Patent Application
20110208580
Advertising in retail environments has been a way for product makers to convince shoppers to purchase goods of the advertisers. Traditionally, paper advertisements or promotional marketing advertisements were used. More recently, digital signage in the form of electronic displays has been used to promote goods. Studies have shown that product sales rise dramatically through the use of digital media, such as videos, that promote products in retail environments.
While many companies have attempted to develop digital signage, including advertising display networks in retail environments, most have failed for a variety of reasons. The science of retail environments has not been understood well enough by digital sign companies to profitably integrate display networks, and, as such, the ability of digital sign companies or media entities to integrate digital signs into retail environments has dramatically impacted profitability of these companies and desire for retailers to embrace digital signage. Since the 1980's, many digital sign companies have attempted to place digital sign networks within retail environments, but have failed or have had limited success. Some of the reasons for historical difficulty of integrating digital sign networks into retail environments include different retail environment parameters or disparate retail environments, such as different retail store configurations across different retail chains, different customer demographics and flows within different retail chains, different store sizes, different product offerings, and so on. Furthermore, management and distribution of content for display on electronic display networks located in different retail chains to maximize revenue given the disparate retail environments as described above is a problem heretofore not yet considered or solved.
The principles of the present invention provide for an electronic display network to be integrated into disparate retail environments (e.g., different retail chains) by being adapted to the different retail chain environments and shopper or audience metrics to maximize advertising revenue. The electronic display network across different retail chains provides for a number of slots in an advertisement wheel or loop within each different retail chain to be different lengths based on audience metrics within the different retail chains. Audience metrics are based on parameters of shoppers or customers (e.g., shopping trip periods) within retail stores of retail chains. In addition, the principles of the present invention may be adapted to address audience metrics in different retail stores within the same retail chain depending on the size, configuration, and audience metrics of shoppers within respective retail chains. Retail audience metrics may include an average time that shoppers shop at a retail store or within multiple stores in a retail chain. Advertisement wheels within different retail chains may be different lengths based on the audience metrics. For example, if audience metrics at one retail chain indicate that shoppers in that chain shop for 37 minutes on average, the advertisement wheel within that retail chain may be set longer than an advertisement wheel at a different retail chain where shoppers shop for 19 minutes on average so that each advertisement is delivered to each customer or member of a retail audience a predetermined number of views. Assuming that electronic displays that form an electronic display network distributed throughout a retail store are capable of being viewed by substantially all shoppers (audience delivery) that shop at the retail store to enable each shopper to view each ad a predetermined number of times (e.g., three times) (frequency of view), advertisers are provided with a predictable and plannable audience delivery to allow the advertiser to plan and purchase a certain number of viewers or audience delivery (e.g., rating points (RPs), as understood in the art) within a given designated market area (DMA), as defined by The Nielsen Company.
One embodiment of a method for managing avails (i.e., available inventory of timeslots) on advertisement wheels in different retail chains may include establishing a first number of avails on a first electronic display network in a first retail chain. A second number of avails may be established on a second electronic display network in a second retail chain. The first and second electronic display networks may be configured to receive advertising content for display in the avails via a communications network. The first number of avails may be less than the second number of avails based on retail audience metrics in the first and second retail chains. Total audience size or delivery available to the first and second electronic display networks may be determined. An avail may be reserved on both the first and second display networks in response to an advertiser booking content for display on the first and second retail networks. In response to the avail being booked, avail count of at least a portion of the first and second number of avails on the first and second electronic display networks may be reduced. A determination that the avail count of the at least a portion of the first number of avails (e.g., national avails) on the first display network has reached zero may be made. The total audience delivery of the combined networks may be reduced by the audience delivery available to the first electronic display network, and offered to a next advertiser seeking to book an avail on the first and second electronic display networks.
One embodiment of a method for managing national airtime on a network of multiple display networks located in respective multiple retail chains may include establishing multiple lists of avails associated with multiple respective retail chains that operate respective electronic display networks. An aggregate of the electronic display networks define a national electronic display network and the respective display networks define local electronic display networks. A respective number of avails may be established in each respective list of avails based on an average customer shopping time in each respective retail chain. At least a portion of the respective number of avails on each respective local electronic display network may be national avails, and a remaining portion of the respective number of avails on each respective local electronic display network may be respective local avails. A determination of audience delivery available for delivery by the national broadcast network based on customer traffic in each store in each respective retail chain may be made. A user interface may be provided for advertisers to book national avails for displaying content on the national electronic display network, where the user interface provides selectable dates during which content is to be run on the national electronic display network. In response to an advertiser selecting dates over which content is to be run on the national electronic display network, audience delivery to be delivered by the national electronic display network to the advertiser over the selected dates may be (i) calculated by adjusting audience delivery according to each retailer's display network and (ii) displayed for an advertiser to view. It should be understood that the same or analogous technique may be utilized by an individual retailer for managing airtime on its local electronic display network in the event that individual retail stores within a retail chain of the retailer are disparate such that different length advertisement wheels are utilized within the retail chain.
Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated by reference herein and wherein:
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As understood in the art, retail chain stores are generally configured in different manners, where a grocery store is configured different from a pharmacy, which is configured different from a mass merchant retail store. As further understood, retail stores of different retail chains within the same industry (e.g., grocery stores) generally have different configurations (e.g., Food Lion® and Kroger®. As such, an electronic display network that is integrated into a retail store of one retail chain would be configured in a different manner from an electronic display network that is integrated into a different retail chain due to the different retail chains having different store configurations and shopper or audience metrics. Audience metrics may include an average number of minutes that shoppers shop at a retail store. By knowing the average amount of time that shoppers shop within a retail store or generally across a retail chain, an advertising “wheel” having a certain length of time may be established for displaying advertising spots on an electronic display network in the retail store or chain, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/368,232. Although described as an “advertising wheel,” it should be understood that each time segment in the advertising wheel may contain content other than advertisements, where the terms “content” and “advertisement” may include public service announcements, traditional advertisements, traditional programming, or any other information used for public awareness, as understood in the art. For the purposes of this application, the terms “shopper” and “customer” are equivalent and mean visitors who enter a retail store, and are not limited to visitors who purchase goods at the retail store.
As an example, if an average shopping time in a one retail store is different from an average shopping time in another retail store, then the length of time of advertising wheels in the different retail stores will be different. In other words, if shoppers in one retail store tend to shop for a shorter period of time than shoppers in another retail store on average, then the advertising wheel in the retail store with shorter shopping periods will be shorter than an advertising wheel in another retail store where the shoppers shop for a longer period of time on average. To provide for media metrics that are backwardly compatible to media metrics on traditional in-home television (e.g., broadcast, cable, or satellite), the electronic display networks 104 and 106 may be configured to ensure that substantially every shopper (audience delivery) in a retail store is able to view each content segment a predetermined number of times (e.g., at least three times) (frequency of view), as described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/368,232. Assuming that audience delivery and frequency of view are attainable in retail stores as described above, media metrics may be determined to provide advertisers with rating points (RPs) and gross rating points (GRPs), which are backwardly compatible to RPs and GRPs provided by traditional in-home television. It should be understood that retail media metrics may be more accurate than traditional in-home television media metrics due to a number of factors, including in-home television media metrics use estimates based on small samples, while retail media metrics are able to use purchase receipts and other “hard data” available from other store related measurement systems.
As an example of determining an advertisement wheel length, if shoppers in a retail store (or across retail stores of a retail chain) shop for 30 minutes on average, then an advertisement wheel should be 10 minutes, thereby allowing for each shopper to view each advertisement three times. As an example of determining number of time slots in an advertisement wheel, if the length of time slots is 6 seconds, then there will be 10 time slots per minute and 100 time slots per 10 minutes (i.e., 10 time slots per minute for 10 minutes) to form the advertisement wheel, which will be played or aired three times per each half-hour.
As the length of advertising wheels differs between local affiliates of a network service provider, so too does the number of time slots or avails on respective advertising wheels. If one retail chain has an average shopper spend an average of 51 minutes, then the advertisement wheel length will be 17 minutes (i.e., 51 minutes/3 frequency of view), which will provide for 170 avails of 6 second timeslots in the advertisement wheel, which will be displayed three times each 51 minutes of shopping time, in that retail chain. If a different retail chain has an average shopping period of 21 minutes, then the advertisement wheel length will be 7 minutes and there will be 70 avails of 6 second timeslots in the advertisement wheel, which will be displayed three times each 21 minutes, in that retail chain.
A network service provider, which is operating as a national network operator, that is servicing both of the above example retail chains as local affiliates, where the network service provider may partition 60% of airtime available on the electronic display network to itself and the remaining 40% of the airtime to the local affiliates (i.e., the retail chains). As an example, if an advertising wheel is 10 minutes in a retail chain, then the network service provider will have 6 of the 10 minutes to sell timeslots or otherwise use, and the local affiliate will have 4 minutes of the advertisement wheel to sell timeslots or otherwise use. If an advertising wheel is 20 minutes in another retail chain, then the network service provider will have 12 minutes of the 20 minutes to sell timeslots or otherwise use, and the local affiliate will have 8 minutes of the advertisement wheel to sell timeslots or otherwise use. Avails available to the network service provider are called “national avails,” and avails available to the local affiliate are called “local avails.” In the first example above with a 10 minute advertisement wheel, the network service provider will have the ability to sell 60 6-second timeslots, and the local affiliate will have the ability to sell 40 6-second timeslots, which totals 100 6-second timeslots.
