NeoMedia Technologies, Inc (NEOM)

[craydon]

Connecting a few dots . . . Some speculations on my part but, well, here go . . .

1) PP previously described NEOM's main challenge (6 March 2006): "You'll have to have a significant market penetration - maybe an entire store, or an entire mall so that consumers have a reasonable chance of getting a hit. If consumers scan 3 barcodes and only 1 of them gets a result - but they get charged the data rate for checking all 3 - the consumer won't try this again. Solution: This is an opportunity for tipping point philosophy. Once enough brands, marketers and consumers get used to the service it will reach a tipping point. Once that occurs we'll likely be in a winners circle situation. The question is - how can we get here?" - So to kick Paperclick off the ground we probably need a setting where mobile users would get used to using Paperclick for several brands and purposes all at once.

2) We know Neom targets Europe first.

3) What might be the best event for a market campaign that can make a real breakthrough launch in Europe? I think the World Cup in Germany, with all the attention it gets in Europe (and elsewhere) FOR A FULL MONTH, 9 June till 9 July.

4) The World Cup has 15 official partners. See http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/partners.html Guess what, 3 of those are already Neom clients: adidas, Coca Cola and McDonalds. (And from today's PR we know McDonalds are gearing up to something.)

5) Add to that, the original date for our share holder meeting being two days before the start of the World Cup. My guess is Neom was planning a major announcement regarding the World Cup just prior to or at that shareholder meeting.

6) So my speculation is that NEOM will be using the World Cup not for a marketing campaign, but for a BIG TIME beautifully orchastraded major launch of Paperclick, involving adidas, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Lufthansa and probably many other partners (ideally all 15 official partners:)). Mobile users in Europe will get to know that anything-world-cup can be looked up via Paperclick, including anything product related to any of the official partners. - For instance, think of the effect of Paperclick being used during the World Cup as a major way of accessing video clips for match highlights on the mobile handset.


If we want to speculate a bit further . . . it is also interesting to see that Yahoo is one of the official partners for the World Cup and that Yahoo seems to be positioning itself for content provision during the World Cup . …