NEON: Breaking Free from Big AdTech with an Open Collaborative Network

Published January 25, 2025

1

Customer Outreach – 1

Brands face a fundamental challenge in effectively reaching their existing customers. In an increasingly competitive landscape, where customer retention and engagement are critical to profitability, brands often rely on several mechanisms for outreach. Here is a list of ten that I came up with, working with ChatGPT and Claude.

1. Push Channels
2. Organic Customer Action
3. Paid Channels
4. Social Media
5. Loyalty and Membership Programs
6. Word of Mouth and Referrals
7. Partnerships and Affiliates
8. Content Marketing
9. Events and Community Engagement
10. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

While each has its merits, they also come with significant limitations that make it difficult to achieve meaningful, scalable, and sustainable engagement. Below is an assessment of each of these methods.

1. Push Channels: Direct Outreach via Emails, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, Notifications, and In-App Messaging/Web Push Notifications

Push channels allow brands to target specific customers with personalised messages. They are often used for promotions, updates, or transactional communications.

Strengths:

• Direct Targeting: Messages can be tailored to individual customer preferences and behaviours.
• Multi-Channel Options: Brands can use multiple formats, increasing the likelihood of engagement.
• Immediate, Contextual, Personalized: In-app messaging and web push notifications deliver timely and relevant content directly within the user experience.

Problems:

• Inbox Overload: Customers are bombarded with messages daily, leading to lower open rates and engagement.
• One-Way Communication: Most push messages are non-interactive and do not foster meaningful conversations.
• Spam Risk: Poorly targeted or excessive messaging can annoy customers, leading to unsubscribes or spam complaints.
• Fragmentation: Managing multiple channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp) requires significant coordination and resources.
• Opt-In Requirements: In-app messaging and web push notifications rely on app installation or web opt-ins, which can limit reach.
• Ease of Disabling: Users can quickly disable notifications, reducing long-term effectiveness.

2. Organic Customer Action: Customers Coming to Brand Properties

This is the ideal scenario: customers visit a brand’s website or app proactively, seeking information or making a purchase. It requires no immediate action from the brand and relies entirely on customer memory and intent.

Strengths:

• Effortless for Brands: Requires no active outreach.
• High Intent: Customers visiting voluntarily are more likely to convert.

Problems:

• Passive Dependence: The brand has no control over when or if a customer will return.
• Low Engagement: Customers may forget about the brand amidst competing priorities and distractions.
• Missed Opportunities: Without proactive engagement, brands lose the chance to upsell, cross-sell, or deepen relationships at key moments.

3. Paid Channels: Ads on Google, Meta, and Other Platforms

Paid advertising remains a dominant strategy for customer outreach, allowing brands to reach specific audiences through targeted campaigns.

Strengths:

• Scalable: Paid ads can reach millions of users quickly.
• Precise Targeting: Platforms offer advanced targeting options.

Problems:

• High Costs: Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) continue to rise, making it expensive to reach even existing customers.
• AdWaste: Brands often pay to reacquire customers they already have, leading to inefficiencies.
• Lack of Ownership: Brands are dependent on external platforms, which control the customer data and interaction.
• Privacy Concerns: Customers are increasingly wary of ads driven by invasive tracking and third-party cookies.

4. Social Media: Engagement via Platforms like Instagram, X, TikTok, and Others

Social media platforms provide a way to engage customers in public or semi-private spaces, often through posts, stories, or direct messages.

Strengths:

• Broad Reach: Social platforms have massive user bases.
• Content Versatility: Brands can use a mix of text, images, and videos.

Problems:

• Limited Targeting: While some targeting options exist, social media primarily serves broader audiences rather than specific customers.
• Algorithm Dependency: Brands are at the mercy of platform algorithms, which determine how many followers see their content.
• Ephemeral Impact: Social media posts have a short lifespan, often disappearing from customer feeds within hours.
• Costly to Scale: Running effective campaigns requires continuous investment in content creation and promotion.

5. Loyalty and Membership Programs

Brands use rewards and incentives to retain and reactivate existing customers, often tying these to ongoing purchases or engagement.

Strengths:

• Retention-Driven: Encourages repeat purchases and brand loyalty.
• Customisable: Programs can be tailored to specific customer needs.

Problems:

• Engagement Plateau: Many loyalty programs fail to sustain interest after the initial excitement.
• Low Differentiation: Customers often see loyalty programs as generic and transactional.
• Complexity: Managing and scaling a loyalty program can be resource-intensive.

