Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ENGINE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATION
OF BRAND AFFINITY CONTENT
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Field of the Invention
[8] The present invention is directed to a system and method for
branding and advertising, and more particularly, to an engine for
accessing and generating brand affinity content, and methods of
making and using the same.
Background of the Invention
[8] High impact advertising is that advertising that best grabs the
attention of a targeted consumer. A target consumer is typically
identified as the ideal customer for the particular good or service
being advertised. This identification can arise from factors such as
socio-economics, moral or value bases, age, gender, geography,
interest levels or other perspective. The impact on an ideal
customer of any particular advertisement may be improved if an
advertisement includes endorsements, sponsorships, or affiliations
from those persons, entities, or the like from whom the ideal target
consumer has an increased likeliness to identify with, seek guidance
from, or gain an increased sense of empowerment. Factors that will
increase the impact of an endorser include the endorser's perceived
knowledge of particular goods, the fame or popularity of the
endorser, the respect typically accorded a particular endorser or
sponsor, and other similar factors.
[10] Consequently, the highest impact advertising time or block available
for sale will generally be time that is associated, such as both within
the advertisement and within the program with which the
advertisement is associated, with an endorser most likely to have
high impact on the ideal target customer. However, the existing art
makes little use of this advertising reality.
[11] Thus, there exists a need for an engine, system and method that
allows for brand development and the obtaining of an endorsement
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or sponsorship from specific individuals, entities, brands, marketing
partners, or sponsors.
Summary of the Invention
[12] An advertising engine, system and method of using is described.
The engine includes at least one vault including a plurality of media
assets, a recommendation engine that matches at least one media
asset from the vault with at least one requested creative, a delivery
engine that integrates the requested creative with the matched
media assets from the vault, and a management engine that
regulates and/or tracks ones of the at least one media asset. The
method includes the steps of requesting at least one creative based
on at least one information item, matching at least one stored media
asset to the at least one creative, integrating the at least one stored
media asset to the at least one creative, and regulating the at least
one media asset matched to the at least one creative.
Brief Description of the Figures
[13] Understanding of the present invention will be facilitated by
consideration of the following detailed description of the
embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, in which like numerals refer to like parts
and in which:
[14] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the present
invention; and
[15] Figure 2 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of the present
invention.
[16] Figure 3 is an exemplary embodiment of a registration and login
display of the present invention;
[17] Figure 4 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[18] Figure 5 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
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[19] Figure 6 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[20] Figure 7 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[21] Figure 8 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[22] Figure 9 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[23] Figure 10 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[24] Figure 11 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[25] Figure 12 is an exemplary embodiment of a brand selection and
development display of the present invention;
[26] Figure 13 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
[27] Figure 14 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
[28] Figure 15 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
[29] Figure 16 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
[30] Figure 17 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
[31] Figure 18 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
[32] Figure 19 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
[33] Figure 20 is an exemplary embodiment of a campaign selection and
development display of the present invention;
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[34] Figure 21 is an exemplary embodiment of a manager and
administrative control display of the present invention;
[35] Figure 22 is an exemplary embodiment of a sponsor and associated
asset tree menu; and
[36] Figure 23 is a flow chart of a method of generating and determining
a buzz value.
[37] Figure 24 is an exemplary embodiment of a user account display of
the present invention;
[38] Figure 25 is another exemplary embodiment of a user account
display of the present invention;
[39] Figure 26 is another exemplary embodiment of a user account
display of the present invention;
[40] Figure 27 is another exemplary embodiment of a user account
display of the present invention;
[41] Figure 28 is another exemplary embodiment of a user account
display of the present invention;
[42] Figure 29 is another exemplary embodiment of a user account
display of the present invention;
[43] Figure 30 is another exemplary embodiment of a user account
display of the present invention;
[44] Figure 31 is an exemplary embodiment of a talent library display of
the present invention;
[45] Figure 32 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent library
display of the present invention;
[46] Figure 33 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent library
display of the present invention;
[47] Figure 34 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent library
display of the present invention;
[48] Figure 35 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent library
display of the present invention;
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[49] Figure 36 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent library
display of the present invention;
[50] Figure 37 is an exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of the
present invention;
(511 Figure 38 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[52] Figure 39 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[53] Figure 40 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[54] Figure 41 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[55] Figure 42 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[56] Figure 43 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[57] Figure 44 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[58] Figure 45 is another exemplary embodiment of a metrics display of
the present invention;
[59] Figure 46 is an exemplary embodiment of a talent list display of the
present invention;
[60] Figure 47 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent list display of
the present invention;
[61] Figure 48 is an exemplary embodiment of a talent management
display of the present invention;
[62] Figure 49 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent management
display of the present invention;
[63] Figure 50 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent management
display of the present invention;
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[64] Figure 51 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent management
display of the present invention;
[65] Figure 52 is another exemplary embodiment of a talent management
display of the present invention;
[66] Figure 53 is an exemplary embodiment of an advertisers display of
the present invention;
[67] Figure 54 is another exemplary embodiment of an advertisers
display of the present invention;
[68] Figure 55 is another exemplary embodiment of an advertisers
display of the present invention;
[69] Figure 56 is another exemplary embodiment of an advertisers
display of the present invention;
[70] Figure 57 is another exemplary embodiment of an advertisers
display of the present invention;
[71] Figure 58 is another exemplary embodiment of an advertisers
display of the present invention; and
[72] Figure 59 is another exemplary embodiment of an advertisers
display of the present invention;
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
[73] It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the
present
invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant
for a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating,
for the purpose of clarity, many other elements found in typical
advertising engines, systems and methods. Those of ordinary skill
in the art will recognize that other elements and/or steps are
desirable and/or required in implementing the present invention.
However, because such elements and steps are well known in the
art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the
present invention, a discussion of such elements and steps is not
provided herein. The disclosure herein is directed to all such
variations and modifications to such elements and methods known
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to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, the embodiments identified
and illustrated herein are for exemplary purposes only, and are not
meant to be exclusive or limited in their description of the present
invention.
