U.S. patent application number 12/075591 was filed with the patent office on 2008-09-18 for advertising management system and method with dynamic pricing.
This patent application is currently assigned to CVON Innovations Limited. Invention is credited to Jonathan MacDonald, Donald Peppers.
Application Number | 20080228583 12/075591 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38352866 |
Filed Date | 2008-09-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080228583 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MacDonald; Jonathan ; et
al. |
September 18, 2008 |
Advertising management system and method with dynamic pricing
Abstract
Method and system for enabling advertisers to deliver
advertisements to consumers in which a plurality of tiers of
available advertisements are defined, each tier containing a number
of advertisements, a price for allocation of an advertisement in
each tier is set wherein a lowest tier has the lowest price and the
price increases to a maximum at a highest tier, and advertisements
are allocated to advertisers based on availability starting from a
lowest tier with unallocated advertisements and progressing to
higher tiers.
Inventors: |
MacDonald; Jonathan;
(Frimley, GB) ; Peppers; Donald; (Sea Island,
GA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FRISHAUF, HOLTZ, GOODMAN & CHICK, PC
220 Fifth Avenue, 16TH Floor
NEW YORK
NY
10001-7708
US
|
Assignee: |
CVON Innovations Limited
London
GB
|
Family ID: |
38352866 |
Appl. No.: |
12/075591 |
Filed: |
March 12, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60906366 |
Mar 12, 2007 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.48 ;
705/14.66; 705/14.68; 705/14.69; 705/14.72; 705/14.73 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0273 20130101;
H04W 4/21 20180201; G06Q 30/0277 20130101; G06Q 30/0272 20130101;
G06Q 30/0269 20130101; G06Q 30/0249 20130101; G06Q 30/02 20130101;
G06Q 30/0276 20130101; H04W 72/0446 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 22, 2007 |
GB |
0712280.7 |
Claims
1. A method for delivering advertisements, comprising: defining a
plurality of tiers of available advertisements, each tier
containing a number of advertisements; setting a price for
allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a lowest tier
has the lowest price and the price increases to a maximum at a
highest tier; and allocating advertisements to advertisers based on
availability starting from a lowest tier with unallocated
advertisements and progressing to higher tiers.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: partitioning
recipients of the advertisements into a plurality of target profile
groups; defining a set of a plurality of tiers for each of the
target profile groups; and setting the prices for the allocation of
advertisements in the tiers for each target profile group
independent of one another.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the setting of prices is
performed according to supply and demand of advertisements for each
target profile group.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the total
number of available advertisements in consideration of the number
of advertisements permitted to be delivered to each recipient in a
given period of time, a total number of recipients and a
predetermined time period.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a percentage
of advertisement inventory to each tier, the number of
advertisements in each tier being determined by multiplying the
percentage by the total amount of available advertisements.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocation of advertisements
to advertisers is enabled via an interface available to the
advertisers.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: forming the interface
to enable each advertiser to at least one of: enter an
advertisement to be delivered to recipients; select a target
profile group of recipients to receive advertisements; select one
or more parameters relating to the time of delivery of
advertisements; and perform either an advertising campaign based on
a budget or on delivery of a set number of advertisements.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on delivery of a set number
of advertisements, further comprising: allocating to each
advertiser, available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers
having unallocated advertisements, and then providing the cost of
the advertisements to the advertiser.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on a budget, further
comprising: allocating to each advertiser, available advertisements
from a lowest one of the tiers having unallocated advertisements
until the cost of the advertisements equals the budget, and then
providing the number of allocated advertisements to the
advertiser.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of tiers is 2, 3, 4
or 5.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method enables advertisers
to create advertising campaigns for delivery of advertisements to
consumers' telecommunications devices.
12. A method for delivering advertisements to consumers,
comprising: determining a total number of available advertisements
for a set period of time that can be delivered to the consumers'
telecommunications devices; defining a plurality of tiers of
available advertisements, each tier containing a portion of the
total number of advertisements; setting a price for allocation of
an advertisement in each tier wherein a lowest tier has the lowest
price and the price increases to a maximum at a highest tier;
enabling advertisers to obtain an allocation of advertisements
based on availability starting from a lowest tier with unallocated
advertisements and progressing to higher tiers; and managing the
reception of advertisements from the advertisers and the delivery
of the received advertisements to the consumers in accordance with
the allocations of the advertisers.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: partitioning the
consumers into a plurality of target profile groups; defining a set
of a plurality of tiers for each of the target profile groups; and
setting the prices for the allocation of advertisements in the
tiers for each target profile group independent of one another.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the setting of prices is
performed according to supply and demand of advertisements for each
target profile group.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the total number of available
advertisements is determined in consideration of the number of
advertisements permitted to be delivered to each consumer in a
given period of time, the total number of consumers and a
predetermined time period.
16. The method of claim 12, further comprising assigning a
percentage of advertisement inventory to each tier, the number of
advertisements in each tier being determined by multiplying the
percentage by the total amount of available advertisements.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein the allocation of
advertisements to advertisers is enabled via an interface available
to the advertisers.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: forming the
interface to enable each advertiser to at least one of: enter an
advertisement to be delivered to the consumers; select a target
profile group of consumers to receive advertisements; select one or
more parameters relating to the time of delivery of advertisements;
and perform either an advertising campaign based on a budget or on
delivery of a set number of advertisements.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on delivery of a set number
of advertisements, further comprising: allocating to each
advertiser, available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers
having unallocated advertisements, and then providing the cost of
the advertisements to the advertiser.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on a budget, further
comprising: allocating to each advertiser, available advertisements
from a lowest one of the tiers having unallocated advertisements
until the cost of the advertisements equals the budget, and then
providing the number of allocated advertisements to the
advertiser.
