One of the challenges of running conferences is keeping our analyst hats on and covering the world outside the venue walls. We’re still catching up on notable media and tech news items from last week.

But luckily there’s a fair amount of activity happening within the conference walls. This year’s Marketplaces conference hosted great presentations and announcements from the likes of Google, Groupon, Yelp, Loopt as well as emerging topics like game mechanics.

Day 3 of the show saw a solo spot from Center’d CEO Jennifer Dulski. In addition to the company’s yet to launch Dealmap product, Dulski outlined “sentiment analysis.” This looks at the set of criteria by which local decisions are made, and on which local search tools are increasingly built.

Making Deals

Back to Dealmap, the site will be part of the budding trend of local deal sites. The most popular of these is Groupon, but many others are developing new twists on deal search and, to a certain extent, group buying. Similar sites we’ve seen recently include Closely and Keynoir.

The Dealmap proposes to pull in deals from a broader swath of sources than Groupon, which forms individual direct relationships with merchants for daily featured deals. One of the challenges here is finding enough inventory to fulfill demand among both users and merchants.

Groupon argues this scarcity creates value for both. The other side of the argument is that it creates churn. Advertisers, if happy with the results, have to go to the back of the line to wait for their next turn, possibly migrating to a growing list of competitors to get their next fix.

Groupon is looking at ways to create more inventory without devaluing these deals — perhaps by spinning out different categories or verticals where deals occur. The company suggested as much on and off the stage last week.

The More, The Merrier

Meanwhile, the Dealmap will similarly segment offers in different categories, including those that match Center’d’s own categories (i.e., “romantic,” “kid friendly,” etc.). It will do this by scraping a variety of online sources to create a repository of deals — presumably on an affiliate revenue basis.

Dulski argues that the time is right for this type of product, and that data indicate growing demand for local bargain hunting. The market likewise indicates this hunger, which is at least partially a result of cyclical (recessionary) and secular (increasing media transparency) shifts.

Slide credit: Jennifer Dulski/Center’d (click to enlarge)

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BIA/Kelsey’s Marketplaces 2010 conference has just ended after two-and-a-half days of fantastic presentations from 49 speakers; top-level research from our BIA/Kelsey team; and really great evening events from MojoPages and Acxiom/Moon Valley (we’re talking fire eaters and San Diego Bay cruises). Thanks especially to the 375+ attendees who came from 13 countries to San Diego for the event.

It is hard to focus on just a few learnings, but here are my top takeaways — none of which reflects anyone’s opinion other than my own.

1.    “Game mechanics” have proved to be the breakthrough factor for sites such as Groupon and Foursquare. We’ll see game elements added to more and more sites.

2.     Small businesses in some categories will hire marketing services to handle their social media obligations because they wouldn’t do it on their own. Pricing and outreach will be key here.

3.    Distributed networks are a better model for scaling local content and sales than destination sites in many cases. City Grid from Citysearch is well poised to leverage this.

4.    Google is not conspiring to wipe out local publishers and services by highlighting its own profile pages and seven packs. But in Google’s bid to provide super efficient links and more local sales, there is a creeping steerage to its own results. Maybe it needs to establish a publisher’s bill of rights.

5.    Location-based services will become more pervasive and go beyond “fun only” status as sites such as Taxi Magic figure out how to use them for things such as estimating cab fares.

6.    Content creation services will successfully deploy huge armies of local/vertical contributors. But these will be largely motivated by self-promotion, rather than pay-by-usage (although everyone likes to be paid). That will be Christmas money. The creation services themselves have enormous potential to populate every kind of site. Content is royalty, if not king.

7.    Home and trade services are now moving to the Web in a major way. ServiceMagic has a major head start, but social features might move the viral needle and give a chunk of the market to new sites such as AlikeList and Redbeacon.

8.    AOL may be able to break through in hyperlocal with Patch.com by virtue of a mega budget ($50 million) and scope (hundreds of communities). But it is going to need to maximize search optimization, links from AOL verticals and form top level partnerships with media companies and others.

9.    Whole segments of classifieds have gone “free” via Craigslist. But a surfeit of new listings and premium opportunities still await those that successfully target via vertical and add relevant, enhanced features.

The post Top Takeaways From Marketplaces 2010 appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In less than three weeks, we’ll be holding the third (and best) edition of Marketplaces, the only event dedicated to the great opportunities caused by rapid verticalization of local media and services.