2

Customer Outreach – 2

6. Word of Mouth and Referrals

Customers recommend the brand to others organically or through structured referral programs. This can include friends, family, or colleagues sharing their experiences.

Strengths:

• Highly Trusted: Recommendations from peers carry significant credibility.
• Low Cost: Organic referrals often require minimal investment.

Problems:

• Unpredictable: Difficult to scale or control as it relies on customer goodwill.
• Limited Reach: Only as effective as the size and engagement of the customer base.
• Dependent on Incentives: Structured referral programs often require discounts or rewards, cutting into margins.

7. Partnerships and Affiliates

Brands collaborate with affiliate marketers, influencers, or complementary businesses to reach their customers.

Strengths:

• Access to New Audiences: Partners can extend a brand’s reach.
• Performance-Based: Affiliates often earn based on results, aligning incentives.

Problems:

• Variable Quality: Results depend heavily on the quality of the partner and their audience.
• Costly: Affiliate fees or influencer payments can quickly escalate.
• Lack of Direct Control: The partner owns the relationship with their audience, not the brand.

8. Content Marketing

Brands create valuable content (blogs, videos, podcasts, guides) to educate and engage customers.

Strengths:

• Builds Trust: Positions the brand as an expert.
• SEO Benefits: Generates organic inbound traffic over time.

Problems:

• Slow Burn: Takes time to generate results and impact ROI.
• Limited Reach: Content needs strong distribution strategies to reach existing customers.
• Effort-Intensive: Requires consistent production and high-quality content to maintain relevance.

9. Events and Community Engagement

Brands organise events (physical or virtual) or build communities around their products or values.

Strengths:

• Personal Touch: Creates direct, memorable interactions.
• Brand Loyalty: Strengthens emotional connections.

Problems:

• High Effort and Cost: Events require significant planning and resources.
• Limited Scalability: Events and communities often engage only a subset of the customer base.
• Retention Risks: Sustaining interest in a community over time can be challenging.

10. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Optimising a brand’s website to appear in organic search results, enabling customers to find the brand easily when they search for relevant topics or products.

Strengths:

• Evergreen Traffic: A well-optimised website can drive traffic for years.
• Cost-Effective: Once established, SEO is cheaper than paid ads.

Problems:

• Competitive Landscape: Requires constant updates to stay ahead in search rankings.
• Indirect for Existing Customers: Primarily useful for new acquisition, not targeted outreach to existing customers.

**

These mechanisms illustrate a fundamental paradox in modern marketing: despite having more ways than ever to reach customers, brands struggle to create meaningful, sustainable engagement. The most direct channels suffer from overuse and fatigue, while broader methods lack precision and control. Most troublingly, brands often find themselves paying premium prices through adtech platforms just to reach customers already in their databases.

What’s needed isn’t another channel or tool, but a fundamental reimagining of how brands connect with their customers. NEON (New Engaged and Open Network) provides this breakthrough: an open network where brands can collaborate directly to engage identified customers through authenticated identity rather than anonymous tracking. By enabling brands to act as both publishers and advertisers within a decentralized ecosystem, NEON eliminates the massive waste in today’s digital advertising while creating new opportunities for sustainable, profitable customer engagement.

The future of customer outreach isn’t about finding better ways to interrupt people’s attention—it’s about creating an ecosystem where every interaction delivers genuine value for brands and customers alike. NEON makes this possible by transforming fragmented customer touchpoints into an integrated engagement network built on trust, transparency, and direct relationships.

[Note: In my previous essays – Inbox to Income: BEAN for Revenue and Reactivation and  How BEAM and BEAN can Fashion a New Email Era, I introduced the concept of BEAN (Brand Email Ad Network). I have now evolved this to NEON to better reflect its broader scope and potential. While email remains a crucial engagement channel through NeoMails, NEON’s vision extends beyond email to encompass all authenticated customer interactions. This name change represents not just a rebranding, but a recognition of the platform’s true power: enabling brands to collaborate through any channel where they can verify customer identity.]

3

Previous Writings – 1

Before we get to discussing NEON, here are some snippets from my earlier writings.

