On the heels of a fresh round of funding, Foursquare just agreed to buy rival Placed from Snap Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Once the deal goes through, Foursquare plans to make Placed Attribution its flagship measurement product, under the “Placed powered by Foursquare” brand.

Per the deal, Placed founder and CEO David Shim is expected to assume the role of president at Foursquare.

Placed, which has been building its attribution offerings since 2011, was acquired by Snap in 2017.

Including stock payouts, Snap reportedly paid upwards of $200 million for the location intelligence and ad-to-store attribution firm. Coinciding with the acquisition is the news that Foursquare just raised $150 million in funding, which was led by The Raine Group.

“The investment will fund our acquisition and also capitalize us for our increased R&D and expansion plans,” stated Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck. By Glueck’s estimation, more than 1,000 brands have already chosen Placed or Foursquare as a location services partner. “This acquisition in the attribution space is part of our vision to offer a complete toolkit of location-aware services,” Glueck added.

Worldwide, Foursquare currently boasts a network of roughly 105 million points of interest (POI), which are specific locations that consumers might potentially find useful or interesting. Domestically, its measured audience extends to approximately 100 million monthly devices.

The old belief in mail order was that you tried to acquire new customers in a strong economy, then worked your customer list during a weak one.

If that still holds true, the economy must be booming. Acquisition is now an investment priority for 81% of all ecommerce companies, according to How Leading Retailers And Direct-to-Consumer Brands Are Investing In Digital, a study by CommerceNext, sponsored by Oracle Customer Experience Cloud.

Retention/loyalty marketing is a priority by only 43%. That, presumably, is where transactional emails would fall.

Further down the list are brand optimization (26%) and mobile optimization (32%). Even lower are seamless omnichannel marketing (21%), unifying data to get a single view of the customer (20%) and personalization (19%).

This means companies are going all out to pull in new customers, without necessarily conducting due diligence on the data front. But the results differ by the type of business.

CommerceNext surveyed 100 executives, and conducted follow-up interviews with three.

Overall, 65% are increasing their marketing budgets this year, and 25% are holding steady. Only 10% are lowering their spend.

Digital-first DTC companies, those that started out as pure ecommerce brands, are more bullish — almost 80% are spending more. And theyare allocating more of their total budgets to marketing than traditional retailers.

Among other things, DTC firms are much less inclined than traditional brands to have aging legacy systems (7% versus 41%).

However, 77% of the traditional players are budgeting more for acquisition, versus 70% of the DTC brands. That may not be a sign of confidence on the part of the former. 

Moreover, 70% of the DTC retailers are spending more on retention, versus 64% of the traditional companies.   

Otherwise, spending patterns seem to be based on results. Of those polled, 24% exceeded their acquisition expectations last year, and 53% met them. Only 23% said they fell below the forecast. 

In contrast, only 13% exceeded their retention expectations, while 38% met them. But 42% were disappointed. 

This may have less to do with the economy than with the challenge of personalization. Indeed, 65% will boost their investments in customer data platforms, and 52% in personalization technology.

In another sign of change, 47% are spending more on alternative payment systems, whereas few are allocating dollars to voice-enabled search or virtual reality. 

Where does transactional email come in? It should not be sidelined in the budget.

Case in point: Hammock Gears pulled a 164% increase in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales last year with a redesigned website and a more “granular approach to abandonment emails,” Retail Touchpoints reports. COO of Hammock Gear Sally Brown said the company took "a softer approach to it, adding that “rather than just going right at them and saying, ‘Hey, we know you stopped by, and we know you looked at this thing — come back and we’ll give you a discount,’ it's generally a courteous, ‘Hey, thanks for stopping by, we appreciate you.’”

Follow-up emails include a 10% discount offer. And newsletter signups get the same discount, although they haven’t yet purchased anything. 

The following was previously published in an earlier edition of Marketing Daily.