Marketplaces 2010 takes places March 22-24 in my hometown of San Diego, which we call “America’s Finest City.” The speakers say they are ready to go, our research team is developing some cutting-edge analysis, and the networking ought to be terrific.

Here’s the near-final lineup (in alpha)

Keynotes:
Jon Brod, EVP, AOL
Jay Herratti, CEO, Citysearch
Andrew Mason, CEO, Groupon
Sam Sebastian, Director, Local & B2B Markets, Google
Craig Smith, CEO, ServiceMagic

Featured Speakers:
Rich Abronson, VP, Gumiyo
Sam Altman, CEO and Cofounder, Loopt
Ethan Anderson, CEO, Redbeacon
Alec Andronikov, CEO, MoVoxx
Jeff Beard, CEO, Localeze
Luke Beatty, President, Associated Content
Rick Blair, CEO, Examiner.com
Reed Brown, CEO, Matchbin
Jim Delli Santi, CEO, Alikelist
Craig Donato, CEO, Oodle
Todd Dubner, SVP, NCI
Jennifer Dulski, CEO, Center’d
Sean Fox, COO, Reply.com
Jordan Glazier, CEO, Eventful
Krista Glotzbach, VP, Marketing, Vast.com
Craig Hagopian, President, V-Enable
Martin Herbst, GM, Kijiji U.S., eBay
Ryan Hoppe, Product Manager, ATG Optimizations
Greg Isaacs, Executive Director, AT&T Interactive
Scott Jampol, Senior Director, Marketing, OpenTable
Jaan Janes, CEO, Pulse360
Ken Kalb, CEO, Analog Analytics
Joelle Kaufman, SVP, Adify
Warren Kay, VP, Fox Audience Network
David Kidder, CEO, Clickable
Bill Lange, CEO, FullSlate
Steve Larsen, CEO, CallSpark
Tony Lee, Chief Alliance Officer, Adicio
Alex Muse, Cofounder, Big in Japan (ShopSavvy)
Colin Pape, CEO, ShopCity
Brad Petersen, VP, Matchcraft
Ben Saren, CEO, CitySquares
Jared Simon, VP, TurnHere
Eric Singley, Mobile Product Manager, Yelp
Julie Smith, Group Product Manager, SuperMedia
Andy Steuer, CEO, MerchEngines
Mat Stover, CEO, Local Matters
David Sturtz, CEO, RepairPal
David Vazdauskas, President, Local Thunder
Darren Waddell, VP, MerchantCircle

Beat the “at the door” price. Register here. Unsure what to expect? Check out the webinar we did last week.

The post Marketplaces 2010: 3 Weeks to Go! appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Marketplaces 2010 takes place just seven weeks from now in San Diego (March 22-24). We are putting the finishing touches on the program, and have added MANY exciting new speakers in just the past few weeks.

The event is totally dedicated to the higher value/conversion/engagement ethos of vertical media. For sure, this isn’t one size fits all of newspapers and Yellow Pages anymore (but then again, these traditional media are rapidly verticalizing too).

Featured sessions include five big keynotes; Mike Boland’s Mobile Vertical SuperForum; and a preconference session on the Tools of Marketplaces, including experts on search, video, enhanced calls, online scheduling, promotion and classifieds.

We also have cutting-edge panels on new directories and city guides; small-business marketplaces; vertical ad networks; vertical search; content aggregators (a great session with Examiner.com CEO Rick Blair); and local retailers and marketplaces. To top it all off, there is a special “making money” session with Classifieds Master Tony Lee, chief alliance officer of Adicio.

Basically, everyone is on board. Our five big keynotes will come from:

• Jon Brod, Executive VP, AOL Ventures
• Jay Herratti, CEO, Citysearch
• Andrew Mason, Founder and CEO, Groupon
• Sam Sebastian, Director, Local & B2B Markets, Google
• Craig Smith, CEO, ServiceMagic

Mike Boland’s Mobile Vertical SuperForum has eight great speakers:

• Sam Altman, Cofounder and CEO, Loopt
• Alec Andronikov, CEO, MoVoxx
• Craig Hagopian, President, V-Enable
• Scott Jampol, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing, OpenTable
• Steve Larsen, CEO, CallSpark
• Alexander Muse, Cofounder, Big in Japan (ShopSavvy)
• Eric Singley, Mobile Product Manager, Yelp
• David Sturtz, Cofounder and CEO, RepairPal