Inbox to Income: BEAN for Revenue and Reactivation: “BEAN offers a twofold advantage for brands: it enables multi-monetisation of existing customers through ads and provides a platform for running reactivation campaigns on other brands’ networks, bypassing traditional Big Adtech platforms. This brand-to-brand ad connectivity could even be structured as a barter system, minimising external financial outflows. As a cornerstone of the Anti-Acquisition playbook, BEAN represents an untapped opportunity in the market. Its realisation requires an intermediary, ideally an email service provider, to synthesise these innovative concepts into a cohesive platform. The potential reward is substantial: with approximately half of the $300 billion in global AdWaste attributed to reacquisition efforts, BEAN could redirect this spending to bolster brand P&Ls and fuel their Profipoly Quest.”

How BEAM and BEAN can Fashion a New Email Era: “BEAN, the Brand Email Ad Network, is a new approach to email marketing that transforms traditional email strategies into a dynamic, revenue-generating ecosystem. It leverages advanced technologies like AMP and ActionAds to create interactive, in-email experiences that drive engagement and conversions. BEAN enables brands to monetise their email lists by hosting ads from non-competing companies, while also providing a cost-effective platform for reactivating dormant customers. Operating on innovative models like ZeroCPM and barter exchanges, BEAN creates a flexible marketplace where brands can act as both publishers and advertisers. It utilises a secure ‘clean room’ environment for data matching, ensuring privacy compliance. With real-time analytics, AI-driven optimisations, and the ability to facilitate both local and global targeting, BEAN represents the future of email marketing. It promises to reduce customer acquisition costs, increase engagement, and open new revenue streams, positioning email as a central pillar in modern digital marketing strategies.”

Engineering a New Email Ecosystem: “[ActionAds] represent a paradigm shift in email marketing by combining personal identifiable information (PII) with actionable content inside the email. Instead of static ads, ActionAds allow users to engage directly within the email – for example, signing up for a newsletter subscription, filling a form, or even making a purchase, without leaving the inbox. ActionAds minimise friction and maximise conversions by enabling “in-channel conversion,” seamlessly blending personalised targeting with direct interaction…Brands can now tap into new revenue streams: hosting ActionAds from non-competing brands, offering premium content or experiences in exchange for Mu, and creating sponsored Containers with partner brands. BEAN (Brand Email Ad Network) facilitates these opportunities, creating a marketplace where brands can efficiently match their ads with suitable email audiences, all while respecting user privacy through a secure “clean room” environment… By allowing non-competing brands to place relevant ads within their emails, brands can monetise email real estate, creating new revenue streams. This approach transforms transactional and promotional emails into a dynamic platform for generating additional income, all while maintaining and even enhancing user engagement. By combining the power of ActionAds with personalised content and dynamic interactivity, the active database becomes not just a tool for engagement but a crucial revenue driver in the new email ecosystem, revolutionising the economics of email marketing…[Brands can also reach] out to inactive users through third-party emails, allowing brands to reconnect with subscribers who may still be actively engaging with content from other sources. By leveraging external email ecosystems, brands can create a new touchpoint to reignite interest.”

NeoMail: Transforming Email into a $175 Billion Growth Engine: “BEAN (Brand Email Ad Network) monetises emails via ActionAds. BEAN creates a marketplace where brands can efficiently match their ads with suitable email audiences, leveraging the unique advantages of email: Personally Identifiable Information (PII), push delivery, in-place interactions, and seamless payment options. BEAN facilitates the placement of ActionAds – interactive, in-email advertisements that allow users to complete actions without leaving their inbox.”

NeoMail: Transforming Email into the Anti-Acquisition Powerhouse: “ActionAds redefine email monetisation through interactive, highly targeted ad units that leverage four key advantages (4 Ps): Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Push delivery, in-Place actions, and Payments. These ads aren’t traditional display units but rather interactive modules that enable immediate engagement and transaction completion. ActionAds can be customised based on user behaviour, preferences, and context, ensuring relevance while maintaining the primary email experience. The system includes sophisticated targeting capabilities, real-time optimisation, and performance tracking… NeoMail’s Zero-Party Data Exchange enables brands to enrich their customer understanding through secure, consent-based sharing of user-volunteered preferences and interests. This federated system allows non-competing brands to exchange anonymised insights while maintaining strict privacy controls and regulatory compliance. The exchange specifically focuses on information actively shared by customers through SmartBlocks and interactive elements, creating a rich ecosystem of declared preferences.”

