Fifteen game-changing trends are happening right now in local media, and our analyst team discussed each one in today’s webinar ahead of our ILM East conference. Here’s the rundown:

Curated commerce or the place where social, mobile and video intersect.
Increased vertical shopping and marketplaces niches.
A reconnection of the local search experience so it’s consistent across users.
Emergence …

ILM East keynoter Ted Leonsis, in a BIA/Kelsey pre-conference webinar, proclaimed a “new generation and reinvigoration of local products.” The new opportunity in local is “where social, video and mobile intersect,” Leonsis said.
What surprises Leonsis, who currently serves as Groupon’s vice chair and a board member of AmEx, is that VCs and entrepreneurs are correctly …

ILM East is shaping up as a major landmark conference. Since our last update, we have many new “adds” to the agenda, and it looks like we’re going to have a really big and prestigious event.
Even before it begins, there is lots of stuff happening. we’ve added an exciting trip out to The Boston Globe’s …

It’s safe to say that Ted Leonsis is at the center of the local revolution. He’s done it all, from his early days trying to jump-start e-commerce at Redgate, to his work building a local framework at AOL (i.e., MapQuest, Digital City, MovieFone, Studio Now); to his current role as vice chair, Groupon; board member, …

The agenda is shaping up well for the Local Search Association’s April conference, the first involving a partnership with BIA/Kelsey. The event runs April 21-24 at the Boca Resort in Boca Raton, FL.
We’ve lined up headline presentation from Ursula Worth, Google’s head of directories and Web hosting partnerships, and Mary Boysman, VP of brand marketing …

ILM East is coming back to Boston March 26-28 with a lineup of doers and innovators who are transforming and redefining the local space. Highlights include a featured keynote from industry legend Ted Leonsis (Groupon vice chair/AmEx board member/sports team owner/AOL mastermind), along with keynotes/interviews from Jason Calacanis, Leslie Berland, Jay Herratti, Michael Zimbalist and …

We’ve wrapped ILM West in San Francisco this week — another terrific show. Lots of great stuff. Thanks very much to the 50+ speakers, 32 sponsors, nearly 600 local leaders and various #ILMWest Tweeters who participated.
Now our attention is focused back on our research and analysis… and to ILM East March 26-28 in Boston, featuring …

The ability to marry store inventory with search and promotions is an intriguing one for interactive local media. But what closes the loop on this vision?
Sherry Thomas-Zon, VP, local shopping, Local Corp. — the new name for Local.com — suggested this week at ILM West in San Francisco that inventory can serve as an …

Google’s local efforts have grown tremendously under the direction of Marissa Mayer, and now encompass a wide range of products, including Google Maps; Google Places; Zagat; Google Offers; and Get Online, a new SMB initiative.
At ILM West this week in San Francisco, Head of Local Consumer Marketing Jeff Aguero provided a rich portrait of Google’s …

Moh Ok, Chief Scientist at PayPal, and Bo Fishback, CEO and Founder of Zaarly, talked about the integration of social, local and mobile to close the loop on driving consumer purchases during a morning dedicated to SoLoMo here at ILM Asia.
Ok and moderator Mike Boland talked extensively about mobile payments, and whether the market will …

Google has experienced five times growth in mobile search during the past two years, according to Google Mobile’s Surojit Chatterjee, who was keynoting our SoLoMo Morning at ILM West in San Francisco.
Mobile usage generally complements the desktop, with huge spikes on the weekend and in the evening and at lunch, said Chatterjee. “When people go …

SMB marketing companies have forgotten that local businesses still see calls as a key driver of new business. That’s the opinion expressed by Marchex Executive VP Matthew Berk during today’s session on “Converting Calls to Local Sales.” To succeed in the calls space, Berk emphasized the need to “go deep” and focus on quality. He …

When it comes to Local Yokel Media’s business focus, it’s all about 15 miles. That’s because 80 percent of consumer spending is done within 15 miles of home. CEO and Founder Dick O’Hare shared that fact at this afternoon’s session on “Local Targeting: Getting the Bull’s Eye.” O’Hare added that geo-contextual relevance is the …

 
Court Cunningham, CEO of Yodle, made news at ILM West this afternoon, announcing a three-year deal with Canada’s Rogers Communicationsduring a 15-minute Q&A with BIA/Kelsey analyst Bobbi Loy Luster. Rogers is a leading communications company in Canada. Its deal to use Yodle’s technology and services to sell online media solutions bundles to Canadian SMBs is …

Local Search Association President Neg Norton announced today at ILM West in San Francisco that the trade group would work with BIA/Kelsey to produce its annual conference, April 21-24 in Boca Raton, Florida.
Norton said the LSA is committed to developing a robust agenda for the April conference. He cited this as a key reason for working …

During a late morning panel on Day 2 of ILM West, local video providers batted around the opportunity in bringing video advertising to the “other 99 percent” of small merchants.
“We know it’s evolving,” said moderator Steve Passwaiter of this democratization of video ads. “Once a television-laden experience has migrated to desktop and is now going …

In the midst of ILM West happenings, call measurement ad provider Telmetrics announced today that it’s bringing its m.Call platform to iOS.
M.Call gives local search publishers and app developers the ability to capture data around the phone calls they’re generating. Notably it does this without the need for traditional call tracking numbers.
This works with both …

The emergence of deals has reinvigorated local merchant promotions, but traditional promotions leaders think they can absorb some of the best parts of deals as part of their “offer cloud” while strengthening their existing direct marketing businesses, according to panelists speaking at ILM West in San Francisco.
Entertainment.com CEO Dean DeBiase said that the traditional Buy …

Dan Hess, CEO of deals aggregator and research company Local Offer Network, played mythbuster at ILM West, using data to set the record straight on where the market is moving…and where it isn’t.
Hess is convinced that there is still ample room for “specialization” across geography, demography and interests…rather than the doomsday consolidation/roll-up  scenarios forecast by …

Dex One Chief Strategy Officer David Sharman shared with us today some of the key challenges the longtime traditional directory publisher is facing as it evolves its business into the digital world. The primary challenge that he sees in the space is the overwhelming choice and complexity of marketing options for the local business.
Specifically for …