[74] It is generally accepted that advertising (hereinafter also referred
to
as "ad" or "creative") having the highest impact on the desired
consumer base includes endorsements, sponsorships, or affiliations
from those persons, entities, or the like from whom the targeted
consumers seek guidance, such as based on the endorser's
knowledge of particular goods or in a particular industry, the fame of
the endorser, the respect typically accorded a particular endorser or
sponsor, and other similar factors. Additionally, the easiest manner
in which to sell advertising time or blocks of advertising time is to
relay to a particular advertiser that the advertising time purchased by
that advertiser will be used in connection with an audio visual work
that has an endorsement therein for that particular advertiser's brand
of goods or services. As used herein, such an endorsement may
include an assertion of use of a particular good or service by an
actor, actress, or subject in the audio visual work, reference to a
need for particular types of goods or services in the audio visual
work, or an actual endorsement of the use of a product within the
audio visual work.
[75] Endorsements may be limited in certain ways, as will be apparent to
those skilled in the art. Such limitations may include geographic
limitations on the use of particular products (endorsers are more
likely to endorse locally in various locales rather than nationally
endorse, in part because national endorsements bring a single
endorsement fee and generally preclude the repetitious collection of
many smaller fees for many local endorsements), or limitations on
the use of endorsements in particular industries, wherein a different
product or a different industry may be endorsed (such as in a
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different geographical area) by the same endorser, or limitations on
endorsements solely to a particular field(s) or type(s) of product,
rather than to a specific brand of product. Further, endorsements by
particular endorsers may be limited to products, brands or products
or services, types of products or services, or the like which have
been approved by one or more entities external from, but affiliated
with, the specific endorser. For example, the National Football
League may allow for its players only to endorse certain products,
brands of products, types of products, or the like, that are also
endorsed by the NFL.
[76] More specifically, as used herein endorsements may include:
endorsements or sponsorships, in which an individual or a brand
may be used to market another product or service to improve the
marketability of that other product or service; marketing
partnerships, in which short term relationships between different
products or services are employed to improve the marketing of each
respective product or service; and brand affinity, which is built
around a long term relationship between different products or
services such that, over time, consumers come to accept an affinity
of one brand based on its typical placement with another brand in
another industry.
[77] At present, there is a need for a platform or engine to allow for the
obtaining of an endorsement, or endorsed ad, in any of the
aforementioned circumstances, either from a specific individual, a
specific entity, an affinity brand, a marketing partner, or a sponsor.
As may be seen in Figure 1, the development of a targeted
advertisement involves a dynamic interrelationship between all
relevant factors, such as, for example, the goods, the purchasers,
the endorsing personalities and their agents, and the existing or
upcoming media associated with each. The ideal advertisement
engine must be able to harness and manage all aspects of each of
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these factors, based upon only a limited number of parameters from
which to initiate and generate the advertisement.
[78] According to an aspect of the present invention, an endorsed
advertising engine 10, such as that illustrated in Figure 2, may
include a vault 12 that provides media assets 14 and integration of
media assets without need of involving the media assets for
permission, a brand association or recommendation engine 20 that
may, by creative, by market, by brand affinity, by user request, or
otherwise match media assets from the vault with a requested
creative/ad 22, and a delivery engine 26 capable of integrating a
requested ad 22 with the media assets 14 from the vault 12, late
stage binding of the requested ad 22 and media assets 14 upon
delivery to strongest target consumers, and delivery of the requested
ad 22 and the media assets 16 from the vault to an advertiser or
advertising server, which then places the mash up of the ad and
media asset. Requested ad 22 may be made via an "ad wizard"
using ad templates, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
[79] The vault captures certain brands and information related thereto in
a cornmon database, such as all major league baseball past and
present players, including statistics, video, and pictures of those
players affiliated with the names of those players, in addition to any
endorsement limitations on those players. The vault may include
media assets that may be associated with audio-visual works,
including all metadata associated with any media form. The vault
may include symbols, emblems, taglines, pictures, video, press
releases, publications, web links, web links to external content, and
media capable of re-purposing (such as an athlete running in front of
a blue screen, wherein the athlete may be re-purposed by the
placement of a background over the blue screen), including pictures,
voice, and video.
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[80] Media assets may further include such items that are predictive of
certain future events for purposes of integrating and scheduling
certain media assets for maximum value. For example, media
assets pertaining to a particular Major League Baseball starting
pitcher can identify those locations, days and game start times for
that pitcher. Based on this identified schedule, the ad can be
requested in advance, and subsequently constructed, delivered and
aired on a recurring basis. In another example, media assets may
identify a particular golfer who is leading a PGA event prior to the
final round. Likewise, the present invention may provide percentage
chances of future events to occur based on collected media assets
or other collected data, and provide ad requestors the opportunity to
identify and utilize endorsers who may have significantly increased
value within a relative future timeframe.
[81] The vault may also include, associated with the brand, exclusion,
inclusions, or preferences 50 for the use of the brand or particular
items of information associated with the brand in the vault. Such
inclusions, exclusions, or preferences may include geographic
limitations on certain information items or endorsements, product
limitations, preferred partners or products or product types for
endorsement, etc. Exclusions may, of course, be necessary if the
requested endorsement conflicts with a pre-existing endorsement
agreement for the requested brand with a competitor, or the like.
[82] According to an aspect of the present invention, media assets
associated with particular people, entities or estates may be
contractually obligated for endorsement of individual media assets or
sets of media assets prior to storage of such assets in the vault.
Such contractual obligation may provide for a more streamlined
process of media asset recommendation. In another example, such
contractual obligation or pre-existing obligation may become part of
the media asset descriptor or tag, such that an ad requestor may
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select or search for only those media assets that do not require
further contracting for use in the requested ad. In
such an
embodiment, the present invention may include a separate
management engine or functionality (see further description below)
to monitor, review or confirm the presence or absence of contractual
matters associated with internal and/or external media assets.
[83] Further, media assets in the vault may be marked with different
payment schema 52 based on the requester of the media asset. For
example, in the event the ad requester is a school, and the
requested creative is not an ad to sell anything, media assets may
be available for use for free. Such exceptions may be made, with
regard to payment, with regard to any level of payment variation as
between any number of different user types, such as non-profit, for-
profit, individual, =corporate, in-home, in-business, and the like.
Additionally, for example, icons of a favorite football player may be
requested by a non-profit individual for at-home use, to be overlayed
over a live football program then on that individual's television, at no
charge to that individual.