21. The method of claim 12, wherein the number of tiers is 2, 3, 4
or 5.
22. The method of claim 12, further comprising delivering the
advertisements to the consumers' telecommunications devices.
23. A system for enabling advertisers to create advertising
campaigns, comprising: an advertising management system having a
defined plurality of tiers of available advertisements, each
containing a number of advertisements, and a set price for
allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a lowest tier
has the lowest price and the price increases to a maximum at a
highest tier; and an interface to said advertising management
system accessible by advertisers to enable the advertisers to input
advertisements to said advertising management system and obtain an
allocation of advertisements based on availability starting from a
lowest tier with unallocated advertisements and progressing to
higher tiers.
24. The system of claim 23, further comprising infrastructure
coupled to said advertising management system to enable delivery of
advertisements from the advertisers entered via said interface in
accordance with the allocation of such advertisements to consumers'
telecommunications devices.
25. The system of claim 23, wherein the consumers are partitioned
into a plurality of target profile groups and a set of a plurality
of tiers is defined for each of the target profile groups, the set
prices for the allocation of advertisements in the tiers for each
target profile group being independent of one another.
26. The system of claim 25, wherein the setting of prices is
performed according to supply and demand of advertisements for each
target profile group.
27. The system of claim 24, wherein said advertising management
system is arranged to determine the total number of available
advertisements in consideration of the number of advertisements
permitted to be delivered to each consumer in a given period of
time, the total number of consumers and a predetermined time period
for the advertising campaign.
28. The system of claim 24, wherein a percentage of advertisement
inventory is assigned to each tier by an operator of said
advertising management system, the number of advertisements in each
tier being determined by multiplying the percentage by the total
amount of available advertisements.
29. The system of claim 24, wherein said interface is formed to
enable each advertiser to at least one of: select a target profile
group of consumers to receive advertisements; select one or more
parameters relating to the time of delivery of advertisements; and
perform either an advertising campaign based on a budget or on
delivery of a desired number of advertisements.
30. The system of claim 29, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on delivery of a desired
number of advertisements, said advertising management system is
arranged to allocate to each advertiser, available advertisements
from a lowest one of the tiers having unallocated advertisements,
and then provide the cost of the advertisements to the advertiser
via said interface.
31. The system of claim 29, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on a budget, said advertising
management system is arranged to allocate to each advertiser,
available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers having
unallocated advertisements until the cost of the advertisements
equals the budget, and then provide the number of allocated
advertisements to the advertiser via said interface.
32. The system of claim 24, wherein the number of tiers is 2, 3, 4
or 5.
33. A user interface for an advertising management system which
enables advertisers to create advertising campaigns, comprising:
means for enabling the advertisers to input advertisements; means
for enabling the advertisers to select a target profile group of
consumers to receive advertisements; means for enabling the
advertisers to select one or more parameters relating to the time
of delivery of advertisements; and means for enabling the
advertisers to create an advertising campaign based on a total
amount of money or on delivery of a desired number of
advertisements.
34. The interface of claim 33, wherein the means for enabling the
advertisers to create an advertising campaign comprises means for
displaying a plurality of tiers and a price for advertisements in
each tier wherein a lowest tier has the lowest price and the price
increases to a maximum at a highest tier, and means for
automatically obtaining an allocation of advertisements based on
availability starting from a lowest tier with unallocated
advertisements and progressing to higher tiers.
35. The interface of claim 34, wherein the consumers are
partitioned into a plurality of target profile groups and a set of
a plurality of tiers is defined for each of the target profile
groups, the prices for the allocation of advertisements in the
tiers for each target profile group being independent of one
another.
36. The interface of claim 33, wherein the means for enabling the
advertisers to create an advertising campaign based on delivery of
a desired number of advertisements comprises a field for entry of
the desired number of advertisements, further comprising means for
displaying cost of the advertisements to the advertiser.
37. The interface of claim 33, wherein the means for enabling the
advertisers to create an advertising campaign based on a total
amount of money comprises a field for entry of the total amount of
money, further comprising means for displaying the number of
allocated advertisements to the advertiser.
38. A system for delivering advertisements, comprising: means for
defining a plurality of tiers of available advertisements, each
tier containing a number of advertisements; means for setting a
price for allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a
lowest tier has the lowest price and the price increases to a
maximum at a highest tier; and means for allocating advertisements
to advertisers based on availability starting from a lowest tier
with unallocated advertisements and progressing to higher
tiers.
39. The system of claim 38, wherein recipients of the
advertisements are partitioned into a plurality of target profile
groups, further comprising: means for defining a set of a plurality
of tiers for each of the target profile groups; and means for
setting the prices for the allocation of advertisements in the
tiers for each target profile group independent of one another.
