Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEARCHING MEDIA ASSETS
I
Cross-Reference To Related Applications
[1] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial
No.
61/111,760, entitled "System And Method For Searching Media
Assets," filed November 6, 2008; and is a continuation-in-part of U.S.
Patent Application No. 12/220,912, entitled "System and Method For
Brand Affinity Content Distribution And Optimization," filed July 29,
2008, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated by reference
herein in their entirety.
[2] U.S. Patent Application No. 12/220,912 is a continuation-in-part of: U.S.
Patent Application Serial No. 12/144,194, entitled "System and Method
for Brand Affinity Content Distribution and Optimization", filed June 23,
2008; claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No.
61/065,297, entitled "System and Method of Assessing Qualitative and
Quantitative Use of a Brand," filed February 7, 2008; and claims priority
to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 61/131,386, entitled
"Apparatus, System and Method for a Brand Affinity Engine Using
Positive and Negative Mentions", filed June 6, 2008, the disclosures of
which are incorporated by reference herein as if set forth in their
entirety.
[3] U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12/144,194 is: a continuation-in-part
of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11/981,646, entitled "Engine,
System and Method for Generation of Brand Affinity Content", filed
October 31, 2007; a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application
Serial No. 11/981,837, entitled "An Advertising Request And Rules-
Based Content Provision Engine, System and Method", filed October
31, 2007; a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
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12/072,692, entitled "Engine, System and Method For Generation of
Brand Affinity Content, filed February 27, 2008; and a continuation in
part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12/079,769, entitled "Engine,
System and Method for Generation of Brand Affinity Content," filed
March 27, 2008, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference
herein as if set forth in their entirety.
[4] U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11/981,837 claims priority to U.S.
Provisional Application Serial No. 60/993,096, entitled "System and
Method for Rule-Based Generation of Brand Affinity Content," filed
September 7, 2007, and is related to U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
11/981,646, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference
herein as if set forth in their entirety.
[5] U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12/079,769 is a continuation-in-part
of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12/042,913, entitled "Engine,
System and Method for Generation of Brand Affinity Content," filed
March 5, 2008, which is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent
Application Serial No. 12/072,692, the disclosures of which are
incorporated by reference herein as if set forth in their entirety.
[6] U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12/072,692 is a continuation-in-part
of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11/981,646.
Field of the Invention
[7] The present invention is directed to brand affinity software and, more
particularly, to an apparatus, system and method for a brand affinity
engine using positive and negative mentions.
Background of the Invention
[8] In typical current advertising embodiments, although sponsorship and
promotional media is an 80 billion dollar industry in the United States,
very little sponsorship and promotional advertising is engaged in "on-
line," that is, in networked telecommunications environments such as
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Internet, extranet, intranet, satellite, wired, wireless, including ad-hoc
wireless, and similar communication networks, which employ
computers, personal digital assistants, conference phones, cellular
telephones and the like. In fact, it its estimated that only 250 million
dollars in on-line advertising using sponsorship and promotional
material is made available in the United States, or 0.31 % of the
aforementioned 80 billion dollar industry.
[9] Further, the inefficiencies of obtaining sponsorship and promotional
sport in advertising drastically limit the universe of available sponsors
and promoters, at least in that, if procurement of a brand can take
several months, it stands to reason that advertisers will endeavor to
obtain only those sponsors that the advertisers can be assured will
have a positive public image and likeability over the course of many
months. Needless to say, this drastically limits the universe of available
sponsors. For example, it is estimated that, in the multi-billion dollar
athletic sponsorship advertising industry, 95% of sponsorship dollars
are spent hiring the top 5% of athletes to become sponsors. As such,
very few sponsorships are made available by the prior art to less
desirable athletes, although such athletes may be less desirable for any
of a number of reasons, at least some of which reasons are unrelated
to likeability or negative image. For example, a baseball player may be
a perennial all-star, but may play in a "small market," and as such may
not be deemed to fall within the top 5% of athlete-sponsors.
Consequently, although the exemplary player may be very popular in
certain areas or with certain demographics, in the prior art it is very
unlikely this particular exemplary athlete will obtain much in the way of
sponsorships.
[10] Needless to say, the typically lengthy mechanism that precludes
sponsorship from occurring on-line thus, as discussed above,
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drastically limits the available universe of sponsors. Further, such
current mechanisms fail to take into account that certain sponsors may
have a willingness to engage in certain sponsorships at certain times,
with respect to certain products, or in certain geographic locales, or
may be desired as sponsors at certain times, or only in certain
geographic locales, or only with regard to certain products. For
example, in the sponsorship industry, it is well established that famous
actors in the United States may market products internationally that
they do not wish to lend sponsorship to in the United States.
Additionally, because news with regard to United States athletes or
actors, for example, may break more quickly in the United States, those
same athletes or actors may experience a lengthened time of
availability for desirable sponsorship in other countries. For example, a
baseball player may come to be suspected of steroid use in the United
States, thereby limiting his desirability as a sponsor for products in the
United States, but may nonetheless continue to be popular in Japan
until or if such steroid use is definitively proven. Thereby, an inability to
efficiently provide for that baseball player to become a sponsor in
Japan, where that baseball player may not normally allow for his
likeness to be used in sponsorship, may seriously curtail sponsorship
opportunities for that baseball player, as well as curtailing advertising
possibilities for Japanese advertisers.
