The reason that we are in this place of talking about multiple stickers, etc. is because the merchants don’t want to share their data with others? Can’t this also be done in the cloud?

My two cents: If this transformation is going to happen, I think everyone needs to stop thinking about “converting plastic” and start thinking about processing transactions.

I unintentionally mis-stated your comment about card-brand aggregation, but my point was that it would be extremely interesting.

On the NFC point, I think there is still time to see how the NFC ecosystem will evolve. I don’t dispute that there are valid business and operational concerns for retailers whenever any emerging technology is introduced, but there is still plenty of opportunity for the NFC pie to be baked properly from the retailer perspective.

The retailers I speak with are tremendously interested in the capabilities – provided their business issues are covered. I believe the real reason that everyone is doing stickers is just simply that there are still not substantial phones available. Just watch – as the phones come out, they will come.

As this concept catches on and a consumer begins to have – as Bob says – 10 different retailer’s tags, the good news is they will very likely have a far more sophisticated option to manage them… the NFC-enabled mobile phone. Now the consumer can manage all their offerings – Payment, Coupon, Loyalty, Tickets, etc. all using the software interface on their phone. So, as a consumer, I can have the benefit of one tag (this time built into the phone), but limitless value – directly with a merchant OR through an open-loop consortium put together by one of the card brands or someone else.

Even better, now a retailer has a way to interact with an intelligent device in the consumer’s had – remotely the way they can today, AND at the point of sale, which will be enabled with two-way contactless communication to the NFC mobile phone.

Lastly, all those tags that are being issued today like the Tetherball tag or the Go-Tag will seamlessly be transferrable into the NFC phone through software, so as you transfer from your current phone with a sticker to your NFC enabled phone in the future.

And so it will be with the RFID tag. It won’t happen overnight, but one or two companies will come along and aggregate multiple vendors on one tag.

So, they’ll collect the data and understand you and your buying habits far more than you understand them yourself. Add to that, as you’ve previously mentioned, that the tag can be linked with other information about what TV shows you’re watching, and which TV ads you’ve seen…and marketers will be able to market to you on a true one-to-one basis. The DQ ad hoc coupons are just the start.

But the bigger issue is whether this will change consumer behavior. When we talked with the same Dairy Queen people, the key concern was whether or not the ever-present nature of the tag stuck to a phone or wallet (or anywhere else) would make it more likely consumers will use the coupons?

Also, how effective will Dairy Queen be at using the information to customize offers? If they start factoring in flavor preferences, who attends with kids (and their rough ages) and the hours of typical attendance, this could be hugely powerful. Will the system point out that Tuesday evening visits at 7 PM are “drive home from work pick-me-up” visits as opposed to Saturday afternoon “outing with kids” visits and issue different kinds of coupons? Or will it merely look at the items purchased?

DQ is taking a bit of a chance by going it alone. The idea of handing out RFID tags to stick on the back of a phone will work initially, but what if this program is a success? What happens when every retailer in the region starts doing it? How many stickers are people expected to carry? If it works, it’s going to have be standardized, with the device coming from a processor or even a cardbrand and it would hold data for a hundred (sometimes competing) retailers. What then?

One of the payment processors needs to get smart and develop a tag that their systems recognize, that can be affixed to a credit/debit card, to allow multiple retailers to “piggy-back” on one RFID chip.