Local Matters

12 Interesting "Local" and "Geo-Location" Conferences in 2011

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ 2 Comments

I was asked by a Quora user to list “What are the best digital events focusing on ‘localisation’ this year?”. I answered on Quora.com but thought it would be a good idea to share with my blog readers as well.

Here is my top-of-mind list of interesting conferences/events with strong “local” and “geolocation” angles in 2011:

  1. Conversational Commerce Conference (Opus Research), February 2011
  2. Local Online Advertising Conference (Borrell Associates), March 2011
  3. Interactive Local Media East (BIA/Kelsey), March 2011
  4. Newspapers Association of America conference (MediaXchange), March 2011
  5. Yellow Pages Association Conference, April 2011
  6. Where 2.0 Conference (O’Reilly), April 2011
  7. European Association of Directory Publishers Conference, May 2011
  8. European Association of Directory Publishers Congress, September 2011
  9. Directional Media Strategies (BIA/Kelsey), September 2011
  10. Asian Directories Publishers Association Conference, November 2011
  11. Local Social Summit, November 2011
  12. Interactive Local Media West (BIA/Kelsey), December 2011

Check out GeoLoco (http://geoloco.tv/) as well. They haven’t announced anything yet for 2011 but they probably will.

I’m sure I forgot a few. Please let me know in the comments and I’ll add them to the list.

Update:

Other related conferences:

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BIA/Kelsey: More Than Half of All Ad Spending Is ‘Local"

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ 2 Comments

[praized subtype=”small” pid=”66afa9c1b5e4cd2f613f200ec61d955d” type=”badge” dynamic=”true”] just released their forecast for US Local advertising revenues for the 2009-2014 period.

Highlights:

  • U.S. local advertising market will grow to $144.9 billion in 2014 (CAGR: +2.2%)
  • Spending on traditional media will decline from $115 billion in 2009 to $108.2 billion in 2014 (CAGR: -1.2%)
  • Spending on online/interactive media is projected to grow from $15.2 billion to $36.7 billion (CAGR: +19.3%)
  • Meaningful recovery beginning in 2012
  • 55 percent of all ad spending is with local media

BIA/Kelsey is also preparing their next conference MarketPlaces 2010. Happening at the [praized subtype=”small” pid=”a998a4e65a611a1cd4e2711025422ec1″ type=”badge” dynamic=”true”] from March 22 to March 24, the theme of the conference is “local verticals”.

Presentations I’m most looking forward to:

  • Opening Keynote Address: Jon Brod, Executive VP, AOL Ventures
  • Google @ Marketplaces 2010 Sam Sebastian, Director, Local & B2B Markets, Google
  • The New Content Aggregators: Rick Blair, CEO, Examiner.com
  • Keynote Address: Andrew Mason, CEO, Groupon
  • The New Directory/Marketplace Plays with SuperMedia, AT&T Interactive, Local Matters and Merchant Circle
  • BIA Kelsey: 10 Takeaways from Marketplaces 2010

I will be attending the conference. If you’d like to meet, ping me at sprovencher AT praizedmedia.com.

Local Search is the “Last Mile” of Web Search

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ Leave a comment

I was inspired this morning by a “tweet” from Simon Baptist, a product manager at [praized subtype=”small” pid=”1f65a14804f64b04e4179c640c5de86b1d” type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], who was “pondering the business value for Publishers to deploy a local search strategy”. It’s also something I spend a lot of time thinking these days within the context of this blog and as co-founder of Praized Media.

I now sincerely believe local search will permeate everything we do on the Web, in the same way we live our life “locally” as well (that famous statement that most of us buy products & services from a fifty miles radius around our home and workplace). Browsers (powered by Mozilla’s Geode, Google’s Gears Geolocation API or [praized subtype=”small” pid=”1a373df80cc2da9bb3d31743fd8be5e719″ type=”badge” dynamic=”true”]’ Loki) will all be location-aware, smart mobile devices (like the iPhone or the Blackberry Bold) will make our local lives much easier. And all this local commerce will have an important social component, with the ability to “ping” your extended social graph for advice and feedback.