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As the audience delivery per week and RPs are media metrics that are backwardly compatible with media metrics for in-home television, an advertiser may generally perform an “apples to apples” comparison of advertising rates on the electronic display networks in the retail chains with advertising rates for traditional in-home television. However, because of the greater levels of control provided by the electronic display network (e.g., shoppers cannot change channels or fast forward past commercials, as is possible on in-home television), the efficiency for advertisers seeking to communicate with a mass audience in retail environments for advertising on the electronic display network will generally be higher than advertising on broadcast television and, hence, the cost for advertisers advertising in retail environments will be less. Furthermore, the advertisers may be billed for advertising on the in-store national network in a more efficient manner as more precise audience estimates may be generated through use of checkout receipts to estimate the number of shoppers or audience delivery. In addition, the advertiser may be able to buy greater levels of rating points in DMA 114 much beyond advertising on traditional television as a result of advertising on the electronic display networks in the local affiliates.
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As shown in playlist 600a, timeslots 1-15 are established as national reserved avails in group 602 and timeslots 16-21 are designated as national DMA timeslots in groups 604a-604n. In the same or analogous manner, the local affiliate may choose to partition the local avails into “local reserved” avails, which are avails across the entire retail chain, and “local DMA” avails, which are avails available for selection within the retail chain on a DMA by DMA basis. Groups 606 and 608a-608n as distinguished as local reserved avails and local DMA avails, respectively. Although shown as being listed as national avails in timeslots 1-21 and local avails in timeslots 22-36, it should be understood that rather than displaying all of the national content in order and then all the local content in order, the national and local content may be intermixed, randomly or non-randomly, thereby improving attention by viewers of the electronic display network in retail chain A. In the same manner as shown in playlist 600a, the national avails of playlist 600n may be partitioned as shown by groups 610 and 612a-612n and local avails as shown by groups 614 and 616a-616n. It should be understood that other partitions of the avails in each of the different retail chains may be performed to maximize revenue and incentivize advertisers to place content on the electronic display networks.
With regard to
As shown in group 702a, DMA 1 has local affiliate C, which has a total of 42 national avails and 28 local avails. At the time of the data 700 being viewed, the total number of national avails remaining at local affiliate C is zero and the total number of local avails remaining at the local affiliate C is 6. Because there are no national avails remaining at the local affiliate, the potential audience delivery and Rating Points that may be accessed by an advertiser that desires to advertise in DMA 1 is the aggregate of audience delivery to all local affiliates A-N as reduced by the audience delivery and Rating Points provided by local affiliate C. Furthermore, as the number of viewers and Rating Points becomes more scarce within any particular DMA, the price for purchasing available national or local avails may increase due to there being a lower supply and higher demand for avails.
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The avails remaining data 808a, 808b, 810a, and 810b may be used to provide the network service provider and respective local affiliates with a variety of information, such as avail sales rates and assist in setting avail pricing. The partition of national avails as including national reserved avails and national DMA avails is shown to be a 60%/40% split. It should be understood that any other partition methodology, including a dynamic partition methodology in which the partition is based on demand for national avails versus DMA avails on a national level may be utilized. It should further be understood that if the network service provider decides to add another national reserved avail and not every local affiliate has available national DMA avails for converting to a national reserved avails, that the network service provider can change the partition in each local affiliate over time as national DMA avails become available. As the number of national reserved avails and national DMA avails are sold to advertisers, the number of respective avails are reduced, as shown in data 800 as total national reserved avails remaining in DMA 808a, total national DMA avails remaining in DMA 808b, total local reserved avails remaining in DMA 810a and total local DMA avails remaining in DMA 810b.
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The user may also select dates (e.g., weeks or months) over which content is to run on the national network using pull-down menu 1110 or any other graphical user element, as understood in the art, and the total cost may be computed based on the dates selected. The dates selected may affect the audience delivery, for example, thereby affecting the computed price. In one embodiment, the audience delivery may vary based on the dates using historical audience delivery during those dates. For example, audience delivery may vary during holidays (e.g., fewer shoppers over 3-day weekends or more shoppers prior to Christmas).
