Editing CueCat (section)

== Marketing ==
[[File:CueCat sample cue.png|thumb|right|A CueCat "cue". The bars are tilted 22.5° to the left, both for aesthetic reasons and to avoid [[Jerome H. Lemelson|Lemelson]] parallel barcode patent concerns.]]
The CueCat patents are held by Jeffry Jovan Philyaw,<ref name="patents.justia.com">{{Cite web|url=https://patents.justia.com/inventor/jeffry-jovan-philyaw|title=Jeffry Jovan Philyaw Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search|website=patents.justia.com}}</ref> who changed his name to [[Jovan Hutton Pulitzer]] after the failure of CueCat.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wilonsky |first=Robert |author-link = Robert Wilonsky |title = CueCat Inventor Returns. With What? Not Quite Sure. Something To Do With Interwebs. |newspaper = [[Dallas Observer]] |date = October 25, 2007 |url=https://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2007/10/cuecat_inventor_returns_with_w.php | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref><ref name=Crystal>{{cite news  | last = Celeste | first = Eric | title = Crystal Clear | newspaper = [[Dallas Observer]] | date = April 10, 2003 | url = https://www.dallasobserver.com/2003-04-10/news/crystal-clear/ | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref> [[Belo Corporation]], parent company of the ''[[Dallas Morning News]]'' and owner of many TV stations, invested [[United States dollar|US$]]37.5 million in Digital Convergence, [[RadioShack]] $30 million, [[Young & Rubicam]] $28 million, and [[Coca-Cola]] $10 million.<ref name=Rosenberg>{{cite news  | author = Rosenberg, Scott  | author-link = Scott Rosenberg (journalist)  | title = CueCatastrophe: Next to the company that tried to wire Web users to bar-code scanners, money-burning dot-coms like Webvan don't look quite so bad. | newspaper = [[Salon.com]] | date = July 11, 2001 | url = https://www.salon.com/2001/07/11/cue_cat/ | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref> Other investors included [[General Electric]], and [[E. W. Scripps Company]].<ref name="adweek-scratch-cuecat"/> The total amount invested was $185 million.<ref name=WSJ>{{cite news  | last = Meyer | first = Katherine | title = The Best of the Worst: CueCat Falls Flat | newspaper = [[The Wall Street Journal]] | date = May 3, 2006 | url = https://www.wsj.com/public/article/SB114424637699117715-OO16F7Ov3DMZcs1xpbu5ksPDTl0_20070503.html | access-date = November 10, 2011}}</ref>

Each CueCat cost RadioShack<ref name="dmagazine-Suckers">{{cite web |last1=Whitley |first1=Glenna |title=The Suckers |url=http://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured31001.shtml |website=[[D Magazine]] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011129174000/http://www.dmagazine.com/october01/featured31001.shtml |archive-date=2001-11-29 |location=Dallas |date=2001-11-29 |quote=Steve Forbes "'[The CueCat] will change the way you use the Internet forever The Mark: David Edmondson Title: President and COO, RadioShack Corp. Invested: $30 million Commitment: Manufactured CueCats and distributed them free at all RadioShack outlets. The Mark: Steve Forbes Title: Publisher, Forbes Invested: At least $2 million Commitment: Sent more than 800,000 subscribers CueCat and software. Quote: "[The CueCat] will change the way you use the Internet forever."}}</ref> about $6.50 to manufacture.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Salkowski |first1=Joe |title=CueCat was cute, but dogged by reluctant Web consumers |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-09-17-0109170003-story.html |access-date=25 June 2021 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |agency=Tribune Media Services |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625111619/https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fct-xpm-2001-09-17-0109170003-story.html |archive-date=2021-06-25 |quote=Every time someone uses a CueCat, two things happen.  First they're directed to the exact Web page that an advertiser wants them to see, delivering the equivalent of the elusive "click-throughs" that banner ads usually fail to produce.  Then Digital Convergence is notified of exactly which user is visiting which page through which bar code. In this way, CueCat lets companies track not only online preferences but offline behavior as well, such as people's soft drink preferences and what magazines they read.&nbsp;... The scanners cost about $6.50 a pop, and they were distributed for free to magazine subscribers and electronics store customers. But as soon as millions of gadget-loving consumers started using their new feline friends, the money would start rolling in.  By now, you've already guessed the punch line: Nobody used them.}}</ref> 

Starting in late 2000 and continuing for about a year, advertisements, special web editions, and editorial content containing CueCat barcodes appeared in many US periodicals, including [[Parade (magazine)|''Parade'']], [[Forbes (magazine)|''Forbes'']], and [[Wired (magazine)|''Wired'']]. ''The Dallas Morning News'' and other Belo-owned newspapers printed the barcodes next to major articles and regular features like stocks and weather. Commercial publications such as ''[[Adweek]]'', ''[[Brandweek]]'', and ''[[Mediaweek (American magazine)|Mediaweek]]'' employed the technology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/cuecat-and-corporate-cluelessness/|title=CueCat and corporate cluelessness|first=David|last=Coursey|website=ZDNet}}</ref> The CueCat bar codes also appeared in select Verizon Yellow Pages,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clickz.com/digitalconvergence-nabs-verizon-yellow-pages-deal/79286/|title=Digital:Convergence Nabs Verizon Yellow Pages Deal|date=March 28, 2001|website=ClickZ}}</ref> providing advertisers with a link to additional information. 

For a time, RadioShack printed these barcodes in its product catalogs, and distributed CueCat devices through its retail chain to customers at no charge. ''Forbes'' magazine mailed out the first 830,000 CueCats as gifts to their subscribers, since the magazine was starting to print CRQ ("See Our Cue") barcodes in their magazine.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001002/aponline001832_000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060311154045/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001002/aponline001832_000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-03-11 |title=CueCat Rollout Proceeds Amid Debate|website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> ''Wired'' magazine mailed over 500,000 of the free devices as gifts to their subscribers. Each publisher private-branded the CueCat hardware they sent to their mailing list.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2013/11/before-you-were-born-the-hardware-edition/|title=Before You Were Born: The Hardware Edition &#124; The Signal|first=Leslie|last=Johnston|date=November 12, 2013|website=blogs.loc.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://computeme.tripod.com/cuecat.html|title=Hardware Review: CueCat|website=computeme.tripod.com}}</ref>