Soundpays is a mobile engagement solution utilizing patented ultrasonic sound technology to enable a real-time, “actionable”, and “shoppable” experience. It digitally connects a mobile device to traditional media (T.V., radio, OOH) to offer real-time responses to calls-to-action and single-touch purchases directly from the content that viewers are watching or listening to.
In stadiums, retail locations, or on the go, users can download coupons or make direct, “in-the-moment” purchases from screens or sound systems. Viewers can do the same at home from T.V. or radio broadcasts.
In all environments, the solution generates new levels of attribution data, including customer interest and intent-to-purchase measurements.
Our Mission is to enable our B2B customers to provide a direct-to-consumer B2C service whereby their users/viewers/listeners can now interact with traditional media in an online-like manner while fully mobile and in real-time. This ultimately gives users and audiences the ability to engage with advertising content in what marketers refer to as the “Power-of-the-Moment” to enable “see now…buy now” digital shopping experiences.
Tell us about yourself?
This is my fourth startup in Canada. All of which we built into companies of greater than 400 employees prior to being acquired. Two of those companies held successful IPOs on the TSX. In between these startup initiatives, I served as COO of AOL Canada and GM of Ericsson Canada. It turns out that my true love is startups. I joined Soundpays after seeing a technology demonstration as I immediately recognized the tremendous potential of such a solution.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Have the patience to wait out the pandemic instead of trying to push through sales in environments where all of our target sectors were retrenching. Of course, back in 2020, nobody foresaw a pandemic that impacted physical retail, live events, and advertising for such a prolonged period.
What problem does your business solve?
Three problems:
- Traditional media is losing market share to online advertising because it is not able to provide advertisers with the depth of shopper data that is generated from online sites.
- Tightening of privacy laws and actions taken by Apple/Google have made it difficult for advertisers to generate the type of data that is typically used for directed advertising.
- Retailers are increasingly seeking to meld online and physical-world shopping experiences.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
We want to make all content, traditional or online, engageable and interactable. We believe that whenever one sees or hears something of interest, no matter where one is, one should be able to digitally connect and interact with that content in the moment. We are solving the above-listed problems for advertisers, retailers, and media channels/properties that generate revenue from advertisers.
What is your magic sauce?
Our patents which enable us to harness ultrasonic sound wave technology to create that real-time, second-screen interactive experience while watching or listening to traditional media.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We seek to establish ourselves with a select few key “marquee” accounts in the sectors that we target (T.V./radio broadcasters, malls and major retailers, major brands with a popular app, sports franchises, and live entertainment companies) over the next year. Once launches are in-play and metrics are being generated, we plan to leverage these early successes by proliferating to all major players in each of these sectors. By five years, we aspire to have a dominant presence with the market leaders in each sector in North America, Europe, and major countries in the other continents.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The pandemic severely impacted our early momentum, all of which was in the retail and live event space. We have had to go back almost to square one with many of our accounts. Pandemic notwithstanding, the single biggest issue that we have faced is having our B2B customers integrate our technology into their apps or wallets. Even though the actual integration is fast and straightforward, the internal process of getting business approval to add to an enterprise app is often a lengthy one, which has led to long sales cycles.
How can people get involved?
If you are a major advertiser and would like to see higher-value returns and data generated from your content, or if you operate a media channel/network (broadcast T.V./radio/streaming, DOOH or OOH, in-store/mall media, sports franchise, or live entertainment company) and would like to be able to offer a higher-value advertising opportunity for customers, please contact us at info@soundpays.com or sales@soundpays.com. We would be happy to elaborate on our solution and the opportunities we can provide.