News and Analysis
The MULO Dozen: November in Review
As November and 2024 draws to a close, news from MULO (multi-location) brands has hardly slowed down! In fact, this season is a make-or-break for retailers, restaurants, C-stores, and service businesses as consumers travel near and far to eat, shop, and squeeze in those errands before the year ends. Of course, the biggest news of […]
Tinuiti’s CMO Tips for 2025
As if Google doesn’t have enough headaches, between the DOJ trial and calls for it to be broken up, now it has to contend with ChatGPT and Perplexity, which could destroy its search business. Those blue links of highlighted text curated on a Google search are becoming an endangered species, according Tinuiti’s Big Bets for […]
Toilets, Termites, and Terraces: A $1.2 Trillion Opportunity
When we think of franchise businesses and other MULO (multi-location) operations, we tend to think of retail, restaurant, convenience stores, and service businesses like walk-in clinics and tax prep services. But a huge category exists called home services. Although many of these operations do not require brick-and-mortar locations (beyond a co-working space or small office […]
Commentary
How Post-Pandemic Shopping Habits Affect Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Consumers aren’t holding off on gift purchases until the day after Thanksgiving. Retailers who’ve always counted on Black Friday in particular and the Cyber Five (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday) in general to push them into profitability for the year need to develop new strategies based on data.
Why Omnichannel Advertising Is Essential in the Current Economy
Faced with economic uncertainties from inflation and recession to war and prolonged supply-chain disruption, marketers more than ever need to lean into omnichannel advertising.
Is TikTok Getting into the Fulfillment Business?
It seems TikTok wants to beef up its e-commerce operations in TikTok Shop. Getting into the fulfillment business could help the company drive commerce.
Latest Posts
Simon Says “Your Product is In-Stock!” The Rise of Product Search Today and How Brands Should Respond
Simon Property Group recently expanded its Simon Search technology, enabling mall-goers to determine if the brands they want are in-store, before they head out to shop and spend. Product search before visiting a multi-location (or other) business is nothing new. Google reports that 74 percent of brick-and-mortar shoppers will do some online sleuthing before they […]
How Audio Advertising Became a Blindspot for U.S. Brands
With the state of the U.S. economy still unclear, more advertisers are tightening their belts and re-evaluating their media mix. In a recent study by WARC, 96% of retail and CPG marketers said they’re evolving their advertising approach and tapping into digital audio advertising as a way to ensure a smooth path-to-purchase. According to Paul […]
Getting Your Local, Foreign ‘Phrase’ Just Right
Phrase is a global leader in enterprise localization software. The Phrase Localization Suite powers the entire localization ecosystem for global businesses, connecting, automating and managing high-quality localized content at speed and scale. The Phrase software can handle more than 500 languages, supporting 50+ file types and processing 2B+ words monthly. It has 200K global users. […]
BOOM: We All Scream for Ice Cream (and retailers reply)
The summer is upon us, and many people are seeking ways to cool down. Although the old-fashioned neighborhood ice cream truck is a rarity, multi-location (MULO) ice cream and frozen dessert retailers show no sign of melting. Although the category has declined slightly from time to time, it still represents $5.5B in revenue in the […]
Ad-Media Companies Show Increased Interest in Data Privacy
Move over, Metaverse. Take a nap, AI. Businesses in the ad-media marketing industry are taking an increasing interest in data privacy, according to the Bombora Upswell Report, which delves into the latest trends and developments across eight industries. According to the report, the interest in data privacy rose 70 percent among companies in the ad-media […]
Why Are Multi-Location Brands Ghosting Their Customers?
You may have heard of ghosting in the dating or job application world. It’s when someone communicates with you and then vanishes suddenly and without a trace. Your messages go unanswered. Here today…ghost tomorrow! Multi-location brands (MULO) are ghosting their customers and prospects. A recent study by SOCI, “The High Cost of Invisibility for Multi-Location […]
On GDPR’s 5th Anniversary, Fragmentation Remains Biggest Privacy Challenge
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Although the privacy landscape is quite different in 2023 than it was five years ago, when the European Union’s GDPR went into effect in May of 2018, the adtech industry in the U.S. remains in a state of flux, struggling to deal with fragmentation caused […]
5 Franchise Tips to Ease Friction
Franchise businesses account for a whopping 10.5% of all companies with paid employees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, they account for $1.3 trillion in sales across various industries. Franchising enables brands to grow and quickly open multiple locations. People who buy into franchises have the ability to fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams without shouldering the […]
Acoustic Gets to the ‘Why’ of the Customer Journey
Acoustic is a global SaaS subscription company that provides customer-engagement tools for B2C brands. It has worked with brands including Pura, PayPal, Scientific American, and Ticketmaster. In 2022, Acoustic helped clients manage over 120 billion personalized interactions by focusing on the customer journey. John Riewerts, SVP of Engineering at Acoustic, explains the company’s newest offering […]
Emodo COO: AI Is Where We’re Continuing to Focus
As the mobile adtech division of the telecom giant Ericsson, Emodo is placing a major emphasis on AI-driven performance and personalization in programmatic advertising this year. The company is also doubling down on innovations around optimization, especially as it relates to targeting, innovative formats, and unique inventory. At the head of all these initiatives is […]
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