4

Previous Writings – 2

The NeoMail Blueprint: A NeoESP’s Guide to Email Transformation: “ActionAds offer multiple advantages for NeoESPs: transform email from cost centre to profit generator create new revenue streams for brands, enable sophisticated targeting using first-party data, facilitate immediate conversion without channel switching, and generate valuable interaction data for personalisation.”

NeoMail: Solving the Trifecta of Marketing: “For [established] brands, their potential customers typically fall into three main categories: Truly New Customers, Previously Engaged, Market Shifters… The irony is that while true acquisition opportunities lie in targeting the first category (truly new customers) and the third (market shifters), most advertising budgets end up chasing the second category – previously engaged customers. This happens for two reasons. First, these customers have demonstrated past interest in the category and brand, making them seem like “safe” targets. Second, when brands provide their customer lists to Meta and Google for creating lookalike audiences, they inadvertently end up targeting similar profiles – which often include their own dormant customers and past visitors. The result? Brands pay premium prices on adtech platforms to reach people they could contact directly through their own channels… By reframing acquisition as primarily a reactivation challenge, we open the door to more efficient solutions. NeoMail’s innovations are perfectly positioned to address this opportunity, offering brands a way to rebuild relationships with inactive customers directly through their inbox, rather than hoping to catch their attention through increasingly expensive advertising platforms… Through BEAN, brands can play dual roles as both publishers and advertisers. As publishers, they can monetise their email traffic by hosting relevant ads from non-competing brands. As advertisers, they can reach engaged audiences at a fraction of traditional adtech costs by eliminating the Google/Meta “ad tax”. This flexibility creates a unique ecosystem where every brand’s email list becomes a valuable media property… ActionAds provide “free money” – additional revenue from email traffic that brands are already generating. By making every email work harder through relevant, frictionless advertising, brands can transform their inbox presence from a cost burden into a profit engine. In the battle against rising acquisition costs, ActionAds aren’t just an innovation – it is key facet for the House of Anti-Acquisition and a strategic imperative and sustainable growth.”

How NeoMails can create an Adtech (and AdWaste) Alternative: “Perhaps most revolutionary is NeoMails’ “Reactivation” capability, which offers brands a way to reconnect with dormant customers without paying the hefty “Adtech tax”. Through Brand Email Ad Network (BEAN), advertisers can reach their inactive customers within other brands’ NeoMails using precise PII-based targeting. This creates a win-win scenario: publishing brands monetise their email traffic while advertising brands reactivate customers at a fraction of traditional retargeting costs. The introduction of ActionAds further disrupts traditional display advertising by enabling frictionless conversions directly within emails. New formats like one-tap newsletter subscriptions, in-email form completion, and seamless payments eliminate the need for external landing pages and repetitive data entry. This dramatically improves conversion rates while reducing dependency on traditional ad platforms for customer acquisition.”

The NeoAdtech Roadmap: 8 Questions That Will Transform Digital Marketing: “BEAN (Brand Email Ad Network) enables precise ad targeting based on authenticated identity rather than cookies or device IDs. Because emails contain PII (Personally Identifiable Information), brands can reach exactly the right customers with relevant offers. This is particularly powerful for: cross-brand collaborations without intermediaries, direct partnerships between complementary brands, revenue sharing through ActionAds, reactivation of dormant customers, and personalised recommendations based on zero-party data… Unlike Google and Meta’s walled gardens, this ecosystem would be fundamentally open: brands own their customer relationships, data remains with the brands, revenue is shared equitably, integration is standardised, and innovation is democratised. The key advantage lies in the decentralised nature of email itself. No single company controls the protocol, making it impossible for any player to establish the kind of monopolistic control that characterises today’s adtech platforms. This creates the foundation for a new kind of advertising ecosystem – one built on genuine value exchange rather than attention extraction. By putting brands and their customers at the centre, NeoAdtech could finally provide a viable alternative to today’s expensive and inefficient advertising platforms.”

The NeoAdtech Symphony: 12 Innovations Orchestrating Marketing’s Next Era: “BEAN offers  [a] decentralised ad network enabling brands to become both publishers and advertisers of their own email inventory, enables brand-to-brand collaboration through barter-based advertising, with secure “clean room” targeting for reactivation of dormant customers, bypasses expensive adtech intermediaries (Google/Meta “tax”) while maintaining precise targeting through authenticated identities, [and] creates sustainable monetisation ecosystem through transparent revenue sharing between brands, platform and ad network.”