[84] The brand association and recommendation engine 20 assesses,
based on numerous factors including external factors, the
endorsements that are most sensible for particular advertising. For
example, such a brand association engine gauges proper matches
by assessing inclusions and exclusions based on the
aforementioned factors in the vault, such as geography, but
additionally it may use stored or external information and/or variable
factoring to do brand associations for any two brands (such as
wherein brand associations already exhibiting brand affinity would
have the highest percentage association, and brands which would
make the most sensible association would also exhibit higher
percentage matching for brand association), or to do matching with
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an endorsement brand based on the target consumers of the
requesting brand.
[85] For example, a "profile" 60 may be developed in the vault for a
particular brand. Such a profile may include any of a myriad of
information, both stored in the vault and having external references
outside the vault from within the vault, including but not limited to
psychological profiles of typical users of that brand (which may
include values, motivations, wants, and needs of such users, and
which may be assessed based on inferences from activity data, such
as on-line, credit card, or television use by those users, for
example), brand profiles including target customers, target affiliate
profiles (which may include reasons for desired affiliation, such as
sharing marketing costs, increasing brand recognition in certain
geographies or fields of use, distribution channel access, expedited
market entry, or improved brand perception, for example), and the
like, and such profiles may be used as media assets by the
recognition engine in order to develop a best match. As an
additional example, polling results and/or metadata may provide for
local or national focus and maintained in the vault as an associated
media asset with a particular brand, and best matches for certain
brands may be selected according to such polling results or
associated metadata. For example, a "flashy" sports personality
may be a best match for a brand offering in Los Angeles, but a
different athlete's endorsement might be preferably to sell that brand
in the mid-west. Such information, including "who's hot", or where a
brand is "hot", may be associated with the media assets regarding
that brand in the vault, and may be thus used by the
recommendation engine to do matching.
[86] According to another aspect of the present invention, the media
assets may be categorized and ranked or tagged for identification by
the recommendation engine. For
example, the input for the
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requested ad 22 may be compared with media assets 14, and a
weighting or similarity calculation is computed between the
requested ad 22 and the media assets 14. Such calculations and
comparisons may be made with individual media assets, or with any
sort of media asset sets or subsets. Prior to delivery to the ad
requestor, the media assets 14 with the highest weight values or
other similarity comparator relative to the requested ad 22 may be
merged into a single deliverable, such as in a list form, where each
media asset 14 or media asset set may identify the weight value
associated with it. In this exemplary embodiment, weight values
may reflect the degree of similarity to the requested ad 22.
[87] The searching function of the recommendation engine for identifying
media assets for weighting and ranking may include those tagging
and searching tools as understood by those having skill in the art.
For example, the media assets may include all forms of metadata,
tags, unique descriptors (pointers or identifiers), or even digital
representations of the media assets themselves.
[88] In another aspect of the present invention, requested ads 22 may
themselves become media assets, and as a further example, such
requested ads that become media assets may provide the
recommendation engine additional knowledge for future
recommendations. This may in effect allow the recommendation
engine to "learn" the ad request patterns for providing repeat
requestors or similar ad requestor more desirable recommended
media assets. In other words, the human aspects of the profiles
themselves become media assets and thus provide a feedback loop
for increasing the amount of desirous recommended media assets
beyond that which can be identified via tags or descriptors.
[89] Similarity calculations may be further constructed to match at
different levels of abstraction. In such embodiments, mapping
functions may be used to associate particular items in the requested
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ad 22 to a more general description of a media asset 14 or media
asset set. The level of abstraction may be a function of the search
parameters, or may be a functionality of the price paid or the
complexity of the media asset search requested.
[90] Thus, the recommendation engine may passively or actively inform
or otherwise identify the best endorsement matches for a particular
user's ads, based on any number of factors, and limited only by the
amount and type of information identified in the requested ad. Upon
assessment of good matches for the requesting ad or even brand, a
user of the present invention may have the matching options
presented to that user for selection by the recommendation engine,
or the user may simply have a best-match selection made for the
user. Needless to say, bids for advertising may vary based on the
matches obtained by the recommendation engine, and/or the
asserted likelihood of success that the ad placed will be successful.
Success, of course, may be different in different circumstances, and
may include a consumer making an on-line or in-store purchase, a
user filling out an on-line or off-line form, a consumer accessing and
downloading information or a coupon, or the like.
[91] According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the engine
may be used for identifying and recommending a brand itself
instead of an ad. For example, the recommendation engine may
match media assets from the vault with product identifiers and
descriptors entered by a requestor, such that the recommendation
engine may identify and match those media assets for branding the
product. Results from the recommended branding may then be
reentered to the advertising engine 10 via a requested ad 22 as
described above to produce an endorsed ad for deliver to an
advertiser or advertising server.
[92] The delivery engine 26 may integrate a requested ad with the media
asset from the vault pursuant to the actions by the recommendation
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engine, and can place a particular ad in the environment it deems
best suited for that ad (such as in the event of a re-direct, wherein a
web site gives some information about an ad request, and the best
ad can be placed responsive to the ad request), late stage bind the
ad and media asset for delivery to strongest target consumers (such
as in the event that later stage tracking can further improve ad
targeting, such as if the consumer's requesting IP address and/or
the referring site information is available just prior to ad delivery), or
deliver the static ad and the dynamic media asset from the vault to
an advertiser or advertising server, which then independently places
the mash up of the ad and media asset. Needless to say, bids for
advertising time may vary depending upon the delivery mechanism
used.
[93] Because the bids for advertising time in the present invention may
vary as discussed above, the present invention lends itself to
auction-style placement of advertising, in which bids are solicited for
particular locations, times, or blocks of advertising. Auctions may be
held, for example, on line, and may be broken down by media outlet
type of ad (i.e. television, internet, etc.), product type of ad, or in any
similar manner.
[94] According to another aspect of the present invention, a management
engine may be used for performing various managerial functions,
such as tracking, reporting, quality control, legal or other regulating
mechanisms associated with advertisement engine 10. The
management engine may be used within advertisement engine 10 at
any point in the recommendation and delivery process, as well as in
follow up on delivered or aired ads. The management engine may
also act as a regulating body for inclusion or exclusion of media
assets prior to storage in the vault.
[95] For example, in one exemplary embodiment, the management
engine may be used for tracking media assets during the
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recommendation and delivery process. The media assets may be
tracked by the number of hits they receive for recommendation and
or the number of times the media assets are authorized for delivery
to the advertiser. The ads themselves may also be tracked by the
management engine based on any sort of parameters, using
tracking mechanisms as understood by those having skill in the art.
