Patent Application
20070239533
The present invention relates to print and electronic advertising and more particularly to allocating and monetizing advertising space in an offline publication through online ad usage and pricing models.
Advertising revenue rather than subscriptions provides the revenue base for most media sources both conventional and online. Ad space is sold, ad copy is created and the ad copy appears at an agreed upon location or date/time in the publisher's media. Particularly with paper-based publications, formulating layout is a labor intensive process that requires significant lead time to determine where articles and advertisements will appear. As a result, offline media publishers may be left with unallocated ad space that could otherwise be occupied with paying ads. Though publishers may be willing to accept less revenue for this space, because of the time involved in creating ads it may be more difficult to market on a short notice.
Online advertisers tend to be more dynamic because of the speed with which a website can be created and the relative ease of changing electronic ads and hyperlinks. However, in an offline media, ad space is often sold on a cost per impression basis (that is based on an assumption that a fraction of the magazine's total circulation views the ad). Online advertisers are accustomed to purchasing ad space on a referral or cost-per-click basis. That is, the advertiser pays a fee for another website that directs a customer to the advertiser's website. Online retailers, who may be smaller than conventional brick and mortar goods and services sellers may be reluctant to purchase ad space on a cost-per-impression basis because of the lack of measure of effectiveness and relatively large expense. Other problems and drawback exist with existing systems.
Accordingly, at least one exemplary embodiment may provide a method for allocating advertisements to offline media advertising space. The method according to this embodiment may comprise receiving an indication of available advertising space from an offline media source, selecting at least one advertisement message associated with an advertiser to use in the available advertising space, transmitting the at least one advertisement message to the offline media source, the at least one advertisement message comprising a reference to online replica content, and creating the online replica content.
In another exemplary embodiment, a system for allocating advertisements to available offline media advertising space may be provided. The system according to this embodiment may comprise an advertising server adapted to store a plurality of advertisement messages, receive requests from offline media sources for advertisements, select one or more advertisement messages from the plurality of messages to satisfy the request, return an advertisement copy containing the one or more selected messages and identification information for online replica content, create the online replica content, wherein for each of the one or more advertisement messages, the online replica content contains contact information for contacting an advertiser associated with the advertisement message, and charge advertisers on a referral basis when a viewer contacts the advertiser using the contact information.
Yet another exemplary embodiment may provide an automated method for selling advertisement space in offline media. The method according to this embodiment may comprise creating a database of electronic advertising messages, based on a received request from an offline media source for advertisement messages, generating an advertisement copy containing at least one of the electronic advertising messages, creating an online replica content containing the advertisement copy, and transmitting the advertisement copy to the offline media source, wherein the advertisement copy comprises identification information of the online replica content.
In still an additional embodiment, a system for selling unallocated ad space in offline media to online vendors may be provided. The system according to this embodiment may comprise at least one offline media source, a plurality of advertisement messages, each message associated with an online vendor, and an advertisement server, wherein the advertisement server is adapted to select at least one advertisement message, create an online replica website containing the at least one advertisement message, and generate an advertisement copy containing the selected at least one advertisement message and a URL for the online replica website.
These and other embodiments and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
The following description is intended to convey a thorough understanding of the embodiments described by providing a number of specific embodiments and details involving systems and methods for automatically allocating advertising space in an offline media source using an online pricing and usage model. It should be appreciated, however, that the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments and details, which are exemplary only. It is further understood that one possessing ordinary skill in the art, in light of known systems and methods, would appreciate the use of the invention for its intended purposes and benefits in any number of alternative embodiments, depending upon specific design and other needs.
Referring now to
In the exemplary system of
With continued reference to
As will be discussed herein, the advertising server 100 may comprise a database including a plurality of advertisement messages, a web server, commerce module and communications module to facilitate communication and commerce between advertisers and offline media sources.
Referring now to
The communication module 135, such as, for example, a network interface card, modem, wireless transceiver or other network device and corresponding device drivers may enable communication (e.g., two-way) between both advertisers and offline media sources (publishers) and the server. As noted above, advertising messages, advertiser identification and price sensitivity information may be transmitted to the server 100 from entities wishing to purchase advertising space on a costs per click (otherwise known as referral) basis. Furthermore, offline media companies may transmit requests for a given quantity of advertising copy to occupy unallocated space in their publications and receive such ad copy from the server 100. The communication module 135 may facilitate communication with the server 200 by advertisers and offline media sources.