The user may attach content for submission to a network service provider for distribution to selected retail stores of local affiliates in the selected DMA(s) by selecting soft-button 1112, which allows for the user to select a content file, as understood in the art. If the user is complete with selection of the distribution for the content, the user may select soft-button 1114.
The GUI 1100 may operate in the same or similar manner whether or not national and local avails are partitioned, as provided in
The advertiser may also elect to book local airtime in section 1102b by selecting a retail chain 1116a (e.g., Food Lion®), or select a different retail chain that is a local affiliate of the network service provider by using a pull-down menu 1116b. The user may select, for example, CVS 1118 for advertising in that local affiliate of the network service provider. The user may also select a particular DMA 1120, or select another DMA (e.g., DMA 21, 1122), or select all DMAs (selection not shown), in which the local affiliate has retail stores. The user may select dates for content to play or air on the electronic display network of the local affiliate. As shown, the user may select a particular week 1124a or month in a pull-down menu 1124b. It should be understood that an alternative date selection graphical user element, such as a calendar, may be utilized to enable a user to select dates.
Information 1126 may also be presented to the user that includes available audience delivery in the selected DMA(s), available rating points for the selected retail chain in the selected DMA(s), current cost per thousand for advertising in the selected DMA(s) at the selected retail chain, and total cost for placing content in the selected retail chain in the selected DMA(s). The user may attach a content file by selecting soft-button 1128. If the user has completed selection of the retail chain and DMA(s), then the user may select soft-button 1130 to complete purchasing. It should be understood that national and local avails may alternatively sold using different GUIs or mediums other than the Internet. It should further be understood that local airtime may be sold using a distinct GUI from a GUI selling national airtime. For example, a local affiliate may have a website or other means for selling local airtime without providing an advertiser the ability to select to advertise on another local affiliate's electronic display network.
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In addition to the user having the ability to select geographic region types, the user may further have the ability to select retail store types, such as grocery store, mass merchant, pharmacy, which the algorithm may further incorporate when selecting retail stores in which to display the content to meet the weekly cost limit. In another embodiment, rather than the user being able to select an upper weekly cost limit, the user may be presented with a second GUI element (not shown) that enables the user to enter a weekly lower cost limit (e.g., $5,000.00), which the algorithm may use when selecting retail stores in which to play the content. In yet another embodiment, rather than selecting cost limits, the user may be able to enter upper and lower audience delivery or desired RPs into GUI elements (not shown) that the algorithm is to follow for selecting retail stores in which to play the content. It should be understood that media metrics (e.g., RPs) and financial parameters (e.g., average weekly cost limit) may be selectable or enterable for an advertiser to allow the system to automatically select retail stores in which to play the content. Still yet, demographic parameters that are shopper focused (e.g., average annual income, gender, age, etc.) may be selectable by a user placing content in national and/or local avails on the national electronic display network. It should be further understood that multiple parameters (e.g., geographic, financial, and/or demographic) may be utilized by the algorithm to automatically select retail stores and/or chains in which to play the content.
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At step 1208, an avail may be reserved on the first and second display networks in response to an advertiser booking content for display in the avail. Avail count of at least a portion of the first and second number of avails may be reduced on the first and second electronic display networks at step 1210. At step 1212, a determination that the avail count of the at least a portion of the first number of avails on the first display network has reached zero may be made. At step 1214, the total audience delivery may be reduced by the audience delivery available to the first electronic display network may be determined. At step 1216, the reduced total audience delivery may be displayed to a next advertiser seeking to advertise on the first and second electronic display networks. In one embodiment, the process 1200 may be performed on a DMA by DMA basis. In other words, if the advertiser selects to advertise in one or more distinct DMAs, then the process 1200 may be performed within the selected DMA(s) rather than across every DMA in which the first and second retail chains operate.
In response to determining that all avails are booked in the at least a portion of the first number of avails (e.g., national avails) on the first electronic display network, a new price for booking avails on the second electronic display network may be computed. Because fewer avails are available for booking, the price for booking may increase despite the fact that the total audience delivery has decreased due to supply and demand principles. In one embodiment, the at least a portion of the first and second number of avails on the first and second electronic display network may be reserved for the network service provider to use or sell as national airtime, and any remaining portion of the first and second number of avails on the first and second electronic display network may be reserved for the respective first and second retail chains to use or sell as local airtime, thereby creating partitioned networks between the network service provider and its local affiliates.
