News and Analysis
How Amazon’s Whole Foods Buy Could Transform the Retail Ecosystem
Amazon’s recent $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market could signal a new era of experimentation and pushing boundaries in retail as the company continues to redefine content and commerce in the grocery space and elsewhere, according to Gwen Morrison, co-CEO of The Store, WPP’s global retail practice.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Video Marketing Woes, Google Stops Reading Email for Ad Targeting
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Video Ads Are All the Rage, But Viewability Rates Are as Low as 20%, Agencies Say… Google Plans to Stop Scanning Users’ Emails for Ad Targeting… Snapchat’s Newest Feature Is Also Its Biggest Privacy Threat…
Openings and New Hires at Placed, Main Street Hub and Apptus
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Search Influence, SalesFuel and Buzzboard.
Latest Posts
BIA/Kelsey: Local Advertising Revs to Hit $151.3B By 2016
The report forecasts total U.S. local advertising revenues at $151.3 billion in 2016, up from $132.8 billion in 2011 — an increase of nearly 14 percent. Its 2011 projection has been revised slightly downward from the firms October peg of the market at $135.9 billion…
5 Online Marketing Strategies Every Restaurateur Should Know About
Creating an effective online marketing campaign isn’t always a simple task — especially for restaurant owners that are used to focusing the majority of their time and energy on what’s happening in the kitchen. In recent years, a number of hyperlocal platforms have stepped in to make it easier for independent restaurateurs to develop websites, manage social media, and cultivate better relationships with their customers online…
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Scheduler, $2.5M Funding for CityMaps
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
CityMaps Nabs $2.5M To Render Your City Social, One Block At A Time (TechCrunch)…
Groupon Scheduler Rolls Out in Beta as Part of Larger Tech Ambitions (AllThingsD)…
How Community News is Faring (Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism)…
2011 Local Commerce M&A Saw Most Activity in Daily Deals
2011 was an intensely active year for the local marketing and commerce M&A market, with 186 transactions logged — up 40% from 2010. Many major companies that have local components to their business (led by Groupon, Google, LivingSocial and eBay) are making important strategic moves in the space to solidify their products…
Hyperlocals and Fair Use: When Content Aggregation Becomes a Liability
Wholesale copying of other content without permission will lead to trouble for hyperlocals. Using short excerpts, as part of a news or commentary with proper attribution and a direct link to the original site, may be protected from infringement claims under the fair use doctrine…
Street Fight Daily: Glassmap and Privacy, Judging Highlight
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
Why Highlight Wasn’t A Breakout Success At SXSW (TechCrunch)…
Glassmap’s Founders Get Clear About Online Privacy (GigaOm)…
Retailers Strike Back in Mobile Wars With … People (Ad Age)…
Placed Snags $3.4M in Funding To Bring Location Analytics to Developers
The location analytics startup emerged from a 13-month stealth period yesterday, announcing Series A funding as well the release of a new product for mobile app developers. Placed for Developers is a free SDK that enables developers of location-aware apps to analyze the real-world context in which their products are being used…
Topix Launches New Site, Politix, to Capitalize on Election Interest
The network of hyperlocal aggregation sites is set to launch a new politically focused editorial/interactive product that will leverage its base of 10 million users nationwide to solicit reactions to curated news items, topical questions, and sentiment polls.






































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