The ad request module 115 may serve as an interface between offline media sources wishing sell their unallocated advertising space and the advertising server 100. In various embodiments, an offline media source may contact the advertising server 100 by sending an electronic message or navigating to a website associated with the advertising server 100 and submitting a request. Through the ad request module 115, the offline media source may supply information relating to the nature, amount and quality of unallocated advertising space they are seeking to sell. In various embodiments, this information may be stored in a database in the server 100, such as database 140 or other database not shown in the example of
After the request has been received, in various embodiments, the commerce module 120 may, based on the information supplied by the offline media source and information already supplied by various advertisers, select one or more advertiser's messages from those stored in the advertisement message database 140. As will be discussed in greater detail herein, the selection may be based on any of a number of factors including the nature of the offline media source, the nature of goods or services being advertised by the advertiser, the amount and quality of available space, pricing constraints of the advertiser, previously specified advertiser preferences, a pricing auction or other revenue-based consideration, and combinations and/or variations of any of these factors. Once the “winning” ads have been chosen, in various embodiments, the ad creation module 125 then creates an ad copy layout including advertising messages from the one or more selected ad messages that is of the approximate size and shape specified by the offline media source. It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, the offline media source may generate the ad copy based on information about the selected advertisers supplied by the advertising server 100. In various embodiments, the communication module 135 is used to transmit the selected ad messages and/or ad copy to the requesting offline media source. In various embodiments, the commerce module 120 may determine a pricing model to recover revenue from the advertiser. For example, in various embodiments, the commerce module may establish a pricing model whereby advertisers are charged on a referral or per click-through basis. Such advertising schemes are typically used with Internet-based banner-type advertisements. However, other pricing models may be used as well without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
In various embodiments, either the ad creation module 125 or web server module may create an online replica website having a URL that is specific to the particular offline media source for whom the advertising copy has been created. This online replica website may contain an online version of the advertisement that has been selected to appear in the previously unallocated space available in the offline media source. The URL for this online replica site may be listed in the ad copy and/or included with the ad messages sent to the requesting offline media source. In this manner, persons viewing the ad wishing to gain additional information regarding the advertised products and/or services may go to the online replica site in order to obtain additional information (e.g., the information may not be available from some other source). In various embodiments, the online replica site may include electronic hyperlinks to websites affiliated with each of the online advertisers represented therein, telephone number, email address, or other contact information. When a person viewing the online replica site selects one of these hyperlinks, the ad commerce module 120 may confirm that an effective revenue event (e.g., hyperlink click-through) has occurred and can charge the particular advertiser according to its predetermined pricing plan, such as for example on a cost per click-through or referral basis.
In various embodiments, advertisers may interface with the advertising server 100 through the advertiser interface module 130. Through this module, advertisers may upload advertising messages and/or other preference and identification module, may set up payment methods and specify pricing models and/or may supply other information. For example, advertisers may specify the kinds of offline media sources they would like their products and/or services associated with, particular offline media sources, particular geographical regions, etc. In various embodiments, this information may also be stored in the advertisement message database 140 or other database and may be used by the ad commerce module 120 to assist in determining which ad messages to select in response to a request from an offline media source.
It should be appreciated that each module depicted in the server 100 may operate autonomously or under the control of the control module 105. For example, in various embodiments, the control module may be a CPU of the server 100. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the particular modules illustrated in
Referring now to
In block 320, based at least in part on information associated with and/or specified in the request, one or more advertisement messages are selected. As discussed herein, in various embodiments, the advertising server may maintain a database of available advertisement messages, or simply a database of advertisers with one or more fields describing their product or service and identifying them by name and/or with contact information. In various embodiments, as is discussed in greater detail in the context of
In block 330, after one or more advertisers have been selected to satisfy the offline media source's request, an online replica website containing ad messages for the selected advertisers is created. The online replica website is specific to the requesting offline media source. In various embodiments, the online replica website may include information identical to the actual ad copy appearing in the offline media source. In various embodiments, the online replica website may include information that is merely similar to that in the actual ad copy to the extent that the same advertisers are represented. In various embodiments, in block 330, the actual ad copy may be created by the advertising server based on the advertisers selected and the information included in the request. In various embodiments, a copy of the ad copy may be stored in a database at the server. The ad copy will preferably include the URL of the online replica website.
In block 340, the ad copy may be transferred from the advertising server to the requesting offline media source. As discussed herein, in various embodiments, the ad copy may be created either automatically, manually or through a combination of those techniques at the advertising server side. In various other embodiments, the ad copy may be created by the offline media source based on information supplied to the offline media source, such as the advertiser name, brief product/service description and any corresponding graphics, logos, etc. as well as the URL of the online replica site for that offline media source. The ad copy or relevant information may be transferred to the offline media source by electronic means such as electronic mail, file transfer protocol or telnet, or may be transferred through conventional means such as by courier on an electronic storage media or even as a paper print out. The process ends in block 350.
