Patent Application
20150213486
Various embodiments generally relate to a system for placing product advertising within media and assessing the results of a campaign of placements. Included is a method for estimating the value of a product placement based on viewership and other data collected about the media in which the placement was made.
Product placement refers to the placement of product and brand advertising integrated within media such as movies, television programs, songs, Web photos and videos and the like such that the advertising is integrated within the media. Thus, unlike traditional advertising, product placements do not disrupt the continuity of the media. Examples include an actor holding a specific beverage product in a movie where the beverage product's label is prominently featured, an actor driving a specific type of car within a television program, a song that mentions a specific product, or a photo of a celebrity published on a Web page in which the celebrity is wearing a specific brand of clothing. Product placement is a form of advertising but is different from conventional advertising and is not addressed by existing computer-based advertising systems, tools and platforms.
While pricing of advertisements that appear in different channels such as television, radio and web pages, is well understood, little research has been performed to determine how to price product placements that appear in these various channels. Typically, conventional advertising such as television, radio and Web ads are purchased by a media buyer from a rate card or rate sheet that specifies the price of various types of spots for a given channel. For example, television advertisements are often sold on a run of schedule (ROS) basis in which a television ad runs a specified number of times during a fixed time period, say from 6 AM to 6 PM. The price for 1 ROS may depend on the shows the ad appears in or the times of day, but all the variables are known and fixed in advance when the buyer commits to purchasing the advertising.
In contrast, with placements there are many unknowns when a buyer commits to a placement campaign. For example, the quality of a placement may not known before the specific show or media vehicle is created. For example, while a TV script may indicate that an actor may pick up a beverage and hold it for 30 seconds with the label facing the camera, during filming some elements may change and the beverage may be held for only 10 seconds, facing away from the camera. Obviously, in such a case a buyer would expect to pay less for the placement since it would have less impact.
Thus it would be advantageous to provide an automatic method for estimating product placement prices in advance and to calculate an attained media value based on actual placement results.
Thus, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.
Various embodiments are directed towards a product placement system that enable a media buyer to interactively specify a placement campaign for the integration or placement of branded products within media such as movies, videos, songs, and celebrity photos and videos based on estimated prices for placements. Next, the placement system obtains audience measurements and other data about media in which placements were made and estimates the value of the placements. The placement system assesses actual results for a placement campaign based on a placement media plan
Embodiments are directed towards providing a computer-implemented method for forecasting the price of media plan, including maintaining by a placement server a database of placement opportunities wherein a placement opportunity is a segment within a media program in which a branded product may be displayed, and receiving from a buyer computer a specification of a media plan, the specification identifying at least one target market segment and at least one media channel in which to place branded product placements, generating a media plan that includes a plurality of opportunities that are matched to the at least one target market segment and to the at least one media channel, forecasting a price for each placement opportunity included in the media plan, and providing an aggregate price for the media plan to the buyer computer for display to a media buyer.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various figures unless otherwise specified.
For a better understanding of the present invention, reference will be made to the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment, which is to be read in association with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Among other things, the invention may be embodied as methods, processes, systems, business methods or devices. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
As used herein the following terms have the meanings given below:
Impression—refers to a viewing or listening of a piece of media such as a movie, television program, Web video, song, or photo by one person.
CPM—refers to a standard cost metric that means the price charged by a publisher for a conventional advertisement or placement in a piece of media for one thousand impressions or views.
Channel—as used herein refers to a category of media in which a product placement can be made. Channels include television, movies, music, printed advertisements, Web video advertisement, Web image advertisements, and the like.
Media Vehicle or vehicle—refers to a specific piece of media such as a specific television program, film, video, song or other piece of media in which a product placement may be made.
Vehicle power—refers to a rating of the intrinsic value of a particular vehicle piece of media to a media buyer, for example a TV program, a film, etc. This can be determined by factors such as the viewership of the vehicle, cast, director, buzz, etc. It may be noted that CPM for conventional advertising in television programs doesn't always correlate to the program's viewership. This may be due to the fact that some shows attract higher value demographics than others and hence receive a higher CPM even when it has a smaller audience. In one embodiment vehicle power is stated as a letter value, e.g. A, B, or C where A refers to vehicles that have more value, and are thus more costly to advertise in and C refers to vehicles that have more value and thus are less expensive to advertise in.