40. The system of claim 38, further comprising means for
determining the total number of available advertisements in
consideration of the number of advertisements permitted to be
delivered to each recipient in a given period of time, a total
number of recipients and a predetermined time period.
41. The system of claim 38, further comprising means for assigning
a percentage of advertisement inventory to each tier, the number of
advertisements in each tier being determined by multiplying the
percentage by the total amount of available advertisements.
42. The system of claim 38, further comprising an interface
enabling the advertisers to obtain allocations of advertisements to
advertisers.
43. The system of claim 42, wherein the interface enables each
advertiser to at least one of: enter an advertisement to be
delivered to recipients; select a target profile group of
recipients to receive advertisements; select one or more parameters
relating to the time of delivery of advertisements; and perform
either an advertising campaign based on a total amount of money or
on delivery of a set number of advertisements.
44. The system of claim 43, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on delivery of a set number
of advertisements, further comprising: means for allocating to each
advertiser, available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers
having unallocated advertisements, and then means for providing the
cost of the advertisements to the advertiser.
45. The system of claim 43, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on a total amount of money,
further comprising: means for allocating to each advertiser,
available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers having
unallocated advertisements until the cost of the advertisements
equals the budget, and then means for providing the number of
allocated advertisements to the advertiser.
46. A computer readable media for organizing delivery of
advertisements and which is capable of: defining a plurality of
tiers of available advertisements, each tier containing a number of
advertisements; setting a price for allocation of an advertisement
in each tier wherein a lowest tier has the lowest price and the
price increases to a maximum at a highest tier; and allocating
advertisements to advertisers based on availability starting from a
lowest tier with unallocated advertisements and progressing to
higher tiers.
47. The computer readable media of claim 46, which is further
capable of: partitioning recipients of the advertisements into a
plurality of target profile groups; defining a set of a plurality
of tiers for each of the target profile groups; and setting the
prices for the allocation of advertisements in the tiers for each
target profile group independent of one another.
48. The computer readable media of claim 46, which is further
capable of: determining the total number of available
advertisements in consideration of the number of advertisements
permitted to be delivered to each recipient in a given period of
time, a total number of recipients and a predetermined time period;
and assigning a percentage of advertisement inventory to each tier,
the number of advertisements in each tier being determined by
multiplying the percentage by the total amount of available
advertisements.
49. The computer readable media of claim 46, which is further
capable of: generating an interface which enables each advertiser
to at least one of: enter an advertisement to be delivered to
recipients; select a target profile group of recipients to receive
advertisements; select one or more parameters relating to the time
of delivery of advertisements; and perform either an advertising
campaign based on a total amount of money or on delivery of a set
number of advertisements.
50. The computer readable media of claim 49, which, when an
advertiser elects to perform an advertising campaign based on
delivery of a set number of advertisements, is further capable of:
allocating to each advertiser, available advertisements from a
lowest one of the tiers having unallocated advertisements, and then
providing the cost of the advertisements to the advertiser.
51. The computer readable media of claim 49, which, when an
advertiser elects to perform an advertising campaign based on a
total amount of money, is further capable of: allocating to each
advertiser, available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers
having unallocated advertisements until the cost of the
advertisements equals the budget, and then providing the number of
allocated advertisements to the advertiser.
52. A system for enabling advertisers to create advertising
campaigns, comprising: advertising management means for managing a
plurality of advertising campaigns, said advertising management
means including a defined plurality of tiers of available
advertisements, each containing a number of advertisements, and a
set price for allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a
lowest tier has the lowest price and the price increases to a
maximum at a highest tier; and interface means for enabling
advertisers to access said advertising management means and input
advertisements to said advertising management means and obtain an
allocation of advertisements based on availability starting from a
lowest tier with unallocated advertisements and progressing to
higher tiers.
53. The system of claim 52, further comprising infrastructure means
coupled to said advertising management means to enable delivery of
advertisements from the advertisers entered via said interface
means in accordance with the allocation of such advertisements to
consumers' telecommunications devices.
54. The system of claim 52, wherein the consumers are partitioned
into a plurality of target profile groups and a set of a plurality
of tiers is defined for each of the target profile groups, the set
prices for the allocation of advertisements in the tiers for each
target profile group being independent of one another.
55. The system of claim 52, wherein said advertising management
means is arranged to determine the total number of available
advertisements in consideration of the number of advertisements
permitted to be delivered to each consumer in a given period of
time, the total number of consumers and a predetermined time period
for the advertising campaign.
56. The system of claim 52, wherein a percentage of advertisement
inventory is assigned to each tier by an operator of said
advertising management means, the number of advertisements in each
tier being determined by multiplying the percentage by the total
amount of available advertisements.
57. The system of claim 52, wherein said interface means are formed
to enable each advertiser to at least one of: select a target
profile group of consumers to receive advertisements; select one or
more parameters relating to the time of delivery of advertisements;
and perform either an advertising campaign based on a budget or on
delivery of a desired number of advertisements.
58. The system of claim 57, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on delivery of a desired
number of advertisements, said advertising management means are
arranged to allocate to each advertiser, available advertisements
from a lowest one of the tiers having unallocated advertisements,
and then provide the cost of the advertisements to the advertiser
via said interface.
59. The system of claim 57, wherein when an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on a budget, said advertising
management means is arranged to allocate to each advertiser,
available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers having
unallocated advertisements until the cost of the advertisements
equals the budget, and then provide the number of allocated
advertisements to the advertiser via said interface.
