Blog : Mobile Advertising

Large Language Models are Changing the Face of E-Commerce As We Know It 

From a bird’s eye view, a large language model is a type of deep learning algorithm that was built to perform a number of natural language processing-related tasks. The technology can be used to recognize patterns that humans may have missed, for example. It can be used to summarize huge volumes of text into bite-sized chunks that are easier for people to digest. It can translate content from one language to another, generate new content of its own, and can even predict future trends by analyzing historical data.

LLaMA is one example of this type of solution in action. It’s a foundational, 65-billion-parameter LLM aimed at “helping researchers advance their work in this subfield of AI.” The Hugging Face open source LLM is another.

Because of their versatility, large language models have potential applications in just about every industry you can name. In healthcare, for example, they can be used to better understand someone’s lab work or test results in a way that helps quickly diagnose problems in a patient. In software development, they can be used to write code so that human programmers can focus on more important matters.

But of all the fields where large language models will be felt by average people, there are perhaps none more pressing over the short-term than e-commerce.

The Impact of Large Language Models on E-Commerce

According to one recent study, about 64% of people say that they’ll switch brands if they have just a single bad experience with a company’s customer service. There are few statistics that do better at explaining not only how large language models can be of use to e-commerce brands, but why they are so important in general.

The most obvious current impact of LLMs in e-commerce takes the form of virtual shopping assistants. Large language models are the backbone of chatbots, which can not only understand natural human language but can also respond in kind. They can be used to quickly answer questions, address account concerns, fix a problem with an order that has already shipped, provide personalized product recommendations, and more.

If you’re an e-commerce business leader that is worried about a single bad experience sending someone into the arms of a competitor, the next step becomes clear. You replace as many of those elements as possible with LLM technology and virtual assistants that instantly become the best type of employees. They always have the right answer, they’re never in a bad mood, and they’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

But even going beyond allowing for improved (not to mention cheaper) customer service, LLMs have a role to play elsewhere in e-commerce, too. LLMs and natural language processing can be integrated into a e-commerce business’ search platform, allowing for more advanced capabilities that make it easier to find what someone is looking for. It can be used to automatically generate content for marketing purposes, making it easier to always get “the right message in front of the right person at the right time” through a deep, analytical understanding of who makes up a target audience.

Regardless of the application, the overall theme is clear. Large language models are being used to make the e-commerce experience easier, more effective, and more enjoyable for consumers and will continue to do so moving forward.

The Future of E-Commerce: A Brave New World

So where do we go from here? As large language models continue to advance, you can expect to see many of the advantages above do the same.

People will be able to interact with e-commerce chat-bots to do more than just answer basic questions or get product recommendations. They’ll be able to express doubts and get an appropriate reaction. They’ll be able to get more interactive than ever. They’ll essentially have a variation of the same conversation and experience they would have with someone in a physical store, just in a digital space.

It’s easy to envision a world where a virtual shopping assistant in a mobile app anticipates that you need a certain product before you even realize it based on not only your past purchasing history, but your past online behavior. One of the challenges with their implementation in e-commerce today is that modern LLMs are very dependent on prompts – that’s why they’re usually being employed in the context of chat-bots and search engines.

This will not always be the case. As more data is fed into them and more refinements are made, large language models will continue to improve and will thus improve the e-commerce experience for customers. This is not unlike the way that things shifted when a group of Reddit users employed the Robinhood app to disrupt the Stock Mark. They will be at the foundation of a movement to take e-commerce beyond an avenue for simple transactions and into the realm of an experience in and of itself. The act of shopping will become the product, not just a means to an end, and we will have large language models to thank.

The iPhone 15: A Game-Changer

The tech world is ablaze with excitement as September 2023 heralds the arrival of Apple’s latest masterpiece – the iPhone 15. Apple, known for pushing the boundaries of innovation, continues to set new standards in the smartphone industry with each new release. The iPhone 15 is no exception, poised to dazzle consumers with a slew of cutting-edge features that promise to redefine our mobile experience. In this article, we’ll delve into the details and explore what makes this release a true game-changer.

Apple has always been synonymous with sleek and elegant designs, and the latest iPhone lives up to that reputation. Its bezel-free, edge-to-edge display not only maximizes screen real estate but also captivates with its refined form factor and premium materials. Holding this iPhone is like holding a piece of the future in your hand.