A 2018 Maritz study revealed that nearly 70% of consumers identified themselves as “transient” loyalists to brands. This means they can be convinced to buy a competitor’s brand. Only 29% of consumers considered themselves to be “resolute” loyalists who only buy their favorite brands.

Brand Loyalty: Dead or Alive?

These are telling numbers for brands who might have thought brand loyalty was stronger than that. It begs the question: Is brand loyalty dead? Or, if it’s not dead, can it be purchased by the brand that offers the most?

To get more insights, I spoke to several leaders in the space, including Barry Kirk, vice president of Maritz Loyalty, and Eliot Hamlisch, senior vice president, worldwide loyalty & partnerships for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

I also chatted with Jigar Shah, CEO of Miles, a rewards app and platform that's quickly building momentum. Miles allows anyone with a smartphone to earn miles for all their daily travels — redeemable for exclusive rewards with leading brands across categories.

Building a Multi-Loyalty Strategy

Simply having a rewards program and getting members enrolled doesn’t translate to engagement for brands, with 53% of consumers having ditched at least one loyalty program within the last year (all stats in this post come from the Maritz study previously cited).

Kirk believes too many companies are still relying on legacy or “points-based” loyalty program that "simply chase the lowest price vs. having a differentiated strategy.

“You need a multi-loyalty strategy focused on creating the best experiences and connecting with customers in a social and values-based manner,” notes Kirk.

Personalization is also important. “Brands need to think about personalization holistically over the course of the entire customer journey, finding new ways to deepen and strengthen that connection,” says Hamlisch.

Bridging The Gap

Consumers today have a higher fatigue factor for individual loyalty programs or apps. More than half of millennials also actively block ads on mobile.

So brands are having to rethink their loyalty programs and explore new types of partnerships. Miles, which offers rewards from more than 75 major brands, retailers and transportation providers, is a good example.

“To date, loyalty programs and travel rewards have been siloed and often limited to one form of travel – with consumers facing exclusions when it comes to earning and redeeming rewards,” says Miles’ Shah.

With Miles, the more sustainable the mode of transportation you choose, the bigger the reward. Miles is also partnering with several cities (as well as retail brands and merchants) to boost customer loyalty, while promoting greener travel.

Strengthening Loyalty

Hotels, airlines and financial institutions are also improving their loyalty programs and partnerships to create stronger connections with customers.

“Driving differentiation through experience also shows a brand knows what their customer values,” says Hamlisch. “For example, a free hotel night continues to be the number one reward that travelers covet most. Yet, the reality for many travelers is that getting to that free night may feel impossible. With Wyndham rewards, we’re increasing the ways our members can earn points towards their free night.” 

Partnerships with the like of DoorDash and Marathon Gas allow Wyndham rewards program members to rack up their points faster than just getting them for hotel stays.

Tailoring Loyalty Programs to Younger Consumers

“Millennials are 40% more likely than boomers to spend their loyalty points as soon as possible versus saving them,” according to the Maritz study. “Second, when millennials do redeem the points, they are doing so for lower-valued rewards, especially low-denomination gift cards.”

Another trend is that younger customers want to redeem their points for experiences versus things. For example, they show a preference for concert tickets or spa appointments versus merchandise rewards or cash.

Kirk explains, “This is clearly a reflection of the overall experience economic trend where consumers are now spending four times as much on experience-related services versus hard goods. When a unique experience is redeemed through a loyalty program and then shared on Facebook or Instagram, it can provide that consumer with a sense of status and earn attention. You really can’t accomplish this by redeeming a gift card.”

Still Alive, But In Need of Reinvention

Although brand loyalty programs appears to still have a pulse, it takes commitment and differentiation to defy the odds and build long-term brand affinity. 

Ultimately companies need a variety of talents and skill sets to run a successful customer loyalty program – from product and digital marketing teams to analytics and customer service. They also need to be open to new ideas and partnerships that help to deliver differentiation and value, versus a race to the bottom to offer discounts.

