An advertising sales professional in the aviation arena, Chris Salem (CS) understands the airline-industry advertising environment as well as anyone. Last year he became an investor in JETERA and since then has closely monitored the company’s progress positioning itself within the merger-and-acquisition-hotbed of the online advertising segment. I (TL) connected with him on my most recent trip to Danbury, Connecticut, the location of both Chris’s office and JETERA’s current headquarters.

TL: Chris, you see the steady migration of advertisers and agency media buys to online channels every day. How do you see this trend affecting JETERA?

CS: I see JETERA as ahead of the curve in this trend and well-positioned with its unique approach to 1to1 segmentation and ROI-driven pricing. Advertisers in the B2C (Business-to-Consumer) space are constantly seeking channels, as many as possible that can be used in concert, that will help them generate the optimal mix and most cost-effective response levels from the recipients of their messages. By cost effective I mean that the ratio of new customers or sales, to the cost of acquiring them, constantly improves. I believe response is likely to be better with the JETERA option than with any other segmentation and delivery choice.

TL: So it’s all about advertising efficiency?

CS: In part, yes. But it’s about other things, too. Along with improving ROI, advertisers also want to increase brand awareness and intensify customer loyalty. Those are different metrics and may be more critical in the long run than efficiency measured just by itself at a single point in time. While CPA is still important, advertisers are now interested in identifying channels that can deliver the content most relevant to the individuals in their target groups—and do it with a very personalized touch. These are factors that can really impact brand awareness and loyalty.

TL: You’re convinced JETERA will be able to do this better than others in this space?

CS: I’m betting on it. I’m excited about what I see coming in the online advertising industry. I see consumers taking much greater control over the information they receive and who they receive it from. JETERA has the opportunity to build trust with consumers that will help advertisers improve relationships with their best customers and prospects. JETERA has the ability to protect consumers in the B2C and B2B segments from receiving information they really don’t want or are unlikely to want. In this way, JETERA gains an identity as part of the team that acts as a huge spam filter for people, so they are not overwhelmed with unwanted ads, while insuring that the information that is important to them gets through. Advertisers who sign on with JETERA will no longer need to use a mass marketing, shot-gun approach of the same message to a diverse population. It will become part of the trend that is ushering in much greater precision and message relevance. As part of this trend, JETERA will help set the new standards and expectations for this type of advertising.

TL: How will JETERA do all this?

CS: It’s all in the quality of the segmentation and the ability to digitize information and get it to the right place at the right time. The trend of advertising in this direction, online, mobile, and in the airline-industry space is awesome. Everything is converging on a global system that can deliver digital information via multiple channels. Just look at what companies such as Google, Enpocket, Mobile and Jiwire, all the activity in revolutionizing in-flight entertainment, Wi-Fi networks and an avalanche of emerging Web 2.0 services, are doing. Although advertising will never totally migrate away from traditional print, point-of-purchase and broadcast channels, the growth potential for digital distribution is where all the growth will be. I believe consumers, who now see plenty of ads they don’t care about, will be grateful to see many fewer ads, but ones that are really on target with their interests. When consumers understand the control they have, they’ll be adapters of this new approach.

TL: What kind of operating environment does this digital world create for advertisers and agencies?

CS: Both groups now have an opportunity to upgrade the effectiveness of the content that will resonate with their core audience segments. They’ll be able to craft ads in a more personalized way. Using 1to1 thinking across multiple channels, rolled out correctly, which is to say not overused, can create a closer relationship and more brand loyalty between the advertisers and their customers. This is the world JETERA is moving into and bringing with it some unique capabilities.

TL: What kind of new relationships are likely to develop among advertisers, media and other players?

CS: We are already seeing many companies emerge that give advertisers a fresh way to reach well-defined segments through specialized channels. The action is actually furious, as these barely born companies are snapped up or merge and get aggregated into bigger companies who are looking for unique ways to crash into this new marketplace. For example, companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are buying companies that specialize in certain channels either through their marketing or technological expertise, or for their unique capabilities or patents.

TL: Is it all about advertising?

CS: I think it is. Advertising revenue driven by new-found effectiveness is the big prize. Advertisers everywhere will be looking to exploit media companies that offer access to or improved use of a portfolio of channels that can deliver highly targeted content of great relevancy to their audience. Again, JETERA has unique properties to its capabilities that can make it a potent partner for players in the digital distribution arena.