[11] Thus, the need exists for an apparatus, system and method to allow for
assessment of optimal sponsors for particular markets and/or in
particular geographies, and that provides increased sponsorship
opportunities in particular markets and/or in particular geographies.
Summary of the Invention
[12] The present invention includes at least an apparatus, system and
method of implementing a computerized brand affinity engine. The
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apparatus, system and method include at least a plurality of
computerized access points having accessible thereto a plurality of
sites mentioning at least one sponsor, a categorized, hierarchical
database of keywords, wherein at least the keywords falling in at least
one category of the hierarchy correspond to a sponsor category of the
at least one sponsor, and a tracker, wherein the tracker tracks positive
ones of the mentions of the at least one sponsor on ones of the plurality
of sites and negative ones of the mentions of the at least one sponsor
on ones of the plurality of sites, in accordance with positive and
negative keywords of the categorized, hierarchical database in the
sponsor category, and wherein the tracker issues an rating with regard
to the at least one sponsor in accordance with the positive ones and the
negative ones of the mentions.
[13] Thus, the present invention provides an apparatus, system and method
to allow for assessment of optimal sponsors for particular markets
and/or in particular geographies, and that provides increased
sponsorship opportunities in particular markets and/or in particular
geographies.
Brief Description of the Figures
[14] 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:
[15] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[16] Figure 2 illustrates an aspect of the present invention;
[17] Figure 3 illustrates an aspect of the present invention;
[18] Figure 4 illustrates an aspect of the present invention;
[19] Figure 5 illustrates an aspect of the present invention;
[20] Figure 6 illustrates an aspect of the present invention; and
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[21] Figure 7 illustrates an aspect of the present invention.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
[22] 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 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.
[23] 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
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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.
[24] 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 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.
[25] 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
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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.
[26] 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. 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 these factors, based upon only a limited number of
parameters from which to initiate and generate the advertisement.
[27] As illustrated in Figure 1, the brand affinity software engine 10 of the
present invention may provide a recommendation engine 12, a creative
engine 14, a fulfillment engine 16, and a management engine 18.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, although these engines are
illustrated collectively in Figure 1, that the present invention additionally
contemplates the use of each of these engines discretely From the
remaining illustrated engines. In this exemplary embodiment, the
recommendation engine may, based on any number of known or
assessed factors, recommend a sponsorship brand for use at certain
times, in certain geographies, or with regard to certain products or
services. The recommendation engine may generate recommendation
metrics, may issue scores, rankings, or the like. The creative engine
may provide one or more templates for the creation of sponsored
advertisements, and may additionally provide content, such as from a
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content "vault" that includes content of a variety of media formats and
with respect to a myriad of sponsors, for inclusion in a creative
generated using the advertising template. For example, such content
may include text, such as quotes, audio, video, pictures, highlights, or
the like, and such content may have limited availability categorized by
time, location, product, service, or the like. The fulfillment engine of the
present invention may, based on direct or redirect advertising delivery,
deliver the advertisements created using the creative engine. It almost
goes without saying that advertisements created for fulfillment using
other advertising creation engines may likewise be incorporated into the
fulfillment engine of the present invention for delivery with
advertisements created using the creative engine of the present
invention. Finally, the management engine of the present invention
provides for tracking and reporting, as well as feedback for improved
metrics, of the advertisements placed using the present invention.
[28] As referenced hereinabove, the recommendation engine may provide
brand metrics for sponsoring brands, and the management engine may
provide feedback with regard to modifying or improving the brand
metrics of sponsoring brands and/or sponsored ads. Such metrics may
be gauged in any number of ways, certain of which will be apparent to
those skilled in the art in light of the disclosure herein. For example, as
illustrated in Figure 2, positive 110 and negative 112 mentions of
sponsoring brands 114 may be tracked, such as by comparison of
those brands with predetermined sets and/or subsets of "good" and
"bad" keywords 120 for association with those sponsoring brands.
Thereby, valuation may be assigned to certain keywords in the present
invention, and the value of certain sponsoring brands may be tracked,
based on association with those keywords, over time, in certain
geographies, in certain markets, and/or with regard to certain products
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or services, and the like. Keywords may, of course, be "good" to be
associated with, meaning such keywords are indicative of positive
associations with the sponsoring brand, "bad" to be associated with,
meaning such keywords are indicative of negative associations with the
sponsoring brand, or "neutral."
[29] Such keywords may be hierarchically organized as illustrated in Figure
3, such that searches are performed only on certain categorically
matched subsets 202 of such keywords 120 for sponsoring brands
falling in particular categories 204. Needless to say, all keywords may
be run against all brands, rather than employing the aforementioned
hierarchal setup, and/or certain sponsoring brands may be associated
with multiple subsets of keywords simultaneously based on their
presence in multiple categories of sponsoring brands.
[30] Thus, for example, a certain sponsoring brand falling within the
category "professional sports," a subset "baseball," and the sub-subset
"Sari Francisco Giants," may be subjected to a plurality of Google or
other search engine searches in association with positive keywords,
such as home run, all star, hall of fame, charity, game winning,
outstanding, of the year, and the like. Conversely, the presence of a
baseball player in such a category may indicate similar searches for
negative keywords such as steroids, cheat, gamble, attorney, perjury,
court case, jail, incident, arrest, drunk driving, and the like. Needless to
say, such positive or negative searches may be performed in a strictly
boolean manner, such as requiring only the presence of the named
athlete and one of the key words in a particular location, or may be
performed as stream expression searches, whereby a mention of the
athlete within five words of a certain keyword or ten words of another
keyword, is searched. Such searches are illustrated in Figure 4.