Under the hood, the iPhone 15 is fueled by the most advanced chipset ever seen in a smartphone. Its lightning-fast processing speeds and unparalleled graphics capabilities ensure that it effortlessly handles any task you throw at it. Whether you’re a multitasking pro or a mobile gamer, this iPhone is your trusty companion.

Apple’s commitment to smartphone photography shines brighter than ever in this release. The device boasts a state-of-the-art camera system featuring a triple-lens setup with unmatched low-light capabilities and cutting-edge image processing algorithms. No matter the lighting conditions, expect stunning photos and videos with unparalleled detail.

Privacy and security are paramount, and Apple goes the extra mile in the September 2023 iPhone. The device incorporates advanced facial recognition technology, ensuring that your phone is truly yours alone. Furthermore, Apple maintains its unwavering commitment to data encryption and secure payment options, granting you peace of mind in a digital age.

Prepare to be transported to new realms of multimedia bliss. The edge-to-edge display enchants with vibrant colors and razor-sharp visuals, breathing life into every photo, video, and game. The device’s enhanced stereo speakers complement the visuals with immersive audio, making every moment a sensory delight.

Apple’s ecosystem continues to be a testament to seamless integration between devices. The iPhone seamlessly connects and syncs with your other Apple devices, elevating your digital life. The latest iOS iteration introduces a myriad of features and improvements, ensuring a user-friendly and intuitive experience.

As we eagerly anticipate the arrival of the iPhone 15, it’s evident that Apple is once again poised to redefine smartphone innovation. From its groundbreaking design to its formidable performance and cutting-edge features, this release is set to rewrite the rules. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a professional, or simply someone who appreciates the beauty of cutting-edge technology, the September 2023 iPhone promises to leave an indelible mark. Prepare to embark on a new era of mobile excellence.

Ready to experience the future of mobile technology? Contact Colure Media today to explore how we can elevate your brand with the latest in digital advertising, app development, and social media marketing strategies.

How Mobile Food Tracking Apps are Helping Patients Monitor Chronic Illness

As we steamroll through the age of connected living, there’s not one facet of our lives that can’t be improved via the use of a mobile app. In the past, many users would argue that tracking apps that recorded things we did would only work to disrupt our daily routines, offering little more than a glorified journal that…really didn’t do anything. 

But the mobile application has grown leaps and bounds over the last half-decade, turning into an integral part of how we manage everything. Our schedules….our social lives….our entertainment….multiple segments of our financial profiles. Everything from your mobile banking to your Robinhood App allows you to do it all, from paying your rent to optimizing your portfolio. What a time to be alive. 

The return of the food tracker

But emerging from the smoke comes a small portion of the mobile application market helping those with chronic pain better manage their conditions, accomplishing everything from minor relief to downright shifting the entire outlook of a diagnosis. 

No, it’s not WebMD or some big medical community app you’d see on Reddit with millions of members in its Sub. No, these are actually food-tracking apps. Turns out they’re more than just a show of effort for those who aren’t making progress with their fad diet. They’re tracking everything they eat..it’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle. 

No, it seems in the hands of users who really benefit from tracking what they eat, these applications are far more useful than one could have ever imagined. To be fair, some of these get pretty technical and are a far cry from the glorified notepad you downloaded in the Play Store a decade ago. Let’s check out the top examples. 

Food Diaries and Symptom Trackers

Apps that fall under these categories, like mySymptoms have proven to be invaluable for those suffering from things like IBS, GERD, celiacs, and all types of gnarly food intolerances….allergies – you name it. So what’s so special about mySymptoms? Well, this app, like others that are similar, allow users to record their medication intake, drink, food, environmental factors, stress, quality of sleep, bathroom trips, and all other. types of intrusive information in a VERY detailed log, allowing you to export it in a handful of ways. You can analyze the data yourself and get to the bottom of what’s ailing you or what has the worst effect on you – or submit it to your doctor for a more detailed analysis. It’s basically giving you the ability to do your own detailed medical study with little to no effort and actually make some headway and fix your gut problems. 

Incredible Results for Underactive Thyroid

Underactive thyroid is the leading cause of hypothyroidism, and causes a vast array of yucky, undesirable symptoms. The problem is, with this autoimmune disease – like many others of its kind, it’s difficult for doctors to provide relief or find answers because it literally affects every part of a person’s body. In the short term, we’re talking about brain fog, fatigue, and low hormone production. In the long term, though – some patients are looking at potential cases of heart disease, poor mental health, obesity, and even fertility problems – all because doctors can’t get an efficient grip on what areas to treat. 