[96] In another exemplary embodiment, reports may be generated,
reviewed and delivered to advertisers, endorsers, agents or other
third parties, where such reports relate to the various components of
the advertisement engine, such as the ads, ad requests, and/or the
media assets. Reports may also be based on any tracking records.
[97] The management engine may be used to contact and gain agent
approval for particular endorsers, either prior to storage of the
associated media assets in the vault, or upon selection of those
associated media assets by the recommendation engine in response
to the requested ad. The management engine may also verify any
parameters associated with contractual obligations attached to the
media assets, and may alert the ad requestor, the advertiser, or
other party as to the results of such verification.
[98] The management engine may also be used to screen existing media
assets in the vault and filter or even remove media assets from the
vault. For example, if a media asset is determined to have a tag or
descriptor that is no longer relevant, or is otherwise incorrect, the
management engine may remove the tag or descriptor, or even
remove the media asset from the vault entirely.
[99] According to an aspect of the present invention, the present
invention may incorporate application architecture that may include a
software framework and graphical user interface that optimizes ease
of use of the software platform, and that may also extend the
capabilities of the software platform. The application architecture
may approximate the actual way users organize and conduct
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activities, and thus may organize activities in a natural, coherent
manner while delivering activities through a simple, consistent, and
intuitive interface within each application and across applications.
The architecture may also be reusable, providing plug-in capability
to any number of applications without extensive re-programming,
and may thereby enable parties outside of the described system to
create components that plug into the architecture as well as allowing
the instant system to plug into third party architectures.
[100] The architecture of the present invention may provide, for example,
applications accessible to one or more users to perform one or more
functions. Such applications may be available at the same location
as the user, or at a location remote from the user. Each application
may provide a graphical user interface (GUI) for ease of interaction
by the user with information resident in the system. The GUI may be
specific to a user, a set or type of users, or may be the same for all
users or a selected subset of users. The uniqueness of the GUI
may be indicated by the user, or optionally offered as selections
within the GUI by the architecture. The architecture may also
provide a master GUI that allows a user to select or interact with
GUIs of one or more other applications, or that allows a user to
simultaneously access a variety of information otherwise available
through any portion of the present invention.
[101] Presentation of data through the architecture may be in any sort and
number of selectable formats. For example, a multi-layer format
may be used, wherein additional information is available by viewing
successively lower layers of presented information. Such layers
may be made available by the use of drop down menus, tabbed
pseudo-manila folder files, or other layering techniques understood
by those skilled in the art. Formats may also include AutoFill
functionality, wherein data may be filled responsively to the entry of
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partial data in a particular field by the user. All formats may be in
standard and/or normalized readable formats, such as XML.
[102] The architecture may limit, for example, data manipulation, or
information access. The architecture may also implement access or
use restrictions for users at any level. Such restrictions may include,
for example, the assignment of user names and passwords that
allow the use of the present invention, or the selection of one or
more data types that the subservient user is allowed to view or
manipulate.
[103] As shown in Figure 3, individual user accounts may be established
to customize information or to target information or promotional
material to particular users or sets of users.
Individual email
accounts may also be established, or previously existing email
accounts may be associated with individual user accounts.
[104] In other embodiments, as shown generally in Figures 4 - 21, a multi-
layer format having selectable buttons or tabs is used, with selected
layers occupying defined space on the graphical interface. For
example, as shown in Figures 4-12, a user may select and develop
a brand or branding schema. Brands, and those media assets
associated with the brands, may be viewed in a listing or library
format, selected for download, and may further be viewed or
associated with a geographic or regional mapping program. Media
assets associated with the brands may also be viewed as picture or
video files and visualized with any sort of media player application
as understood by those having skill in the art. A filtering system may
also be used. For example, assets may be filtered by an asset
class, such as file type, file size or visual aspect of the asset, such
as a head shot. Filters may also be based on cost, such as a cost
per minute. Costs may further be filtered on cost ranges, or
threshold values to which costs must be above or below. Filters
may further be constructed based on geographic ratings. For
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example, a rating system, such as one based on population and/or
distance metrics, can be used to rank and filter brands and media
assets based on threshold ranking values or value ranges.
[105] In another example, as shown in Figures 13-20, a user may select
and develop advertising campaigns. For example, accounts with
various ad servers, through which the advertising campaigns may be
run, may be created, edited or deleted from a server list. When
creating an ad server, account information may be established, such
as account names, passwords and connection information to provide
identifiers and connectivity with the ad servers.
Campaign
directories and libraries may also be created. Such directories and
libraries identify and categorize those campaigns already created.
New campaigns may of course be created. In the creation of a new
campaign, information relating to the campaign name, type, product
category, and any associated codes and keywords may be entered
and established for the new campaign.
[106] Manager functionality, as shown in Figure 21, may provide a
manager the ability to perform managerial and administrative tasks
associated with selected and/or developed campaigns, brands,
creatives and media assets. For example, managerial access may
be provided to the user, and selected items may be presented in an
approval list. The approval list may be organized such that the user
may efficiently identify what has been approved or rejected, and at
what time such approval or rejection was made. Further, data
sorting may provide for identification of those items still requiring
approval. Data relating to the approval process may be compiled to
provide statistical data, as understood by those having skill in the
art. In another example, an approval history may associated with a
creatives list, or other items such as brands, assets or campaigns.
An approval queue may also be implemented for storing and sorting
those items for future approval.
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[107] According to another aspect of the present invention, various
sponsors, meaning specific individuals, entities, affinity brands, or
marketing partners, for example, may be presented to a user via the
system or interface in a manner that provides for ease of viewing
and selection of assets associated with a particular sponsor. For
example, as shown in Figure 22, a tree menu may be used to
organize those assets associated with the particular sponsor.
Starting with the sponsor, any number of general asset categories
can be established. These categories can be based on any sort or
type of factors, such as geography, timeframe, activity, product, or
any other factor relevant to the assets. Likewise, these general
asset categories may each have any number of sub-categories,
thereby creating a multi-level or multi-tier tree, where each level or
tier provides a more narrowed set of assets to select from. In
another exemplary embodiment, hierarchical pull-down menus may
be used to establish categorical levels of assets associated with a
particular sponsor. These pull-down menus may ultimately provide
the same functionality as the tree menu, albeit in a different
programmable and visual format. In yet another embodiment,
sponsors may be presented as a virtual rolodex or series of
selectable cards. In this embodiment, a user may scroll through the
available sponsors via a scroll bar, or by dragging portions of the
sponsor card, such that the user may "flip" or "turn" each card or
particular cards successively. Upon identifying the desired sponsor,
the user may select the sponsor and be provided a list of assets
associate with that sponsor. The organization of those assets may
be any of the methods described herein, as well as those other
methods as understood by those having skill in the art.
