Interview w/ Paul Jankauskas, CRO, @Verifone_Media

Paul Jankauskas, who joined VeriFone ^[1] last year from a background that included Accuweather ^[2], Captivate Network ^[3], 7-Eleven ^[4] and IZ*ON Media ^[5], heads Verifone Media ^[6]’s four main networks: Taxi Media, Taxi TV, Petro Media and LIFT In-Store.

^[7]In addition to directing Verifone Media’s business and network infrastructure, Jankauskas leads the company’s strategic partnership initiatives with industry content leaders, which include NBC Universal ^[8] and its affiliates, in creating proprietary media experiences for on-the-go consumers. He drives market positioning for more than 75,000 digital screens in taxis, convenience stores and gas stations in over 150 DMAs.

“The fastest growing is LIFT In-Store,” Jankauskas says. “It was launched three years ago and is now in 3,500 C-stores, but it has really come into its own in the past 12 months, dramatically.”

LIFT In-Store is a one-to-one engagement tool that provides an extremely targeted ad delivery. Activated right at the point-of sale and using an 19” tablet, it is designed “to lift the sales basket,” says Jankauskas. “It’s tied to the price book. Say the customer comes to the cashier with a Coke, for example. Buying a Coke automatically triggers an offer for a product that goes well with Coke, and the customer is given a choice to choose ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If he touches ‘yes’, he pays for the item immediately and then can go pick it up after paying, on the way out. There’s no standing in line again to pay for the promoted item.

“The brand pays for the activation of the order. Everything is loaded into the system. We have so much data, that we can really specialize and influence textually. It’s a system geared specifically to packaged goods.”

Verifone Media is very much a the company that is redefining the way digital media is consumed, delivering content at places and times that are most important to driving commerce. While still a small portion of VeriFone Holding Inc., the public, multinational ($2 billion annual sales) parent company, Verifone Media has a growing importance within the company.

Verifone Media has the technology, the content and most importantly, the access, to deliver a message to today’s on-the-go consumer. That goes for all four divisions that Jankauskas heads. A year ago, Gilbarco Veeder-Root, the worldwide leader in retail petroleum technology, and VeriFone Systems Inc., key player in secure electronic payment solutions partnered ^[9] to offer next generation forecourt payment solutions and to create the largest at-pump interactive digital media network worldwide. As part of the arrangement, Outcast Media, Gilbarco’s forecourt media business, and Applause TV, Gilbarco’s gas station TV network, was merged with VeriFone’s digital media and VeriFone Digital Network (VNET) businesses.

That has gone very well, says Jankauskas. Gilbarco Veeder-Root ^[10] provides the pumps and VeriFone handles the screens that, for the most part, carry, in addition to ad messages, a variety of entertainment, mainly from NBC that also produces the content seen in VeriFone screen-equipped taxis. Since the two companies partnered, growth as come from, among others, an agreement between VeriFone Systems Inc. and ^[11]Sunoco Inc. ^[12] whereby VeriFone was selected as the exclusive media provider for Sunoco’s fueling islands, providing Sunoco with cutting-edge dispenser card readers that have integrated video screens and dynamic streaming content. These payment terminals will enhance the fueling experience for Sunoco’s customers and provide a cost-efficient EMV strategy for Sunoco’s growing network of branded retailers.

“I haven’t got specific figures with me, but I’d estimate that we are up at least 30%-to-35% in terms of footgrowth,” says Jankauskas. (The actually equipment at the pump is owned by the retailer, with whom VeriFone Media has long-term contracts.)

“While putting fuel into a car, there’s two – to two-and-a half minutes where a customer can be entertained and influenced by an advertiser’s message,” Jankauskas says. “There’s a pause point and he’s a captive audience. Then, if he goes into the C-store, he can further be influenced by LIFT In-Store.”

It’s different in a taxi, he says. The customer is usually in a taxi for approximately 10-to-15 minutes. Not only is he entertained advertising and by NBC content (and, in New York, also by the city’s own channel), but there are card-linked offers. A restaurant may offer, for example, 20% discount for a dinner. The customer can swipe his credit card and the 20% offer is put right on his card – no need for a printed coupon. Then, as long as he uses the credit card at the restaurant, the 20% offer is recognized and deducted.

Visa Inc. ^[13] and Verifone last month announced a partnership that will enable merchants to offer their customers a more streamlined, secure purchase experience across digital and face-to-face commerce environments, often referred to as omni-channel commerce. In addition, with Apple Pay ^[14] now allowing payment with its iPhone, Apple Watch, or iPad to pay in a simple, secure, and private way, Verifone will be among the first to enable clients to accept rewards and loyalty information in addition to NFC payments at the terminal via Apple Pay. Verifone will initially enable six national and global retailers to be the first to accept NFC loyalty transactions on Verifone’s MX 915 and MX 925 terminals for their consumers to redeem rewards and accrue points.

Such arrangements make TaxiTV’s possibilities for growth interesting. (Payment technology is the fastest growing part of the parent company.) We asked Jankauskas about Taxi TV’s and its digital Taxi Tops growth in Europe beyond the UK, where it has been one of several companies vying for dominance in the market.

“Stay tuned,” he says, (although we know that the company had already announced plans to expand its taxi and media services to Istanbul and throughout Mexico’s Mayan Riviera ^[15], thereby providing more than 20,000 additional taxis with secure, in-taxi and mobile payments, mobile hailing and booking, and interactive multimedia content during passenger rides.

We asked Jankauskas whether UBER ^[16] has affected VeriFone Taxis in any way and the short answer was “To date, no.”

And we asked whether VeriFone Media had plans beyond the taxi business to enter other retail areas.

“Not at the current time,“ he says. “but stay tuned. I’m sure we’ll see opportunities. We’ve built through making one-to-one transactions, and a lot can be done. If we can help a retailer at the point-of-purchase, if we get a sense of opportunities, we’ll see.”

We also asked about further developments in the transportation business. (In Las Vegas, VeriFone is heavily involved in several areas including shuttle buses.) Again, the answer was, “No, although we are always open to opportunities. You have to look at whether there’s the right environment, the ridership, the drivers.”

VeriFone Media is a member of the Digital Place-based Advertising Association ^[17], and Jankauskas is a former board member.

“I think the DPAA is doing a lot of good work,” he says. “There are similar challenges that we are all facing in this fast evolving world so it’s good if we can look at the business issues and learn from each other.

“As far as the future of digital out-of-home, I don’t have a crystal ball, but I’m seeing both agencies and clients more and more open to new ideas, so that’s good.”

Jankauskas says that VeriFone Media has about 25 sales people and a total staff of about 50.

“The nice thing is that by being part of the bigger VeriFone company, we can take advantage of the company’s engineers and overall business intelligence. We can use them to test and for analytics. No idea is a dumb one. I can truthfully say that this is the most invigorating environment that I’ve ever worked in.”