We’ve long known that coupons provide real traction for SMB advertising. Nothing beats a customer walking through the door with a coupon in hand. But a lot of SMB website publishers haven’t really focused on them. DataSphere, on the other…
As deals verticalize, we’re intrigued by opportunities for B2B plays. MarketSharing is offering deals tailored for SMBs (office cleaning discounts, office copier repair, etc.). Now, Cardinal Health, a Fortune 20 company, has launched a pilot with Local Offer Network to…
TargusInfo, a major direct marketing tools provider and the parent company of Localeze, a "Big 3" provider of business listings, will be acquired by NeuStar for $650 million in cash. The deal enhances NeuStar's positioning as a leader in authentication…
Facebook advertising and integrated marketing concepts seem to be top of mind for 200+ reps of midsize agencies gathered in Scottsdale, Arizona, at BOLO 2011: Be On The Lookout. It is my second year in a row speaking here—certainly, one…
Google, Facebook, American Express, Groupon and others are all working on electronic wallet concepts that can help store and process deals along with other promotions and event tickets. At least one deals vendor, however, is banking that it will take…
We’ve just announced ILM West, our big December show, which takes place in San Francisco Dec. 12-14. Can we beat last year’s record attendance of 675+? We like our chances. The timing couldn’t be better. So much progress has been…
I was never into the black turtlenecks and the cult that grew around him. But if he wasn't inspirational, then nobody is. Pushing the envelope on tech...coming back from being fired....the way he handled his sickness. It isn’t well-remembered, of…
Tippr’s efforts to use patents that it had acquired to help persuade deals companies into forming partnerships appears to be over, at least for now. A federal patent lawsuit it brought in February against 14 companies -- mostly competing white-label…
Groupon announced this week that it will soon launch Groupon Goods, a division that will sell selective clearance items. The announcement, which comes a day after it announced a merchant rewards program, shows the company moving to really leverage its…
At opposite corners of the niche universe, you have Thrillist for men and Comcast-owned Daily Candy for women. Both lifestyle products, founded as email newsletters/shopping guides, have jumped aboard the deals bandwagon, working with Group Commerce Inc. as their tech…
Taking merchant content and syndicating it across a bunch of channels is a key effort for Local Matters, the tech firm now being led by CEO Tom Higley. Speaking at DMS ’11 in Denver, Higley said the company’s new “DigitalSeen"…
A couple of years ago, SMBs merely shoveled their existing offline presence online. But today, they are really developing a unique online experience, noted Facebook’s Rita Fabi, who runs market solutions, global customer marketing and communications and spoke at DMS…
Microsoft isn’t doing anything particularly unusual in search. But the assets it is assembling over the next year or two will pack a mighty punch by leveraging all the fast-moving trends, said Chris Sampson, head of worldwide Bing Local search…
YPG of Canada has greatly boosted traffic and repositioned itself as a center for local applications by opening up its data via an open API (Application Program Interface). YPG Director of Business Development Darby Sieben, speaking at DMS ’11 in…
AT&Ti Deals are now in Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles, and will likely be launching deals offerings in 10 markets by the fourth quarter of 2011, according to AT&Ti VP of Business Development Todd Rose, who was speaking at DMS…
The walled garden approach may be history, as too many consumers are cut off from access. But companies still want to control customer activity, and will now pursue more of an “open garden” approach, suggests Halogen Media’s Peter Horan, a…
We’ve liked the idea of an ad network that makes it easy for place bloggers, local news sites and others to combine their audiences for advertisers wanting to target on a hyperlocal basis. The Sacramento Press has been working on…
One of the questions we have about the deals space is, how social is it really? In early days, with demos leaning toward college-educated women, deals were very social as subscribers referred deals to each other in return for a…
Google’s march into local reached another milestone today with the acquisition of Zagat, a major international provider of high-end restaurant and lifestyle reviews in 100-plus cities. Zagat remains a major player in a reviews space it pioneered in 1979. In…
Sometimes, you reach a point where you think all the newspapers should just combine their audiences and online advertising efforts and be smart, big, technologically savvy and competitive with everyone else. Like the combined effort on Cars.com, for instance. That’s…