TL: What is the mix of players that will provide a good fit with JETERA’s capabilities?

CS: All the travel companies, such as airlines, hotels, time shares, car renters, cruise ship lines, destinations regional travel associations and so on. Another group of players are the old and new media channel “owners,” as well as the old and new advertisers. JETERA has a unique capability to address chronic advertising efficiency and ROI accountability issues. With its ability to work across multiple channels, JETERA offers a new level marketing and business development potential. Right now, JETERA has the ability to make any digital advertising channel more efficient. That’s where the company’s opportunities lie at the moment: partnering with strategic companies that specialize in mobile delivery, web delivery, email delivery, dvd/video delivery and so on. New media created by these service providers will enable them to enhance the menu of options they can offer advertisers. In just a few short years, the Web 2.0 world can substantially change where media is bought and placed and how the most effective advertising is achieved.

Chet Geveda (CG) is JETERA’s CFO. During 2Q07 Chet was an airline passenger to Greece, Italy, Monaco, Scotland, California and Bermuda. In the process, he has become an up-to-the-minute critic of some of the things that result in customer dissatisfaction when flying. I (TL) connected with him on the eve of his next round of travel to develop this report.

TL: Chet, as a member of the JETERA team, all your travels are a form of research. What are you learning that can help connect JETERA to travelers?

CG: I think I’m an experienced traveler, which means I strive to travel as light as possible. This is not just a matter of lugging too many heavy possessions through an airport, but also the scramble and inconveniences of security processing and restricted space in aircraft. Despite my desire to travel light, the lack of options force me to load up on things to keep my mind occupied when flying and waiting.

TL: Lack of options?

CG: Airlines offer an extremely limited array of options for their customers. Entertainment options are very restricted—just a couple of movies I usually have already seen or don’t want to see and the inflight magazine and shopping catalog. This would be OK if I only flew the NYC-DC shuttle, but I take a lot of long flights and that really exposes the problem.

TL: How do you describe the problem?

CG: I see the problem the same way virtually every other traveler sees it. It’s this: we live in a world of almost boundless options for entertainment, education, communication, information-gathering and productivity tools. Yet most of these are unavailable when traveling. I feel cut off and, worse, I know it doesn’t have to be this way.

TL: Chet, we’re all pretty used to this. Aren’t most travelers resigned to traveling this way?

CG: Yes, but I think they get less resigned every day and here’s why. The combination of growing passenger traffic, intense security and air-traffic-control pressures are conspiring to get us to the airport earlier and forcing us to spend more time waiting in the terminal, on the tarmac and in the air. For many, this adds up to a lot of wasted time, which produces frustrations and dissatisfactions. I think we are all ready for a change for the better.

TL: So you’re saying JETERA can be the antidote for all this dissatisfaction?

CG: To a great degree, yes. The reason is that time passes quickly when we are engaged with something that interests us, such as reading a book, seeing a movie or communicating with the office or family when we’re locked into the travel process. But beyond this, why should I have to carry a laptop, I-pod, DVD player, books and magazines when most of this material is available digitally. Why can’t my preferred forms of entertain, communication and productivity tools just be there for me and for anyone who wants it? The technology exists, yet not for air travelers.

TL: Airlines historically lose a dollar a year per passenger providing entertainment. Is this the barrier?

CG: In part. The bigger issue is radical change—even when there is the certainty of making a million dollars or more in free cash flow for an aircraft with 100-plus seats after the first full year of operation. This will take a bit of time to ramp up, but it’s a certainty, not a promise. Meanwhile, two million daily US passengers don’t have options for much greater satisfaction when traveling.

TL: Won’t this situation change as soon as JETERA is providing travelers with more options and advertisers with better focused media?

CG: You bet it will. My job is to make sure that happens as soon as possible so all of us can throw away our frustrations and unnecessary baggage when traveling and stay connected to all the things that matter to us.

Retired CEO and veteran Board of Directors member, Bob LeBlanc (BL) sized up the potential of JETERA early, becoming an investor in 2006. This month Bob joined JETERA’s Board of Advisors. Tim Libby (TL) interviewed the Ridgefield, Connecticut-resident to learn about his plans for making his presence felt in the JETERA venture.

TL: You have extensive business and boardroom experience. How will you put that experience to work as a member of JETERA’s Board of Advisors?

BL: Much of my career focused on developing and growing businesses for my companies. You develop a business by figuring out what your customers need or want and by delivering them a product or service at a price that generates profit for your shareholders. Our initial efforts will benefit from this skill.