60. A database for use in an advertising delivery system,
comprising: advertisements obtained from advertisers; scheduling
information relating to when the advertisers want their
advertisements delivered; profile information relating to target
profile groups to whom the advertisers want their advertisements
delivered; and pricing information relating to prices paid for
delivering of advertisements.
61. The database of claim 60, further comprising delivery
information relating to the manner in which the advertisements are
to be delivered.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of the filing date of
U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/906,366 filed Mar.
12, 2007 and United Kingdom Application No. GB0712280.7 filed Jun.
22, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their
entireties.
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to a system and
method for managing delivery of advertisements to consumers and
more particularly to a system and method for managing delivery of
various types of advertisements to consumers' telecommunications
devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Currently, it is possible for consumers to receive mobile
telecommunications services at below market prices in exchange for
receiving and interacting with advertisements directed to the
consumers' mobile telecommunications devices. Even more so, there
are business models and operators in the global market offering
such mobile telecommunications services free of charge when a
consumer elects to receive and possibly interact with paid
advertisements. This is often referred to as mobile marketing.
[0004] Mobile marketing is considered by advertisers as the next
new channel to directly reach consumers since it utilizes core
assets and characteristics of the mobile media. Specifically, it is
personal in that it is directed solely to individual consumers, it
is "always on", can reach the consumers whenever they access their
communications devices and wherever they are, and it is mobile.
Moreover, mobile marketing often results in the formation of groups
of people who communicate actively with each other. It is now
envisioned that these characteristics combined with social
network-based approaches of the Internet could form a very powerful
base to execute marketing and advertising strategies.
[0005] In a typical mobile marketing or advertising arrangement,
there is a set of consumers with certain profiles. These are target
consumers for the advertisements, forming a target audience or
target profile group. In a typical business arrangement, an
advertiser selects the target audience to which the advertisement
is to be delivered using a web-based tool or interface (with
preferred profiles). The mobile marketing messages or
advertisements are delivered to consumers in the target profile
group using one or more mobile communication networks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] A first embodiment of a method for delivering
advertisements, for example to consumers, in accordance with the
invention includes defining a plurality of tiers of available
advertisements, each tier containing a number of advertisements,
setting a price for allocation of an advertisement in each tier
wherein a lowest tier has the lowest price and the price increases
to a maximum at a highest tier, and allocating advertisements to
advertisers based on availability starting from a lowest tier with
unallocated advertisements and progressing to higher tiers.
[0007] The consumers can be segmented or partitioned into a
plurality of target profile groups with a set of tiers being
defined for each of the target profile groups. The prices for
allocation of advertisements in the tiers for each target profile
group are ideally set independent of one another. The prices may be
set according to supply and demand of advertisements for each
target profile group.
[0008] Formation of the tiers and number of allocated
advertisements for each tier may be obtained by first determining
the total number of available advertisements, possibly in
consideration of the number of advertisements permitted to be
delivered to each consumer in a given period of time, the total
number of consumers and a predetermined time period. Then, a
percentage of advertisement inventory is assigned to each tier, and
the number of advertisements in each tier is obtained by
multiplying the percentage by the total amount of available
advertisements.
[0009] In one embodiment, the allocation of advertisements to
advertisers is enabled via an interface available to the
advertisers. The interface enables each advertiser to, among other
things, enter one or more advertisements to be delivered to the
consumers' telecommunications devices, select the manner of
delivery, select a target profile group of consumers to receive
advertisements, select one or more parameters relating to the time
of delivery of advertisements, and determine whether the advertiser
wants to conduct their advertising campaign based on delivery of a
set number of advertisements or a total amount of money, i.e., a
budget-based advertising campaign. When an advertiser elects to
perform an advertising campaign based on delivery of a set number
of advertisements, each advertiser is allocated available
advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers having unallocated
advertisements, and then the cost of the advertisements is provided
to the advertiser. When an advertiser elects to perform a
budget-based advertising campaign, each advertiser is allocated
available advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers having
unallocated advertisements until the cost of the advertisements
equals the budget, and then the number of allocated advertisements
is provided to the advertiser.
[0010] A method for delivering advertisements to consumers in
accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention includes
determining a total number of available advertisements for a set
period of time that can be delivered to the consumers'
telecommunications devices, defining a plurality of tiers of
available advertisements, each tier containing a portion of the
total number of advertisements, setting a price for allocation of
an advertisement in each tier wherein a lowest tier has the lowest
price and the price increases to a maximum at a highest tier,
enabling advertisers to obtain an allocation of advertisements
based on availability starting from a lowest tier with unallocated
advertisements and progressing to higher tiers, and managing the
reception of advertisements from the advertisers and the delivery
of the received advertisements to the consumers' telecommunications
devices in accordance with the allocations of the advertisers. The
variations of the method described above can be applied to this
method as well.
[0011] One exemplary embodiment of a system for enabling
advertisers to deliver advertisements to consumers in accordance
with the invention includes an advertising management system having
a defined plurality of tiers of available advertisements, each
containing a number of advertisements, and a set price for
allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a lowest tier
has the lowest price and the price increases to a maximum at a
highest tier, and an interface to the advertising management system
accessible by advertisers to enable the advertisers to input
advertisements to the advertising management system and obtain an
allocation of advertisements based on availability starting from a
lowest tier with unallocated advertisements and progressing to
higher tiers.