One patient, Vedrana Högqvist Tabor, was sick of wasted doctor’s appointments and constant frustration. So she created her own app. It tracks different metrics, like the things she eats, and then it tracks symptoms by severity and medication intake. All this data is cross-referenced and given to an expert physician, and by making changes that focus on a better diet combined with decreased stress, 96% of all users of this application (BOOST Thyroid) have experienced some amazing results. 

You mean it matters what we put into our bodies? 

Finally, it seems some attention is being given to the importance of what we put into our bodies. Hopefully, as applications like this continue to change people’s lives – as a nation, maybe we’ll slowly begin to float away from the Battle of the Bulge and an all-Big Mac regimen. Maybe. 

Baby steps….

but the future does look a bit more promising thanks to these new applications that focus on the quality of what we digest. 

Colure Media is a advertising and mobile app development company in New York. We can help your organization to develop mobile app development and advertising. If you are interested, then contact us now.

What are you reading? The most essential resources for a disruptive founder today

So, you want to disrupt the world with your mobile app. But like all things, disruption and entrepreneurship occur on the shoulders of giants. Steve Jobs didn’t come up with the iPhone on his own. He took things that were already popular and made them better. 

Life isn’t always about innovation. Often, it’s about implementation. You identify best-in-class technologies and find opportunities to apply them. And you do that by knowing what’s going on. Let’s take a look at some essential resources for a disruptive founder today.

Mainstream Periodicals: Let’s Get It Out of the Way

Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes — you should read them all. But be aware that once something’s in a mainstream periodical, its time has expired. In the old days, investors used to say: “The best time to invest in a stock is before your Aunt Sally is talking about it.” The same applies.

Still, these mainstream periodicals are critically important because they provide insights into the general zeitgeist is thinking. Mainstream periodicals will tell you what people are already talking about. It’s your job to be ahead of the curve.

And there’s always the exception. Did you know that Zuck was talking about the Metaverse since 2014?

Innovation and Tech: Futurism, MIT Technology Review, and Wired

Frequently, new technology breaks quietly. There are one or two articles on an advanced, open-source machine learning platform… and then silence for literally years. Tech frequently develops unevenly. You bring radio to the internet before internet speeds have caught up to streaming. We’ve understood the principles of artificial intelligence and machine learning for decades, but it’s only recently that cloud technology has advanced to the point where it’s feasible.

So, new technology is an opportunity to grow. And it’s not always obvious what will or won’t be critical. Look for the trends under them; if you’re starting to see things pop up in multiple talk spaces, then it’s probably important.

Podcasts: Masters of Scale, The Week in Startups, Mixergy, and The Growth Show

You know what? There are thousands upon thousands of podcasts targeted toward entrepreneurs. But these are some best. Whether riding the bus to your Silicon Valley day job or going for a stroll in your suburb, listening to the opinions of experienced founders will help. 

These podcasts give you a good mix of inspiring startup stories, current news, and actionable tips for growth. Don’t ignore the importance of inspiration. Podcasts are uniquely inspiring: they are designed to keep you going, thinking, and innovating.

Books: The Startup Owner’s Manual, Who, Zero to One, and Leading at the Speed of Growth

Read books, whether you’re listening to them in the car or reading them on your Kindle. In particular, Zero to One (by Peter Thiel) encapsulates the startup experience from someone who’s lived it. But don’t forget that there’s a lot of survivorship bias out there. Just as you should read information about those who succeeded, you should also read information about those who failed. 

Some other critical books include Why Startups Fail, Build, and How to Ruin Your Life by 30. If you prepare for the worst you can move toward the best.

Entrepreneurship Means a Lifetime of Learning

Don’t stop there.

You want to create the next Reddit or Robinhood app. It starts with learning more — about everything. If you never stop learning and never stop thinking, you can keep innovating. Be open to new ideas and be willing to learn from anyone.

Who is currently winning the battle for web3?

Can you disrupt an industry that’s just begun? Who is currently winning the battle for web3? It’s a complicated question — for end users, the hope is that no one wins. For companies, the hope is that it creates megaliths and monoliths.

Metaverse, Web3 and Blockchain Technology Concepts. Opened Hand Levitating Virtual Objects. Futuristic Tone

Facebook’s Got the Name

Sorry — Meta. Regarding being recognizable, Facebook has worked hard to make itself synonymous with web3. And the work has paid off; most people think of Meta when they think of the “Metaverse.”

The bad news for Meta is that everything published about web3 looks extraordinarily goofy. While people are thinking about the Metaverse when they think about Meta, they aren’t taking it seriously.