Needless to say, such searches may, in the case of Google, for
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example, return a number of hits for positive or negative keywords.
Alternatively, other media may be searched, such as wherein a number
of youTube views are tracked for positive or negative videos or audio,
greater numbers of views or downloads are tracked as being more
positive on youTube or iTunes, positive or negative references are
tracked in on-line and/or print media, such as magazines and
newspapers, video requests are tracked Internet-wide for videos using
the sponsor, iTune downloads are tracked for videos or audio using the
sponsor, number of presences on youTube or iTunes is tracked, or the
like.
[31] As mentioned hereinabove, the value of a reference to a sponsoring
brand in association with a particular keyword may receive a rating,
such as wherein the keyword has a particular rating associated with it,
or, for example, wherein the number of times a person has been
associated with that reference receives a different rating, such as a
strength of reference rating. For example, if a particular football player
receives ten thousand references in accordance with a particular
search, and only one of the ten thousand references mentions the
negative keyword "marital affair", it stands to reason that such a
reference is unlikely to have any true negative effect on a sponsoring
brand, in part because such a limited reference is unlikely to be very
reliable. Thus, a strength of reference may increase as the number of
associated references of a particular sponsoring brand with a particular
keyword or keywords continue to occur.
[32] Further, for example, a first time reference may act as a triggering
mechanism for review for additional references. For example, a recent
scandal affecting a National Football League team involved a party on a
boat, and although "boat" might not be a term typically searched for in
association with a National Football League player, a first time mention
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of a player in association with the word "boat" may act as a triggering
mechanism for additional searching for mention of that player, or those
players, in association with that keyword.
[33] In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a football player
is mentioned in association with a particular keyword. The keyword
association may be assigned a + 1 to + 10 rating for a positive keyword
associative mention, or a - 1 to a - 10 rating for a negative keyword
association. Additionally, if the associated keyword is flagged for
association with the sponsoring brand searched, but in actuality does
not apply for any one of a number of reasons, such as an unreliable
source or an actual reference to a different party, the association may
be marked with a N/A, for example. Such associations and keyword
rating of mentions may be performed automatically, or, upon flagging of
a particular sponsorship brand, may be performed manually. Manual
searchers may, needless to say, receive training in order to use
consistent numerical ratings for associative mentions. Further, manual
searchers may receive retraining such as wherein, for example, 100
searchers rated a particular mention or series of mentions as a + 5. In
such a case, such mentions or similar mentions may be repeatedly re-
routed to a particular searcher-in-trainer until that searcher in training
begins to rate such mentions within a predetermined acceptable
variation of + 5.
[34] Continuing with the aforementioned exemplary embodiment, upon
occurrence of a triggering mechanism, searches may be performed at
predetermined intervals, such as daily or weekly, to check for a second
and additional associative mentions. Thereby, a number of associative
mentions at a particular rating may be assigned. For example, the
mention of baseball player John Doe in association with "steroid
scandal" may receive a rating of - 5 for the first one hundred mentions,
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and - 7 for all additional mentions, and may result in two hundred
mentions at an average of - 6 rating. Thereby, with respect to that
keyword, baseball player John Doe would receive a total rating of -
1200. However, if during the same time frame the same baseball
player John Doe was mentioned two hundred times in conjunction with
"charitable contributions", at an average rating of + 7, baseball player
John Doe may receive a + 1400 rating during the same time frame.
Thus, mentions of baseball player John Doe may be separately tracked
as positive mentions, negative mentions, neutral mentions, and/or may
be combined into an overall rating, which in the above-referenced
example would be a + 200, during the referenced time frame in the
market tracked and based on the keywords tracked. Thereby, a
sponsoring brand may have associated therewith a "heat index,"
wherein the greater the total positive rating for all keywords tracked in
all markets tracked may constitute how "hot" a sponsor is globally, and
similarly a total negative rating would track how "cold" a particular
sponsoring brand was. Needless to say, the above is exemplary in
nature only, and similarly tracking could occur not only on a positive or
negative association basis, but additionally on a geographic, product,
service, or other basis. For example, the aforementioned "hot" and
"cold" rating system may be used to draw a geographic "heat map,"
wherein the rating of a sponsoring brand in particular geographic
markets may be laid out on a map illustrating the hotness or coldness of
the sponsoring brand uniquely in each geographic market tracked.
[35] Additionally and alternatively, the associative mechanism discussed
hereinabove can operate with any desired sponsoring brand, and not
necessarily a particular person. For example, exemplary brand "Red
Fish Blue Fish Sail Boats" may be searched in conjunction with "sea
worthy," "best value," "most popular" and "great fun" for positive
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associations, and may be searched in association with "crash," "death,"
or "sink" for negative association. Thereby, the recommendation
engine of the present invention may be extended beyond sponsorship,
and may be used to assign positive or negative ratings to almost any
entity. Thus, particular entities may make use of the present invention
to monitor the strength of their own respective brands, such as in
different markets or in different geographies.