TL: In your experience, what does it take to get people to buy?

BL: You have to understand the value your product or service provides. Then you need to communicate and demonstrate that value in easily understood messages. Do these steps right and they buy. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

TL: What kind of value does JETERA offer?

BL: You could sum it up as a “brand new,” “better” and “more efficient” way to advertise.

TL: Can you expand on this for us?

BL: Yes. The JETERA concept is entirely new for everyone involved in the delivery chain and it offers a better way to get a number of things done. For example, it’s new and more efficient for advertisers because of higher relevancy and precision and timing features. It’s new and better for consumers because it can deliver content of interest, while filtering out the junk. It’s new and better for businesses because it opens up partnering opportunities and media channels for delivering messages, products and services. And it offers a new and more efficient tool for performing market analysis and research for new-product development and customer relations. There is enormous potential value within these capabilities.

TL: How fast will “brand new,” “better” and “more efficient” lead to success?

BL: As with any new, disruptive technology, JETERA forces decisions to abandon old ways and adopt new ones. And that’s a challenge. Change is not always embraced, but our competitive advantage is that we are first in a lot of things.


TL: What are the firsts you see?

BL: JETERA is the first to discover the value of combining reservation data of any type with data-rich demographic information. The idea is so original it’s patentable, somewhat like Priceline’s concept that resulted in a systems-and-methods patent.

TL: Other firsts?

BL: It’s the first, true, integrated set of media with a one-to-one focus delivered by a single provider. JETERA will serve a mass market of highly selected customers and prospects. This provides advertisers campaign continuity, broad coverage and waste-free accuracy. Advertisers will pay a premium for that. Every recipient will be demographically or circumstantially appropriate for every message he or she receives. JETERA’s is a “Blue Ocean” concept. The company has no competitor that can approach the scope and uniqueness of its offering.

TL: Why is being first important?

BL: Being the “first mover” with a new idea is a critical success factor. It helps to be the one who invented the idea. It helps even more to have a patent pending. And it helps to have a management team with the skill-set to tackle the array of challenges a startup faces. JETERA has these things going for it.

TL: How do you plan to help speed the success of JETERA?

BL: I’ve served on a number of boards, I’ve been a CEO and I have helped build and grow businesses and make them profitable. JETERA has an exciting journey ahead. Success in business is seldom a mistake. You must be methodical, intelligent, patient and willing to take risks. I have been impressed with the caliber of the JETERA management team from the start. They have a great mix of skills and I plan to add my experience and my skills to the mix.

Author, consultant, speaker, marketing thought leader, Don Peppers (DP) is an acknowledged pioneer in the field of one-to-one marketing. The 8 books he has written or co-authored have sold more than a million copies in 15 languages. Don just joined the Board of Advisors of JETERA™ Precision Media. Tim Libby (TL) caught up with him yesterday to explore his perceptions about the world of one-to-one marketing and the JETERA venture. Here’s the result.

TL: You’ve been a leader in the trend away from non-personalized and toward highly personalized communication. What’s the status of this trend?

DP: One-to-one has always been the most productive way to communicate for obvious reasons. It will continue to raise its profile as the gold standard of effectiveness, because it is in step with a host of trends.

TL: “Host of trends”?

DP: Yes. First, of course, everything is driven by the plummeting cost of information processing and communications technology. New technologies, from the database to the Web, have radically streamlined the efficiency with which an individual consumer and marketer can communicate. But let’s talk first about consumers, and their point of view. It ought to be obvious that they have a strong desire to avoid irrelevant and “time-wasting” messages, but they also have a desire not to filter out messages that are relevant and important to their own individual wants and needs. Couple this set of desires with the fact that consumers are demanding—and getting—greater control over their exposure to advertising. In addition, they are constantly demanding more choices from advertisers, who are increasingly customizing messages and offers to the needs of individuals, or at least to the needs of smaller and smaller segments of customers. One size no longer fits all—if it ever did.

TL: Second trend?

