NZers sell marketing technology back to Japanese

Media Release
For immediate release
Photos on request from Botica Conroy

New Zealanders sell marketing
technology back to Japanese

Auckland, 19 September 2000 - In a variation on the coals to Newcastle theme, an Auckland company has taken Japanese-created card technology and is selling it back to customers in Japan.

Visible Results Limited, a subsidiary of The Atlantis Group, today announced it has reached agreement with Japanese restaurant chain, T Y Harbor, to use the New Zealand company’s loyalty technology.

Under the agreement, Visible Results will supply its loyalty technology to T Y Harbor to drive its customer loyalty programme using the GraphiCard™ technology. This thermal read/write card technology was originally developed in Japan. Visible Results is the first company in the Asia Pacific region to use the rewritable card in an interactive loyalty based application.

Visible Results has linked its proprietary software to the card technology to create loyalty programmes for Mobil in New Zealand, Caltex in Singapore and Dymocks in Australia. The cards have a rewritable message face. Each time the card is used, new information is displayed, including the customer’s points total, promotional games and media messages.

By linking the GraphiCard™ with Visible Result’s intelligent loyalty software, the cards can display messages that are personalised to the card user. For example, when a person with an interest in motor vehicles makes a purchase, they may receive a limited time offer for a car magazine subscription.

Visible Results CEO, Michael Whittaker, says the Visible Results technology takes loyalty programmes and targeted point of sale marketing to new levels.
“Using this technology we are able to target consumers in ways that range from the very broad to the extremely specific. We are able to direct communication toward an organisation’s most profitable customer segments, ensuring those people receive relevant higher value rewards”.

Director of TY Harbor, Kouhei Terrada, was impressed by the Visible Results technology as it allowed them to further strengthen the bond between restaurateur and diner. “The Visible Results technology will have strong appeal in Japan where technological marketing and mass customisation are widely accepted and effective customer relationship tools.”

Mr Terrada said that among other applications, the Visible Results technology enables the restaurant chain to recognise the wine a customer has purchased with their meal and offer rewards of a similar quality and value.

Editors’ Note:

About Visible Results
Established in New Zealand in 1997, Visible Results launched with its first client 2 years ago. Today, the company has subsidiaries in Singapore, Australia, and Japan. Employing in excess of 40 specialist staff, it has quickly become one of Asia Pacific’s leading customer relationship companies serving an ever growing client base across convenience, fast food, fuels and the general retail industry.
Visible Results multimillion dollar investment into a future proof “customer relationship management” platform enables retailers the opportunity to access advanced transaction processing, customer analysis and e-commerce related facilities that have previously only been available as a result of expensive custom designed business solutions.
The future of Visible Results lies not only in its ongoing commitment to investment in technology, and adoption of sound best practice principals, but most importantly in the consistent delivery of accountable and successful programmes to clients.

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