Developing markets are said to leapfrog whole generations of technology. For example, China leapfrogged the PC generation and went right to mobile. If Tencent executes on its vision shared at its “upfront” event, they will leapfrog the current generation of marketing platforms.

Along with Baidu and Alibaba, Tencent dominates the digital landscape in China. In addition to being the biggest publisher of video games in China, it owns or has stakes in a vast ecosystem of apps.

With apologies for the crude analogies to U.S. services, the Tencent empire includes:

• WeChat – like Facebook and Whatsapp
• QQ – like Twitter
• Tencent Videos – like YouTube
• WePay – like Apple Pay
• Tencent News – like CNN
• JD.com – like Amazon
• Meituan-Dianping - like Yelp

Tencent claims its audience is growing 40% YoY. No small feat on a base where WeChat alone has over 1 billion MAUs.  

At the “In Tencent” event on May 10 in Shanghai, the company shared plans to go to the next level. After completing a massive reorganization combing all Tencent’s marketing products in one team, they unveiled the Tencent Data Cloud.   

This creates detailed, customizable, user profiles derived from across the Tencent ecosystem. This data cloud sits at the heart of their enhanced tech stack connecting adtech to martech to smart retail.

It is easy to take potshots at US TV network upfront presentations. Suffice to say, Tencent’s subject matter was very different. There were no celebrities or discussions of time-bound programming lineups.

The ex-BCG consultants who run Tencent used a giant video wall as a massive white board.  They spent three hours mapping out in mind-numbing detail how their end-to-end marketing platform works.

In between, they presented case study after case study. They weren’t touting “cool” examples of product integration. They showed real ROI metrics including incrementality and LTV.

The gist of Tencent’s offer is for marketers to simply bring an interesting idea that provides value to users. From there, Tencent will help:

• Build that experience inside their walled garden.
• Tell you who will be interested in your thing and everything about them.
• Source key opinion Leaders (KOLs) who influence your target.
• Deliver targeted ads with zero waste.
• Use dynamic offers in the payment process to drive conversion.
• Incentivize pass along and advocacy.
• Use its messaging platform to drive repeat engagement.
• Connect to retail partners to track true ROI.
• And drop machine learning on top of it all to optimize performance in real time.

They ended by encouraging the audience to stop thinking about merely selling products and focus on monetizing relationships.  

The Tencent marketing platform is driving lighting-fast brand creation and business growth.  All case studies were local Chinese brands — there was not a single global brand.

On the ground floor of Dentsu Aegis Network’s Shanghai office, I noticed a storefront with a line out to the street. A Chinese colleague explained this was a KOL who built a following and was partnering with a Chinese food and beverage company to use her and name on a line of milk tea and baked goods through a chain of dedicated retail storefronts.

Here in the West, the industry’s conversation is about privacy, fake news and breaking up monopolies. Tencent did not mention those topics once! China is a society under constant surveillance, has no expectation of privacy, and a tradition of propaganda that blurs lines between ads and editorial.

It is hard to bet against Tencent executing their plan locally.

Lest I sound like too much of a breathless fan boy, it should be noted that Tencent’s stock recently popped after the company accepted strict censors from the Chinese Government affecting their video game business.

And while returning to our New York office from an upfront presentation, I had to wade through thousands of Falun Gong members marching down 42^nd Street protesting oppression from the Chinese Communist Party.

 Impressive leapfrog aside, one hates to think of how those users would be profiled and “optimized” in China.

Complexities and all, there is a new data-driven marketing power rising in the East.

When emerging travel brand Suiteness decided to create its first ad campaign, it wanted to pick a studio with the right toolbox.

Suiteness allows users to book adjacent hotel rooms, eliminating the need for a vacation home rental, and the responsibilities and pitfalls that often accompany them. For its first ad campaign, the company took a humorous approach to travel that fell in line with its aesthetic.

Onion Labs used an irreverent tone and ability to produce work with high cinematic quality. 