[36] Further, for example, the present invention may be used in the
performance of searches, such as internet-based searches, for positive
and negative mentions associated with anything or anyone, and in fact
the present invention may thus provide a mechanism whereby a
searcher can engage the present invention to search not only with
regard to just selected entities or persons, but further with regard to
only certain keywords or subsets of keywords. For example, parents
may perform global searches for the names of children in association
with keywords such as "drugs", or may limit searches to the names of
children and their friends only on MySpace.com, only in the state of
Wisconsin, and/or only with regard to all subsets of keywords under the
topic "drugs." Likewise, for example, prospective clients may perform
keyword searches for their prospective attorneys or doctors in
association with keywords such as "malpractice."
[37] Thus, a brand affinity rating may be assigned in accordance with the
recommendation engine of the present invention. Needless to say, the
attributes and/or keywords reviewed for association with particular
brands or sponsoring brands may vary by industry, such that the
present invention may be used to generate side-by-side comparisons
versus competitors by time, geography, product, or the like. For
example, in the pharmaceutical industry, a particular brand name may
be searched for associations versus a generic equivalent, using
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keywords such as "side effect," "health benefit," "cost effective," and the
like. Such a search may be performed by time, by geography, or the
like. For example, if a brand name manufacturer of a high blood
pressure drug suddenly sees a dip in its rating too, for example, a - 700
versus competing generics in a certain geographic region, such as the
northwestern United States, it becomes obvious that that particular
brand name must assess what sort of news has broken in the
northwestern United States to negatively affect the brand versus the
generic, and/or must change or improve their marketing program in
some way in the northwestern United States.
[38] Similarly, the present invention may be used as a tool for marketing
projections over time. It almost goes without saying that the most
positive effect an advertising tool can have is to predict who the next big
sponsoring brand will be in a particular market or in a particular locale,
for example. For example, it may be that certain events on the PGA
tour in certain locales create particularly positive "buzz" for certain
players on the PGA tour in those areas. Such an outcome would not be
surprising, because, of course, as the PGA tour moves to different
events, the media moves with the touring professionals, and thus the
qualitative and quantitative mentions of those touring professionals will
increase with the movement of the tour, that is, will increase in the
locales of the next tour events. However, this may not be the case for
every tour event, such as the minor tour events, or it may not be the
case for every touring professional in every locale. For example,
foreign touring professionals may not experience increased buzz in
certain locales, such as in the deep southern United States.
[39] The present invention, nonetheless, can predict, in the aforementioned
example, what PGA tour event, in what city, will affect, or most
positively affect, what touring professional or professionals. Thus,
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using the present invention as a predictive tool, an advertiser can buy
sponsorship of a sponsoring brand of the touring professional
experiencing the most positive buzz in the particular locale just before
the increase in publicity is to occur. The present invention may, of
course, additionally make use of historical data on the "buzz"
associated with a certain tour professional in a certain locale to further
refine the predictive capabilities of the present invention based on the
positive and negative mentions associated with that tour professional.
[40] The present invention may also include a unique and customizable
searching mechanism and engine for identifying those keywords,
assets, talents, or any other item available in the system databases and
networks.
[41] It should be appreciated that standard search engines provide an
interface to items or a grouping of items that enable users to specify
certain criteria, or a search query, about an item of interest within the
grouping of items, wherein the search engine finds the items of interest
responsive to the search query. In the case of text searching, for
example, the search query is typically expressed as a word or set of
words that identifies conceptually the item of interest that one or more
documents, hits, links, feeds, pages, or the like, may contain. While
some text search engines require users to enter words separated by
white space, other search engines may enable users to specify entire
documents, pictures, sounds, and/or other various forms of natural
language or stream searches.
[42] Typically, a list of items meeting the criteria specified by the query
are
sorted and/or ranked upon being returned responsive to the search
query. For example, while boolean search engines typically only return
items which match exactly without regard to order, ranking items by
relevance may reduce the time required to find the desired information,
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as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Other search engines
may rank items based on measures of similarity between each item and
the query, or by popularity or authority, or may even use a relevance
feedback mechanism, for example.
[43] To provide a set of matching items that are sorted according to certain
criteria, a search engine may typically collect metadata about the items
under consideration through a process often referred to as indexing.
Indexing typically requires a smaller amount of computer storage, which
is why some search engines only store the indexed information and not
the full content of each item, and instead provide a method of
navigating to the items in a search result. Alternatively, the search
engine may store a copy of each item in a cache so that users can see
the state of the item at the time it was indexed or for archive purposes
or to make repetitive processes work more efficiently and quickly.
Some search engines do not store an index. For example, a spider
type or real time search engine may collect and assess items at the
time of the search query, and consider additional items based on the
contents of a starting item, such as a seed or seed URL. In other
examples, a meta search engine will not store an index or a cache, and
instead may reuse the index or results of one or more other search
engines to provide an aggregated, final set of results.
