Business and Marketing News
Facebook’s reach out to banks and credit card companies for customer bank balance, transaction data and fraud alerts, per today’s Wall Street Journal, signals a second, more cautious run at “transaction marketing.” The WSJ article details an effort by Facebook to support Messenger via customer data, making it feel safer to use the messaging service to … Read more
Geosign, a privately-owned publisher of dozens of local and vertical services, including TrueLocal, has teamed with Go2 to get a foot in the door of the nascent mobile directory marketplace. Go2, founded in 1999, was a pioneer in mobile directories, employing over 100 people and forming relationships with key directory players. But it crashed and burned in the … Read more
The ILM:09 conference Dec. 9-11 in LA is now just around the corner. We’ve handpicked 60 cutting-edge speakers, and we think we are onto something that is really important. I can tell you that signups have been great, too. Recent adds to the speaker roster include Twitter’s Anamitra Banerji and AT&T Interactive’s Greg Issacs, who will be joining Facebook’s Tim Kendall … Read more
Matchbin, a venture-backed firm based in Bountiful, Utah, is banking on aggregating rural and exurban audiences by providing community media companies with a full slate of advertising and social tools, rather than just providing one dimensional local search. The six-year-old, 40 person company, settled on its current strategy during a relaunch in January 2008, and … Read more
The next big vertical is…parking? Parking Data Ventures has been created to tackle all things parking. The five person, Baltimore-based service has created a database of 10,000 parking locations. It has partnered with six of the largest parking lot companies in the U.S. and Canada, and has info for 15+ other leading parking companies. It competes with Urban … Read more
Here’s some irony: by going national, AmericanTowns has become more local. The company, founded in 1999 by ex Time Warner exec Mike Kelly (who later went back in and became President of AOL Media Networks) was one of the original hyperlocal sites. Kelly’s idea was to build out a template, serve affluent suburban communities, and have local … Read more
Scoutmob, the Atlanta-based, mobile deals provider, has been taking a fresh approach to the deals space since its launch. It has focused entirely on mobile to leverage geo-location; changed the business model from commissions on deal value to flat fee; and hired dedicated sales and editorial people in each of its 13 markets instead of … Read more
Gift cards have been growing astronomically and now make up an industry nearing $100 billion in revenues. You’ll see racks of cards for national brands and retailers everywhere, from Safeway to Bed, Bath & Beyond. But can local merchants get in the loop? We’ve seen gift card activity increase in travel, spa & salon and … Read more
Twitter has made a bold move to go beyond advertising by adding performance marketing to its portfolio via the purchase of CardSpring, the San Francisco-based startup. The acquisition price has not been announced. CardSpring had raised $10 Million since its launch in 2011. One of the big tech challenges in the payments space has been to remake … Read more
The idea of an online marketplace has continued to evolve dramatically in 2011. With the emergence of deals, we now have full-fledged Interactive Local Commerce in place, in addition to advertising. It seems that everyone has jumped into the pool. Where Marketplaces had previously been dominated by players such as AutoTrader, eBay and OpenTable, everyone … Read more