The Game Industry Has It Locked

From mobile app to VR space, the game industry is really making advances into web3. It’s understandable. The gaming industry has always been at the forefront of new technology. And society just got out of a few years of staying at home and playing with their computers, consoles, and phones.

If you want an example of what “the Metaverse” and web3 could do, you need only look at… Roblox and Fortnite. There are children already growing up in the Metaverse and living their lives in an overlaid, digital reality. People are holding concerts in Fortnite.

It’s Not Like Amazon Isn’t Trying

With Amazon’s AWS technology, it may be surprising that Amazon really isn’t breaking out into the web3 space. Why isn’t it selling digital terrain through its online platform?

Actually, Amazon is trying. Just this year, Amazon Studios released an MMO that they had touted to be groundbreaking. It ended up being quite poorly received and almost universally panned. It was just a regular MMO, but it shows that Amazon is trying to get into the digitally interactive space.

Of course, to really disrupt web3, you need to be able to get into the space and be accepted by people and Amazon doesn’t really have an understanding of people, nor does Zuckerberg.

What about the NFTs?

You know, a little while ago we could stay that bitcoin was definitely the winner of web3. But Bitcoin is going the way of the dodo. Even if it’s the de facto standard still for trading and bartering in crypto, it’s not going to be for long. Because it’s being surpassed by other contenders.

NFTs are going to stay but they are going to be very different.

Right now, there’s a battle for the soul of web3. It could be Facebook, Amazon, Google, or any other large company. But it could also become a decentralized service that everyone can take advantage of and enjoy.

There’s something to the dark net. It’s not just a place to buy drugs and hitmen. The dark net has remained entirely uncontrolled and collaborative for years. It’s a space where anyone can throw up a site and everyone has to essentially collaborate for people to get there. Read into the dark net and you’ll find that more things are being traded in the dark net than on the Robinhood app.

So if you want to find out more about the future of web3, why not make it? And if you want to know what people hate about web3, just ask Reddit.

Geotargeting & Geofence Marketing: How a small company can disrupt a big market

Geotargeting & Geofence Marketing: How a small company can disrupt a big market

If you feel like social media and online marketing is shouting into the void, you’re really not alone. Many small, local businesses are told to invest in online advertising and mobile marketing only to discover that it’s really not effective for them.

Imagine if you advertised your company to every 10,000th person on earth. How many of those people would actually be able to use your products or services? Probably none of them. There are a lot of people on earth and there are a lot of people online.

Geotargeting and geofence marketing focus on hyper-local leads — so you can stop shouting and start earning.

Connect to the Customers Closest to You

It’s the customers that are closest to you that you want to connect with. It’s better to connect with 50 people in your neighborhood than 5,000 people across the world. And it’s cheaper, too. When you connect with customers close to you, you greatly enhance the viability and effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. 

How Does Geotargeting/Geofencing Work?

Geotargeting/geo fencing works by identifying where customers are inside of a broader, third-party advertising network. For instance, Google Ads shows throughout the world but can show your ads only to those who are in your vicinity. Geotargeting is broad; it just means that you’re sending your ads to those who are in your country, state, city, or even zip code.

Geo-fencing is a little different. Geo-fencing specifically defines an area, such as an area that is located in a highly-trafficked region around your business. Once individuals are inside this area, they are targeted. Geo-fencing can be used to deliver ads through PoS systems within your neighborhood, for instance, or to send ads to phones and other devices detected in your region.

The Advantages of Geotargeting

Really, the advantages of geotargeting are clear. You can spend $100 to connect with 5,000 people in the world or $10 to connect with 50 people in your area. It’s cost-effective and far more useful.

But it also enhances public perception of your brand, as you’re no longer trying to reach out to individuals who wouldn’t be interested in your advertising to begin with. Geofence marketing creates more relevant, useful advertising, as well as more profitable strategies.

Implementing a Geotargeting Campaign Strategy

To implement a geotargeting campaign strategy, you (obviously) need to know where your customers are. There are third-party ad platforms like Google and Bing, but their usefulness will actually be vanishing shortly; action is being taken to reduce third-party tracking cookies.

There are two better options: social media marketing and third-party behavioral targeting databases. Social media marketing works because individuals already provide where they live to the social media platform. Even better, they provide information such as whether they’re married, whether they have children, and even where they work and where they went to school.