Local search will be the online equivalent of product placements in the movies. The way you easily monetize content in a relevant, contextual and subtle local way, by allowing your readers to find the place where they can buy a product or service they’ve read (heard, seen) about in an online magazine, newspaper, TV/video site, blog, social network, etc.).

Local search is the “Last Mile” of Web search and enabling companies like [praized subtype=”small” pid=”e0ed1f26245cb054822081ab116d8471″ type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], [praized subtype=”small” pid=”c0208bbf51b03f3b31eb8972697cce1e” type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], FAST, [praized subtype=”small” pid=”1a4d80ac5edf63f4545420c318a607f315″ type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], Localeze, Navteq and Praized Media (amongst others) are building the “pipes” to connect the online world to real world commerce.

Local Search is the "Last Mile" of Web Search

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ Leave a comment

I was inspired this morning by a “tweet” from Simon Baptist, a product manager at [praized subtype=”small” pid=”1f65a14804f64b04e4179c640c5de86b1d” type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], who was “pondering the business value for Publishers to deploy a local search strategy”. It’s also something I spend a lot of time thinking these days within the context of this blog and as co-founder of Praized Media.

I now sincerely believe local search will permeate everything we do on the Web, in the same way we live our life “locally” as well (that famous statement that most of us buy products & services from a fifty miles radius around our home and workplace). Browsers (powered by Mozilla’s Geode, Google’s Gears Geolocation API or [praized subtype=”small” pid=”1a373df80cc2da9bb3d31743fd8be5e719″ type=”badge” dynamic=”true”]’ Loki) will all be location-aware, smart mobile devices (like the iPhone or the Blackberry Bold) will make our local lives much easier. And all this local commerce will have an important social component, with the ability to “ping” your extended social graph for advice and feedback.

Local search will be the online equivalent of product placements in the movies. The way you easily monetize content in a relevant, contextual and subtle local way, by allowing your readers to find the place where they can buy a product or service they’ve read (heard, seen) about in an online magazine, newspaper, TV/video site, blog, social network, etc.).

Local search is the “Last Mile” of Web search and enabling companies like [praized subtype=”small” pid=”e0ed1f26245cb054822081ab116d8471″ type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], [praized subtype=”small” pid=”c0208bbf51b03f3b31eb8972697cce1e” type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], FAST, [praized subtype=”small” pid=”1a4d80ac5edf63f4545420c318a607f315″ type=”badge” dynamic=”true”], Localeze, Navteq and Praized Media (amongst others) are building the “pipes” to connect the online world to real world commerce.

Mainstream Mobile Data Usage Means More Local Search

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ Leave a comment

MediaPost’s OnlineMediaDaily reports on a speech given by Team Detroit SVP Cary Tilds at CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas:

Mobile is mainstream–no longer emerging–which means advertisers and marketers need to be always on to reach consumers, according to Tilds, an executive from an agency created about a year ago combining JWT, Y&R Wunderman, Ogilvy and GroupM. “The more mobile data people use, the more they search, and I think it will continue to increase this way,” she said. “People are using mobile for impulse local searches, impulses, and restaurant and entertainment. Today, hotels make up about two thirds of the pay-per-call ads served.”

What do consumers search for on mobile phones? People look for local listings first–which gives smaller businesses an opportunity to reach a wider audience, followed by news and information, and mobile content. Tilds told conference attendees it’s not just about sending and receiving text, but rather about finding things online to consume.

What it means: mobile and local search, approaching a turning point. Will become strategic before the end of the year for anyone playing in the local search space. The merger of Local Matters and mobilePeople makes complete sense in that context.

Canoe411, Quebecor’s New Canadian Online Directory Site, Soft-Launches

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ 6 Comments

It looks like Canoe411, the new online directory from MediaPages (Quebecor Media’s directory company) has soft-launched. Powered by Local Matters’ Destination Search Platform, it includes data from InfoCanada.

Canoe411 home page

MediaPages has announced that, in 2008, they will “begin publishing urban directories, co-branded with Vidéotron (Quebecor Media’s cableco), in the Greater Montreal and Greater Quebec City areas. These directories complete an array of regional directories currently published by MediaPages in communities across Canada, co-branded with local and community newspapers owned by Sun Media and Quebecor Media.” You can see an example of their print book here.

