ATM Advertising Patented by Diebold

You can file this under the “just what we needed” category.  Yes, more advertising will be thrust upon us as it seems thanks to Diebold, Incorporated, who announced on September 25, 2008, that they had received seven patents on software that will transform automated teller machines (ATMs) into revenue-generating business tools.  Said another way, Diebold is going to bring us a world full of ATMs that spew advertising as we are trying to pay needless fees to access our own money at ATMs all over the country!  Perhaps I am a little pessimistic about all of this, but advertising seems to be penetrating every aspect of life and I will certainly have a problem with paying a fee and having advertising reeled out to me as I am trying to access my own money!  Hopefully this won’t go the way of the DVD, where you have to listen to the ads for movies before you even get to the movie you rented or payed for.  That would be horrible.  Go to an ATM for some quick cash and not be able to proceed to withdraw funds and pay an exorbitant fee without first watching some advertising.  Hopefully there will be a “skip” button or something to save us all!

In any event, one of four integral components of the recently patented software, known as Campaign Office software, can help financial institutions realize a significant return on their ATM investment by delivering one-to-one marketing messages to every customer at every ATM location, at any time. Campaign Office can increase the institution’s connection with its customers by enhancing interactivity and personalizing the ATM experience, while strengthening its brand.

“The Campaign Office patents underscore our position as an innovator breaking new ground in the very competitive financial services industry. Diebold’s versatility in developing unique solutions in hardware, software and services is one of our major strengths,” said Charles E. Ducey, Jr., senior vice president, global development and services, Diebold. “For financial institutions, the level of personalization this software offers can help differentiate them from the competition and have a greater, more lasting impression on both consumer and business customers.”

Through Web browser-based screens within Windows(R)-based ATM networks, Campaign Office uses customer demographics and account information to deliver dynamic marketing messages that are fresh and relevant to the user. The software’s server includes a database of current customer information as well as a table that defines marketing screens and messages for non-customers. This enables financial institutions to present a student loan offer to a college student, interest rates on luxury car loans to business professionals, renewal rates to consumers with expiring CD terms and targeted messages to non-customers.

Campaign Office enables ATMs to be personalized by the financial institution to support specific locales, unique backgrounds, a number of languages and informational and branded service messages. Additionally, because the software’s graphical interface is separate from the ATM’s screen content, financial institutions can offer their customers the freedom to make choices in message delivery, including language, fast-cash amounts and receipt or no receipt transactions.

“Customers are accustomed to personalized communications through the multitude of advances in multimedia. With the implementation of Campaign Office, financial institutions can capitalize on those extremely valuable moments at the ATM when customers become a captive audience,” Ducey said. “Delivering the right message at the right time can invite customers into the branch to acquire additional products and services, helping increase positive teller-customer interaction.”

In addition to delivering targeted marketing to customers, Campaign Office offers financial institutions access to valuable information through reports that provide usage patterns, customer responses from campaigns, a list of non-customers using the ATMs, the status of message delivery and more, allowing financial institutions to calculate their return on investment at the ATM. Campaign Office also enables financial institutions to modify customer campaigns as-needed, which increases the campaigns’ effectiveness.