[108] According to another aspect of the present invention, a variety of
associative information may be attributable to and complement any
particular sponsor, such that when a user selects a sponsor to
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generate a creative, ad or campaign, the associative information
attributable to that sponsor will be available to aid the user in the
selection and distribution of the various assets also associated with
that sponsor. For example, current, real-time news or events
involving a sponsor would be made available to a user upon
selection of the sponsor. As shown in the Figure 23, a method of
generating buzz values attributable to a given sponsor is provided.
In step 2310, associative information for a sponsor is searched for
and collected. In step 2320, any number of filters may be applied,
such as geographic parameters, time-sensitive metrics, and product
based, for example. In
step 2330, a baseline value and
normalization techniques are applied. In
step 2340, statistical
mechanisms are determined and applied to the collected data. In
step 2350, the collected data may be stored. In step 2360, the final
buzz value is determined.
[109] Associative information can be collected for all sponsors
continuously, and stored for a predetermined time, such as a week,
month or year.
Alternatively, associative information can be
searched for and presented to the user upon selection of the
sponsor. Presentation of any associative information may be made
by drill down techniques, pop-up windows, menu selections, or any
other mechanism as described herein or otherwise understood by
those having skill in the art.
[110] Associative information may be categorized and organized in a
similar manner as for assets as described herein. Associative
information may further be processed into statistical data, such that
graphs, charts, comparators and rating scales and/or systems may
be generated to provide a user with data determinative of the real-
time popularity or value fluctuations over time, geography, or any
other parameter, for a given asset. The accumulation of the
monitoring, collection and analysis of associative information may
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effectively create a "buzz" value, that positively or negatively
temporarily effects the value of certain assets associated with a
particular asset.
[111] In a process of evaluating associative information, values can be
attributed and normalized to reduce the effects unrelated to the buzz
around an asset. For example, while values are likely to grow from
midnight to midday in a given geographical area surrounding the
locale of a sponsor, and where media users are awake and add to
the associative information, the value measurements can be
normalized to remove time of day variations. Other variations, such
as seasonal variations, weekly variations and general topic
variations (when examining buzz for more specific topics), can also
be normalized out. Ratios and difference measurements might also
be performed in comparing two or more topics, terms or categories
to determine relative buzz.
[112] When the "buzz", or statistical measure of interest, is determined
for
a sponsor, that information can be used in many ways. For
example, users might be interested in seeing the current popularity
of a less-expensive sponsor, or determine the current quality of a
more-expensive sponsor, in that the more-expensive sponsor may
have a buzz in a particular region that negatively effects the value of
that sponsor. Naturally, users may wish to dynamically switch their
advertising carnpaigns to follow sponsors having increased or
elevated buzz. Alternatively, a buzz value can change the value of
the sponsors prior to selection, such that prices associated with
particular sponsors may fluctuate in real-time.
[113] According to another aspect of the present invention, the system
may pull a user's ad campaigns from existing ad servers to provide a
single location for ad campaign development and organization.
Once these existing ad campaigns are brought into the system, they
can be broken down, added to or integrated with those ad campaign
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tools provided by the present invention. For example, a user can
tailor the ad templates based on existing campaigns to generate
new campaigns with a particular sponsor. This methodology may
allow a user to manage and track all such features from a single
source or engine. It may further allow the user, via the engine as
described herein, to control the trafficking of ads according to a
unified set of business rules, provide coordinated ad targeting to
different users or content, and centralize all tuning and optimization
based on generated creatives or campaigns, or results. Further, all
data related to reporting impressions, clicks, post-click and post-
impression activities, and any interaction metrics can be collected
and processed from the single location. It may also provide a
automated and/or semi-automated means of optimizing bid prices,
placement, targeting, or other characteristics of the ad, campaign or
asset set. For example, use of a profile of prior behavior on the part
of the viewer may determine which ad to develop and show.
Contextual information may be developed as contained from
locations where the ad will be served.
Generally speaking,
experimental or predictive methods may be used to explore the
optimum creative for a given ad placement and for exploiting any
such determination in further impressions, as will be understood by
those skilled in the art.
[114] In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the
system may include a general menu for selection of the different
features of the present invention. For example, as may be seen in
Figures 24-58, a menu of features may be presented in a folder and
subfolder format. General items may be organized under headings
such as Account, Library, Talent Management, Advertisers and
Publishers, for example. Account information may further be
organized to contain listings of relevant information pertaining to
Notifications, such as approvals, reports and messages; Company
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information; Users, such as user directories, roles and groups; and
Support information, such as help, wiki, product ideas and trouble
tickets.
[115] As seen in Figures 31-46, Library information may include
information related to available Talent and may provide various
Talent Lists. As may be seen in Figure 31, the vault may provide
information of a talent library, which talent library may be or include
a plurality of assets accessible, for example, via a recommendation
engine interface. Within the talent library, in the situation where the
talent at issue is individuals, there may be provided a listing,
illustration, graphic, menu, or search interface of and for the given
talent. Associated with the listing of the talent may be personal
information such as sport, team, position, jersey number, league,
college, height, weight, by way of non-limiting example only. Also,
information concerning the market and/or marketability of the named
talent and/or the ranking of the named talent, such as by market
and/or geography, may be made available. Such rankings or
marketability ratings may take the form, as would be known to those
possessing an ordinary skill in the pertinent arts, of a ranking with 1
being the highest ranked, or with 1 being the lowest rank, for
example. Alternatively, other rankings schema may also be used.
As may be seen in Figure 31, there may be provided information
regarding ratings that is referenced on local and/or national level, in
one market versus another, of one asset versus another, or the like.
In one exemplary embodiment, Talent may include professional
athletes and list these athletes by first or last name, alphabetically.
Information pertaining to cost, ratings, market detail and personal
information may also be provided for each itemized Talent.