5

The Identity and Engagement Challenge

Every brand faces a critical moment when a new customer arrives through paid channels: the race to transform an anonymous visitor into an identified customer. This crucial conversion—typically achieved through incentivised email or mobile number collection—determines whether the brand can establish direct communication or must repeatedly pay to reach the same potential customer.

Why Identity Collection Matters

• Acquisition costs through platforms like Google and Meta continue to soar
• Without contact details, brands face endless repayment for customer reach
• First- and zero-party data (information customers actively share) becomes increasingly valuable as privacy regulations tighten
• Direct channels offer more cost-effective communication than paid advertising

The Push Channel Crisis

Yet solving the identity challenge is only the first hurdle. Even when brands successfully collect customer contact information, traditional push channels struggle to deliver meaningful engagement:

Email

• Inboxes overflow with promotional content
• Open rates show consistent decline
• Messages lack interactive elements and personalisation
• Deliverability remains challenging

SMS

• Severe message fatigue, particularly in markets like India
• High ignore and block rates
• Limited rich media capabilities
• Prohibitive costs at scale

WhatsApp

• Premium pricing restricts usage to critical communications
• Strict regulatory constraints
• Limited advertising options
• Best suited for transactional messaging

The Reacquisition Trap

This deteriorating effectiveness of direct channels has created an even more costly challenge: brands find themselves trapped in an expensive cycle of reacquisition. They pay premium prices through adtech platforms just to reach customers already in their databases. Consider the scale of this waste:

• 50-80% of marketing budgets potentially spent on retargeting existing customers
• Rising Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) across all platforms
• Limited transparency in ad delivery and performance
• Increasing privacy restrictions making targeting less effective

The Twin Problems

These challenges manifest in what I call the “Twin Problems” of modern marketing:

1. The “No Hotline” Problem

• Brands lack reliable, guaranteed ways to engage existing customers
• Push channels prove inconsistent and often go ignored
• No sustainable daily touchpoints exist
• Dependency on expensive paid channels for reach persists

2. The “Not for Me” Problem

• Limited customer understanding prevents true personalisation
• Generic messaging fails to engage
• Insufficient data for individual-level (N=1) targeting
• Poor relevance leads to customer fatigue

This is where NEON comes in.

6

The Solution

NEON stands apart as the first advertising network purpose-built for identified customers, offering unique advantages:

1. PII-Based Targeting

• Leverages authenticated identity rather than cookies
• Guarantees precise audience reach
• Eliminates wasted impressions
• Enables genuine personalisation

2. Direct Brand Control

• Removes intermediary platforms
• Ensures complete data ownership
• Provides transparent performance metrics
• Delivers cost-effective customer engagement

3. Sustainable Economics

• Dramatically reduces costs by eliminating the Big Adtech ‘tax’
• Creates new revenue streams through attention monetisation
• Improves customer lifetime value
• Delivers superior return on marketing investment

The Publisher Opportunity

Every brand possesses an untapped goldmine: their customer attention. NEON transforms this asset from a cost centre into a profit generator by enabling brands to become publishers.

How Brands Become Publishers

• Convert daily customer touchpoints into valuable advertising inventory
• Host relevant ads from complementary, non-competing brands
• Maintain complete control over advertiser access
• Generate revenue from existing communications

Multiple Monetisation Channels

• Email inventory through interactive NeoMails
• Zero-party data collection via engaging SmartBlocks
• AI-driven conversations through MyTwin
• Strategic cross-brand partnerships

Example Scenarios

• Premium fashion retailer hosting luxury beauty recommendations
• Travel platform featuring high-end car hire services
• Fitness brand promoting premium nutrition products
• Streaming service showcasing gourmet food delivery

Revenue Streams

• Share advertising revenue from ActionAds
• Earn from successful customer reactivation
• Monetise aggregated data insights
• Create value through strategic partnerships

The Bigger Picture

NEON represents more than just another advertising network—it’s a fundamental shift in customer engagement. By enabling direct brand-to-brand collaboration and eliminating expensive intermediaries, NEON helps brands:

• Break free from Google and Meta dependency
• Build lasting customer relationships
• Create sustainable revenue streams
• Achieve profitable growth

Most importantly, NEON catalyses marketing transformation—shifting focus from costly acquisition to profitable retention, from anonymous tracking to authenticated relationships, and from fragmented outreach to unified engagement. It provides brands the essential tools to escape the expensive cycle of continuous reacquisition and build sustainable, profitable customer relationships.

