Month: October 2013
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Intuit Acquires Online Scheduler Full Slate
BIA/Kelsey has just learned that business accounting software giant Intuit has acquired the online scheduling company Full Slate. The plan apparently is to connect Full Slate’s capabilities to another recent Intuit acquisition, the digital marketing services player DemandForce. Intuit acquired Demand Force in early 2012 for a whopping $423.5 million. Terms of the Full Slate…
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First Data to Use Perka as ‘Agile’ Product Arm
In a deal designed to fuel innovation at First Data, the payments powerhouse has acquired mobile marketing and loyalty start-up Perka for an undisclosed amount. First Data plans to let Perka continue to operate autonomously and service as an “agile product development company led by original management.” This year, Fast Company magazine anointed Perka as…
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Billion Dollar Opportunities in Hyperlocal
Jason E. Klein, Founder and CEO of On Grid Ventures, led a StreetFight Summit panel of investors exploring where the next billion dollar opportunities in hyperlocal might be. Joining Klein were Matt Turck, Managing Partner, First Mark Capital and Ben Siscovick, with IA Ventures. Klein framed the discussion by calling Google’s June 2013 acquisition of Waze for $966…
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BIA/Kelsey and Ipsos Releasing New Consumer Commerce Monitor survey
According to BIA/Kelsey’s new Consumer Commerce Monitor™ (CCM) survey, 94 percent of the consumers surveyed have gone online for local shopping purposes and 59.5 percent have actually completed a local purchase of merchandise or services online, within the last six months. Brick-and-mortar stores needn’t despair, though, since at the same time, two-thirds of total local purchases (65.9…
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Facebook, eBay, GoDaddy, Lt. Gov Join Leading in Local: ILM (Dec. 10-12 San Francisco)
How can you constantly top yourself? It is a challenge that leaders have, in whatever endeavor they are pursuing: whether it is sports, literature, academia, or business. We are pretty sure this year’s Interactive Local Media event – BIA/Kelsey’s flagship – is going to top any other event we’ve done before. The event’s handpicked keynotes,…
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Watch: Webinar Replay on Call Monetization
Last week we held a webcast on call monetization and analytics sponsored by LogMyCalls. The first half of the webcast featured BIA/Kelsey data and analysis of the market opportunity; the second half drilled down on what LogMyCalls specifically is doing to address the market. There were lots of good takeaways and if you were unable…
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Yellow Media Hires Solocal Vet as New CEO
Canada’s Yellow Media has named Solocal executive Julien Billot as its new president & CEO. Longtime CEO Mark Tellier departed in August and was replaced temporarily by company chairman Robert McLellan. Billot is expected to take the helm at YPG on January 1. Billot joined the French search and directory company Solocal (formerly PagesJaunes) in…
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JD Power Auto Roundtable: Digital Auto Ecosystem Shifts
With the majority of U.S. auto buyers now using online and mobile in their research, the auto sites are clarifying their individual roles in the auto ecosystem – and making adjustments where necessary. This week, a panel of car site leaders at the JD Power Auto Roundtable in Las Vegas – including Cars.com, Edmunds.com, Kelley…
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Leadership Shuffle Ahead at Hibu
Hibu will go through a leadership shake up early next year, an aftermath of the recent takeover of the company by lenders. Today we learned that Hibu Chairman Bob Wigley will leave the board, to be replace by Alfred Mockett, who recently left as CEO of Dex One following that company’s merger with Super Media.…
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Digital East 2013: Traditional Media Continue to Rule
Speaking at Digital Media East 2013 today, I shared five themes we’re seeing in local media and among Small-Medium Businesses (SMBs): 1. Traditional Media rule… and will continue to do so. 2. Content (generation, discovery, distribution) as ever stronger nexus among brands, media, audiences. 3. Omnichannel, transmedia campaigns for greater lift. 4. SMB “Operating System”…
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Closed Loop Mobile Local Shopping: A Conversation With Retailigence
As part of our ongoing video series, see our on-stage interview with Retailigence below. The company continues to innovate at the intersection of “big data” and Mobile/local. It’s building the largest database of sku-level product information out there. This of course comes in handy as mobile shopping and search continue to ramp up. User buying…
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BIA/Kelsey Briefing: HubSpot Points to a New Way of Selling
BIA/Kelsey has just published a Briefing that examines HubsSpot Sales SVP Mark Roberge’s presentation at last month’s Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing even in Austin, TX. By all accounts, the 15-minute presentation was a clinic in how a local/SMB sales force needs to operate in today’s environment. The session went into detail on how…
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Money2020: Google Talks About Why It is in Payments
Google’s Payments division is seeking synergies across many of Google’s business units – hence the recent insertion of several AdWords executives into the Payments leadership. Speaking at Money2020 in Las Vegas, Google Payment VP Ariel Bardin bluntly acknowledged that people don’t think Google has a real role in the payments world, and didn’t mind…
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Money2020 Survey: Attendees Weigh in on Future of Payments
While industry hype would suggest that payments will be largely coming from the phone within a few years, a majority of Money 2020 attendees, in a survey, said it won’t be happening until 2020 or later. The four question survey also revealed that attendees believe the biggest drivers of a new payments environment are 1)…
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BIA/Kelsey Briefing: Is Software the Answer to Local’s Challenges?
One of the underlying themes at BIA/Kelsey’s recent SMB Digital Marketing conference was extending beyond marketing services for SMBs. This includes operational tools that address their pain points and “lock-in” deeper (read: higher retention) relationships. This is something we’ve covered several times on this blog over the past six months, and it continues to ramp up…
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Money 2020: The CardLinx Association Debuts
Card linked offers are increasingly being used by merchants and consumers alike. Indeed, a group of early adopters have already started using card linked offers on a weekly or monthly basis, with usage expected to be constant and universal within just a few years. But a lack of standards is holding them back from the…
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Marchex and Mapping the Call Monetization Genome
Marchex announced two new products today, meant to further clarify attribution for successful call-based ad campaigns. Known respectively as Call DNA and Dynamic Tracking, they both work towards clearer advertising ROI, and iterative campaign optimization. This basically comes down to insights on which calls convert to sales. The goal here is to lower customer acquisition…
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TedX: The Rise of Local TedX Events
One of the most amazing cyber-stories is the redevelopment of the elite TED – Technology, Entertainment and Design -conferences into a multi channel, multi city and multi country branded phenomenon. Since 2009, there have been 7,552 TED events in 151 different countries. As Ann Wycoff writes in San Diego Magazine, Tedx San Diego is one…