News and Analysis
Street Fight LIVE Insights: Are you Experienced?
For those OGs and rock fans, the title of this post pays homage to Jimi Hendrix. (It was the name of his award-winning album back in 1967!). And, like a great Hendrix guitar solo, the notion of experiences is timeless. That concept was reinforced at our opening session at Street Fight LIVE, led by Nick […]
Holidays 2024 Installment 4: Megan Hastings Predicts the Spending Future
Megan Hastings is Head of Customer Insight Strategy at Quantum Metric. The company specializes in analyzing the customer journey. And, as we know, that journey includes lots of retail visits for holiday gifting this time of year! And, according to Hastings, lots of visits to that mobile screen! Here’s the latest in our Holiday Predictions […]
A View From the Stage: 10 Takeaways from StreetFight LIVE
I had the pleasure of chairing the re-boot of StreetFight LIVE, the first gathering of its kind since 2018. StreetFight Live events are back! And, as one of our panels reinforced, people today are looking for inspiring, fun, and memorable experiences that engage them and keep them coming back. More than 30 professionals — across […]
Commentary
Branded Apps Are Connecting with Local Consumers
We’ve solidly entered the era of the branded app as the central platform for successful local loyalty programs. Branded apps, because they encourage and reward repeat business, can be seen as the central hub of a successful localized marketing strategy for many multi-location brands, especially in certain verticals where repeat business is relatively easy to win.
The Future of Multi-Location Marketing is Experiential
With multi-location growth, it’s important to have an experiential marketing plan so you can leverage the foot traffic and business opportunities that come with operating multiple locations.
How Marketers Can Manage WFH Employees Safely and Effectively
Good leaders understand what signs point to suspicious behavior and which signs are simply a product of the new work-from-home norm.
Latest Posts
Pop Goes the Pop-Up Shop — For Big Brands and Mom & Pops
The Pop-up shop has long been part of the retail and restaurant landscape. They are temporary locations. Multi-location brands may take their products into small footprints or new configurations and venues and small brands may start with a limited-run concept and then expand it. 5 Pop-Up Models Some are seasonal. For example, Bryant Park in […]
The Home Depot’s Melanie Babcock on the Rise of Retail Media Networks
Melanie Babcock joined The Home Depot in 2013 as Senior Director of Social Media and rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Retail Media+ and Monetization in February of this year. RM+ is the largest home improvement retail media network. StreetFight sat down with the Ann Arbor, Mich., native to get her insights […]
Groceries Have Opportunities to Build Customer Loyalty
Global consumers, feeling cautious in an uncertain economic climate, are going on fewer holidays and eating out less frequently, according to data analysis from Eagle Eye. This SaaS company powers real-time customer loyalty programs and promotions for grocers and retailers in the U.S. and abroad. In a report, “Grocery’s Great Loyalty Opportunity,” the findings suggest […]
Boom & Bust: Learnings from Multi-location Brands
What do Brooks Brothers, White Castle, and 7-Eleven have in common? They are among the multi-location retailers, restaurants, and convenience stores founded 50+ years ago and are still operating today. Restructuring, downsizing, and a move to omnichannel sales are inevitable. When you read about brands that have survived and even thrived over the decades, many […]
Lauren Niehaus Shares 7 Things Retailers Can Learn from the Cannabis Industry
On 4/20, now considered the “national holiday” for cannabis retailers and consumers, I spoke with Lauren Niehaus, Executive Director of Government Relations at Trulieve.Trulieve has the largest retail footprint of cannabis dispensaries today, spanning 185 locations across 10 states — and growing. Growing is an aspect of what Trulieve currently does. Cultivation is part of […]
Experiential Marketing: Connections Over Impressions
Experiential marketing is the future of advertising, not just because it’s fun for participants and makes them feel more connected to the brand – though that’s true in a well-executed campaign. It’s the future because it’s more effective. As Business News Daily notes, when people participate in a brand experience or interaction, 40% say they […]
Stirista Acquires Customer Portfolios, a Strategic Lifecycle Marketing Provider
While many martech firms are retracting in 2023, Stirista is looking at expansion. The data-driven marketing company is acquiring Customer Portfolios, a Boston-based strategic lifecycle marketing provider, in a bid to bolster its customer acquisition marketing solutions with an integrated first-party data platform. “We are thrilled to welcome the talented team at Customer Portfolios to […]



















































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