Canoe.ca, Quebecor’s portal, has yet to replace 411.ca with the new site.

Update (02/11/2008): it looks like the site is gone.

Update2 (05/27/2008): Canoe 411 (Canoe411.ca) Now Part of the Canoe Network

News Grab Bag: ContactAtOnce!, Bret Taylor and Jim Norris, DexKnows.com, New Headings in Canada

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ Leave a comment

A selection of some of the praized-worthy news in the last few days:

1) ContactAtOnce!, a provider of presence-aware solutions (click-to-call, IM, etc.) just announced that BargainNews.com, one of their customers, improved the conversion rate of its auto classified website by 77% after adding the ContactAtOnce! service (see screenshot below) to their enhanced advertising packages.

BargainNews Listing Contactatonce

2) Bret Taylor and Jim Norris (both seen below), two of the masterminds behind Google Maps and several other Google products, have joined Benchmark Capital as “Entrepreneurs in Residence.” This gives them paid positions to hang out at Benchmark’s offices on Silicon Valley’s Sand Hill Road and think through starting a business. They have a specific idea in mind, but are secretive about it, telling VentureBeat only that it’s a “consumer Internet” company. I’ve had the chance to work closely with Bret when Google launched their Local site in Canada and it was great fun. I wish them both good luck! (via VentureBeat)

Bret Taylor Jim Norris Google Maps

3) R.H. Donnelley officially launched DexKnows.com, their new local search web site powered by Local Matters (previously known as Dexonline.com). It now includes comparison shopping, a better mapping experience and some personalization tools.

DexKnows.com home page

4) Yellow Pages Group in Canada released their latest heading modifications. It’s always interesting as it gives us a perspective into changes in culture and society. Amongst others, Pilates, Organic Products, Geothermal Energy, Tapas, Brunch, Vegetarian & Vegan Foods are in. Telephone Booths, Shoulder Pads, Chewing Gum and Buttonhole Makers are out.

Praized-Worthy Today: LocalGuides.com, i411 & Publicar, Directories.ch

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ Leave a comment

Lots of things I want to blog about today (the Facebook f8 Platform announcement, Christer Pettersson’s presentation at the EADP conference) but, as I’m just coming back from Barcelona, I have a lot of catching up to do and am still jet-lagged. So, here’s a grab bag of noteworthy news that happened while I was away:

  • Local Matters launched a beta version of LocalGuides.com, their Local-Social play (what I call Local 2.0). Perry Evans had shown me an alpha release a few weeks ago and I was very impressed with the concept and the site. They describe it as “a new approach to creating a “social-local” experience in the Local Search domain”. Perry adds: “The site empowers consumers with the tools to create, annotate, expand and share lists of local businesses
    and places – publishing their own personal local guides.” You can read more on Perry’s blog. I’ll get back to it in a few days once I’ve had the chance to play with it.
  • Publicar announced the re-launch of their local search engine for Latin America at www.PaginasAmarillas.com. The new site powered by i411 provides business and residential information for 14 countries in Latin America.

Praized-Worthy Today: LocalGuides.com, i411 & Publicar, Directories.ch

~ Sebastien Provencher ~ Leave a comment

Lots of things I want to blog about today (the Facebook f8 Platform announcement, Christer Pettersson’s presentation at the EADP conference) but, as I’m just coming back from Barcelona, I have a lot of catching up to do and am still jet-lagged. So, here’s a grab bag of noteworthy news that happened while I was away:

  • Local Matters launched a beta version of LocalGuides.com, their Local-Social play (what I call Local 2.0). Perry Evans had shown me an alpha release a few weeks ago and I was very impressed with the concept and the site. They describe it as “a new approach to creating a “social-local” experience in the Local Search domain”. Perry adds: “The site empowers consumers with the tools to create, annotate, expand and share lists of local businesses
    and places – publishing their own personal local guides.” You can read more on Perry’s blog. I’ll get back to it in a few days once I’ve had the chance to play with it.
  • Publicar announced the re-launch of their local search engine for Latin America at www.PaginasAmarillas.com. The new site powered by i411 provides business and residential information for 14 countries in Latin America.