Mike O'Brien

A former ClickZ editor, Mike O'Brien couldn't stay away and now contributes to the site in addition to working as a content marketer at Sailthru, the world's largest sender of personalized email. He primarily writes about the innovative ways brands use technology now and the ways they might in the future.

3 common misconceptions marketers have about Gen Z
Leadership

3 common misconceptions marketers have about Gen Z

8y Mike O'Brien

3 common misconceptions marketers have about Gen Z

Though Gen Z is more than at home with smartphones and technology, marketers often overestimate the role those things play in their daily lives. Read ...

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Netflix tests ads between episodes: Just a test or are they here to stay?
Media

Netflix tests ads between episodes: Just a test or are they here to stay?

8y Mike O'Brien

Netflix tests ads between episodes: Just a test or...

Netflix is testing ads between episodes, something the platform says is just a test. But there are a few reasons it might not be. Read More...

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Technology enables brands to evolve their loyalty programs
Leadership

Technology enables brands to evolve their loyalty programs

8y Mike O'Brien

Technology enables brands to evolve their loyalty ...

Loyalty programs are older than the state of California (seriously). Technology has enabled brands to evolve their programs, earning more loyalty. Rea...

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Digital data dictates in-store decisions for modern retailers
Ecommerce

Digital data dictates in-store decisions for modern retailers

8y Mike O'Brien

Digital data dictates in-store decisions for moder...

Data is central to everything modern marketers do online. But digital data is also a factor in physical stores, as T-Mobile, Roots and Birchbox demons...

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How Sam's Club and Macy's are simplifying the mobile checkout experience
Mobile

How Sam's Club and Macy's are simplifying the mobile checkout experience

8y Mike O'Brien

How Sam's Club and Macy's are simplifying the mobi...

As ecommerce conditions consumers to expect easier checkout experiences, Sam's Club and Macy's are bringing that frictionless-ness into their stores. ...

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Chatting with bots: How well 5 brands' chatbots actually work
Chatbots

Chatting with bots: How well 5 brands' chatbots actually work

8y Mike O'Brien

Chatting with bots: How well 5 brands' chatbots ac...

We usually write about what chatbots can do, rather than how well they do it, so we're testing branded bots from the likes of Sephora, eBay, and H&...

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More data, fewer agencies: Key takeaways from Dentsu Aegis' CMO survey
Leadership

More data, fewer agencies: Key takeaways from Dentsu Aegis' CMO survey

8y Mike O'Brien

More data, fewer agencies: Key takeaways from Dent...

Though the marketing landscape changes quickly and constantly, the average CMO views their role the exact same as they always have; driving business g...

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Goliath vs. Goliath: Amazon's ad spend continues to soar
Search

Goliath vs. Goliath: Amazon's ad spend continues to soar

8y Mike O'Brien

Goliath vs. Goliath: Amazon's ad spend continues t...

Consumers spent more during Prime Day than any other day in Amazon history. A new Merkle report shows that marketers are also spending more than ever....

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Alexa, what's for dinner?: Why Campbell's is doubling down on voice
AI & Automation

Alexa, what's for dinner?: Why Campbell's is doubling down on voice

8y Mike O'Brien

Alexa, what's for dinner?: Why Campbell's is doubl...

Sharing recipes for consumers has always been a part of Campbell's marketing strategy. They have branched out into using artificial intelligence for t...

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ClickZ's World Cup winners, including Budweiser, McDonald's, and Apple
Digital Advertising

ClickZ's World Cup winners, including Budweiser, McDonald's, and Apple

8y Mike O'Brien

ClickZ's World Cup winners, including Budweiser, M...

Now that the World Cup is over, we’ve identified the six brands we think did the best job at digital marketing, including Budweiser, McDonald’s, and A...

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What does Prime Day mean for retailers other than Amazon?
Ecommerce

What does Prime Day mean for retailers other than Amazon?

8y Mike O'Brien

What does Prime Day mean for retailers other than ...

Prime Day broke sales records for Amazon in both 2016 an 2017. However, there's also an opportunity for every other retailer to have a great day, as w...

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Why beauty retailers are leading the way in digital transformation
Ecommerce

Why beauty retailers are leading the way in digital transformation

8y Mike O'Brien

Why beauty retailers are leading the way in digita...

Failure to embrace digital transformation is a death sentence for retailers. However, beauty brands like Sephora, L'Oréal, and Ulta aren't struggling ...

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How Best Buy, Charlotte Russe, and IKEA shape their stores around the next generation of shoppers
Ecommerce

How Best Buy, Charlotte Russe, and IKEA shape their stores around the next ...

8y Mike O'Brien

How Best Buy, Charlotte Russe, and IKEA shape thei...

As the next generation of shoppers takes over, Best Buy, Charlotte Russe, and IKEA are creating in-store experiences with them in mind. Read More...

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For brands like REI, Indochino, and Swarovski, the future of retail stores goes past product
Ecommerce

For brands like REI, Indochino, and Swarovski, the future of retail stores ...