DP: Marketers. They’ve got their own changes underway on the flip side of this trend. I want to say upfront that the flip side is no longer focused primarily on cost and efficiency. Instead, it has become an issue of managing individual customer relations. Savvy marketers and advertisers are looking for ways to stop sending messages to people who will never buy from them—not so much to improve cost-per-thousand metrics, but rather because it is to everyone’s great advantage to stop bombarding consumers with irrelevant ads. Irrelevant ads waste the advertiser’s money, yes – but they also burn out the advertisers’ customers, de-sensitizing them to all ads, even the ones that are more relevant to them, individually. Advertising effectiveness will improve as a result of uncluttering the ad environment—and sending only customized, personalized, and relevant messages to people, in channels that still have the reach provided by mass media—well, that combination has always been the Holy Grail for advertisers.

TL: Third?

DP: Media. Old media are exploring new ways to identify and deliver messages to recipients who will take action. Magazines with a highly targeted readership, such as golfers or sailors or gourmet cooks, connect advertisers with prospective customers more efficiently than less customer-specific vehicles. But this is a very low level of one-to-one, because within even the smallest segment or community of customers you’ll find individuals with different psychologies, wants, needs, levels of disposable income, preferred price points, brand loyalty, etc., etc. Old media’s effort is a step in the right direction, but only goes a short distance toward fulfilling the promise of truly customized, one-to-one marketing.

TL: Have we run out of trends?

DP: Not quite. I’d add one more. This is the emerging group of entrepreneurs who are striving to set up what we might call new, technology-enabled, partnership-based media. JETERA Precision Media fits into this category. This is an unfolding scenario. You know it is happening when you see how a company with a new idea about using technology can change things. Entire new industries have sprung up to exploit the capabilities of new technologies, such as the Worldwide Web, cell phones, Blackberries, RFID chips, and so on. With JETERA’s disruptive technology, we hope that new partnerships will enable businesses such as hotels, airlines, rental car companies—anyone, in fact, who books a reservation—to gain access to an entirely new multi-channel, integrated type of marketing tool. But to call it an “advertising medium” is like calling the Web an “electronic catalog.” What Jetera and similar new ventures are trying to do really is to set up match-making platforms with mass reach, hooking up consumers with both the content and advertising messages that they will find individually compelling.

TL: An airline we’re talking to called JETERA the ‘anti-spam.’ Is that accurate?

DP: That’s a great way to characterize the system. It goes back to my comment about the importance of uncluttering the messages sent to consumers. This one-to-one medium will allow precision placement of perfectly timed ads. Relevancy like that was unheard of until now.

TL: For true one-to-one marketing, how in-depth do you need to go?

DP: True one-to-one marketing connects with the individual like an old friend. It personally connects with the individual by delivering content that particular individual likes, wants and is always interested in. In my case that might include articles on new discoveries and theories in science, fiction by Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiassen, or perhaps Cajun music. My guess is your interests would be different.

TL: So this system is an example of a tool for achieving better CRM [Customer Relationship Management]?

DP: Definitely. As a founder of the one-to-one marketing philosophy, I know the importance of that shift, especially for a company like JETERA. The biggest obstacle is likely to be educating marketers and advertisers with respect to why they would want this new capability, how they can use it, and how to measure the benefits of it. We can explain it easily and logically, but there are decades of process and routine to be surmounted!

TL: Lastly, as a member of JETERA’s Board of Advisors, what do you hope to contribute to the startup?

DP: Jetera has a great business proposition, but to turn that into a great business requires great execution and a dose of luck as well. I’ve launched several businesses myself in my career. Now I personally think they all had great business propositions, but frankly most of them didn’t succeed. That’s just the way innovation goes – there are hundreds of pitfalls in launching a business. So I’m hopeful that I can improve Jetera’s chances not just by lending my insight into the one-to-one philosophy and consumer proposition, but also by helping them to avoid some of the mistakes that others (including me) have made in the past.

Jon Armstrong (JA) is VP at JETERA™ Precision Media. Prior to joining JETERA, Jon was Director, Strategic Planning at Lockheed Martin. There he was responsible for business integration, strategic direction and growth. One of his first tasks at JETERA is to upgrade the company’s website (http://www.jetera1to1.com/). Tim Libby (TL) interviews.

TL: Why is JETERA upgrading its website?

JA: We are a Web 2.0-type enterprise. We’re developing partnerships based on an in-the-moment, highly personalized media capability that will handle terabytes of content. Our website—a fundamental communications tool for us—needs to establish our brand, properly project our identity, and promote understanding of the exceptional value we’ll deliver to partners and consumers.

TL: What are the site’s objectives?

JA: First, create awareness for JETERA. Second, crystallize our brand’s identity. And third, build a forum to broadcast our progress. But most important, we need to show how we are going to create an enormous amount of currently untapped value for a number of big market segments. By doing these things, people will understand who we are, what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.