Referring now to
In block 313, after the winning advertiser or advertisers have been selected, the actual ad copy to appear in the offline media source may be created. In various embodiments, this may be based on the amount and/or dimensions of available advertising space in the offline media source. However, as discussed above, in various embodiments, the actual ad copy may be created at the server side of the system so that the offline media source merely “inserts” the ad copy into the available space. In various embodiments, the ad copy may be created at the offline media source side based on information received from the advertising server regarding the advertisements selected to appear. Furthermore, in block 313, an online replica website may also be created. The online replica website may contain an online version of the offline ad copy that appears in the offline media source. The online replica site may also contain additional information such as graphics, more detailed descriptions and hyperlinks to each of the represented advertisers' respective websites. Regardless of whether the ad copy is created entirely at the advertising server side or at the offline media source side based on information supplied by the advertising server side, the ad copy appearing in the offline media source may preferably contain the URL of the online replica website so that customers seeking additional information on the products and/or services being advertised can be directed to the respective advertisers' websites through a central website associated with the particular offline media source, and the advertisers may be charged using an Internet-type pricing and usage model such as, for example, cost-per-click or referral basis.
In block 314 an outbound message may be sent to the requesting offline media source. In various embodiments, the message may contain either the ad copy selected by the server or information on the one or more selected advertisers, including the URL for the online replica site. In block 315 processing returns to the process of
Referring now to
In block 420, the user may navigate to the online replica website by entering the URL that appears in the ad from the offline media source. In various embodiments, the website may contain individual advertisements from each of the advertisers that were selected in the process of
In order to prevent or dissuade viewers from going directly to the advertiser's individual websites without going through the online replica site several techniques may be used. Firstly, in various embodiments, the ad appearing in the offline media source may not contain a URL or telephone number for the individual advertisers. Thus, viewers wishing to contact the advertisers may go to the online replica site to obtain the necessary information to contact the advertiser. This may be particularly effective for advertisers that are not well known and/or do not have well known and/or easily discernable website addresses. However, given the pervasive use of Internet search sites, such as Google and Yahoo, various embodiments, may provide an incentive for viewers to contact the advertisers through the online replica site rather than searching for it on their own. For example, viewers may be provided with an incentive such as free shipping, a percentage discount, or other financial incentive as a reward for contacting the advertiser through the online replica site. Because in the various systems and methods according to the invention, ad revenue may only be generated when users click through from the replica site to the advertiser's site, free riding is a problem. Free riding occurs when the system is used to place an ad in offline media source and the viewer contact the advertiser because of the ad but without using the online replica site. In such cases the advertiser essentially receives free advertising. Thus, by excluding contact information and providing the viewer with an incentive only available by going to the online replica site, free riding may be reduced.
Furthermore, it should be noted that in various embodiments, when the user visits the online replica site, a real time auction may be conducted to determine exactly which advertisements appear on the online replica site. That is more, less or different ads may appear than those that appeared in the offline media source. In various embodiments, this may be transparent to the person visiting the online replica site.
In block 440, the user, after navigating to the online replica site, clicks on a hyperlink that takes him/her to the corresponding advertiser's website. Using well known web-based referral tracking techniques, a data record may be created acknowledging the fact that a user was directed to advertiser A's website through the online replica site. If the advertiser has a pricing contract specifying a fixed price per click-through or referral-based sale with the advertising server system, the advertiser may be charged accordingly. Therefore, accordingly to the various systems and methods of the embodiments of the invention, traditional online retailers may benefit from web-based referrals that are initiated through offline media advertising. Moreover, offline media sources may be able to sell incremental unallocated space to a market not previously available to them on a “last minute” basis. It is envisioned that the entity maintaining the advertising server may contract for payment from the advertisers and may pay a percentage of revenue realized to the offline media source running its ads, although this type of arrangement is not required. The offline publisher may maintain its own advertising server for contracting directly with advertisers. Operation terminates in block 450.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Thus, the various systems and methods for allocated unused offline media source advertising space to online advertisers using online pricing and usage models may benefit both advertisers and media publishers. Furthermore, because an infinite number of websites may be created with relative ease, the system is not subject to the constraints of conventional systems that use a dedicated telephone number. Also, offline publishers can obtain incremental advertising revenue on a short notice basis reaching a demographic that may not otherwise be willing to pay for offline ad space. Furthermore, free riding may be reduced by providing only the web address of the online replica site and/or through other incentives.
It should be understood that the server, processors, and modules described herein may perform their functions (e.g., reading optical information or determining rating information) automatically or via an automated system. As used herein, the term “automatically” refers to an action being performed by any machine-executable process, e.g., a process that does not require human intervention or input.
The embodiments of the present inventions are not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein. For example, although many of the embodiments disclosed herein have been described with selling unallocated advertising space in offline media sources to online advertisers using online pricing and usage models, other embodiments, in addition to those described herein, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Thus, such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the following appended claims. Further, although some of the embodiments of the present invention have been described herein in the context of a particular implementation in a particular environment for a particular purpose, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that its usefulness is not limited thereto and that the embodiments of the present inventions can be beneficially implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes. Accordingly, the claims set forth below should be construed in view of the full breath and spirit of the embodiments of the present inventions as disclosed herein.
While the foregoing description includes many details and specificities, it is to be understood that these have been included for purposes of explanation only, and are not to be interpreted as limitations of the present invention. Many modifications to the embodiments described above can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