Through NEON, brands finally have a way to both reduce marketing costs and generate new revenue—all while delivering better, more relevant experiences to their customers. This represents the future of digital marketing: open, efficient, and centred on genuine customer relationships rather than anonymous tracking.

7

Product Specs

I asked Claude and ChatGPT to provide the product specs for NEON.

Claude

NEON (Identified Customer Open Network)

Product Specification Document v2

1. Executive Overview

NEON represents a paradigm shift in digital advertising by creating an open, decentralized network where brands can directly exchange authenticated customer access without intermediaries. NEON solves marketing’s “Twin Problems”:

• The “No Hotline” problem through guaranteed customer engagement
• The “Not for Me” problem through authenticated identity and personalization

Key Differentiators:

• PII-based targeting using authenticated customer identities
• Direct brand-to-brand advertising collaboration
• Zero-party data collection through interactive elements
• Dual publisher-advertiser roles for all participating brands
• Privacy-first design with full transparency

Market Opportunity:

• Addresses $350-560B annual AdWaste in digital advertising
• Enables reactivation without expensive adtech platforms
• Creates new revenue streams through attention monetization
• Reduces dependency on Google/Meta for customer engagement

2. Core Platform Components

A. Identity Layer

• Customer authentication system
• PII-based targeting infrastructure
• Privacy-safe data exchange
• Consent management

B. Publisher Platform

1. Inventory Management
   • NeoMails inventory slots
   • MyTwin conversation opportunities
   • SmartBlocks interaction points
   • Pricing and category controls
2. Revenue Generation
   • ActionAds placement
   • Direct brand partnerships
   • Data monetization
   • Performance analytics

C. Advertiser Platform

1. Campaign Management
   • Audience targeting using PII
   • Creative management
   • Budget controls
   • Performance tracking
2. Reactivation Tools
   • Dormant customer matching
   • Cross-brand targeting
   • Engagement tracking
   • ROI analytics

3. Key Features

A. Attention Creation

• NeoMails for 15-second daily engagement
• MyTwin for conversational interactions
• SmartBlocks for zero-party data collection
• Interactive content delivery

B. Value Exchange

• ActionAds for in-place conversions
• Brand-to-brand revenue sharing
• Transparent performance metrics
• Data insights marketplace

C. Brand Collaboration

• Direct partnership opportunities
• Category exclusivity controls
• Audience sharing protocols
• Joint campaign capabilities

4. Revenue Models

A. Publisher Revenue

• ActionAds commission sharing
• Reactivation success fees
• Data monetization
• Partnership revenue

B. Advertiser Costs

• PII-based targeting fees
• Performance-based pricing
• Volume-based discounts
• Direct partnership rates

C. Platform Economics

• Revenue share from transactions
• Premium feature subscriptions
• Data insights fees
• Integration services

5. Integration Capabilities

A. Technical Integration

• API-first architecture
• SDK support for platforms
• Webhooks for real-time events
• Data synchronization

B. Platform Connections

• NeoMails system integration
• MyTwin conversation platform
• CRM/CDP connections
• Analytics platforms

6. Privacy & Security

A. Data Protection

• PII encryption standards
• Access control systems
• Data minimization
• Retention policies

B. Compliance

• GDPR/CCPA alignment
• Industry standards
• Audit capabilities
• Consent management

7. Implementation Phases

Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-3)

• Core platform development
• Initial brand onboarding
• NeoMails integration
• Basic targeting capabilities

Phase 2: Expansion (Months 4-6)

• MyTwin integration
• Advanced targeting
• Revenue optimization
• Network growth

Phase 3: Optimization (Months 7-12)

• AI personalization
• Advanced analytics
• Full automation
• Enhanced monetization

Phase 4: Scale (Year 2+)

• Market expansion
• New channels
• Advanced features
• Ecosystem growth

8. Success Metrics

A. Network Metrics

• Active brands
• Transaction volume
• Revenue growth
• Network effects

B. Brand Metrics

• Reactivation rates
• Revenue generation
• Cost reduction
• Engagement improvement

C. Customer Metrics

• Interaction rates
• Satisfaction scores
• Privacy compliance
• Value delivery

This specification provides a comprehensive framework for building NEON as a revolutionary advertising network that transforms how brands engage with customers and monetize attention. Success depends on executing each component while maintaining focus on solving the Twin Problems through authenticated identity and direct brand collaboration.