“Upon learning that one of my favorite sources for satire has its own content lab, it was a natural choice for us to produce our first ads with OnionLabs,” Kyle Killion, founder of Suiteness, told Publishers Daily.

“OnionLabs’ signature tone fits well with the relatable, funny campaign we wanted to create. To take it up a notch, we requested the final color quality of the ads be tinged with Suiteness-tone, which plays up the navy and gold tones of our brand marks in a subtle way," he adds.

The campaign features two 30-second spots, one featuring a family crammed into a single hotel room and another featuring friends who have to part to unconnected rooms after a fun night out. For distribution, each of the spots will be cut to 15 seconds.

“Onion Labs produces concepts based in relatable human truths, and in the case of the Suiteness ads, both make light of the difficulties of traveling, whether with kids or a group of friends,” said Mike McAvoy, CEO of The Onion.“The tone of the ads are reflective of the satire for which The Onion is famous.”

Suiteness also benefited from Onion Labs distribution network. 

Onion Labs, part of The Onion Inc., was recently acquired by G/O Media. As a result, Suiteness will see its campaign aired across its collection of media brands, including AV Club and Lifehacker. That's in addition to Onion landing a digital media partnership with NBC Universal, which includes spots on Domain, Hulu, YouTube, OTT, VOD, Mobile, Tablet, Desktop across NBC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, Oxygen and E!.

A paid social campaign will accompany those spots.

Suiteness has already received an overwhelmingly warm response via email and social media, says Killion.

“Almost immediately, we started receiving positive feedback from new fans, repeat Suiteness customers and hotel sales managers alike. Most of the commentary revolved around the relatability of the ads,” he says.

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SmarterHQ, a provider of a personalization platform that can be used for email and other channels, has unveiled two new features: App Data Collect and Mobile Push Messaging, to help brands add mobile to their mix. 

App Data Collect allows B2C marketers to collect and activate the behavior of mobile app users, the company says.

Users can combine the app data with web and online sources to push content across channels and coordinate mobile campaigns with email and the web, the company says.

Michael Osborne, CEO of SmarterHQ, states that brands can use the new features to “send notifications that consumers actually want to receive because we take into account their full cross-channel behavior and history.” 

A recent survey conducted by the firm showed that 74% of consumers are annoyed by push notifications.

“This is primarily due to too many notifications and the fact that marketers aren’t incorporating the right solutions to better understand customers and deliver accurate messages that are aware of their various touchpoints with a brand,” Osborne adds.

Sam’s Club, a SmarterHQ client, began with email and after seeing positive results in that area, extended into mobile push, says Victor Chemtob, director of CRM & customer engagement at Sam’s Club. 

Chemtob adds that the solution allowed the company to "extract actionable customer data and integrate with our push channel partner.”

Earlier this year, SmarterHQ launched Profile Data Collect, a service that it says allows brands to combine CRM, personal, loyalty and behavioral data to drive cross-channel personalization.

Shipments of wearable devices globally reached 50 million units in the first quarter, according to a new forecast by the International Data Corporation (IDC).

This is an increase of 55% from the same quarter last year.

Wrist-worn wearables accounted for the majority (63%) of the market and ear-worn devices accounted for 35%, an increase of 135% from a year earlier.

"The elimination of headphone jacks and the increased usage of smart assistants both inside and outside the home have been driving factors in the growth of ear-worn wearables," states Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Tracker. "This will become an increasingly important category as major platform and device makers use ear-worn devices as an on-ramp to entice consumers into an ecosystem of wearable devices that complement the smartphone but also offer the ability to leave the phone behind when necessary."

Apple remained the market leader with its three product lines of the Apple Watch, AirPods and Beats headphones. The average selling price of the Apple watches increased from $426 to $455.

By market share, Apple leads with 26% followed by Xiaomi (13%), Huawei (10%), Samsung (9%) and Fitbit (6%).