Branded product placement, product placement or placement—means the integration of a display, appearance, or mention of a product or brand within a vehicle. The media may be audio or visual, or both, such as within a music video. A placement is different than a conventional advertisement in that it is integrated with the media content, i.e. there is continuity between the media content of the vehicle and the placement. Thus, the storyline of the vehicle is not disrupted and the viewer does not perceive a placement as a separate advertisement. For example, a viewer can choose not to watch a commercial inserted into a television program and not miss the program content itself. Integration of a product placement into a vehicle means that if the viewer doesn't see the placement they miss viewing or listening to at least a portion of the vehicle content. The term product placement refers to advertisements for specific products as well as to more general advertisements for brands, e.g. when a company logo might appear rather than a specific product. Examples of placements include an actor in a movie driving a specific model of car during a chase scene, an actor holding a specific, easily recognizable beverage, in a movie, film, or photo, or a mention of a specific product in a song. Pricing of placements has not previously been standardized in the way that pricing for conventional advertisements have. Thus, creating a model and an automated method for estimating the value and hence price of a placement is itself novel and unique.
Another important difference between a placement and a conventional advertisement is that the advertiser creates an advertisement and control over every aspect, for example the content, and duration. Typically, a placement is purchased by a media buyer prior to its being created; and it is created as part of the creation or production of the vehicle itself.
Product placement opportunity, or opportunity—means a potential placement in a vehicle that may be purchased by a media buyer.
Placement quality—refers to a rating of the relative importance or prominence of a brand or product placed within a vehicle. Factors used to assess placement quality include prominence of the item. For example, if the placement is for a soft drink in a TV show, if the soft drink is prominently displayed in the hands of a major star then the placement quality would be very high; on the other hand, if the soft drink is on a table in the corner then the placement quality would be low. Another factor that may be used to assess placement quality is the treatment of the item. For example, if the placement is for a particular brand of coffee, do the actors in the scene appear to be enjoying the coffee? Another factor is whether the placement is integrated into the storyline of the vehicle. Yet another factor is whether there is a verbal or nonverbal mention of the product in the vehicle. In one embodiment placement quality is specified using a scale of Premium, Prominent and Standard where Premium is the high quality placement and Standard is a low quality placement.
While vehicle power may be assessed before a placement is made, the placement quality can only be evaluated after a placement has been produced, or created, and is integrated into a vehicle since many of the criteria used to evaluate placement quality, e.g. visibility of product, are under the control of the producer or director of the vehicle and cannot be known in advance of production. Note that as used herein the terms “creation” and “production” are used synonymously and refer to the process of creating a media vehicle such as a movie, typically using digital media tools for creating media such as film and video editors and sound mixers.
Placement duration or simply duration—refers to the amount of time during a media segment, e.g. during a film or TV show or song, that a placement occupies. For example, if a placement consists of an actor holding a can of soda in a film the duration would be the length of time in which the actor appears holding the can of soda. Similar to placement quality, the duration of a placement can typically only be evaluated after a vehicle in which a placement appears has been produced since decisions affecting the duration of a placement are made during production.
Media buyer or buyer or user—means an individual that uses a mobile device, PC or other electronic device to access and use a product placement service available across a network, typically with the objective of specifying a media plan or evaluating results from implementation of a media plan by the placement service.
The operation of certain aspects of the invention is described below with respect to
Product placement service 130 refers to a service that is available across a network 150. Product placement service 130 may be implemented by one or more server computers acting cooperatively or by a network service, or “cloud” service provided by a third party. One embodiment of a server-based approach to implementing product placement service 130 is described hereinbelow with reference to
A manager of placement service 130 ensures that placement opportunities are available to a buyer using buyer application 115 running on buyer computer 110. A manager uses a management application 125 that runs inmanagement computer 120 to interact with management functions provided by product placement service 130. Management functions may include determining and entering vehicle power values for opportunities, determining and entering placement quality values for placements after they have aired and maintaining a database of buyers with up-to-date buyer information.
Product placement service 130 maintains a database of product placement opportunities, also referred to herein simply as opportunities. Each opportunity refers to a potential product placement within a vehicle such as a television program, song or movie. Once an opportunity is included in a media plan and executed as part of a placement campaign it is referred to as a placement or product placement.
