Idomoo sees sales soar as businesses turn to personal videos

By Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Banks, insurers, utilities andretailers are boosting customer loyalty by sending outpersonalised videos instead of a monthly bill or statement,using technology provided by Israel's Idomoo.

Idomoo's technology can take any video in any language andpersonalise it in seconds, so that it contains each customer'srelevant information. The videos explain anything from a monthlyelectric bill to a quarterly pension fund statement and can alsobe used to welcome new clients or send birthday greetings.

"As a customer it makes you feel good that this bank,insurer or telecom provider is treating you as an individual,"Idomoo's chief executive Eitan Fogel said in an interview. "Weare going back to a more natural way of communication."

Customers include telecom companies Vodafone, FranceTelecom's Orange and Telia Sonera, banks Credit Agricole and BNPParibas, insurer Generali, cable company Liberty Global and mostof the major telecom operators in the United States as well aslarge retail networks.

Videos, which can greet a customer by name, are sent byemail or text message with a link to a web page.

"By 2015 I believe most of the communication betweenorganisations and customers will be done like this. Customerswon't be willing to get any more boring impersonalcommunications," Fogel said.

Idomoo, which last month won a prize sponsored by U.S.retailer Target Corp, is also in talks with retailers tooffer coupons or discounts to loyalty club members who receivetheir statements by video.

The company, which competes with U.S.-Israeli SundaySky,began selling its technology in 2012, when it had severalmillion dollars in revenue. It expects this to grow by 300percent to double-digit millions of dollars in 2013.

"In 2014 we see sales eight times that of today and in threeyears from now we expect to have sales of $100 million," Fogelsaid, adding the company will be profitable by the end of 2013.

Fogel said many service providers are trying to move theircustomers from paper statements to digital communication to cutcosts and help the environment. Idomoo's video technology hashelped more than double the registration rate for electronicbilling services at its customers, he said.

Idomoo has begun partnering with WPP's Ogilvy &Mather in several countries and is in discussions with other adagencies. The agencies would develop videos for their clientsand use Idomoo's technology to personalise them.

"Because of our open technology we can work with any agency.We are not a threat to digital agencies," Fogel said.

The next phase will be personalised television commercials,though this will depend on deployment of TV over the Internet,or IPTV. It is already working with Portugal Telecom onpersonalised commercials for its IPTV service.