Other featured speakers include:

• Ethan Anderson, Cofounder, Redbeacon
• Jeff Beard, President and GM, Localeze
• Rick Blair, CEO, Examiner.com
• Reed Brown, President and CEO, Matchbin
• Jim Delli Santi, Cofounder and CEO, AlikeList
• Craig Donato, CEO, Oodle
• Todd Dubner, Senior VP, Development, NCI
• Jennifer Dulski, CEO, Center’d
• Sean Fox, COO, Reply.com
• Jordan Glazier, CEO, Eventful
• Krista Glotzbach, VP, Marketing, Vast.com
• Martin Herbst, GM, Kijiji U.S., eBay
• Greg Isaacs, Executive Director and GM, AT&T Interactive
• Jaan Janes, CEO, Pulse 360
• Joelle Kaufman, Senior VP, Marketing, Adify
• Warren Kay, VP, Fox Audience Network
• David Kidder, Cofounder and CEO, Clickable
• Tony Lee, Chief Alliance Officer, Adicio
• Colin Pape, CEO, ShopCity.com
• Ben Saren, Cofounder and CEO, CitySquares
• Julie Smith, Group Product Manager, SuperMedia
• Mat Stover, CEO, Local Matters
• David Vazdauskas, President, Local Thunder

Do you think it will be a great conference? Do you think you can do major business? Please get more info here or sign up to register here. Rates are better in advance than at the door.

The post All-Star Lineup at Marketplaces 2010, March 22-24, San Diego appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Three years ago, BIA/Kelsey created the Marketplaces research program and conference because we saw that local advertising was quickly “verticalizing.” Indeed, money and talent have poured in for the new breed of vertical products that would take their place among existing vertical success stories, such as AutoTrader, Cars.com, Realtor.com and ServiceMagic.

The Marketplaces 2010 conference reveals just how fast the industry has evolved. This year’s event, now under construction, is set to highlight all the major trends in Marketplaces, including:

• AOL’s $50 million investment in Patch.com, and ongoing transformation of its Mediaglow vertical properties (and Mapquest)
• eBay’s renewed efforts to build up classifieds as entry-level e-commerce via Kijiji, eBay Motors and other services
• Examiner.com’s  big bet on local/vertical content, and its network of 26,000 “examiners.”
• Groupon’s “smart mob” theory of local commerce, backed by a $32 million investment, that allows hundreds to make a volume purchase of local services and products.
• Redbeacon, AlikeList and others’ efforts to remake ServiceMagic-like home and trade leads with social media
• Adify and Pulse360’s  bid to verticalize ad networks for local merchants and national brands
• OpenTable’s big bet on mobile to let diners make reservations wherever they are.

The two-day conference takes full advantage of its location in sunny San Diego. It includes rich research presentations, top-flight demos of the latest services, and a preconference showcasing all the best tools of Marketplaces 2010. Come to San Diego March 22-24 to learn, enjoy the unbeatable networking and participate. You can register at early-bird rates here.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS (in Alpha)

• Ethan Anderson, CEO, Redbeacon
• Jeff Beard, CEO, Localeze
• Rick Blair, CEO, Examiner.com
• Jon Brod, EVP, AOL*
• Craig Donato, CEO, Oodle
• Jim Delli Santi, CEO, AlikeList
• Todd Dubner, SVP, NCI
• Russ Fradin, CEO, Adify
• Krista Glotzbach, VP, Vast.com
• Mark Goldstein, Chairman, Loyalty Labs
• Martin Herbst, GM, Kijiji U.S., eBay
• Scott Jampol, Senior Director, Marketing, OpenTable
• Jaan Janes, CEO, Pulse 360
• David Kidder, CEO, Clickable
• Steve Larsen, CEO, CallSpark
• Andrew Mason, CEO, GroupOn*
• Colin Pape, CEO, ShopCity
• Ben Saren, CEO, CitySquares
• Craig Smith, President, ServiceMagic
• Mat Stover, CEO, Local Matters
• David Vazdauskas, President, Local Thunder

*keynote

The post NEW: The Hot Lineup for Marketplaces 2010 (March 22-24, San Diego) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.