Third-party databases seek to identify consumers based on their behavior and contextual information without the help of cookies or files stored on the user’s device. These third-party geotargeted databases are likely to grow dramatically once cookies become ineffective for geofence marketing.

Summary

With the right geofence marketing, your company can focus all its efforts on advertising directly to the people who are closest to you. When they look at their phone or check their email in your location, they’ll get information that relates to your business. If they’re halfway across the world, they won’t.

But this type of advertising and mobile marketing really does require that you use the right technology. Social media marketing provides some of this targeting, but mobile marketing is about to get a lot more challenging.

What is the Law of Diminishing Returns in advertising? If your mobile app marketing, or ecommerce campaign is no longer hitting your KPI thresholds it maybe time……

What is the Law of Diminishing Returns in advertising? If your mobile app marketing, or ecommerce campaign is no longer hitting your KPI thresholds it maybe time……

You’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle: 20 percent of anything will yield 80 percent of your results. It’s a general rule of thumb for anything. 20 percent of your employees will do 80 percent of the work. 20 percent of your customers will make up 80 percent of your sales. And 20 percent of your advertising spend may make up 80 percent of your revenue brought in.

The Law of Diminishing Returns is similar.

Under the Law of Diminishing Returns, investments and returns don’t have a one-to-one relationship. Rather, your returns start to drop off at a certain point. Your returns plateau; once you’ve hit the peak, every subsequent dollar you spend may gain you nothing at all.

And that’s why you can sometimes throw money at a strategy over and over and just not get the results that you desire. 

Let’s take a further look at the Law of Diminishing Returns — and how to disrupt it.

Caring is a Finite Resource: The Law of Diminishing Returns

Consider this: You’re a florist. You sell bouquets. You have about 10,000 people in your town — and you’ve got about $100 in media buying budget. You decide to send out mailers.

So, you spend $100 to send out 10,000 mailers. 500 people respond and purchase $10 bouquets; you make $5,000. That’s a great ROI!

Why not try it again?

You send out another 10,000 mailers. This time, 250 people respond and purchase $10 bouquets; you make $2,500. That’s still great ROI, but it’s significantly less.

Next time, only 50 people respond. And the next time, only 25. Your strategy hasn’t changed. But the audience you’re marketing to has been saturated. You’re getting diminishing returns because there are fewer and fewer people who are interested.

Now, you’re a little smarter. You decide to send 10,000 mailers to the next town over. But you still don’t get 500 people — you get 300. Why? Because the first audience set was your ideal audience — they’re in the area. Now you’re moving to people farther away who are less likely to spend. So you’re still getting diminishing returns.

This doesn’t mean that you’re always going to be doing poorly. Eventually, that first batch of 500 people who responded are going to be in the market for flowers again. But it does mean that your initial strategies can often do better than follow-up attempts, for a variety of reasons.

(But let’s disrupt a little. Consider if this time you spent $50 of your media buying budget on mailers and $50 on digital advertising instead. You might be able to take advantage of both with less saturation.)

Let’s take a look at another example: You have a company that does mobile app development. You spend $25,000 on paid digital advertising and you make $125,000 in sales. Then you spend $100,000 on paid digital advertising. Do you make $500,000 in sales?

Probably not. Your audience is probably already saturated, so the same people are seeing your ads multiple times rather than new people being connected with each time.

And that’s the Law of Diminishing Returns: the first $25,000 you spend may have substantially greater results than the last $25,000 you spend.

You’ve Plateaued: Detecting the Law of Diminishing Returns in Your Advertising

How can you determine whether you’re hitting the Law of Diminishing Returns?

As our VP of New Product Clifton Pierce stated, “In terms of advertising, the Law of Diminishing Returns only applies if the advertiser isn’t truly paying attention.” It’s pretty easy as long as you’re reliably tracking your metrics. You should see that the more energy you’re putting into something, the weaker results you’re getting. If everything else remains equal about your strategies, then it should be easy to see that you’re pumping money into the Law of Diminishing Returns.

That isn’t always a bad thing. Think back to the florist. Even though the florist is getting diminishing returns, they’re still getting returns. As long as your ROI is positive, your advertising is still being effective. It’s more a question of whether your advertising is being as effective as it can be.

Rob Palumbo CEO at OutPoint, splits everything into the Most Productive Zone, Diminishing Returns Zone, and Negative Returns Zone. From there, he is able to better determine the right course of action for each marketing channel.

With mobile app marketing, you might see that your mobile app installs have slowed. But that doesn’t actually mean that it isn’t bringing you in revenue.