8y Mike O'Brien

For brands like REI, Indochino, and Swarovski, the...

Executives from REI, Indochino, and Swarovski discuss the future of retail stores and how they're far more than places where they can sell products. R...

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A look at Samsung's strategy for streamlining the smart home
Ecommerce

A look at Samsung's strategy for streamlining the smart home

8y Mike O'Brien

A look at Samsung's strategy for streamlining the ...

Smart products can make life easier, though there are a lot of challenges. Samsung VP, Bill Lee, discusses the brand's strategy to solve them. Read Mo...

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How a shoppable fashion show gave Roots a record-breaking quarter
Ecommerce

How a shoppable fashion show gave Roots a record-breaking quarter

8y Mike O'Brien

How a shoppable fashion show gave Roots a record-b...

How do you stand out during the holiday season? Canadian retailer Roots created a Black Friday fashion show that was shoppable, Shazam-style. Read Mor...

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How Starbucks, Sam's Club, and Sugarfina are enhancing the in-store experience
Ecommerce

How Starbucks, Sam's Club, and Sugarfina are enhancing the in-store experie...

8y Mike O'Brien

How Starbucks, Sam's Club, and Sugarfina are enhan...

Though no consumers actually use the word "omnichannel," retailers strive to give them seamless shopping experiences, no matter where or how they shop...

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Retargeting gets credit for sales that would have happened organically, say 83% of marketers
Digital Advertising

Retargeting gets credit for sales that would have happened organically, say...

8y Mike O'Brien

Retargeting gets credit for sales that would have ...

Consumers generally hate retargeting, which they associate with the worst of it—the ads that follow them around the Internet—yet marketers seem to lov...

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The meteoric rise of mobile ad fraud
Mobile

The meteoric rise of mobile ad fraud

8y Mike O'Brien

The meteoric rise of mobile ad fraud

During the first quarter of 2018, mobile ad fraud doubled year-over-year. As fraudsters continue to innovate, so must marketers. Read More...

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How Deloitte Digital helped Chipotle revamp its reputation with a superior mobile customer experience
Mobile

How Deloitte Digital helped Chipotle revamp its reputation with a superior ...

8y Mike O'Brien

How Deloitte Digital helped Chipotle revamp its re...

After food safety concerns hurt Chipotle's popularity, the brand turned to Deloitte Digital to help restore its reputation with an improved mobile app...

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The enemy of progress and the brand studio dilemma: How Hasbro evolves alongside its customers
Ecommerce

The enemy of progress and the brand studio dilemma: How Hasbro evolves alon...

8y Mike O'Brien

The enemy of progress and the brand studio dilemma...

Hasbro’s core customers have grown up with the brand, the children of people who used to be the core customer. That makes evolving and keeping up all ...

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Uber, Airbnb and how their affiliate marketing strategies differ
Leadership

Uber, Airbnb and how their affiliate marketing strategies differ

8y Mike O'Brien

Uber, Airbnb and how their affiliate marketing str...

Uber and Airbnb have a lot of surface things in common: they're unicorns who have disrupted their respective industries and evolved into global powerh...

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3 examples of technology disrupting marketing
Leadership

3 examples of technology disrupting marketing

8y Mike O'Brien

3 examples of technology disrupting marketing

On the surface, "digital disruption" sounds like one of those marketing terms that's so overused it's been rendered meaningless. But Scott Brinker, Hu...

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A technology company that sells ribs: Q+A with TGI Fridays' Sherif Mityas
AI & Automation

A technology company that sells ribs: Q+A with TGI Fridays' Sherif Mityas

8y Mike O'Brien

A technology company that sells ribs: Q+A with TGI...

When you're a restaurant that sees 500,000 people a day, how do you make sure they all feel engaged? For TGI Fridays, artificial intelligence is the k...

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3 ways Target is trying to become "America's easiest place to shop"
Ecommerce

3 ways Target is trying to become "America's easiest place to shop"

8y Mike O'Brien

3 ways Target is trying to become "America's easie...

2017 was a pivotal year for Target, having invested billions of dollars in expanding its omnichannel shopping capabilities. CEO Brian Cornell wants to...

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How Oreo, 7-Eleven and The New York Times are thinking outside the box with AR
AR & VR

How Oreo, 7-Eleven and The New York Times are thinking outside the box with...

8y Mike O'Brien

How Oreo, 7-Eleven and The New York Times are thin...

Plenty of retailers are using augmented reality (AR) in innovative ways. But not every brand has such an obvious use case. From Oreo to 7-Eleven, we’v...

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Pinspiration for back to school shopping: Q+A with IKEA's Kendra Ferguson
Search

Pinspiration for back to school shopping: Q+A with IKEA's Kendra Ferguson

8y Mike O'Brien

Pinspiration for back to school shopping: Q+A with...

Pinterest was once part of IKEA's social strategy, but now the brand considers it to be more aligned with search and discovery. IKEA ran a successful ...

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