[44] The present invention may include the aformentioned searching
mechanisms as well as other improvements to search queries to
increase the likelihood of providing a quality set of assets. Such
improvements may include a reformulation of a seed query to improve
retrieval performance. Queries may be expanded by evaluating a
user's input and expanding the search query according to a set of
expansion rules to match additional documents. For example, the
system may search for and provide synonyms of input words, or search
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for various morphological forms of input words by stemming some or all
of the input words. The system may also provide a corrected spelling
error search based on either the incorrect spelling, the corrected
spelling, or both. The system may also alter the weighting of input
terms from the query. By incorporating any of these search
mechanisms either separately or in any combination, the precision of
the search results can potentially increase.
[45] By utilizing a variety of searching mechanisms in combination with the
unique parameters associated with the assets made available by the
present invention, a user may perform single or multi-tiered searches to
not only find a particular asset of interest, but to further present to the
user those assets that best meet current advertising needs. The
searching mechanism may effectively become a hierarchy of filters
based on parameters unique to the present invention. For example, a
user may search based on a defined geographic area, such as by
entering searchable terms requiring that the asset may be used only
within the greater Boston area, or the asset may not be used anywhere
but Washington State. In another example, searches may be based on
a period of time, such as entering searchable terms requiring that the
asset may be used on weekday prime-time hours, or the asset may not
be used on Sundays between 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. In another
example, searches may be based on pairing or matching with other
particular assets, such as entering searchable terms requiring that the
asset may be used in combination with an erectile dysfunction product.
In another example, searches may be based on price or cost, such as
entering searchable terms requiring that the asset be under a threshold
price, or within a defined price range. It should be appreciated that all
such searches may be based upon any metric as described herein,
including use of keywords for positive and negative mentions, and as
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may be associated with the targeted asset. It should also be
appreciated that any combination of the aforementioned searches, with
or without use in conjunction with post or multi-step searches, may be
performed. For example, a user may first perform a keyword search for
positive and negative mentions, and based on the results, perform a
secondary search for those mentions within a defined geographical
area.
[46] In another example, a user searching for a specific asset representing
Tom Brady may include searchable terms and/or filters requiring a price
per minute no greater than a threshold value for use in the states of
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island at non-
primetime viewing hours and not during any time in which a National
Football League game is being played, and which asset may be
associated with the sale of new and/or used automobiles. Alternatively,
the search may include all the same parameters other than being
specific for Tom Brady, such that a list of players meeting the search
criteria are provided to the user for further selection. It should be
understood that there is no limit to the number and application of
combinations of searchable and/or filtering terms for use with the
present invention. Further, needless to say, a search request may,
based on a rule, for example, be forwarded, or forwarded upon a
certain occurrence, to an asset owner or one associated with an asset
owner for any necessary approvals of use or the requested asset at any
point in the process discussed herein.
[47] According to another aspect of the present invention, the system may
further include selectable categories to narrow a search. For example,
the system may tag a particular talent based on occupation, such as by
athlete, actor/actress, musician or politician. It should be appreciated
that any information tracked by the system that can be categorized may
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be associated with a talent or asset and may be included in a selectable
form to aid in a search performed by a user. Without limitation, such
information may include buzz ratings, cost, geography, time, metric
score, age, events, interests, and any other information as described
herein. The system may include further drill downs, such as when the
category "athlete" is selected, the system may provide athlete
categories such as NFL, MLB, Olympic Swimmer, or any other sports
category as understood by those skilled in the art. These categories
may be confirmed by the talent upon entry into the system, or may be
later entered or updated via a "profile" as described herein below.
[48] According to another aspect of the present invention, the system may
include, either optionally or as a modifiable requirement, a "profile" for
each endorser or talent associated with the system. For example, such
a profile may take the form of a survey, questionnaire or other fillable
and sortable format for the endorser or talent to identify personal
preferences and facts that the endorser or talent would like to be
associated with and/or have associated with the assets for that talent.
By identifying such personal preferences and facts associated with the
endorser or talent, the endorser or talent may position themselves to
attract users of the system via the various searching mechanisms
described herein to utilize the endorser or talent in the construction of
an advertisement and/or ad campaign.
[49] For exemplary purposes only, and without any factual basis for such
example, musician Justin Timberlake may have entered into his profile
that his marriage status is single, he was born in Memphis Tennessee,
likes Ford Mustangs and wears jewelry, particularly titanium chains.
Thus, when a user of the system enters search terms or keywords
related to Justin Timberlake's profile information in a search for an
endorser for titanium jewelry in southern United States urban areas,
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Justin Timberlake would receive a "hit" in the search results as a
useable asset.
[50] In another example, a search may occur for an endorser for a man's
cologne product with a retail price of $70.00 for a target audience of
men between the ages of 18-35. A user may know he would like to use
a female model with a current cost between $6 and $8 per asset use.
The user can first select by category the occupation of model, and then
select by the subcategory of female. With the pool of endorsers
narrowed, the user can enter search terms such as fragrance, $6-8,
single and centerfold to obtain a search result list to either select an
edorser from, or to further filter by adding additional search terms.
[51] Of course, because the present invention connects the brand metrics of
the recommendation engine to the generation of a creative in the
creative engine, and subsequently to the fulfillment engine wherein a
buy of available advertising space occurs for placement of the creative,
the present invention allows for a connection of the purchase of
available advertising space directly with the brand affinity metrics
discussed hereinabove. More specifically, available advertising space
may be purchased, for example, by a particular advertiser for use with a
particular sponsor only in those geographies in which that
advertisement with that sponsor will have the greatest impact.