[116] As seen in Figure 32, when a user selects a particular Talent, such
as Amani Toomer, a scrolling list of images may be provided for
further selection. These images may be final images for use as an
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asset in a creative or campaign, or they may be folders or links to
additional images or items for further selection. When a user then
selects one of the images, as shown in Figures 33-34, the image
may expand into a larger window for ease of navigation through the
various information associated with that Talent. Such information
may relate to brands, assets, metrics, career, media and the general
profile of that Talent. Assets associated with a Talent may be
watermarked until licensed by a user of the system. As illustrated in
Figure 35, Career statistics and other career related information may
be itemized and categorized as understood by those skilled in the
art. Also, as shown in Figure 36, Media information, including media
mentions, blogs and other related publications may be similarly
itemized and categorized as understood by those skilled in the art.
[117] Turning now to metricizing an asset, a metric may be constituted
by
any of a plurality of methodologies of valuing the marketability of an
asset. For example, a metric may be determined by searching to
look up brands, wherein any word, or specifically proper noun, is
effectively a brand, particularly on the internet, for example. The
results of a brand search may be stored, and a metric computed
therefrom by reviewing data collected in the brand search. For
example, domain lookup and page information may be reviewed in a
database. From the domain and page information, the system of the
present invention may infer information, such as based on
information available regarding consumership or the subject domain
or page. For example, if in the database it is known from available
information that a certain percentage of readers of the domain
"Technology Innovations Weekly" are engineers/scientists, or the
domain "Baseball World" are males under the age of forty, the
system of the present invention may infer information regarding
viewers of that page, and thereby underscore a computation for a
metric according to inferred information as applied to the brand
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referenced by the page. Further, for example, the page rank from a
search engine may also be used to infer popularity of a page to
thereby provide a metric of the brand asset based on the page on
which the brand is found, i.e. popularity with which the asset brand is
viewed.
[118] Google trends may also be used to metricize a given brand.
Google trends charts how often a particular search term is entered
relative the total search volume across various regions of the world,
and in various languages. Often, the display of Google trends may
illustrate a horizontal axis representing time, and a vertical
representing how often a term is searched for relative to the total
number of searches, globally. The data may be graphed with
popularity broken down by region, city and/or language, for example.
It is also possible to refine by region and time period. Google
trends may also allow comparison of the volume of searches
between two or more terms. An additional feature of Google
Trends is in its ability to show news related to the search term
overlaid on the chart showing how new events affect search
popularity. The above may provide data for a metric in accordance
with the present invention. For example, Google trends may be
used to compare a certain brand against a baseline, such as all
brands or all brands in a particular field, thereby allowing for
calculation of a "buzz" relative to other brands. Additionally, an
interpolation of trends against known qualities of a certain domain
increases the level of detail of the popularity of that domain and its
brands with the sects of population associated with the qualities of
the domain. Further, for example, if searches for a certain online
newspaper are known, and a second newspaper has half the
readership of the .first, it can be interpolated that searches for the
second paper are half in number of those for the first, and thus the
second paper is half of the first in overall popularity.
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[119] Further, other metrics may be made available in accordance with the
above. For example, data may be gained regarding links that lead
to the subject domain. Thereby, for example, the demographics of
those linked domains may be included in the analysis of the subject
domain. Additionally, closed captioning may be metricized, such as
for TV and radio. Closed captioning allows for a textual presentation
of all brands (proper nouns) mentioned on TV and radio. With
knowledge of viewership or listenership, such as via Nielsen ratings
for TV, monitoring of data regarding mentions, such as via
monitoring closed captioning, allows for knowledge of what
percentage of viewers/listeners were presented with a brand
mention, and whether the mention was good or poor. Further, the
demographic data available regarding viewers and listeners allows
for an interpolation of the brand mention along demographic lines.
[120] Survey data may also be used to quantify the metric of a given
brand. Surveys may be used at each level of branded product
development. Specifically, surveys at the category level to measure
brand value and brand equity may be used, then that information
may be used to aggregate brand equities to the corporate level.
Such use of surveys may allow a metricization of the brand metric
score.
[121] Similarly, positive or negative mentions of assets may be tracked,
such as by monitoring online text via/and/or monitoring RSS feeds.
Such mentions may be rated, such as by offline manual rating of
each mention, and such as by comparison to lists of good or bad
non-proper nouns used in conjunction with the asset. Such ratings,
of course, constitute a metric.
[122] Likewise, a gross number of views or listens may be tracked, such
as by using domains that provide such information, such as
YouTube. Such information allows not only for a gross metric with
regard to an asset, but further, if used in conjunction with, for
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example, demographic or geographic information, allows for one or
more detailed metrics.
[123] Referring now to Figure 37, there is shown an exemplary
presentation of metrics according to an aspect of the present
invention. As may be seen in Figure 37, a graphical display of a
metric score as a function of time may be displayed for the asset of
interest - that is, a brand rating. This can be overlayed with a
graphical presentation of the average of another or all U.S. brands,
for example, and may include a shaded plus/minus a standard
deviation of the metrics score of all U.S. brands, for example.
Similarly, a tabular display of this information may also be
presented, in this case below the graphical display.
[124] Referring now to Figure 38, there is shown the image of Figure 37
with an additional focus on a specific time frame, displayed as April
2, 2008. The data on that specific day is graphically illustrated for an
asset graphical display of interest metrics as a score of 44.32, with
an average of all U.S. brands metrics score of 21.467, and with a
+std of 31.863 and a -std of 11.071.
[125] Referring now to Figure 39, there is shown the image of Figures 37
and 38 with an additional focus on a specific time frame, displayed
as July 9, 2008. The data on that specific day may be displayed as
illustrated.
[126] Referring now to Figure 40, there is shown the images of Figures
37-39 with an additional dropdown menu displayed. The specific
dropdown menu displayed in Figure 40 relates to the display and
computation associated with the metrics of Figures 37-39.
Specifically, the drop down may provide as to whether the metrics
are calculated yearly, monthly, weekly or daily, for example.
[127] Referring now to Figure 41, there is shown a plurality of parameters
based on the displays of Figures 37-39. The coverage that is
selected may be modified to select a specific region of the world.
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Specifically, regions of the United States may be selected, such a
Baltimore, MD, for example. For example, a DMA, local, or national
area may be used. DMA is an acronym for Designated Market Area.
DMAs are a way of designating particular geographic markets, and
are often ranked by size of population. The graphical presentation
may also be based on a zone, such as a local area or subset of a
DMA.
