A press release hit my radar last week and it has taken me a while to understand fully the potential of the patent.
What is it?
JagTag has announced that it has been allowed its first patent.
What patent?
Basically it is an ad serving patent to a mobile device via MMS. So basically this will allow an ad to be served into this equation – intelligently. This means that when possible targeting will be made available on existing information and that the add could correspond either to existing knowledge of the user or probably location, or wording in the MMS message. So if the picture is sent with a note saying “for mum” then the content of the ad served could also be similar.
JAGTAG claims that its “ability to intelligently target cell phones via MMS makes JAGTAG’s QR Solution all that much more compelling”.
From the press relesase
”It’s clear that the future of mobile marketing is tied to sending customized messages to consumers. JAGTAG’s unique technology, which allows both smartphone users and standard phone users to scan or snap and send a JAGTAG for multimedia information, is now married with the Company’s patented ability to send individualized messages to consumers. Marketers using JAGTAG can now reach the broadest audience of any 2D barcode system with the precision of one to one marketing,” said Ed Jordan, CEO, JAGTAG. “Intelligently targeted content is also much more likely to be shared and will provide marketer’s QR strategies with an amplifier effect that will increase purchases and improve unaided brand recall.”
What we think?
This is extremely interesting. Taking a picture adding a code or sending a code and then adding an advert. This is hot. This can work in two ways. If a code is scanned then an ad can be placed based on the location of where its scanned. If an ad is saved on a phone and then used or sent to a friend the information known is richer. This means that more specific and targeted adverts can be sent. The more and more the service is used the more intelligent the ads become and it won’t take long before the user can sign-up to receive requests on “interesting offers” in the area.
JAGTAG has just made itself a very lucrative take-over target for any major imaging company.
I saw the same press release and it was a combination of interesting and befuddling.
I have a suspicion that the Patent will come under fire from companies who done this same process prior to JagTag. What about http://www.spyderlynk.com/ and their SnapTag? Weren’t they first in the game?
I’ve seen companies claim to hold similar MMS Patents (one out of Washington State) so it’s not clear to me what value the JagTag Patent truly has?
In terms of personalized and contextual ad serving, again, others are doing this through various channels, though perhaps not MMS, which is a slow delivery channel.