And, of course, understanding the Law of Diminishing Returns is critical when you’re doing your cash flow projections. You should never assume that you’re going to get identical results from the same expense outlay; that’s just too optimistic.

Can There Be a Law of Increasing Returns?

Of course, not everyone believes in the Law of Diminishing Returns. Jonathan Ivanco says, “There is no such thing as the law of diminishing returns, it’s lazy marketers that don’t understand what goes into real advertising and marketing.”But Richard Heinberg points out that the Law of Diminishing Returns applies to everything, including civilizations — generally in reference to the abundance of resources available.

In the examples given, returns started to diminish immediately because saturation had been met. But in real life, it usually takes some time to reach that saturation point. Usually you’ll see increasing returns, a plateau, and then diminishing returns. And diminishing returns really means you need to move on to other strategies; hence Ivanco’s statement that it relates to lazy marketing.

But is it possible to grow exponentially? Is it possible to continue to see better and better returns?

There are very few advertising campaigns that will never plateau or that will never start going downhill.  You will always need to steadily invest more if you want to continue getting the same results. And it’s not always money you’re investing. With social media advertising, for instance, you’re usually investing time.

But it is possible to have a very significant ramp up.

Look at influencer marketing, social media marketing, and other types of traditional marketing disruption. Companies are able to exponentially grow and continue to grow; they have such broad appeal they don’t meet saturation. With new realms like augmented reality and virtual reality coming, there are new opportunities for brand development and product development.

So, the Law of Diminishing Returns doesn’t always have to be a law; there can be exceptions. But they are rare ones.

Using the Law of Diminishing Returns to Your Advantage

Realistically, what does the Law of Diminishing Returns mean? It means that you’ve done the best you can at a certain technique. Mobile Marketing? Mailers? Email lists? Social media? You’ve peaked, baby. I mean, it’s all downhill from there. But you’ve done as good a job as you can — and now it’s time to move on.

If you’re struggling with the Law of Diminishing Returns right now, you’re throwing good money after bad. You’re probably spending $25,000 in paid advertising to generate 90 percent of your results and another $25,000 for that last 10 percent.

That’s great news.

Because that means that you can take that $25,000 that you’re using in digital advertising and generate even better results elsewhere.

Ultimately, the Law of Diminishing Returns just means that it’s time to try something different. It’s a way to show that you’ve capped out on what you can get (for now) from a certain advertising technique, strategy, or channel. And that’s an exceptionally valuable thing to know.

Advertising is a wild arena. It’s always changing. The strategies that work today have no guarantee of working tomorrow. You need to be able to identify your key metrics, track them reliably, and pivot when you can. By studying things like the Law of Diminishing Returns, you can become more astute at recognizing the signs — and more confident and competent at reacting to it. Here at Colure, we know that the success of our agency is built upon the success and growth of your business. Contact Colure’s Advertising Advisors today to make sure you have a balanced Go To Market Advertising Campaign for your next project or to be interviewed and featured in our next series of “Project Venus”. Let’s grow!

Why Are SPACs giving Wall Street & VC Firms a run for its money? And why mobile apps like DraftKings are using SPACs as a choice of raising capital?

Why Are SPACs giving Wall Street & VC Firms a run for its money? And why mobile apps like DraftKings are using SPACs as a choice of raising capital?

Tel Aviv-based Blue Ribbon has leveraged its jackpot technology into DraftKings internet casinos and sports betting. Those are two of the DraftKings app developers’ core business competencies. Because of SPAC capitalization and direct IPO transactions, and having sold $1.15 billion worth of its convertible debt, Draft Kings has offered some of those vast proceeds for fund acquisition.

What the hell is SPAC?

SPAC stands for special purpose acquisition company. SPAC transactions are alternatives to raising capital via traditional stock market initial public offerings. In the insiders’ world of investments, SPAC transactions are essentially friendly buyouts of target companies. SPACs aren’t even real, commercially active companies. They are ventures where money is looking for companies.

How a SPAC works

High-profile investors—hedge funds, private equity and industry leaders—create a SPAC. They become the SPAC sponsors. They raise money from investors through prospectus marketing, emails, word-of-mouth, etc. The typical initial trading level is about $10 a share. 

The investment money is placed into an interest-bearing trust account. That begins a campaign where the SPAC sponsors do market research looking for a company that wants to go public via acquisition—the act of taking over or gaining at least 50% of the company’s stock.