Typically, information about a vehicle or opportunity is obtained from external data sources 140. Data sources 140 may be publically available databases or services or private information services. Table 1 below, gives an example of data that may be obtained from data sources 140 for different channels. This information is available from a variety of companies and organizations including, for example, THE NIELSEN COMPANY, COMSCORE, and GOOGLE.
When a user finishes specifying the information requested in buyer interface 200, he/she presses a control 216 to indicate the placement service 130 that he/she is finished. The media plan information is then transmitted by buyer computer 110 to placement service 130 for further processing.
In other embodiments additional refine controls are available to the buyer. For example, an exclude control may be provided that enables a buyer to specify genres of placements to exclude. For example, the user may specify that opportunities that depict or suggest drug use should be excluded.
Using a submit control 244, the buyer may submit the media plan to placement service 130 for execution. In this case, placement service 130 performs a placement campaign as specified by the submitted media plan. Thus, each placement campaign performed by placement service 130 corresponds to a previously submitted media plan.
At step 320 a vehicle power ranking is determined for each vehicle in which an opportunity is available. Further information about vehicle power and a method for determining a vehicle power ranking is described hereinbelow with reference to
At step 330 when a media buyer uses a user interface, also referred to as a buyer interface or buyer user interface, such as those depicted in
At step 340 placement service 130 projects the results of the media plan. Typically the forecast includes a forecast of the number of impressions that will be achieved, for each of the channels included in the media plan, when the media plan is executed. This forecast may be displayed using a user interface such as buyer interface 240 depicted in
At step 350, when the buyer is satisfied with the media plan, he/she submits it to placement service 130 for execution. Typically, a Web service is used by buyer computer 110 to submit the media plan to placement service 130. And conversely, typically product placement service 130 uses a Web service to receive the submitted media plan from buyer computer 110.
At step 360 placement service 130 executes a placement campaign in accord with the previously submitted media plan. The time period over which the campaign takes place is defined in the media plan itself and may last from several days to several months. In some embodiments, execution of the media plan is performed entirely automatically by server computers that implement placement service 130 by automatically purchasing placements. In other embodiments, placement service 130 specifies the various elements of the placement campaign and some of those elements, such as the purchase of product placements are performed by persons and/or organizations specialized in making such media purchases. In yet other embodiments, execution of the placement campaign is performed by a combination of server computers, individuals and organizations.
At step 370, placement service 130 gathers the results of the placement campaigns in progress and populates one or more databases with results data. In particular, results data is obtained for each placement that has been executed as part of the campaign and for each vehicle in which a placement has been made. Results data includes the number of impressions generated by each vehicle in which a placement was made and the demographics of viewers of each vehicle. In addition, the vehicle itself or a link to it, e.g. a song or movie, may be obtained and the placement may be clipped or excerpted for further analysis or for viewing.
At step 380 placement results data gathered in the preceding step is processed or assessed to determine the media value for each placement. This step is further described with reference to
At step 390 a determination is made as to whether the guaranteed project results have been met. If so, the method terminates. If not, then the campaign continues at step 350 and additional placements are made. In one embodiment, the guaranteed results are met when the projected number of impressions have been reached and estimated media value meets or exceeds the projected media value, i.e. the media plan budget. This approach to delivering value to a buyer through product placement is novel and unique. In other embodiments, the guaranteed project results may be met when one of the two conditions, i.e. the guaranteed number of impressions is reached, or when the estimated media value reaches the media plan budget, is met but not both.
At step 410 the book rates, i.e. the term of art for standard prices for advertisements, are obtained for each media channel included in the media plan, where a book rate for a channel is defined as the price in CPM at which impressions for that channel are sold to a buyer. For example, in one embodiment, book rates are specified by a manager using manager application 125 and are stored by product placement service 130. An example of a table stored by product placement service 130 from which book rates are obtained is given below in Table 2.
At step 420 the book rate for each channel is used to compute the number of impressions projected for a placement campaign based on the media plan. This projection is based on (1) the budget allocated to the channel by the buyer and (2) the book rate for the channel. Thus, using the CPM values in Table 2 and taking
In certain embodiments, the book rates by be adjusted in this step based on known factors such as the target demographic segmentation and the vehicle power of vehicles specified for inclusion in a media plan.