TL: You’ve just given me my next three questions. How do you define JETERA Precision Media – Who are you?

JA: I tell people JETERA is a brand new, awesomely integrated, multimedia capability. Our system will give advertisers insight, precision and timing features that represent an order-of-magnitude improvement over what existed before. And it will do this on a mass scale. It will offer businesses never-before-available ways to connect with ONLY the people who are ideal recipients for their messages. This new system will deliver higher levels of efficiency, ROI and performance-measurement capabilities than any alternative media buy, because it engages recipients in an entirely new way. The JETERA system will deliver the first, true, one-to-one communications channel with mass marketing reach. In the process, it will offer tremendous value to businesses and consumers.

TL: What exactly is JETERA doing right now?

JA: Simultaneously, we’re completing the second tranche of our seed-fund round, we’re working to bring our launch customer on board, negotiating with strategic partners, populating a board of advisors, setting up our initial headquarters in Connecticut and building a system to make the concept operational.

TL: How soon will you be announcing the achievement milestones?

JA: Check the news page on our temporary website (http://www.jeterapm.com/) to see what we’ll be posting shortly. And check it frequently over the next few weeks. We’ll be making news on number of these points in the near future.

James Arado (JA) is a principal at Geneva Investment Management (GIM), a Chicago-based financial services company with $2.5 billion under management. GIM does not invest in startups as a matter of corporate policy. However, Jim is a personal investor. Tim Libby (TL) posted the interview.

TL: Jim, what makes JETERA an attractive investment?

JA: JETERA can alter the way the game is played. To me, that’s key. It has the potential to change the way companies advertise products.

TL: Change in what way?

JA: JETERA is creating a new, qualitatively different combination of communications channels. There’s already a trend away from established media to the Internet. JETERA is being built on the promise of a combination of channels, enhanced by significantly more precise targeting, in step with this trend.

TL: Qualitatively different?

JA: Same message, different media, all from one source and with advertising continuity. That means direct mail, airport kiosks, cell phones, laptops, seat-back screens and other in-airport delivery mechanisms, giving each individual more relevant ads.

TL: How important is “more relevant”?

JA: Very. Because the JETERA system combines in-depth customer knowledge with planned travel information, advertisers really know who they are talking to. That can really change the impact of the message, because it is so highly personalized and relevant to each individual. This hasn’t been possible before. JETERA is making this possible.

TL: Anything else?

JA: Yes. We are talking potentially large situations. Millions of people fly everyday, make hotel reservations every day, plan car rentals everyday, make other kinds of reservations every day. Ultimately, this can be a huge enterprise. Advertisers and digital content providers would be crazy not to want to be a part of this.

TL: How big is the potential for JETERA?

JA: Who knows at this stage? Big ideas like ATMs changed the way people get cash. Microsoft changed the way the world creates and shares data. The Internet changed the way we all communicate and do business. All I know is that when an idea can change the way people do things, like advertise more effectively, enjoy in-flight entertainment or do different kinds of business tasks, it has the potential to be big.

TL: Is there anything else you like about JETERA?

JA: Yes. It’s got a patent pending, uses already-proven technology and is not wildly capital intensive. It’s worth a bet.

2006 was an exciting year for JETERA™ Precision Media.
We have been building a world-class team of professionals to effectively position JETERA in the marketplace. Here is a recap of our progress to date:

So far, we have hired:

Chet Geveda (Former CFO of Dun and Bradstreet) - CFO
Tom Kriz (Former VP of Finance at the American Tobacco Co.) - VP Business Development
Robert Messinger (Former owner of a one-to-one marketing business) - Director - Direct Marketing
Jon Armstrong (Former Director-Strategic Planning at Lockheed Martin)- Vice President
Jim Mahoney (Former VP of Strategic Alliances at Experian) - VP Strategic Alliances & Product Marketing – Data


So far, we have partnered with:

e-JITI (Electronic Just In Time Information - Provider of Electronic Flight Bags to cockpits)
RNM Entertprises (Orlando-based hotel and hospitality business)
Stratigent Inc. (Ft. Lauderdale-based Strategic Knowledge company specializing in development solutions for the Aviation, Maritime and Security industries)

We have also had dozens of publicity placements, both online and in print, for which there are hyperlinks in the right-hand column.

Thank you for your interest and please visit back with us soon.