ChatGPT

1. Product Overview

NEON is a revolutionary decentralised advertising network designed specifically for identified customers. Unlike traditional ad networks that rely on cookies and anonymous tracking, NEON uses authenticated customer identity (PII) to deliver personalised, precise, and effective engagement. It enables brands to act as both publishers (offering ad inventory) and advertisers (purchasing access to customer touchpoints), eliminating intermediaries like Google and Meta while fostering direct brand-to-brand collaboration. NEON addresses the core problems of modern marketing: reliance on costly paid channels, ineffective push communication, and lack of sustainable customer engagement mechanisms.

2. Key Features & Capabilities
3. PII-Based Targeting

• Uses authenticated identity (email, phone, app login) to ensure precise audience targeting.
• Guarantees zero wasted impressions by focusing only on verified customers.
• Fully compliant with global privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

1. Direct Brand Control

• Empowers brands to maintain complete ownership of customer data and interactions.
• Eliminates reliance on third-party platforms, ensuring transparency in ad performance.
• Provides brands with tools to control and curate advertisers accessing their inventory.

1. Monetisation of Owned Channels

• Enables brands to monetise push channels like NeoMails (interactive emails), app notifications, in-app messages, and web push notifications.
• Allows strategic ad placement from complementary, non-competing brands.
• Unlocks new revenue streams through customer attention monetisation and ActionAds.

1. Multi-Channel Engagement

• Integrates with all major customer touchpoints: email, SMS, app notifications, in-app messaging, and web push notifications.
• Expands reach to authenticated interactions across loyalty programs, content marketing, and partnerships.
• Ensures seamless cross-channel coordination through AI-powered personalisation.

1. Brand-to-Brand Collaboration

• Facilitates direct brand-to-brand advertising without intermediaries.
• Enables strategic partnerships for cross-promotion (e.g., fitness brand promoting nutrition products).
• Provides insights into shared customer segments to maximise ad relevance and ROI.

1. Privacy-First Architecture

• Built around zero-party and first-party data, ensuring all interactions are consent-driven.
• Incorporates advanced privacy measures like homomorphic encryption for data security.
• Positions brands as trusted custodians of customer data.

1. AI-Driven Optimisation

• Leverages AI Twins for hyper-personalised ad targeting and content creation.
• Predicts dormant customer reactivation opportunities.
• Provides actionable insights through predictive analytics and smart reporting tools.

3. User Roles & Personas
4. Brand Publisher (Supply-Side User)
   • Role: Monetises owned customer touchpoints by offering ad inventory.
   • Goal: Generate incremental revenue while retaining control over customer experience.
5. Brand Advertiser (Demand-Side User)
   • Role: Purchases ad space in other brands’ inventory to reactivate dormant customers or acquire new ones.
   • Goal: Reduce Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and maximise Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
6. Customer/User (Recipient of NeoMails)
   • Role: Receives personalised, relevant ads within trusted brand interactions.
   • Goal: Experience meaningful engagement without intrusive tracking or irrelevant content.

4. Product Workflow

Step 1: Identity Collection

• Brands convert anonymous visitors into identified customers through zero-party data collection mechanisms (email signups, app logins, SmartBlocks).

Step 2: Inventory Setup

• Brands configure their owned channels (NeoMails, app notifications) as monetisable ad spaces.

Step 3: Campaign Creation

• Advertisers define campaign goals (reactivation, cross-sell) and upload creatives (ActionAds).
• AI Twins personalise targeting based on shared customer insights.

Step 4: Ad Placement

• Ads are embedded seamlessly into customer interactions, such as NeoMails or in-app messages.

Step 5: Reporting & Revenue Sharing

• Transparent performance metrics are shared with publishers and advertisers.
• Revenue is split based on predefined terms (e.g., CPM, CPC, CPA).

5. Success Metrics
6. Revenue Per 1000 Mails (RPM): Measures ad revenue generated per 1000 NeoMails sent.
7. Customer Reactivation Rate: Percentage of dormant customers re-engaged through NEON-driven campaigns.
8. LTV Growth: Increase in Customer Lifetime Value due to sustained engagement.
9. Ad Fill Rate: Proportion of available inventory monetised.
10. ROI for Advertisers: Improvements in campaign effectiveness and cost efficiency.
11. Monetisation Model
12. Revenue Share: NEON earns a percentage of revenue generated from ad placements.
13. Subscription Plans: Premium features like advanced analytics and exclusive inventory access.
14. ActionAds Pricing: Flexible CPM, CPC, or CPA models based on campaign objectives.
15. Roadmap

Phase 1 (0-6 Months):

• Launch MVP for NeoMail-based inventory.
• Onboard pilot brands as publishers and advertisers.