At step 430 the projected values for a campaign based on the media plan are provided to buyer computer 110 for display to the buyer.
It may be appreciated by one skilled in the art, that there is no standard pricing formula that can be applied to estimate the value achieved by a product placement. While the value of a conventional advertisement can be defined by its price which is typically given in a rate card provided by the seller of the advertising, the value of a product placement cannot be known until after the placement in a vehicle has actually occurred. As previously discussed, this is because the placement is integrated into the media and the parameters of the placement can change substantially during creation of the vehicle, e.g. film, in which the placement occurs. Thus, in the present invention the media value, i.e the value to the buyer, of a placement is estimated using available data that is collected and then assessed after the placement is made. Available data includes the impressions generated by a vehicle, such as a television program that was shown at a certain date and time, and demographic data about the audience for the vehicle. Available data may also include advertising rates for conventional advertisements such as TV ads, radio ads, Web ads.
At step 510 the results data is used to rank the placement relative to a number of factors that are used to estimate media value. In one embodiment, the factors are the media channel, the number of impressions, or viewers, of the placement, the vehicle power, placement quality and duration. In the cases of vehicle power, placement and duration a number of criteria are used to rank each of these factors. The criteria are used to rank or score the placement relative to each factor.
This method of determining a media value for a placement based on a matrix of rankings for three key factors is illustrated in
In one embodiment, specific criteria that are used to rank a placement for vehicle power and placement quality are given below, in Table 3.
It may be appreciated that several of the criteria listed above in Table 3, such as buzz, and heat index are evaluated and provided by external services while others may be evaluated and entered by managers using management application 125. Vehicle power, or simply vehicle, criteria may be referred to as vehicle criteria in that they are used to evaluate aspects of the vehicle itself, independent of whether a placement is made. Thus, in one embodiment, vehicle power is evaluated prior to a placement being made and the vehicle power ranking for a vehicle may be displayed or otherwise provided to a buyer prior to a placement or media plan being made. In one embodiment, vehicle power is handled similarly with rankings denoted as A, B, or C. In one embodiment, vehicle power is ranked or graded based on the number of criteria, such as those identified in Table 3 above, that “deliver well”, i.e. achieve specific metrics. For example: a rank of A is assigned if the placement delivers well against four or five of the criteria specified in Table 3; a rank of B is assigned if two or three of the criteria deliver well; and a rank of C is assigned if less than two criteria deliver well.
Placement quality criteria, or simply placement criteria, are used to evaluate the quality of a placement. Placement criteria can only be evaluated after a placement has been produced. In one embodiment, placement quality is ranked similarly to vehicle power. In this embodiment, a rank of premium is assigned if the placement delivers well against four or five of the criteria specified in Table 3; a rank of prominent is assigned if two or three of the criteria deliver well; and a rank of standard is assigned if less than two criteria deliver well.
Duration is ranked based on the duration of a placement. For example, in one embodiment a rank of long is assigned if the placement duration is over 30 seconds, medium is assigned if the placements lasts 10-30 seconds, and short is assigned to placements that last under 10 seconds. As previously discussed, the duration of a placement can typically only be determined and hence a ranking performed after the vehicle that includes a placement has been produced.
In one embodiment, ranking of a placement for vehicle power, placement quality and duration is performed by managers using management application 125 and the values are stored in a database, as described hereinbelow with reference to
At step 520 a price is determined for each placement based on the rankings performed in the preceding step. I one embodiment, price is given in units US dollars per 1000 impressions and is referred to as media value per thousand impressions, or MVM for short. In one embodiment, the price determination, in MVM, is based on the channel, the vehicle power, placement quality of the vehicle, and the duration of the placement. As an example, the MVM for a placement made in a film is selected from a media value matrix such as that depicted in Table 4 below. Table 4 provides a matrix based on the vehicle power and placement quality of a short-duration placement in a film.
The entries in Table 4 are periodically updated based on data from data sources 140 to reflect actual placement rates encountered during the course of executing placement campaigns. In one embodiment, there is one table per channel. In other embodiments there is one table per channel per segment. For example, MVM rates for a film that targets one age group may be higher or lower than MVM rates for a film that targets a different age group. In one embodiment, if a media plan covers multiple segments then the MVM rates may be computed as a weighted average based on the relative importance of each segment to the media buyer.