The SPAC shareholders agree to the takeover, most often structured as a reverse merger, meaning that the target company merges with the SPAC or its subsidiary. Then the SPAC shareholders can opt to redeem their shares and take a profit or hold onto the investment in the form of shares. 

SPAC sponsors have two years after the initial public offering to find a company, whereupon the SPAC is disbanded and SPAC sponsors cash out. If the deal is successful, the sponsors can take over up to 20% of the company for an initial investment of only $25,000. That can mean an enormously lucrative return when the company can be worth millions.

So, the SPAC process is a cheaper, quicker, and easier way for a company to raise capital.  Rather than being underwritten by banks and investment firms, the target company is essentially mentored by experienced SPAC sponsors. In the end, investors can redeem their shares if they don’t approve of the acquisition.

On the other hand, investors who buy into the SPAC’s IPO have no idea of the final target. They must enter the deal on faith. Even though the prospectus might identify a specific business or industry, the SPAC is not obligated to keep its word.

Also, the two-year deadline for closing the deal means that investors must be patient. The delayed deadline could also create conflicts of interest if SPAC sponsors succumb to impatience and throw due diligence to the winds of stock market volatility and the historically weaker returns and in-the-red performance of common shares that occur after mergers.

Will SPACs disrupt Wall Street?

SPACs have the advantage of bypassing the substantial time, resources, reporting and underwriting through the traditional IPO process. But will they disrupt Wall Street? Colure’s social media manager Ivonne Tanbeh reached out to a number of movers and shakers in the SPAC industry to get their thoughts on the disruption. Here’s a sampling:

Q:  What makes SPACs so attractive to investors?

Richard Coffin, Investment Analyst at WDS Investment Management:

“They’ve been really popular amid the current euphoria of the markets, and investment celebrities (and non-investment celebrities) have been backing certain SPACs to monetize their name/reputation, but while that may attract initial demand, at the end of the day it’s how the company actually performs and operate over time that will matter.”

Ramin Nakisa, Co-Founder at PensionCraft Ltd. (UK)

“If you buy into a SPAC, it usually has a star management team. They will be interviewed constantly by the media doing ‘will-they won’t-they’ stories about which company they are going to buy. This cult of celebrity is what has propped up the active management industry long after it became clear that it is failing to deliver what it promises”

Daniele D’Alvia, SPAC Expert and Corporate Lawyer.

SPACs are the reverse of the normal IPO procedure. Instead of an operating company seeking investors, investors seek an operating company. This is clearly irresistible and more appealing than being passive. 

Q: Do you think SPACs will disrupt Wall Street?

Ramin Nakisa responded:

I don’t think this is going to disrupt Wall Street. The proliferation of SPACs is just one consequence of the huge appetite for risk following the selloff in March 2020. The traditional route of raising cash via IPOs is less attractive now because of the share price ‘pop’ the day after the company raises its money. 

Richard Coffin agreed:

“SPACs have been around for a while, so I am skeptical that they will revolutionize Wall Street. Perhaps they will become more popular, but the IPO still stands as a more established and rigorous process for companies going public.”

Daniele D’Alvia predicted the 2020 SPAC boom and was awarded the Colin B Picker Prize by the America Society of Comparative Law back in 2017. He has another perspective: 

“I do not see why SPACs cannot become the new alternative acquisition models, a legitimate alternative path to access public markets rather than the traditional IPOs. It cannot be denied that SPACs pose risks like any other investment, as risks cannot be completely eradicated. However, those risks can be curtailed through proper contractual risk allocation and enhanced governance.” So, whether SPACs will be an also-ran in the competition for investors, or a paradigm shift, they have something in common with mobile app developers: they are a threat to the giant big guys. Even though the little guy might not be all that small, disruption is what adds spice to the nitroglycerine of change. 

If you are trying to raise capital to launch a new product or service, pay attention. Remember when Blockbuster Video and Toys“R”Us ruled their roosts? Along came Netflix and Amazon, which caused a chickenshit-storm and toppled those two monopolies.

Here at Colure, we know that the success of our agency is built upon the success and growth of your business. Contact Colure’s Mobile Marketing & App Development Team to discuss your next project or to be interviewed and featured in our next series of “Project Venus”. Let’s grow!

What is IDFA? Can Apple Disrupt the Advertising Industry? And Why is Facebook Afraid of the IDFA changes?

What is IDFA? Can Apple Disrupt the Advertising Industry? And Why is Facebook Afraid of the IDFA changes?

Why does Mark Zuckerberg want to inflict pain on Apple? 

