Category Archives: In the press

Eagle Eye in the press

Eagle Eye granted patents over EMV (Chip & PIN) redemption in US and Europe

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A message from our CEO, Steve Rothwell

In September 2005, Eagle Eye Solutions filed a patent application relating to an EMV (Chip and PIN) terminal having a mode of operation for the redemption of coupons and vouchers. In 2009, the patent was granted by the UK Intellectual Property Office, and subsequently corresponding patents have been granted by IP Australia and the Intellectual Property of New Zealand in 2011. What this means is that we have patent rights covering EMV terminals that can be switched from transacting card payments toredeeming vouchers and coupons according to Eagle Eye’s redemption processes. Today, we have more than 40 top high street brands using our technology, delivering hundreds of thousands of secure redemptions in stores every month.

Today, I am delighted to announce that Eagle Eye has now been granted corresponding patents in both Europe (EP1934964B1) and the United States (US8353451B2).

This will help us continue with our overseas expansion, with patents now granted covering 34 countries, and covering a market of 1over 872 million people. Crucially, it will assist our EPOS technology partners to standardise their global EMV product features, in this case to enable voucher redemption via keyed entry and / or NFC, an increasingly significant point with the EMV liability shift for POS devices due in October 2015.

We are now in talks with a number of retail POS partners in the new territories to roll out our digital redemption technology. The joint benefits for retailers and POS providers are obvious, in as much there is a very easy ‘switch-on’ for retailers to enable secure digital redemption at the point of sale, and a new, incremental revenue stream for retail technology partners with very little effort.

Our core concept has always been very simple – to give retailers a secure, real-time way of processing coupons and vouchers in-store, without the need for paper or extra hardware. We have devised a way that covers 100% of the digital population now, that is anyone who can receive a text, email or download an app can redeem Eagle Eye vouchers via the EMV terminal using keyed entry. We have also future-proofed this for when mobile wallet usage and NFC payment / redemption becomes the norm, which considering the exponential growth in NFC device shipments can’t be that far off.

source: World Bank, U.S. Census 2011

Harvester releases their first Passbook voucher campaign

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New solution from Eagle Eye provides vouchers that are securely redeemable in-store, targeting iOS6 users

5th October 2012 – LONDON – UK restaurant chain Harvester has signed up as one of the first UK advertisers to distribute mobile vouchers using Apple Passbook. From today, customers who are using iOS 6 will able to use their iPhone device to download vouchers and send them directly to Apple Passbook making them available immediately to redeem in any Harvester restaurant in the UK.

Helen Worrall, Marketing Manager, Harvester said: “We are excited to be amongst the first in line to use this new way to distribute mobile vouchers to Apple Passbook users, offering our customers a better and more convenient experience. Not only does it provide us with a new way of engaging the iOS 6 iPhone users, but the benefit having one central point to digitally distribute and redeem vouchers in real-time means we have more control and visibility over our marketing campaign performance.”

The vouchers offer Harvester customers £5 off a £30 spend, and can be used at any Harvester restaurant across the UK. Targeted at families who are using iOS 6, banner campaigns promoting the offer are being run on Millennial Media’s mobile advertising platform. The banners direct consumers to the relevant microsite where the vouchers can be easily downloaded. A unique code is then assigned to each voucher and delivered straight to Apple Passbook, so it can be conveniently and securely redeemed in-store using the Card Commerce and Eagle Eye redemption system deployed to all Mitchells and Butlers venues.

Steve Rothwell, CEO of Eagle Eye, added: “The launch of Apple’s Passbook with iOS 6 marks the beginning of the end for paper and plastic based coupons and vouchers. The restaurant sector is notoriously competitive when it comes to deals, and research has proven there is a huge appetite from customers to make their decisions on where to eat out based on what offers they have available to them, mobile being key to this. We are proud to be in partnership with Harvester to use Apple Passbook as a way of securing their place as one of the most innovative and customer orientated restaurants in the UK.”

Gavin Stirrat, MD EMEA, Millennial Media said: “Targeting customers by taking advantage of the unique attributes of the mobile device enables brands and retailers to dramatically improve the relevancy of their promotional offerings. By layering in a technology like Eagle Eye and a consumer experience like Apple Passbook, it is now possible to close the loop on point-of-sale marketing campaigns, driving real value and efficiencies in the issuance and redemption of vouchers and coupons in a way more traditional channels cannot”.

-ENDS-
1 – For Harvester offer, please go to http://tinyurl.com/harvesterPB T&Cs apply. Page restricted to iOS6 Passbook users only.

Mitchells & Butlers launch brand gift cards with Eagle Eye

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Restaurant and Pub brand Mitchells and Butlers have introduced new infrastructure that supports real-time gift card validation across its businesses, and the centralised system required for reporting, managing and properly accounting for a large scale gift card scheme. Eagle Eye has been announced as one of the key project partners, alongside Barclaycard and Card Commerce, to implement a best of breed system that makes a huge leap forward in Mitchells and Butlers IT capability.
read press release for more information