Additionally, this may occur, as discussed hereinabove, in a predictive
manner, wherein advertising space is purchased cheaply in advance of
a particular occurrence, but when the event occurs, the use of that
advertising space in conjunction with the sponsoring brand provides a
maximized impact for the minimal expense incurred in buying the
available advertising space in advance.
[52] The presence of the management engine in the present invention
allows for feedback with regard to the success of advertisements
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placed by time, location, product, service, or the like. Further, such
feedback may allow for the comparisons discussed hereinthroughout,
such as comparison of a particular sponsoring brand against a baseline
no sponsoring brand". Thus, the positive effects of the use of
sponsoring brands may be tracked by sponsoring brand, product,
service, market, time, geography, or the like.
[53] As such, the present invention, although capable of measuring the
value of a particular creative, product, or service, more importantly
provides a measurement of what, or who, can endorse a particular
product or service in order to help sell that product or service at a
particular time, to a particular market, or in a particular location. For
example, the present invention might allow for an assessment that a
significant sports star, such as Tiger Woods, which one right not
necessarily think would constitute a good endorser of hand soap, would
indeed be a failed brand association during the summertime in Texas
on automotive-related websites. However, the present invention might
likewise provide a somewhat surprising assessment that Tiger Woods
advertising hand soap on a cosmetics site in the winter time in New
Jersey would in fact lead to a significant increase in the success of
sponsored advertisements placed meeting that criteria. Thus, the
present invention provides the capability to leverage sponsoring brands
at particular times in particular locations, either by seeking that
sponsoring brand, or by searching across multiple sponsoring brands
for ones that most cost effectively create the desired buzz at the
appropriate time, in the appropriate market, and at the desired location.
[54] Additionally, the present invention may allow for the association of
sponsoring brands with certain key events, and for advertisers to be
alerted to the likely successful sponsoring brands upon the occurrence
of those certain events. For example, the annual inductions into the
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Baseball, Football or Rock and Roll Halls of Fame may lead to
improved sponsorship response to the sponsoring brands inducted into
those respective Halls of Fame. Further, the present invention may
provide information as to how long such a "bounce" in positive feelings
toward the inductees may last from an advertising standpoint.
Additionally, the present invention may provide information as to what
locations this "bounce" is most likely to occur in. For example, if a
particular baseball player is inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame after
playing his entire career for the Philadelphia Phillies, and it is known
that the positive bounce for a Baseball Hall of Fame inductee typically
lasts three months from the date of their induction and is strongest in
the location during which the player played during his career, it would
be suggested by the present invention that an advertiser seeking a
sponsor in Philadelphia use as the sponsor the Hall of Fame inductee
starting upon the Hall of Fame induction and for three months
thereafter. Upon the expiration of the three months, the present
invention allows for a revision in advertising policy in real time, with a
change to a new desirable sponsorship brand occurring almost
instantaneously upon the decision to change over from the marketing
campaign using the Hall of Fame inductee. Of course, the present
invention thus makes available sponsorship opportunities which may
not otherwise be available. For example, in the aforementioned
example, the present invention may assess that Baseball Hall of Fame
inductees typically experience a national "bounce" as sponsors for two
weeks following their inductions. Thereby, the aforementioned
Philadelphia Phillies player may have open to him a sponsorship
opportunity in Seattle for two weeks after his induction into the Hall of
Fame, which Seattle sponsorship opportunity might not otherwise be
made available to the player.
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[55] With regard to improved brand sponsorship gained through the use of
the present invention, as discussed hereinthroughout, it is known in the
existing art to engage in a myriad of different types of advertisement
online. Two such advertisement types are: a search advertising model,
in which a user undertakes to search for a good or service of interest
and receives, as part of or as indicated with a search result(s),
advertisements relevant to purchasing the good or service for which the
search was made and/or to purchasing goods or services related to the
good or service for which the search was made; and a display
advertising model, in which a user is actively viewing a web site and
receives, as part of the web site under review, advertisements for the
purchase of goods or services relevant to the content of the web site
under review. Needless to say, the former operates on the principal
that, if a user searches for a good or service, he/she would like to buy
that good or service, and the latter operates on the principal that if a
user is interested enough in the content of a web site to view that web
site, he/she is also likely interested in buying goods or services related
to the content of that web site.
[56] The display advertising model mentioned hereinabove is typically
embodied as banner on a web site. For example, such banners may
appear above, below, to the left, or to the right of the content being
viewed, but typically do not impinge upon the content being viewed.
The search advertising model mentioned hereinabove is typically
embodied as advertisements/banners placed proximate to search
results on the search results page responsive to the user search. For
example, such advertisements may appear along a right hand side of a
search results page, while the search results are displayed along the
left hand side of the same search results page.
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[57] As discussed immediately above, it is necessarily the case that the
correlations performed between the user's searched or viewed content
and the advertisements provided will increase the relevance of, and
thus the response to, the advertisements. However, such responses in
the form of either clicks on the advertisements or purchases made
through the advertisement link, once obtained at a particular rate,
cannot be further improved merely by the relevance of the
advertisements produced. Rather, the only manner to improve the
response rate once relevant advertisements are produced is to improve
the advertisements themselves based on the users viewing the
advertisements.