Apple’s making some significant changes to IDFA, the utility that app developers use to get information about who someone is. Understandably, some consumers take issue with being tracked. But IDFA is essential to the way that a lot of advertising works.

Advertisers aren’t going to be able to target audiences as effectively once Apple initiates its changes; they’ll have to ask customers to provide access. 

So, Apple could really disrupt Facebook, because Facebook isn’t really in the social media industry; it’s in the advertising industry. Facebook makes most of its money through ads and the less effective ads are, the less money it will make. But Facebook is not the only company that will be disrupted it will ripple through the whole advertising industry. We reached out to Ankit Minocha at Shop2App to get his thoughts on if he thinks IDFA trend will disrupt the advertising industry, and he stated “It certainly will, what this is doing is putting all players, small or big, on a level field. Because there’s a big unanswered question of what percentage of people are going to opt-out of that data privacy pop-ups, it’s hard to say how extensive this change is going to be.”

Advertisers will have until mid-Spring 2021 to adjust to these changes. With location sharing being more opt-in, the effectiveness of ads can go down considerably. Even if ads are able to target audiences they may not be able to track their success.

Google in response to the pressure from Apple has announced similar changes, as reported by Wired that they will be phasing out third-party cookies from its Chrome browser by 2022. These IDFA and Cookie changes are both beneficial for the end user’s privacy, bit it radically changes the way advertisers and apps have historically worked.

Ultimately, the fact is that users are becoming more concerned about security and more wary about sharing data. Users are increasingly eschewing services like Google in favor of Duck Duck Go, to improve their own security and anonymity online. This represents significant disruption in how advertisers will function.

The success of our agency is built upon the success and growth of our clients. Contact Colure’s Mobile App Development Team to discuss your next project or to be interviewed and featured in our next series of “Project Venus”.

Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) Beacons Are Making Mobile Apps Smarter

Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) Beacons Are Making Mobile Apps Smarter

Advertisements today can be overwhelming to consumers. Especially in the last decade as advertising has come to focus on online consumerism, customers are constantly bombarded with popups for the latest and greatest products. The negative response to this shift in marketing has led to a need for innovative and unique technologies that avoid overwhelming consumers while still reaching an audience. Indoor location technologies, such as Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) Beacons, is one of these innovative designs.

What are BLE Beacons?

Bluetooth Beacons are wireless devices that draw attention to a specific location, within a finite space. A clear example of a beacon is a lighthouse: its light draws attention from offshore ships, letting the ships know their distance from the lighthouse and the shore. Bluetooth Beacons do the same thing in a virtual environment, allowing brick-and-mortar businesses to send out signals to mobile devices in the immediate area.

Bluetooth Low-Energy Beacons, also known as Bluetooth 4.0, are just as their name suggests. They do the same thing in practice while maintaining low energy consumption.

How do BLE Beacons work?

The wireless device draws attention to its location by periodically putting out a radio signal. This radio signal consists of a small packet of data, usually advertisements. A beacon at a sports store, for example, might periodically send signals for current deals on hiking boots. Compatible mobile devices within close proximity to the beacon (usually about 100 meters) would then receive those advertisements, triggering applications to prompt responses like push messages or actions.

Why use a BLE Beacon?

Bluetooth Beacons, in general, allow businesses to deliver highly contextualized and personalized advertisements to their customers. Unlike other indoor location technologies such as GPS and NFC, Beacons are hyper-localized and specified for indoor environments. This means that the customer isn’t going to get advertisements for every store in the mall, but they also don’t need to be standing directly next to a product to receive an advertisement.

BLE Beacons also cost 60-80% cheaper than classic Bluetooth Beacons (although classic Bluetooth is recommended for more complex applications). Their low-energy consumption allows them to last much longer than the classic Bluetooth Beacon. The BLE Beacon stays in sleep mode unless it is actively configuring a connection, so it can last up to 3 years on one coin-cell sized battery.

Who benefits from using BLE Beacons?

Both Classic Bluetooth and BLE Beacons can be beneficial to a company. Classic Bluetooth can handle larger amounts of data, but BLE Beacons are ideal for transmitting advertisements to applications that periodically use small amounts of data. This, in addition to their low-energy consumption and cheaper cost, means that small businesses may benefit from using a BLE model over classic Bluetooth location technology.

The value of in-store retail sales influenced by beacon technology increased by $40 million between 2015 and 2016. The benefit of being able to personalize advertisements to customers continues to appeal to businesses, and it’s expected that 4.5 million beacons will be active by 2018.