Cash is king when it comes to gift giving in the South West, but security concerns grow over how to give it, according to YouGov and cashgreeting survey

New online cash greeting card service ensures cash reaches its intended recipient
Core news facts:

• 91% of those in the South West give cash as a gift
• 26% risk sending cash in the post
• 55% would be more likely to send money in a card if they could guarantee it reached the intended recipient
• New online greeting card and cash gift service enables people to access cash gift through local retailers

Money remains popular when it comes to gift giving in the South West with 91% of residents giving cash as a present. Yet over a quarter put that cash at risk by sending it in the post compared to just 15% in Yorkshire and Humberside. Yet many gift givers are concerned about the security of their cash reaching their intended recipient, according to a survey from YouGov and online cash gift card retailer, www.cashgreeting.com. Despite the high number putting cash in the post, those in the South West are risk averse with 90% in total also choosing to send cash gifts as a cheque or via an online bank transfer.

In response to these findings, cashgreeting is launching a new online cash gift and greeting card service that guarantees only the recipient can access the money. Senders can select and customise their own greeting card from thousands of designs on www.cashgreeting.com and then add a cash gift to include in it. cashgreeting will print and post the card, and turn the money into a secure voucher that the recipient can cash at over 24,000 PayPoints across the UK. Unlike traditional gift cards or postal orders, cashgreeting’s voucher can only be redeemed after it has been unlocked using a unique code created when the card is bought, removing worries about sending it in the post.

cashgreeting’s service is ideal for those without bank accounts, such as young children or even students who don’t want the gift swallowed up in an overdraft. It also overcomes growing concerns about the value of gift cards given the increasingly unstable retail environment that’s seen some of the UK’s biggest chain stores closing down and associated gift cards becoming useless.

David Tymm, CEO of i-movo Ltd, owners of cashgreeting, says, “These days present buying is becoming more and more complex. For grandparents or relations physically removed from the daily lives of loved ones, it’s often hard to know what their interests are. Giving cash as a gift ensures that the recipient is able to buy something they really want, and avoid disappointment. But with so many ways to send money – from PayPal, to online bank transfer, cheque and postal order – it’s hard to know which is the most useful and secure. Many have turned to retailers’ gift cards, but these are unregulated by the Financial Services Authority meaning that if the retailer fails, the funds on it are not protected. cashgreeting overcomes all these concerns by ensuring cash in hand for the recipient.”

Notes to editors:
• All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2071 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 14th – 16th November 2012. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

About cashgreeting:
cashgreeting is owned and operated by i-movo Limited, a secure digital voucher specialist. Since 2003, i-movo has processed over £30 million of vouchers for over six million consumers at over 30,000 retail locations across the UK, on behalf of many leading UK utility and financial companies. i-movo is registered with the Financial Services Authority and authorised to process ‘money remittances,’ the sending of funds between counterparties where the recipient does not require an account to claim the payment.

About PayPoint:
The PayPoint branded retail network across the UK numbers over 24,000 local shops (including Co-op, Spar, McColls, Costcutter, Sainsbury’s Local, One Stop, Asda, Londis and thousands of independents), where it processes energy meter pre-payments, cash bill payments, mobile phone top-ups, transport tickets, BBC TV licences and a wide variety of other payment types.PayPoint’s ATM network numbers more than 2,500 LINK-branded machines across the UK, mainly in the same sites as PayPoint terminals.

i-movo chief executive David Tymm hit the trade headlines earlier this month when the company’s secure digital voucher systems were taken up by two national newspaper publishers as the answer to the paper vouchers that have historically circulated in the newstrade. He believes there is more to come.

Trinity Mirror, the UK newspaper and magazine publisher behind the likes of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, has launched a new mobile app for Android and iOS called PaperPay, the first app from Trinity Mirror’s New Businesses team.

Trinity Mirror, the UK newspaper and magazine publisher behind the likes of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, has launched a new mobile app for Android and iOS called PaperPay, the first app from Trinity Mirror’s New Businesses team.

In a nutshell, PaperPay allows readers to buy newspapers with nothing more than their smartphone and a bar code on their screen that can be redeemed at participating PayPoint or Payzone terminal newsagents in exchange for a copy of their chosen newspaper.

