NeoMedia Technologies, Inc (NEOM)

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DD Friday, June 23, 2006 naplesnews.com

NeoMedia goes to U.K. for partner in marketing
By Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair

Friday, June 23, 2006

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/jun/23/neomedia_goes_uk_partner_marketing/?business

Change takes time. Changing attitudes even more so.

Chuck Jensen, president and CEO of Southwest Florida-based NeoMedia, and his team have been working for several years to bring about a change in the way mobile marketing is conducted.

The company’s big push has been for its proprietary software Paperclick, which allows users to directly access a specific Web site on the mobile Internet just by punching in the digits of a barcode, typing in a key word or slogan, or scanning in a smart code.

Now, NeoMedia has found a partner that might make Jensen’s dream of Paperclick being a profit-generator for the company a reality.

NeoMedia has signed a co-marketing agreement with U.K.-based Valley Group, a family-owned company founded in 1892 for interactive point of sale.

“We want to take the lead in providing direct to mobile Internet connectivity in the retail market,” said Martin Copus, chief operating officer of Neomedia’s London division. “And if there’s one company you want to have a relationship with, it’s the lead innovator in the field, and that’s definitely the Valley Group.”

The concept of interactive point of sale is simple, explained Dorian Burrows, head of marketing for the Valley Group.

“I have this beautiful rose-covered cottage but the drains are all clogged. There’s this great product that cleans them right out and they advertise it on the (TV) all the time,” he said. “I can’t remember the number of times I have gone to the supermarket and then walked out without it because no one — and nothing — reminded me to pick one up.”

An average retail customer is the same, he said. Studies have shown 74 percent of purchase decisions are made when shoppers are in stores irrespective of what they have seen on TV or heard on the radio.

“So you have to inform and inspire the shopper to make the purchase when they are in the store,” Burrows said. “Make them pick up the product and put it in their basket and that’s the advantage of Paperclick.”

The use of the software allows brands to provide on-the-spot information, promotions and discounts to shoppers. Someone can scan in a code or a slogan from a product and go to the company’s Web site and find a coupon for the product or participate in a special promotion.

“Shoppers will do that if they think that was the only way to get a special promotion or money off,” he said. “And since it’s the brand doing the marketing or offering the discount rather than the store, it also creates brand loyalty among customers.”

The retail market is very competitive, he said, and the company’s more than 100 years of experience provides insight to generate sales for clients. What makes them different is they provide not just advertising but targeted marketing to enhance sales, brand value and build a relationship with shoppers.

It is more effective also because it is targeted at consumers who are obviously interested in the product and the promotion rather than mass-marketing or cold calling — cold SMS text-messaging in this case.

Paperclick is the right tool to allow them to build on their expertise, Burrows said. They have clients across the United Kingdom, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. For NeoMedia, that means a lucrative revenue stream.

The Valley Group introduced the product at InStore, a large retail marketing convention recently and got a lot of response, he said. Now the important thing is to get the first client to actually use the product.

“Even if you are trying to roll the wheel downhill, it takes a heck of a push to get it started,” Burrows said. “That’s what we are hoping for. Once we get one person to use it, it will be easy.”

The patent owned on Paperclick, Copus said, gives NeoMedia — and Valley Group — an edge over the competition.

“The promotion or information users receive is also targeted based on demographic information,” he explained. “If the user is a man for example and he clicks on a promotion for shavers, it will take him to a promotion for men’s shavers and if it is a woman, to a promotion for women’s shavers.”

Language preferences stored in a user’s cell phone also allow them to send information in English or Spanish or target the promotion to the specific time zone the user is in.

NeoMedia will be able to gain access to the wide client base that the Valley Group has, Copus said, plus earn revenue through the fees they charge for interactive connection of smart codes or barcodes or key words.

A company can sign a deal to have a word or a slogan register for a renewable one-year period and for each key word or that is connected to a unique URL and activated, NeoMedia gets a license fee.

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