[0012] In one embodiment, infrastructure is coupled to the
advertising management system to enable delivery of advertisements
from the advertisers entered via the interface in accordance with
the allocation of such advertisements. The infrastructure may be
capable of delivering the advertisements to the consumers'
telecommunications devices.
[0013] In one embodiment, the consumers are partitioned into a
plurality of target profile groups and a set of a plurality of
tiers is defined for each target profile group. The set prices for
the allocation of advertisements in the tiers for each target
profile group are independent of one another and may be performed
according to supply and demand of advertisements for each target
profile group.
[0014] The advertising management system may be arranged to
determine the total number of available advertisements in
consideration of the number of advertisements permitted to be
delivered to each consumer in a given period of time, the total
number of consumers and a predetermined time period for the
advertising campaign. A percentage of advertisement inventory is
thereby assigned to each tier by an operator of the advertising
management system, with the number of advertisements in each tier
being determined by multiplying the percentage by the total amount
of available advertisements.
[0015] The interface may be a user-friendly interface designed to
enable each advertiser to create their own advertising campaign.
The interface enables the advertisers to, among other things,
select a target profile group of consumers to receive
advertisements, select one or more parameters relating to the time
of delivery of advertisements, and perform either an advertising
campaign based on a total amount of money to be spent or on
delivery of a desired number of advertisements. When an advertiser
elects to perform an advertising campaign based on delivery of a
desired number of advertisements, the advertising management system
is arranged to allocate to each advertiser, available
advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers having unallocated
advertisements, and then provide the cost of the advertisements to
the advertiser via the interface. On the other hand, when an
advertiser elects to perform an advertising campaign based on a
total amount of money to be spent, the advertising management
system is arranged to allocate to each advertiser, available
advertisements from a lowest one of the tiers having unallocated
advertisements until the cost of the advertisements equals the
budget, and then provide the number of allocated advertisements to
the advertiser via the interface.
[0016] Another exemplary embodiment of a system for delivering
advertisements in accordance with the invention includes means for
defining a plurality of tiers of available advertisements, each
tier containing a number of advertisements, means for setting a
price for allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a
lowest tier has the lowest price and the price increases to a
maximum at a highest tier, and means for allocating advertisements
to advertisers based on availability starting from a lowest tier
with unallocated advertisements and progressing to higher tiers.
Additional features of this system are described above in
connection with the description of methods and other systems in
accordance with the invention. An exemplary system for enabling
advertisers to create advertising campaigns in accordance with the
invention includes advertising management means for managing a
plurality of advertising campaigns, the advertising management
means including a plurality of tiers of available advertisements,
each containing a number of advertisements, and a set price for
allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a lowest tier
has the lowest price and the price increases to a maximum at a
highest tier, and interface means for enabling advertisers to
access the advertising management means and input advertisements
thereto and obtain an allocation of advertisements based on
availability starting from a lowest tier with unallocated
advertisements and progressing to higher tiers. Additional features
of this system are described above in connection with the
description of methods and other systems in accordance with the
invention.
[0017] An exemplary user interface for an advertising management
system which enables advertisers to create advertising campaigns in
accordance with the invention includes means for enabling the
advertisers to input advertisements, means for enabling the
advertisers to select a target profile group of consumers to
receive advertisements, means for enabling the advertisers to
select one or more parameters relating to the time of delivery of
advertisements, and means for enabling the advertisers to create an
advertising campaign based on a total amount of money or on
delivery of a desired number of advertisements. Additional features
of this user interface are described above in connection with the
description of methods and systems in accordance with the
invention.
[0018] An exemplary computer readable media for organizing delivery
of advertisements in accordance with the invention is capable of
defining a plurality of tiers of available advertisements, each
tier containing a number of advertisements, setting a price for
allocation of an advertisement in each tier wherein a lowest tier
has the lowest price and the price increases to a maximum at a
highest tier, and allocating advertisements to advertisers based on
availability starting from a lowest tier with unallocated
advertisements and progressing to higher tiers. This computer
readable media is also capable of performing other functions as
described in connection with the description of methods and systems
in accordance with the invention.
[0019] An exemplary database for use in an advertising delivery
system in accordance with the invention includes advertisements
obtained from advertisers, scheduling information relating to when
the advertisers want their advertisements delivered, profile
information relating to target profile groups to whom the
advertisers want their advertisements delivered, and pricing
information relating to prices paid for delivering of
advertisements. The database can also include other information,
such as used in any of the methods and systems described above, for
example, delivery information relating to the manner in which the
advertisements are to be delivered.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] The invention, together with further objects and advantages
thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
wherein like reference numerals identify like elements, and
wherein:
[0021] FIG. 1 is a schematic of an exemplifying architecture of an
advertisement management system in accordance with the
invention.
[0022] FIG. 2 shows an example of screen shots of an Internet
interface which can be used to define a advertising campaign in
accordance with the invention.
[0023] FIG. 3 shows examples of screen shots for three different
advertising campaigns in accordance with the invention.