At step 1306, an audience delivery available for delivery by the national broadcast network may be determined based on customer traffic in each store in each respective retail chain. It should be understood that the audience delivery is actually an estimated or projected audience delivery. The available audience delivery is predictable, but is an estimate until an actual measurement or better estimate can be made after completion of the selected dates. At step 1308, a user interface may be provided for advertisers to book national avails for displaying content on the national electronic display network. The user interface may provide selectable dates during which content is to be run on the national electronic display network. At step 1310, in response to an advertiser selecting dates over which content is to be run on the national electronic display network, an audience delivery to be delivered by the national electronic display network to the advertiser over the selected dates may be calculated. The calculated audience delivery may be displayed for an advertiser to view at step 1312. Because the audience delivery is a projected audience delivery, optionally historically based, the audience delivery is an estimate.
In one embodiment, in response to an advertiser booking a national avail on the national electronic display network, the number of national avails may be reduced in each of the lists of avails that have at least one national avail available for booking. A determination may be made as to whether all of the national avails in a list of avails have been booked. If all of the national avails in the list of avails have been booked, then audience delivery available for delivery for other content to be booked in the remaining national avails may be recalculated. In other words, the audience delivery will be reduced by the audience delivery of the retail chain associated with the list of avails in which all of the national avails have been booked. If not all of the national avails in any of the lists of avails have been booked, then no recalculation of the audience delivery available for other content to be booked in the remaining national avails may be made. If it is determined that a national timeslot from a previously filled list of avails becomes available, then audience delivery may be recalculated to include that national avail. In other words, the audience delivery of the retail chain that was previously unavailable due to all of its national avails being unavailable may be added back when calculating the audience delivery.
In one embodiment, a selection of one or more DMAs in which the advertiser desires to place content on the national electronic display network may be received from an advertiser. Selection of one or more DMAs may allow an advertiser to advertise across multiple retail chains, but in more targeted geographic locations than across the entire country.
A manage local avails module 1504 may be configured to manage local avails at each respective local affiliate. The manage local avails module 1504 may maintain how many local avails are booked and available at each respective local affiliate. In addition, the module 1504 may be configured to manage local reserved and local DMA avails, as described herein.
An automatic ad placement module 1506 may be configured to automatically determine specific locations and periods of time for placing content for advertisers to meet requested advertising parameters. For example, if an advertiser enters a minimum and maximum budget or desired RPs or GRPs for displaying content on an electronic display network, the automatic ad placement module 1506 may compute cost for displaying the content on a national basis or DMA basis based on audience delivery estimates or other media metrics and number of days for displaying the content. It should be understood that the number of days may be represented in weeks or months. The module 1506 may be configured for handling both national and local electronic display networks. If the advertiser submits geographic locations (e.g., one or more DMAs) in which content is to be displayed, then the module 1506 may restrict placement to those geographic locations.
A manage GUI module 1508 may be configured to manage one or more graphical user interfaces that advertisers may interface to book avails for content to be displayed. The graphical user interfaces (e.g.,
A calculate pricing module 1510 may be configured to compute pricing for an advertiser when booking airtime or avails on the national electronic display network, either in national or local avails. The calculate pricing module 1510 may determine whether the user has selected one or more DMAs, audience delivery in retail stores in which content will be displayed, the number of rating points, or any other media metric that the network service provider or local affiliate desires to use to compute pricing for booking avails.
A manage submitted ads module 1512 may be configured to receive and manage content (e.g., advertising content) that is submitted by advertisers or their agencies for distribution to electronic displays at retail stores of the local affiliates. The manage submitted ads module 1512 may further be configured to populate playlists of local affiliates to ensure that the content is properly and timely distributed to the electronic displays in the retail stores of the local affiliates.
An accounting module 1514 may be configured to account for the number of estimated actual viewers (i.e., audience delivery) were able to view each content segment at each retail store of each local affiliate. In one embodiment, the accounting module 1514 may receive store data, such as number of receipts, from each of the local affiliates to determine how may shoppers purchased items and then use a scale factor, such as 1.2, to estimate the total number of customers (i.e., audience delivery) who were at the store for the time period (e.g., week) during which the store data is collected. The module 1514 may then compute the audience delivery for the advertisement purchase or buy and generate a bill for the advertisers to pay based on the estimated audience delivery. It should be understood that the modules 1500 are illustrative and that other modules may be utilized to perform management of avails and content.
The previous detailed description is of a small number of embodiments for implementing the invention and is not intended to be limiting in scope. One of skill in this art will immediately envisage the methods and variations used to implement this invention in other areas than those described in detail. The following claims set forth a number of the embodiments of the invention disclosed with greater particularity.