At step 530 the estimated media value of a placement is then obtained by number of impressions generated by the placement multiplied by the estimated MVM and divided by 1000, as given below in Equation 1:
Media Value(Placement i)=MVM(Placement i)*Impressions(Placement i)/1000 (Equation 1)
At step 540 the estimated placement results, including the impressions and estimated media value for all placements made as part of a corresponding media plan are aggregated, or summed, to obtain the estimated placement results by vehicle, by channel, by segment, etc., for the media plan. The aggregated results may then be displayed with a user interface such those depicted in
It may be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the above described method for estimating results may, in an alternative embodiment, be used to project results prior to execution of a campaign, i.e. to perform step 320 of
In another embodiment, placement service 130 obtains current market advertising rates for comparable conventional advertising for purposes of estimating media value based on rates for comparable conventional advertising rates. As described below in Table 5, for each placement a comparable type of conventional advertising may be used for purposes of comparison. For example, a product placement in a film corresponds to a video advertisement that might be shown prior to the film. Advertising rates, typically available from publishers or sellers of advertising slots, are obtained by placement service 130 in this step. For example, magazines, newspapers, and Web sites typically publish a rate card that gives advertising rates for various types of ads. These can be downloaded directly from the publisher's website.
In this alternative embodiment, a market value, i.e. the price of purchasing a corresponding conventional media advertisement, for each placement made as part of the placement campaign is computed along with an estimate of the number of impressions that would be generated by such advertising. Placement service 130 then prepares an assessment that directly compares the results of a placement campaign to the results that might be obtained through a conventional advertising campaign. As part of this comparison, estimated media values may be compared to estimates of market values.
Buyer computer 110 and management computer 120 are embodiments of client devices 701-704 which may connect to either or both of wireless network 710 or network 705. Network 150 is an embodiment of wireless network 710, network 705, or a combination of both. Placement server 706 shows one embodiment, or implementation, of placement service 130. Further, data sources 140 are one embodiment of external services 720.
Generally, client devices 701-704 include any computing devices that are capable of receiving and sending messages over a network, such as network 705 or wireless network 710. Client devices 701-704 include personal computers, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, mobile devices such as mobile telephones, smart phones, display pagers, tablet computers, handheld computers, laptop computers, wearable computers, or the like.
A Web-enabled client device can communicate across the Web. It may include a browser application that is configured to receive and to send web pages, web-based messages, or the like. The browser application may send, receive and display graphics, text, multimedia, or the like, employing a network protocol such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and/or wireless application protocol (WAP).
Client devices 701-704 may include client application programs that send and receive content to/from other computing devices. Examples of application programs include calendars, browsers and email clients and so forth. Client devices 701-704 may be configured to include an application program that enables a buyer to specify, edit and review a media plan and to view results from a corresponding placement campaign in cooperation with placement server 706. Client devices 701-704 may also be configured to include other application programs used by a media buyer, or management personnel.
Wireless network 710 is configured to couple client devices 702-704 with network 705. Wireless network 710 may include any of a variety of wireless networks that provide a connection for client devices 702-7. Such networks may include mesh networks, wireless LAN (WLAN) networks, cellular networks, or the like. Wireless network 710 may further include network devices such as gateways routers, or the like. In essence, wireless network 710 may include virtually any wireless communication device or mechanism by which enables information to travel between client devices 702-704 and another computing device, network, or the like.
Network 705 is configured to couple placement server 706, and client device 701 with other computing devices, including through wireless network 710 to client devices 702-704. Network 705 may include the Internet in addition to local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), direct connections, combinations thereof or the like.
Placement server 706 represents one or more network computing devices that are configured to enable a media buyer to interactively specify a media plan, to execute a placement campaign based on the media plan, and to generate results and provide the results to client devices 701-704 for review by the buyer. Placement server 706 is one embodiment of a network device that implements placement service 130.
Devices that may operate as placement server 706 include, but are not limited to personal computers, desktop computers, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, servers, network appliances, and the like.
Although placement server 706 is illustrated as a distinct network device, the invention is not so limited. For example, a plurality of network devices may be configured to perform the functions of placement server 706. One such configuration is a “server farm” that includes multiple server computers operating cooperatively, each performing some of placement server 706 server functions. One embodiment of the software modules that perform placement server 706 server functions is described with reference to
Placement server 706 functions may also be provided by a cloud computing facility in which the services, features and functions ascribed herein to placement server 706 are delivered as a service over a network, such as the Internet, rather than by a specific server or cluster of servers.