[0024] FIG. 4 shows an example of a screen shot of a budget-based
advertising campaign using the advertisement management system and
method in accordance with the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0025] Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein the same
reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements, FIG. 1
shows an architecture of an exemplary embodiment of a mobile
marketing system in accordance with the invention which is
designated generally as 10. The system 10 includes one or more
advertisers 12, defined to include any and all entities or
individuals that want to advertise products or services to
customers participating in the mobile marketing arrangement, and an
advertisement management system 14 that is operated by, for
example, an advertising delivery company. Typically, the operator
of the advertisement management system 14 is a company in the
business of delivering advertisements from several advertisers,
i.e., it is the intermediary between advertisers and the operators
of the advertisement distribution channels. Operation of the
advertisement management system 14 is typically managed over an
Internet-interface.
[0026] The management system 14 may include tools for an advertiser
12 to define parameters of their advertisement campaign, i.e., to
enable them to tailor the advertisement campaign to their specific
desires. Parameters which can be defined include the target
audience and the demographics thereof, the cost per advertisement,
the type of advertisement, the total amount of money to be spent on
the advertising campaign, the total number of advertisements to be
delivered during an advertising campaign, the sociological
background of the target audience, age, sex, target phone type,
income level etc. In addition to determining the parameters, each
advertiser 12 typically provides one or more actual advertisements
in any available form such as html-documents, links, text,
pictures, audio, video, television content, videos, HTML, xHTML,
WAP pages, web pages, etc., or any digital content compatible for
reception and display by the target consumers' mobile communication
device or terminal 16A, 16B.
[0027] In a typical cellular infrastructure 18, such as GSM, WCDMA
and CDMA, there are several methods for delivering content to
consumers with mobile terminals 16A, 16B. The methods can include,
but are not limited to, short message service (SMS) delivered via
SMSC 20 (Short message service center), multimedia message service
(MMS) delivered via MMSC 22 (MMS center), instant messaging (IM),
electronic mail, wireless application protocol gateway (WAP GW),
and Internet access point (Internet AP). In addition,
advertisements can be delivered over local area networks such as a
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), BlueTooth (BT) or over other
networks such as WiMax, broadcast networks such as DMB, DVB-H,
ISDB-T or broadcasting over cellular networks using standards such
as MBMS (Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Service), among others.
[0028] Typically, advertisements are delivered from the advertising
management system 14 to the cellular infrastructure 18 and then
from the cellular infrastructure 18 to the terminals 16A, 16B via
elements such as a Value Added GateWay (VAS GW) 24, SMSC 20,
Basestations 26, 28. The mobile terminals 16A, 16B can be cellular
phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), personal computers (PC),
multimedia computers etc. The mobile marketing system 10 may
include a billing system 30 which is normally used to invoice
mobile customers for usage of communication services such as
messaging, data connection, voice calls, video calls etc.
[0029] The pricing model for a mobile marketing system 10 in
accordance with the invention depends on several factors. One
factor is the total number of available inventory items, i.e., the
total number of advertisements that can be delivered to the
participating consumers (those consumers who have elected to
receive advertisements in exchange for free or discounted
telecommunications services) as well as possibly to other consumers
who do not obtain any benefit from receiving the advertisements.
The total number of available inventory items is determined by
multiplying the total number of participating consumers (C) by the
number of advertisements which can be sent to them (M) per defined
advertising time period (dt) (M/dt). Multiplying this product by an
allocated period of time to deliver the advertisements (t) results
in the total number of advertisements TM that can be delivered in
this allocated period of time. Thus:
TM = C .times. M dt .times. t ##EQU00001##
For example, for 10,000 consumers who have agreed to receive a
maximum of 4 advertisements per day, then for a seven-day
advertising period, the total number of advertisements available to
the system to allocate to one or more advertisers for delivery to
these consumers is 280,000.
[0030] As the set of consumers (C) is segmented according to set
profiles (such as gender, age, zip code, interest, etc.), the
target group size is N.sub.i, where i is the index corresponding to
the profiled target group. A consumer may simultaneously be a
member of a plurality of target groups, e.g., a female living in
California, belongs at least to at least the following three
groups: females (i=1); Californians (i=2); and females in
California (i=3). As such, the total number of advertisements
(maximum inventory per group) which can be sent to each profiled
target group i is then:
TM i = N i .times. M dt .times. t ##EQU00002##
In practice, there may be multiple, different parameters which can
be set as profile information resulting in a very large number of
combinations of target profile groups. For example, if there is 10
on/off criteria for the consumers, there would actually be 2.sup.10
different possible combinations of these criteria. There are at
least two methods to defining target profile groups, either define
all possible groups TM.sub.i where i=1 . . . 2.sup.10 or
alternatively, form groups "on the fly" as the advertiser defines
profiles.
[0031] The inventory level of available advertisements for the
target profile groups decreases as advertisements are sent during
an allocated advertising period and as advertising campaigns are
reserved if there are consumers which belong to two or more target
profile groups.
