegas strip or sit in stadiums and concert venues), signage (OOH Advertising) is often hard to miss. Or, if the advertisers are using it properly, it should be impossible to miss! From traditional billboards (which first […]
Want to Know the Single-Most Important Factor Driving Attention in Advertising? This Is It
The single-most important factor in driving attention in advertising probably isn’t what you’d expect. Could it be creative quality ? According to a new study by Emodo, a subsidiary of Ericsson that runs a programmatic exchange, traditional KPIs like viewability and clicks aren’t as useful in identifying whether an ad is making an impact on […]
Unlocking the Potential of Social Media Advertising
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok weren’t built for traditional click-to-buy conversions – at launch, both were “unclickable” channels. That’s been a challenge for many of our clients and partners. How do you prove the true value of your social media advertising campaigns – and with it, secure the resources and funding needed to keep growing […]
New Partnership Focuses on Driving Incremental Reach
When it comes to CTV, streaming, and linear, viewers tend to think, “It’s all TV to me.” For advertisers, agencies, and publishers, however, there are tremendous differences and challenges in all three because they are concerned with engagement, platform, viewing frequency, demographics, data, ad targeting, and incremental reach. The Holy Grail lies in accurate and […]
BOOM: “Bruschetta and Bocce Near Me?” Eatertainment is Surging
Can you possibly eat cornbread without a rousing game of cornhole? Or what’s a game of mini-golf without a Moscow Mule? Combine a dining experience with one or many games — physical or digital — and that defines “eatertainment,” a category that’s been growing steadily over the past decade (but paused during the pandemic). But […]
Flashtalking Social Ads Manager Includes Social Media Activation
Omnichannel advertising platform Mediaocean has deepened its relationship with Google, striking a unique deal as it relates to the former’s Flashtalking Social Ads Manager (in the past known as Scope by 4C). For the first time, brand marketers who access the Flashtalking Social Ads Manager, an independent tech platform, will be able to activate against […]
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