Phase 2 (6-12 Months):

• Expand to app notifications, in-app messaging, and web push notifications.
• Introduce cross-brand segmentation insights and dynamic SmartBlocks.

Phase 3 (12-18 Months):

• Scale NEON to include multi-brand loyalty programs and co-branded campaigns.
• Build partnerships with Martech platforms to integrate NEON into existing ecosystems.

8

Summary

Digital advertising faces a crisis of inefficiency. Brands collectively waste $350-560 billion annually on wrong targeting and unnecessary reacquisition through expensive adtech platforms. Most troubling? A significant portion of this “AdWaste” comes from brands paying premium prices to reach customers already in their databases – essentially renting access to their own audiences through Google and Meta’s opaque bidding systems.

This broken system persists because brands lack viable alternatives for reaching and reactivating customers at scale. While they own customer relationships and data, they have no efficient way to maintain engagement or monetise these assets. Instead, they remain trapped in an expensive cycle of continuous reacquisition through walled gardens that extract maximum value while providing minimum transparency.

The NEON Revolution

NEON creates a revolutionary open advertising network enabling direct brand-to-brand collaboration without intermediaries. Built on three foundational principles – each the antithesis of current ad networks – NEON reimagines advertising as a collaborative, decentralised ecosystem:

1. Authenticated Identity

• All targeting based on verified customer identities (PII)
• Precise targeting without anonymous cookies
• Privacy-respecting approach to customer data

2. Brand Control

• Complete ownership of customer relationships
• Dual publisher-advertiser capabilities
• Direct control over targeting and monetisation

3. Direct Value Exchange

• Transparent revenue sharing between brands
• Elimination of the “adtech tax”
• Fair value distribution across the network

The Power of Integration

NEON’s uniqueness comes from its integration with three powerful technologies:

NeoMails

• Interactive daily 15-second engagement vehicles
• Embedded ActionAds for monetisation
• Guaranteed customer attention

MyTwin

• AI-powered personal digital companions
• Conversational customer interactions
• Deep preference understanding
• Personalised recommendations
• Real-time intent capture

SmartBlocks

• Zero-party data collection
• Natural, rewarding interactions
• Progressive customer profiling

Together, these technologies create a powerful engagement ecosystem where:

• NeoMails provides the daily touchpoints
• MyTwin enables deep customer understanding
• SmartBlocks gather crucial preference data
• All three combine to enable true N=1 personalisation and precise targeting

This integration ensures every customer interaction is meaningful, personalised, and monetisable, while maintaining privacy and brand control. The result is a self-reinforcing system where better engagement leads to deeper understanding, enabling more relevant advertising and stronger customer relationships.

Transformative Possibilities

The NEON ecosystem enables multiple value-creating opportunities:

For Brands as Advertisers:

• Remarket to customers within existing journeys
• Reactivate dormant customers through other brands
• Target with precision using authenticated identity

For Brands as Publishers:

• Generate new revenue streams
• Monetise existing customer communications
• Host relevant ads from complementary brands

For Customers:

• Receive relevant, personalised offers
• Control data sharing and privacy
• Experience better brand interactions

Breaking the Walled Gardens

NEON solves the fundamental “closed garden” problem in digital advertising by:

• Decentralising value creation
• Enabling direct brand collaboration
• Supporting privacy-conscious advertising
• Building on real customer relationships

The timing for this transformation is perfect. As acquisition costs soar and privacy regulations tighten, brands urgently need new ways to reach and engage customers. NEON provides this alternative – not through better algorithms or targeting techniques, but by fundamentally reimagining how brands can work together to create value.

This is more than just another ad network; it’s a new model for digital advertising that:

• Puts brands back in control of their customer relationships
• Eliminates massive waste in current systems
• Enables genuine collaboration and value sharing
• Creates a more efficient and equitable ecosystem

Through NEON, brands can finally make the most of their most valuable asset: their customer relationships. The future of digital advertising isn’t about better ways to track and target – it’s about creating an open, collaborative network that benefits everyone involved.