[0032] For example, assuming there are three groups, a first group
defined i=1 corresponding to the selection of females, a second
group defined i=2 corresponding on the selection of people living
in California, and a third group defined i=3 corresponding to
females living in California. Further assuming that, for example,
50% of the customers are females and 20% of all target customers
are living in California. When an advertiser wants to send y.sub.1
advertisements to the third group i=3, the available inventory of
advertisements for that target profile group will be reduced:
TM.sub.3=TM.sub.3-y.sub.1
[0033] Since the first and second groups, i=1 and i=2, overlap with
the third group, i=3, the allocation of advertisements for the
third group, i=3, TM.sub.3, inherently influences the inventory
levels of the first and second groups, i=1 and i=2, as follows:
TM.sub.1=TM.sub.1-y.sub.1
TM.sub.2=TM.sub.2-Y.sub.1
thereby reducing the inventory level of available advertisements
for all female customers (the first group) whether they live in
California or not and reducing the inventory level of available
advertisements for people living in California (the second group)
whether they are female or male.
[0034] Now, if a subsequent advertiser wants to obtain an
allocation of y.sub.2 advertisements for the second group, i=2, the
available inventory after the allocation is:
TM.sub.2=TM.sub.2-Y.sub.2
that is the total of available advertisements in the initial
inventory less y.sub.1+y.sub.2 Since the group of people living in
California (i=2) overlaps with the group of females living in
California (i=3) and the group of females (i=1), the inventory
levels of the first and third groups i=1 and i=3 are reduced as
follows:
TM.sub.1=TM.sub.1-y.sub.2.times.0.5
TM.sub.3=TM.sub.3-y.sub.2.times.0.5
that is, the inventory level of available advertisements for the
group of females (i=1) is reduced by the determined weight (50% in
this case).
[0035] Furthermore, when another advertiser wants to send y.sub.3
advertisements to the first group, i=1, i.e., the target profile
group of females, the inventory levels of available advertisements
for the three groups will be adjusted as follows:
TM.sub.1=TM.sub.1-y.sub.3
TM.sub.2=TM.sub.2-y.sub.3.times.0.2
TM.sub.3=TM.sub.3-y.sub.3.times.0.2
(the reduction in available advertisements for the second and third
groups being related to the weight, i.e., the 20% of customers
living in California).
[0036] After the allocations for these three advertisers, the
initial inventory levels are thus reduced as follows: [0037] the
first group, i=1, by y.sub.3+y.sub.2.times.0.5+y.sub.1 [0038] the
second group, i=2, by y.sub.3.times.0.2+y.sub.2+y.sub.1; and [0039]
the third group, i=3, by
y.sub.3.times.0.2+y.sub.2.times.0.5+y.sub.1 The party operating the
advertisement management system 14 (and in some instances the
communication network as well), i.e., the party in the business of
offering advertisement delivery services, creates an interface to
the advertisement management system 14 which can be used to define
at least the following: [0040] M number of messages which can be
sent during a set period of time, for example 1 day. [0041] dt the
time period, such as one day [0042] t the advertising period, for
example 90 days.
[0043] Other operational parameters to enable use of the
advertising management system 14 via the interface can also be
defined including, for example, the number of tiers which are used
in the organization of the management system 14, the base price for
sending an advertisement to a participating consumer, inventory
levels for each tier which affect increases in the base price for
sending an advertisement, and the increase in the base price or
actual price for each tier.
[0044] Use of different tiers in the advertising management system
14, and the attendant allocation of available inventory of
advertisements into the tiers, determines the price of the overall
advertising campaign (when conducting an advertising campaign based
on a set number of advertisements) and also determines the number
of advertisements in the advertising campaign (when conducting a
budget-based advertising campaign).
[0045] The number of tiers may be freely selected and in an example
below, there are three tiers. However, there may be less than three
tiers, such as two tiers, or more than three tiers, such as four
tiers, five tiers, and up. The determination of how many tiers to
provide in the advertising management system 14 depends on several
factors, with more tiers resulting in a wider range of prices for
the advertisements and more ranges of inventory levels.
[0046] Referring now to Table 1 (below), an example of the
partitioning of available inventory of a total number of
advertisements of a target profile group, TM.sub.i, is shown. The
total number of advertisements that can be delivered to the target
profile group is 100,000 and the number of tiers selected is three.
The base price is selected to be $0.05 per advertisement and
assigned to the lowest tier, tier 3. The price for tier 2 is
selected to be $0.10 per advertisement, double the base price. The
price for tier 3 is selected to be $0.20 per advertisement, four
times the base price. The inventory fill level for tier 3 is
selected to be 0-50% corresponding to a maximum number of available
advertisements of 50,000 (50% of the total number of messages which
is 100,000). The inventory fill level for tier 2 is selected to be
50-80% corresponding to a maximum number of available
advertisements of 30,000 (30% of the total number of messages which
is 100,000). The inventory fill level for tier 1 is selected to be
80-100% corresponding to a maximum number of available
advertisements of 20,000 (20% of the total number of messages which
is 100,000).
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Number of Inventory fill available Tier
Price level % messages 1 $0.2/message 80%-100% 20 000 (4 .times.
base price) 2 $0.1/message 50%-80% 30 000 (2 .times. base price) 3
$0.05/message 0%-50% 50 000 (base price)
[0047] The advertising management system 14 can automatically
calculate for the system operator the potential revenue once the
operational parameters are set. Thus, for the example of the
advertising system having the operational parameters set forth in
Table 1, the maximum potential revenue is
$0.20.times.20,000+$0.10.times.30,000+$0.05.times.50,000=$9,500.