Placement server 706 is capable of running application programs (“applications”). Applications that may be run by placement server 706 include transcoders, database programs, customizable user programs, security applications, encryption programs, VPN programs, web servers, applications servers, account management systems, and so forth. Applications run by placement server 706 may also include a buyer interface, a management interface, a database manager, and other applications and processes such as those described below in conjunction with
Placement server 706 provides web services which include any of a variety of network services that are configured to provide content, including messages, over a network to another computing device. Thus, web services may include an application server, a web server, a messaging server, a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, a database server, a content server, or the like. Web services may provide the content including messages over the network using any of a variety of formats, including, but not limited to WAP, HDML, WML, SGML, HTML, XML, cHTML, xHTML, JSON, REST, SOAP or the like. Web services may also include server-side scripting languages such as PHP, Python, and Java servlets. Web services may also include the server side of the Ajax web development method that enables a server to asynchronously respond to Ajax requests.
Placement server 706 includes a computer processor (CPU) and nonvolatile data storage for storing program code and data. Data storage may include virtually any mechanism usable for storing and managing data, including but not limited to a file, a folder, a document, a web page or an application, such as a database, digital media including digital images and digital video clips, and the like.
Data storage may further include a plurality of different data stores. For example, data storage may represent an opportunity database, a user database and other databases such as those described below in conjunction with
External services 720 are accessed across network 705/710 from placement server 706. Typically external services 720 is accessed using Web services as previously described. Additionally, external services 720 may provide data through a cloud storage facility that is accessed using protocols such as HTTP and FTP.
As discussed above with reference to
Browser 810 is typically a standard, commercially available, browser such as MOZILLA FIREFOX or MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER. Alternatively, it may also be a client application configured to receive and display graphics, text, multimedia, and the like, across a network.
In one embodiment, when a customer interacts with placement service 130 using buyer application 115, placement service 130 downloads web pages in HTML format to browser 810 for viewing and interactive use. To perform some of the advanced client-side interactive functions the web pages may include client-side scripting instructions from a client-side scripting language. Typically, such client-side scripting instructions are embedded in HTML web pages and are interpreted or executed by a client-side scripting engine to perform functions not available through HTML commands such as advanced graphics, database access, and computations.
Examples of client-side scripting languages include JAVASCRIPT® from ORACLE CORPORATION of Redwood Shores, Calif., the Java open source programming language, ACTIVEX® from the MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash.
In one embodiment, browser 810 issues hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests to and receives HTTP responses from an application server 820 running in placement service 130.
Application server 820 receives the HTTP requests and invokes the appropriate placement server 706 service to process the request. Application server 820 may be a commercially available application server that includes a web server that accepts and processes HTTP requests transmits HTTP responses back along with optional data contents, which may be web pages such as HTML documents and linked objects (images, or the like). In addition, browser 810 may use Ajax to issue requests for XML or JSON-coded information that is delivered asynchronously by application server 820. Henceforth, the term request message will refer to a message sent by browser 810 using HTTP, Ajax or other client-server communications method to placement server 706. And a response message will refer to a message sent in response, typically using the same communications method, by application server 820 running in placement server 706.
Application server 820 establishes and manages customer and rights holder sessions. Typically application server 820 assigns each session a unique session id. A session lasts from the time a user (i.e. a customer or rights holder) logs in, or accesses placement service 130, until the time the user logs out or stops interacting with placement service 130 for a specified period of time. In addition, application server 820 typically manages server applications and provides database connectivity.
Upon request by browser 810, application server 820 downloads to buyer computer 110 or management computer 120 the HTML, JAVASCRIPT and other browser-executable code that make up buyer application 115 or management application 125, respectively.
In one embodiment, placement server 706 includes the following modules: a buyer interface 822, a management interface 824, a media plan generator 826, a campaign engine 828, a results analyzer 830 and a pricing engine 832. Placement service 130 further includes a data warehouse 834 and five operational databases: a vehicle database 840, an opportunity database 842, a media plan database 844, a user database 846, and a results database 848. It may be appreciated that each of the abovementioned databases may be implemented as one or more computer files spread across one or more physical storage mechanisms. In one embodiment, each of the abovementioned databases is implemented as one or more relational databases and is accessed using the structured query language (SQL).