[128] Referring now also to Figure 42, there is shown the image based on
Figures 37-39 when the coverage selected has been the DMA of
Philadelphia, PA. In
such a scenario, the graphical interface
computes and displays the metrics score of the asset selected as a
function of time, and also plots the average of all brands in the
Philadelphia DMA with associated standard deviations.
[129] Referring now to Figure 43, there are shown additional selections
that may be made with regard to the comparison brands to be used.
For example, it may be beneficial to compare to only brands within a
segment, such as in a situation wherein the segment has been
subjected to some unique circumstance, for example, or wherein a
specific positive incident, like the Super Bowl, may have an effect on
all football brands, for example. Further, a comparison may be
made to a specific brand as well. Referring now also to Figure 44, a
selection of the brands to compare with is shown. This may include
most improved brands, hot 100, recently added, and recently
viewed, by way of non-limiting examples only.
[130] Referring now to Figure 45, there is shown the ability to affect the
qualitative factors that comprise a metrics score. As described
hereinabove, metrics may be computed a number of ways and may
further include components associated with awards, drugs, sex, dui,
and crime, for example. The metrics score may be examined with
selected ones of these filters removed or included as desired.
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[131] Referring now to Figure 46, there is shown the display of Figures 37-
39 with several possible ways to display the data. For example,
data may be displayed in normalized data over time, normalized
data over DMA, and qualitative data, for example.
[132] As seen in Figure 47, Talent lists may be generated, where those
Talents may be organized alphabetically or by other ordering, and
may further provide summary information, such as CPM, Ratings,
Market Details, Personal Info, Brand Listings, and any other
summary information desirable. Drill-down tabs may be available for
any listed Talent, such that the user may identify any additional
information needed for construction of the creative and/or campaign.
[133] As seen in Figures 49-53, Talent Management may also include
organization of sponsorships into Campaigns, Advertiser Brands,
Talent, Creatives, Creative Groups, and Reports, for example. Such
listings may provide an easy to read and selectable format for
identifying particular information regarding the history and status for
each listed item, as well as costs, codes, and any other sort of
relevant information as may be understood by those skilled in the
art. Similarly, as seen in Figures 54-59, Advertiser information may
include Campaigns, such as Flights, for example, and Brands,
Products, Creatives, Licensing, Reports, and a Download History.
Advertiser information may also be organized so as to provide an
easy to read and selectable format for identifying particular
information regarding the history and status for each listed item, as
well as costs, codes, targeting, licensing and any other sort of
relevant information as may be understood by those skilled in the
art.
[134] A valuation methodology may be employed in accordance with the
present invention in order to valuate branded entertainment
transactions. The prior art currently offers no industry standard.
Branded entertainment to be valuated in accordance with the
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present invention spans all media plays discussed herein, including
air television, cable, film including but not limited to feature films,
radio, music and music videos, and video games, in domestic and
foreign markets, by way of non-limiting example only. Thus, as used
herein throughout, the terms viewer and/or listener may be used
interchangeably to refer to any recipient of any of the
aforementioned media plays.
[135] The
first step in a valuation methodology is to identify the
quantifiables that may be used. For
example, the attributes
associated with a branded media placement discussed herein
throughout may include how many seconds the media placement
appeared, whether it was in the foreground or background or
whether the product, service, or usage appeared alone on the
screen, the size and visibility of the placement, whether there was
any interaction between the product, service, or usage and the
actors, singers, or the like, the creative quality of the integration, the
competitive images or sounds used, whether there is implied
celebrity endorsement for the brand, viewer response and whether
there was a visual placement or brand mention in the context of the
dialogue. Ratings of the entertainment during which the placement
occurred may also be used as will be evident to those possessing an
ordinary skill in the pertinent arts in light of the disclosure herein.
Further a brand content measuring tool may provide impact of the
product integration through consumer research on the brand
awareness and affinity rather than assign a dollar value to the
integration.
I:136] For example, quantifiables for branded media play may include
the
program rating for the show during which the branded placement
occurred. This quantifiable may be pinpointed process such that the
rating for the minute when the product placement is accounted for
and may even include the demographic profile of the viewing
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audience at the time the placement took place. Numerous factors
may be used for the exemplary quantifiables and may be valued to
the minute or even the hundredth of a second of an integration,
which level of pinpointing may be selectable by one or more users of
the present invention, and which such selectable pinpointing will
vary in accordance with the particular quantifiable of interest.
Scores for each quantifiable may be provided, such as assigning a
score on a scale ranging from 1-10, for example.
[137] Other quantifiables include predicting audience size for a given
advertisers group, then defining cost based on the average rates to
reach a demographic through a 30 or 60 second spot on television.
A dollar value for the integration based on its forecasted audience
size may then be calculated and data collected on the various
characteristics of the placement. This provides a value metric that
may be placed on a per-second spot, such as for a 30 second spot,
for example. Metrics may be used in guiding this type of valuation,
such as the cost of another television ad on the same show, for
example. Such a numeric metric may be used in whole, or may be
metered to account for the fact that the placement may not
encompass the entire advertising spot, such as wherein the
placement accounts 25% of an ad, for example. Such metering may
include values as low as 1% or lower, for example, depending on the
user selected pinpointing level. When
placements in non-
characteristic advertising markets - those where advertising spots
may not be used as a metric - are used, a standard rating of cost per
viewer factor, such as one ranging from $.01-$2 may be used to
value placement and sponsorship opportunities, for example.
[138] Yet another quantifiable of fixed cost per minutes may also be used.
Such fixed factors may be $1, 10, 20, or 100 CPM, for example.
Such a fixed cost may also be varied based on given markets,
countries and medium as would be evident to those possessing an
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ordinary skill in the pertinent arts. Further, predictive techniques
may be used to predict audience size for advertisers or an
agreement to a fixed advertising cost per thousand (CPM) based on
the average rates to reach the film's demographic through a 30-
second spot on television, for example. Factors similar to those
discussed above may be used to vary the rate by accounting for
known research parameters, viewer response to polled advertising,
and comparison to similar type placements performed previously.
[139] Quantifiables may be equally or unequally weighted, and a score for
each may be translated into an overall score for the placement.
Further, the quantifiables may be weighted based on known,
studied, hypothesized, or other biased weighting, and then the score
for each may be translated into an overall score after accounting for
the weighting.