While the the app is already live, the offer won’t begin until next Monday, 25 March. We’re told that it’s technically being piloted in London to begin with, but is actually available to 47,000 newsagents across the UK. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but suffice to say it’s going to be available at a newsagent near you shortly.

At launch, it will be restricted to only the Daily and Sunday Mirror, but will soon be opened up to all Trinity Mirror titles, and there’s even scope for the technology to be licenced to other UK publishing houses.

How it works

Subscribers simply go to their nearest participating newsagent, which the app shows on a map, and the e-voucher is redeemed for a copy of the selected paper.

While PaperPay is free to download, users must subscribe to the newspapers they wish to read, and this subscription generates a unique voucher/bar code that is displayed within the app.

Now, with the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) service, you won’t save anything on the cover price. So that’s all about the convenience – you won’t have to fiddle around with spare change to pay for it. But if you’re prepared to pay weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually, you could save yourself a few bucks. Subscriptions can only be made through the mobile app itself, using SMS, PayPal or credit/debit card.

For me, it would seem to have made more sense to include a barcode/QR code on the publication itself that lets users scan and pay without actually needing to queue at the checkout at all. Many newsagents already run a similar trust-based system, whereby particularly busy outlets let you drop your payment into a pot and leave immediately.

“PaperPay is convenient for the consumer and retailer alike,” says Matt Colebourne, Director of the New Business Division at Trinity Mirror. “The consumer can enjoy their daily paper, as usual, pay for it in a hassle-free way and make significant savings over time; the retailer receives full cover price direct to their bank account.”

Click below for link to website article
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/03/21/trinity-mirror-pilots-new-paperpay-app-letting-uk-readers-pay-for-newspapers-with-their-smartphone/

Trinity Mirror, the nationwide newspaper publisher, has released an application it claims will make it easier to purchase your daily paper from the newsagents.

PaperPay is a dedicated voucher-style app for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android that offers subscriptions to the company’s publications on a weekly, monthly or annual basis, or the user can sign up to a pay-as-you-go mode. Users can pay through credit/debit card, SMS or PayPal.

Whichever subscription taken, a barcode is sent to the app daily, which can then be scanned by any one of 47,000 participating newsagents up and down the UK. Once scanned from the smartphone, it will be registered by Trinity Mirror as used, and the shop owner will be credited payment directly to their bank account.

To begin with, the app can be used to purchase both the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror. Once the pilot phase is over, the publisher will introduce other Trinity Mirror titles. It also has plans to license the technology to other publishers.

PaperPay itself is free to download, and comes with five free copies of the Daily Mirror if installed before 25 April. Paying customers will also be entered into a weekly prize draw for the chance to win £100.

PaperPay is available from iTunes for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and Google Play for Android devices. You can find out more from paperpay.com.

Click below for link to website article
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50566/paperpay-pay-newspaper-iphone-android-mirror

The end of paper newspaper subscription vouchers is in sight as the Daily Mirror and the Financial Times have both launched trials of digital ways of paying newsagents for regular copies this week.

Attended by almost 1400, the eighth annual Card & Payments Awards once again proved to be a great occasion for almost all major players from the industry to come together to acknowledge and celebrate customer service, product innovation and general excellence.

The awards ceremony hosted by Alexander Armstrong followed a black tie dinner at The Grosvenor House Hotel. The event raised valuable funds for The Card & Payments Awards-nominated charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.

A wide range of companies from across the card and payments industry were up for a sought after winners trophy. The winners of the awards were spread throughout the industry and two companies gained a haul of three Awards each; American Express and Nationwide. Barclays Bank topped the Awards league table with four in total.

In the Best Alternative Payments Programme, i-movo won for its i-movo CashOut Digital Voucher system. The judges have recognised i-movo for its pioneering alternative payment system which brings an innovative and socially useful payment method to the UK.

