Neo Advertising have just announced that they have purchased a stake in iTraxx – a company with a package of themed radio stations (which are freely available on the Internet).
See http://www.traxx.fm [1] for more details.
Within Switzerland, iTraxx, are well known as the specialist in the development and broadcasting of IP radio.
What does this (new) partnership mean?
Well, you know how much importance I personally place on music as one of the pre-eminent ambiences in retail and of course some – but please, not too enclosed (bus companies, you know who you are please listen!) Captive Audience situations.
Neo Advertising are clearly positioning themselves as a true, complete package new media, screen network business.
Only last week I was saying to a group of investors how much I like the Neo Advertising business. My summary then was: –
– I love the company name; first they have avoided the horrible “TV” suffix that many digital signage and screen network companies succumb to.
(With “Neo” of course in German, we get ‘neo-klassisch’ and ‘der Neoliberalismus’ and in the US, Canada and Japan we get “Neoconservatism” and ‘Neocon” – all suggesting ‘new’. They have also cleverly incorporated the word “Advertising” – which I think sums up what the primary business focus is and should be)
– their choice of an ASP supplied CMS and network model (they use Broadsign)
– in-house Media Sales (which they do rather well I am reliably informed)
– predominantly retail focus (Carrefour, Edeka, ECE etc.)
– a good McDonalds rollout (doesn’t every serious player in the market have to have one of these as a reference site?)
– not geographically inhibited (from a Swiss base they cover Austria and Germany rather well) and they have a very aggressive expansion plan elsewhere too
Now of course they can add to all of that the ability to deliver music as a complimentary offering to traditional digital signage – a great mix!
I also understand that McDonalds has commissioned Neo Advertising and iTraxx to developing in-restaurant audio for its Geneva locations, it will be interesting to see how this works – especially how iTraxx profile the music and keep McDonalds (a ‘family’ restaurant you will remember) AND McDonalds’ young customer base both happy.