[58] The present invention provides such improved response advertisement
through the provision of improved brand affiliations with the goods and
services being advertised, based in part on making use of "buzz"
associated with certain sponsors, as discussed hereinthroughout. As
discussed, the present invention allows for the production of
advertisements having brand sponsorship that is optimized to the
market sought. That is, the brand sponsor selected for an advertised
good or service is, though the use of the present invention, selected to
best correspond to the characteristics of the purchaser sought by the
advertisement.
[59] This effect is illustrated with respect to Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5
illustrates the effect of the present invention with regard to a search
advertising model, and Figure 6 illustrates the effect of the present
invention with respect to a display advertising model. In each of
Figures 5 and 6, a brand sponsor has been selected who will indicate,
to the user for whom the advertisement is deemed most relevant, trust,
quality, value, a relationship to the user, and/or an overall positive
feeling. The sponsor is either selected by the advertiser in the present
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invention for inclusion with the subject advertisement, based on the
profile of a desired purchaser and the characteristics of that sponsor as
they relate to that profile, which relation is set forth or suggested by the
present invention, or the sponsor is selected by the present invention
for inclusion in or with the subject advertiser's advertisement based on
a desired responder profile for the advertisement entered by the
advertiser to the engine of the present invention.
[60] As illustrated graphically in Figures 5 and 6, a positive correlation of
a
brand sponsor to a brand, which is necessarily also a correlation of a
brand sponsor to those purchasers most interested in buying the
subject brand, correlates positively to a increased transaction rate. In
other words, to the extent the present invention provides brand
affiliations, sponsorships, and the like that are well-suited to the
sponsored brand, that brand will show an increase in the number of
users who are shown that advertisement and that either click that
advertisement or purchase that brand through that advertisement. It is
estimated that the increase in the desired response rate in accordance
with the use of the present invention may typically be a 3 to 5 times
increase, based on the increased positive correlation between the
sponsored brand and the brand sponsor provided by the present
invention, although those skilled in the art will understand that more or
less improvement in the transaction rate may occur based on the
implementation of the present invention.
[61] Thus, in accordance with the present invention, and as illustrated in
Figures 5 and 6, an increased correlation of a brand sponsor to a
sponsoring brand, and thus an increased correlation of a sponsoring
brand to a desired purchaser's profile, is provided. This increased
correlation generates an improved transaction rate in accordance with
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the present invention, for at least a search advertising model and a
display advertising model.
[62] Certain embodiments of the present invention with regard to positive or
negative scoring of mentions may be performed automatically, as
discussed hereinthroughout or, as discussed hereinthroughout, certain
embodiments of the present invention may be performed manually.
Additionally, certain embodiments in the present invention may
constitute the union of automatic and manual review. Such
embodiments are summarized in the illustration of Figure 7. The
programmatic scoring apparatus 700 for scoring one or more mentions
of one or more sponsoring brands, illustrated in Figure 7 may include a
content review window 702 to present an item to be scored to a
reviewer, and a scoring input 704 by a scoring reviewer 706. The
scoring apparatus may additionally include a review tracker 710 that
tracks scores entered into the scoring input along with characteristics
associated with the scoring input, and/or a manager's engine 720 that
manages the scoring input to provide limited deviation among at least
two of the scoring inputs.
[63] In part, the reason for the variability in the embodiments of the present
invention is that review and scoring rules must be strictly applied in
order for the subject metrics to have maximum effect. For example, as
discussed hereinthroughout, if a first manual or automatic review
produces a rating of three, and a second automatic or manual review
produces a rating of eight, for the same article, the variability in the
scoring allows for no conclusions to be made with regard to the mention
of the subject sponsoring brand. Thus, in one exemplary embodiment
of the present invention, first arising mentions of particular sponsoring
brands of interest may be referred to experts in the categorical field into
which that sponsoring brand falls. For example, a first arising mention
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of an NFL quarterback being arrested for domestic violence may be
referred to an expert in use of NFL players as sponsoring brands. This
initial expert reviewer may be aided by certain automatic tools
associated with the present invention, such as wherein the article is
abstracted, highlighted, or the like to specifically target the mentions of
interest to the reviewer. The subject expert then scores the mention,
either positively or negatively, and the mention is then referred to other
like experts in the same or similar fields. Those other experts may then
also score the mention, and for each scoring expert, a tracking may be
performed of the score, the variability from a typical score given by that
expert, how long the mention was reviewed before the scoring
occurred, who the scorer was, the experience with regard to scoring of
that scorer, and a comparison of that score, along with the variability of
that score, from other scores with regard to the same or similar
mentions.
[64] Thus, the present invention allows for an upper tier of expert scorers,
and lower tiers of greater numbers of scorers. Needless to say, once
the scorer metrics of the lower tier scorers approach those of the expert
scorers, the lower tier scorers may likewise becomes experts, and
greater weight will be accorded to their respective scorings.
[65] Further, the applicable rules for scoring variability are softened in the
present invention with regard to both expert and non-expert scorers in
the event that very few mentions occur with regard to the subject
incident being scored. For example, as discussed hereinthroughout, in
the event that only two internet mentions occur of a particular
sponsoring brand mistreating animals, it is quite likely that such
mentions are false or mis-associated, and thus the scoring of such
mentions is less important than the scoring of other more highly true
mentions. Thereby, sponsoring brands receiving greater numbers of
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mentions with regard to certain topics are subject to more strict scorin
J 9
rules with regard to scoring experts and non-experts than are brands
receiving fewer mentions. Thus, for example, scoring rules may be
more strict for certain topical mentions of actor Tom Cruise, or for all
mentions of actor Tom Cruise, than such rules would be for a lesser
known actor, or for an actor receiving significantly fewer mentions.