[140] Other valuation methods may provide no value for a placement, but
instead provide data on viewer response to product integrations and
then translate this response into a score that advertisers may use as
a quantifiable in conjunction with their own sales and marketing data
to determine, for example, return on investment. Such techniques
may utilize response data, such as whether the audience
remembered the placement, i.e. consumer recall; whether the
audience could associate the placement with the brand, i.e. brand
recall; and whether the audience felt the placement represented a
proper fit with the show.
[141] Information may be compiled from selling brands worn, placed,
featured or utilized in particular movies, television programs and the
like to provide data that can help brands and entertainment
companies put a value on these placements. A database of such
information may be created that includes information on
quantifiables describing the placements, as discussed hereinabove.
Based on such information, and the number of viewers who either
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purchased, viewed or showed interest in a product that appeared
gauged via an Internet-based shopping service, for example,
transactional data may be logged to demonstrate whether the
placements were effective in creating demand for the product. Such
enhanced information may in turn lead to predictive models based
on this historical transactional data to aid in determining the kinds of
product placements that will be successful. Such
predictive
modeling may be made available to subsequent users of the present
invention, such as by placement into ad templates, suggested
partners, regionalized brand affinities, and the like.
[142] As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the engines within
the
endorsed advertising engine of the present invention may draw on
any number of communication access points and media sources,
including wired and wireless, radio and cable, telephone, television
and internet, personal electronic devices, satellite, databases, data
files, and the like, in order to increase content in the vault, contribute
content for intelligent selection of brand associations, and best allow
for recommendations and delivery.
[143] Geo-targeting may also be utilized to manage geographically
constrained or geographically targeted marketing and advertising
campaigns. Those skilled in the art will understand that such
campaigns may also be included as all or a portion of a campaign
that is not geographically constrained, but the exemplary
embodiment herein will be described with respect to a
geographically constrained approach. A non-limiting example of a
geographically constrained market for the purpose of discussing this
exemplar embodiment is the National Football League. Under the
marketing rules of the National Football League, individual teams
are permitted to market their individual teams, the NFL, logos,
jerseys, colors, and players, by way of non-limiting examples only, in
the respectively named markets for each respective team without
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seeking the approval of the NFL. Therefore, in the event the
geographic location of a user is identified in accordance with the
present invention, a campaign or other creative may be constructed
to provide specific reference to the particular NFL team having rights
in the identified market of the online user, for example, without
seeking approval of the NFL. Such a configuration allows real-time
marketing campaigns and reduces the time necessary for creation of
such campaigns.
[144] Geo-targeted advertising according to the present invention includes
determination of a user's geographical position. Such a
determination identifies a geographical location within a
predetermined accuracy threshold, such as by country, region, city,
latitude, longitude, ZIP code, time zone, connection speed, ISP and
domain, such as by using an IP address lookup database or similar
technology without invading the user's privacy, for example. More
specifically, in computer networking, IP addresses may not
correspond to a geographic location within the desired accuracy
threshold, wherein a server is not proximate to or co-located with the
user, but a conversion may be performed to determine the physical
location of IP addresses in many cases. Yet more specifically, geo-
location may attempt to map IP addresses to geographic locations
using large computer databases. For example, webmasters may
use geo-location to track the geographic distribution of visitors to
their site, and in addition may be able to dynamically change or
block the content shown to each visitor based on location. In other
embodiments of the present invention, a user's location may be
assessed by cellular or other GPS or triangulation systems, by a
cable television, DVR, or other set top box, by sending a "ping"
signal or the like.
[145] Once a geographical position is determined, such data may be input
into the campaign creation tool. In such a tool, as the campaign is
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created the assessed geographical location becomes an input in
determining whether a particular advertisement or spokesman may
be utilized in a creative, or must be changed upon delivery of a
creative to a user. Referring again to the example above, if the
geographical location is determined to be a location that does not
require further NFL authorization to allow delivery of a particular
creative, an advertisement may be delivered that uses the colors or
jersey of the Dallas Cowboys to the user in Dallas, for example.
Further, such an advertisement may be designed to include the use
of a Dallas player, such as Tony Romo, for example. However,
rules in the Bat engine may block, limit, replace, or otherwise edit
the creative for delivery to users near, or far, from Dallas. Such geo-
targeting greatly increased the available spokesmen and
endorsement services available in delivering online advertisements.
Such geo-targeting allows for geographically constrained marketing
and advertising campaigns. Further to the example described
above, the Dallas Cowboys are allowed to market Dallas Cowboys,
the NFL, logos, jerseys in certain named markets, such as in Dallas.
Once the geographical position is determined to include these
certain named markets, an advertisement with Tony Romo in his
jersey may be provided without prior approval of the NFL, in the
exemplary embodiment.
[146] As would be evident to those possessing an ordinary skill in the
pertinent arts, IP addresses, such as IP or DVR address, may be
associated with a location in a somewhat inaccurate manner (e.g.,
the wrong postal code, city or suburb within a metropolitan area) to
allow for the required precision for a particular creative. Similarly, IP
addresses may be associated only with a very broad geographic
area (e.g., a large city, or an entire state). Many precise addresses
may be associated with a city, thus not allowing for assessment of a
street address or latitude/longitude location. "Hotspots" may also be
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used, but present similar issues and often map to SSID information
instead of discrete locations. Further, some addresses will not
appear in an IF database, for example, and therefore cannot be
mapped. In such situations, depending on the underlying licensing
issues or rules selected surrounding the campaign generation,
advertising may be by rule included or excluded. Using the example
of the Dallas Cowboys above, if an IF address cannot be mapped
into one of the specific zones that the Dallas team is eligible to
advertise without prior approval, such ads may instead be handled
using other aspects of the brand delivery system. Alternatively, if
the mapping merely to within the city comes completely within the
zone of acceptable advertising, the ad may be delivered.
[147] Needless to say, in the event, discussed immediately hereinabove,
that inadequate precision is all that is available for use with the
present invention from one discrete geo-locating methodology,
multiple methodologies may be employed, either hierarchically or in
conjunction, in order to obtain the desired or required precision. For
example, IF addressing may be used in conjunction with one or
more of GPS, triangulation, hot spotting, user entered location value,
set top box location, telephonic locating, computing "cookies",
sending a "ping" and receiving a return, tracking of previous
location(s), or the like.
[148] Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many
modifications and variations of the present invention may be
implemented without departing from the spirit or scope of the
invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the
modification and variations of this invention provided they come
within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