Data warehouse 834 obtains data from data sources 140 and provides the data in normalized formats to operational databases 840-848. Data warehouse 834 is updated periodically using extract-transform-load (ETL) operations. In one embodiment data warehouse 834 is implemented as a separate server with data storage where the processor performs ETL operations.
Buyer interface 822, management interface 824, media plan generator 826, campaign generator 828, results analyzer 830, and pricing engine 832 may each include, or may share the use of, a commercial database management system (DBMS) to access and search for data and objects that reside in the database. In a preferred embodiment, the DBMS is a relational DBMS (RDBMS) such as ORACLE from the Oracle Corporation, SQL SERVER from the Microsoft Corporation, or the like.
Buyer interface 822 responds to requests from buyer application 115, i.e. it performs the back-end server processing. Buyer interface enables a media buyer to log in to placement service 130, interactively create a media plan and view forecasts and results from the corresponding placement campaign. Buyer interface 822 provides buyer interface screens and data elements to buyer computer 110 and receives data from buyer computer 110. In one embodiment, upon request management interface 722 transmits web pages, scripts and other elements used by buyer application 115 to interactively display buyer interfaces 2A-H to buyer computer 110 for use by buyer application 115.
Management interface 824 responds to requests from management application 125, i.e. it performs the server processing corresponding to the client processing performed by management application 125. Management interface 824 enables a management user to log in to placement service 130, review, add, edit and delete vehicles, opportunities, media plans, and buyer records stored in a user database. In one embodiment, upon request management interface 824 transmits web pages, scripts and other elements used by management application 125 to interactively display management interfaces to buyer computer 110 for use by management application 125.
Media plan generator 826 generates lists of opportunities, consistent with a media plan, for review, filtering and selection by a media buyer using buyer application 115. In some embodiments, media plan generator 826 calculates vehicle power and placement quality of vehicles. Media plan generator 826 stores media plans in media plan database 844.
Campaign engine 828 executes media plans stored in media plan database 844 by purchasing or causing to be purchased placements as indicated in a media plan. Campaign engine 828 maintains an updated status of placements during a placement campaign.
Results analyzer 830 obtains campaign results data from data sources 140 via data warehouse 834 and generates prices, impressions, and other results data. Results analyzer 830 stores results data in results database 848. Results analyzer 830 relies on pricing engine 832 to perform results forecasts such as price and impressions and to determine media values and, in some embodiments, market values of placements.
Pricing engine 832 forecasts results and determines results of placement campaigns. Among its various functions, pricing engine 832 performs the methods described with reference to
In the discussion hereinbelow concerning databases it may be appreciated by one skilled in the art that each database may be implemented as one or more database files, alternatively two or more of the databases may be implemented as a single database file. Further the term database may refer to a relational database file that is accessed by a relational database manager or it may implemented as a B-tree, R-tree, spreadsheet, flat file, comma separated value any other type of suitable data structure stored within one or more computer files.
Vehicle database 840 stores records for each vehicle in which a placement may be made. The records typically include metadata that describe properties of the vehicle such as the producer or director, artists, owner, contact information, and vehicle power.
Opportunity database 842 stores records for each placement opportunity. The records typically include metadata that describe properties of the opportunity such as the vehicle in which the opportunity occurs, the start and end point, the duration, a description of the scene, which actors are present, and the like.
Media plan database 844 stores records for each media plan prepared or being prepared by a buyer. The records typically include metadata that describe properties of the media plan such as descriptive information provided by the buyer using buyer interface 200, target channel mix, opportunities selected for inclusion and exclusion, filters and other information captured using buyer interfaces 210 and 220, and opportunities to be included in the media plan.
User database 846 stores a record for each buyer, management or other user of placement service 130. Each user record includes information such as name and contact information, username and password. Buyer records may include information about buyer preferences.
Results database 848 stores results from placement campaigns, typically generated by results analyzer 830 and pricing engine 832. Results database may include price information such as market rates for conventional advertising, and price tables to be used for forecasting placement prices. Results database 832 may also include historical information and information obtained from data sources 140.
The above specification, examples, and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61746976 | Dec 2012 | US |