A full list of winners is listed below:
• Best Card Design of the Year – Barclays Bank
• Best Card Benefits Programme of the Year- American Express
• Best Alternative Payments Programme – i-movo
• Best Overseas Payments Programme – Barclaycard US
• Best Charity Card Programme – Amnesty International and The Co-operative Bank
• Best Security or Anti-fraud Development – Capital One
• Best Corporate Social Responsibility Programme – American Express
• Best Technology Initiative of the Year- Acceptacard
• Best Business Card Programme – CorporatePay
• Best CRM Programme – Royal Bank of Scotland Group
• Best Achievement in Customer Service – Nationwide Building Society
• Lifetime Achievement Award – Ken Howes
• Best Marketing Campaign of the Year – Credit Cards – Tesco Bank
• Best Marketing Campaign of the Year – Other Payments Products – Barclays Bank
• Most Responsible Credit Card Lending Practices – Nationwide Building Society
• Best Industry Innovation of the Year – American Express
• Best Card Cross-selling Programme of the Year- The Co-operative Bank
• Best Initiative in Mobile Payments – Pingit
• Best Merchant Acquiring Initiative – Lloyds TSB Cardnet
• Best Affinity or Co-branded Card Programme- Asda & LaSer UK
• Best New Debit Card Product of the Year – M&S Bank
• Prepaid Card Product of the Year CitizenCard & Valitor
• Best New Credit Card Product of the Year – Nationwide Building Society
• Industry Personality of the Year – Colin Grannell

The independent judging panel of industry experts was chaired by Moneyfacts Group Chairman, John Woods. The judges were highly complimentary of the standard and range of entries from the industry and feel that this is indicative of the cachet that being shortlisted and indeed winning an Award can bring to individuals, teams and companies. It is good for the industry to be proud of its achievements, innovations and practices.

Martin Fielding, CEO of Card Partnerships (organisers of The Card & Payments Awards) comments: ‘We are delighted that The Card & Payments Awards have produced such great winners and finalists this year. The event continues to be a great showcase for innovation, customer service and best practice as well as the ‘go to’ networking event for UK & Irish payments industry.’

A couple of weeks ago Your Issue turned its attention to the vexed question of why newspapers had not come up with something a bit more 21st century than paper vouchers for rewarding and retaining loyal readers who like to pick up their papers at their local shop.

UK consumer payments network Payzone has rolled out i-movo’s Secure Digital Voucher across its entire estate of 19,000 terminals nationally, including Northern Ireland.

i-movo issue unique voucher codes and send them to consumers by mobile phone, email, direct mail or as payment cards. As each voucher transaction is checked electronically by the i-movo system at the time it is used, vouchers cannot be used more times than intended, making them suitable for a wide range of payment applications.

The full range of i-movo services, including CashOut payments, newspaper subscriptions and promotional vouchers, will now be available across the Payzone network, bringing the total UK coverage for i-movo to over 50,000 convenience retail locations.

According to the Institute of Grocery Distribution, convenience retailers now represent 20.8% of the total UK food and beverage retail market.

David Tymm, chief executive officer of i-movo, says: “The significance of expanding our footprint to include Payzone retailers is that UK local and convenience retailers are now a single addressable market for a number of sectors. Consumer brands wanting to issue vouchers for their products without the risk of overuse and fraud can now do so with confidence, companies looking to make convenient cash payments to their customers now have a cost-effective way to do so and newspapers can replace their existing paper-based subscription schemes in the retailers that account for the majority of their sales.”

http://www.promomarketing.info/digital/mobile/i-movo-mobile-coupons-extended-across-payzone-netw/17852

The growing trend of dual screening – consumers using devices such as laptops and smartphones while watching TV – is providing new opportunities for brands to increase engagement.

“…Grolsch also ran a campaign involving audience participation, using an incentive-based scheme. The interactive video and mobile experience encouraged consumers to text a virtual character named Journt, who was ‘apprehending felons’ at a bar. He puts his business card on the counter and a voiceover invites viewers to text in with their name, which is then shown live in the video. Journt replies via text to say either that he recognises the name or that he does not remember the viewer and to try again. If Journt recognises the name, he says he will buy the person a Grolsch and he or she is sent a digital voucher.”

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/strategies-and-tactics/seeing-double-online-and-offline-integration/4004586.article

This Grolsch multi-screen campaign is an interesting example of extending a TVC into interactive an online video and mobile experience, that in turn drives retail foot traffic.

Starting with a TVC introducing a bold character, the ad then challenges you to go online to continue the conversation.

Users are then introduced to the character more personally over a beer and are asked to text him their name in real-time as the online video plays… For users who’s name the character recognises, he sends them back a text message, literally buying them a beer in real life, with the text linking straight to a coupon code and store finder to claim. Created by the BMB Agency.

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/grolsch-beer-interactive-multi-screen-ad-experience/