[66] In accordance with the discussion immediately hereinabove, the
reviewing engine of the present invention may include the review
manager's engine of Figure 7 that allows for the granting of review
privileges in accordance with the present invention. More specifically,
the manager's engine may allow, manually or automatically, for
adjustment in the scores of certain reviewers, and/or for the changes in
expertise levels of certain reviewers upon the meeting of certain review
criteria. For example, the manager's engine may, interstitially or
continuously, insert certain articles having certain mentions of certain
sponsoring brands with regard to certain topics. The manager's engine
may track the scores, timing, and the like granted by particular
reviewers, and may continue to perform such training exercises until
that reviewer's scorings come within an allowable deviation from an
acceptable review score of such sponsoring brand, or of such mention,
or in such category. Thereby, reviewers can be trained to grant scores
within an acceptable deviation, scores can be changed based on
information gained about the scoring reviewer, or re-scoring can
continue regarding certain brands, mentions, categories, or the like, for
example, until a scorer begins to grant scores within an acceptable
deviation to allow that scorer to "go live."
[67] Of course, as referenced hereinabove, sponsoring brands may be
prioritized as to whether, or if, mentions of such sponsoring brands are
reviewed. For example, a local, unknown actor having a total of two
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advertisements nationwide in which that actor is used as the sponsoring
brand would merit little attention to rating mentions of that actor were
that actor to rob a bank, but, in the event a more well-known actor, such
as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, were to rob a bank, scoring
would become far more important. In such an event wherein a well-
known sponsoring brand received numerous surprising mentions
regarding the same topic, the present invention would, as discussed
hereinabove, allow for multiple article mentions to be reviewed by
different people, within or without those people being in a categorically
related field of expertise. In the event that the scores accorded the
multiple articles were relatively standard with little deviation, the
assumption may be made that the reviewers are all of expert level with
regard to that category, and/or with regard to such mentions, and/or
with regard to such a sponsoring brand, but if the scores are
inconsistent and/or illustrate significant deviation, other avenues may
be necessary. For example, in the case of such inconsistent scores,
statistical analysis may be performed. For example, outlying scores
may be eliminated from contribution to the total score, only scores
falling within a certain standard deviation may be used in scoring, or
multiple new articles regarding the same mention may be sent to the
same group of people for rescoring, or may be sent to a different group
of people for a new scoring in repetition until the total scoring regarding
the subject mentioned is within an acceptable statistical limit. Thereby,
statistical accuracy allows for improved ratings of mentions, particularly
with regard to more significant sponsoring brands receiving more
numerous mentions. Of course, in certain embodiments and with
regard to certain mentions, the ratings may never, in fact, statistically
converge, for a myriad of possible reasons.
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[68] For example, in the event that a significant actor robbed a bank
because all of his or her money was stolen by an agent, and in fact the
actor needed the money to care for an ill child, persons having
expertise in rating mentions regarding robberies, or crimes in general,
may attribute wildly different scores to the subject mention, in part
because some or all of the scorers may feel that the extenuating
circumstances of the crime should significantly affect the negativity, or
positivity, of the subject mention. Thus, in such convoluted
circumstances, scores regarding the mention may never converge, or in
fact a very negative occurrence may converge on a surprisingly positive
score.
[69] In anticipation of the aforementioned eventual convergence, or non-
convergence, of scoring, the frequency of scoring may vary with regard
to the type of mention, the sponsoring brand of interest, the category of
mention, or the like. For example, in the above referenced
embodiment, in the event an actor robbed a bank, scoring of all
mentions may occur repeatedly, such as eight times per day, for the
first week after the occurrence. Thereafter, scoring may be performed
once per day for the next week, and twice per week thereafter, for
example, until the number of mentions, or the score of mentions, fall
above or below a certain threshold. Thus, variability in review periods
may be determined programmatically, such as by sponsoring brand,
type of sponsoring brand, category of sponsoring brand, mention, type
of mention, category of mention, reviewer scores deviations, numeric
average reviewer score, or the like.
[70] Of course, mentions may be tracked and flagged based on the
presence of key words, such as key words constituting sponsoring
brands in certain events, as discussed hereinthroughout. However, in
certain events, key words may not alert reviewers that an article should
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be placed under review. For example, in the event a particular actor's
family member has made anti-Semitic remarks, monitoring for key word
mentions may not be sufficient to flag such mentions to enable review.
For example, in this example, if certain keywords were subject to
search, such as "Christian", "Jewish", "Father" and the actor's name as
a sponsoring brand, even a mention that met all of these key words
might not be flagged as having any negative connotation, in part
because the key words themselves, in the abstract, do not have any
negative connotation. In such cases, however, it is likely that a spike
will occur in the number of mentions of the sponsoring brand. Thus, the
present invention is preferably fluidic in that, even in cases where key
word mentions do not force review of certain sponsoring brands, other
events, such as simply spikes in the number of mentions of a
sponsoring brand, may flag that sponsoring brand and those mentions
for review.
[71] 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.