Since the inventory fill level is a settable operational parameter,
along with the base price and prices for each tier, the operator
can freely select these parameters in order to manage supply and
demand of the advertisement inventory, and maximize or optimize the
potential revenue.
[0048] In one embodiment of the invention, it is envisioned that
the operator of the advertisement management system 14 would define
windows when tiers will be opened (available) for allocating the
advertisements, i.e., for example, a block of available
advertisements can be made available for a 90 day period every 90
days. As each period begins, the advertisers can start making
requests for the available advertisements in the inventory. In this
manner, there is advantage for advertisers who are the first to
reserve use or obtain an allocation of available advertisements in
contrast to advertisers who reserve use or obtain an allocation of
available advertisements later as the supply-demand pricing
generated with the innovative system will cause an increase in the
price.
[0049] As mentioned above, there is an interface for an advertiser
to access the advertisement management system 14 and build an
advertising campaign by themselves without requiring involvement
with the operator of the advertising management system 14. FIG. 2
shows an exemplifying interface for an advertiser designated
"SoftDrink1 Ltd".
[0050] Initially, to access the advertising management system 14,
the advertiser is preferably required to register and then log in
via the secured web interface. The interface provides variable
fields designed to be modified by the advertiser in accordance with
whatever parameters they want for their advertising campaign.
[0051] Although the organization of the interface is exemplary only
and not intended to limit the invention, four variable fields are
shown as tabs, i.e., Campaign, Profile, Pricing and Schedule, all
under the heading Campaign management and an indication of the
logged-in status of the advertiser. Using the "Campaign" tab,
actual campaign content can be provided to the advertising
management system, i.e., uploaded via an internet connection. The
example here is a text-based campaign slogan: "SoftDrink1 is good."
As such, the campaign slogan can be delivered to participating
consumers for example via SMS or MMS. Although not shown, the
delivery techniques available to deliver advertisements entered in
the campaign field are also parameters selectable by the advertiser
using the interface.
[0052] Using the "Profile" tab, an advertiser is able select one or
more target profile groups of preferred recipients of the
advertisements. The actual, available profile groups can be
predetermined by the operator of the advertising management system
14. Profile groups can be defined according to, for example but not
limited to, age, gender, location including state or city,
interests, etc. and combinations thereof, so that, for example, an
advertiser can select as the recipients of their advertisements
only females between the ages of 18 and 21. To enable profiling of
the participating consumers, the consumers should preferably be
required to provide data about themselves to enable formation of
different profile groups.
[0053] An advertiser is not required to select one or more of the
target profile groups, in which case, the advertisements will be
directed to all participating consumers.
[0054] Once an advertiser selects its target profile group, the
appropriate portion of the total number of participating consumers
designated to potentially receive that advertiser's advertisements
will be calculated along with the total number of advertisements
that can be delivered to these consumers. For example, a target
profile group selected by an advertiser may be calculated to
contain 25,000 consumers each of whom has agreed to accept 4
advertisements per day so that a daily maximum inventory is 100,000
advertisements. Both the entire target size TM and the segmented
target size, or the number of consumers having the selected target
profile, TM.sub.i, can be displayed when determining the target
profile.
[0055] The "Schedule" tab of the interface can be used to select
when the advertisements entered using the "Campaign" tab are to be
delivered to selected target profile group(s), determined using the
"Profile" tab. Selectable parameters for the schedule include a
start date on which the advertisements will begin to be delivered
to consumers in the target group, an end date by which all of the
advertisements will already have been sent to the consumers in the
target group, preferred days of the week to send the
advertisements, and preferred time or times of the day to send the
advertisements. Both the entire available target size, TM, and the
segmented available target size, TM.sub.i, can be displayed when
determining the scheduling parameters.
[0056] The "Pricing" tab of the interface enables an advertiser to
create an advertising campaign based either on the total number of
advertisements to be sent to the target profile group or based upon
the total cost of the advertising campaign. Both variations utilize
the innovative tier-based pricing and advertisement-allocation
structure described herein.
[0057] The "Pricing" tab shows the different tiers and prices for
available advertisements in each tier. These prices can and often
do vary as a function of the target profile group so that a highly
popular target profile group has higher prices than a less popular
target profile group.
[0058] An example is described below wherein three advertisers use
the advertising management system 14 for advertising campaigns
based on the delivery of desired numbers of advertisements.
[0059] As shown in FIG. 2, a first advertiser enters a number of
the advertisements to be delivered in a given period of time, in
this case 40,000, in an area or field designated for the size of
the campaign. The price for delivery of these 40,000 advertisements
depends on the number of available advertisements in the inventory,
i.e., in each tier of the inventory. Since this advertiser is the
first to schedule delivery of advertisements using the advertising
management system 14, all 40,000 advertisements can be allocated to
tier 3, the tier with the lowest price, since the desired number of
advertisements (40,000) is less than the number of available
advertisements in tier 3 (50,000). Tier 3 will still contain 10,000
available advertisements after the first advertiser is allocated
its 40,000 desired advertisements. Since the price for each
advertisement in tier 3 is $0.05, the cost of SoftDrink1 Ltd.'s
advertising campaign is 40,000.times.$0.05=$2000.
[0060] The second advertiser, SoftDrink2 Ltd., and the third
advertiser, Softdrink3 Ltd., are also desirous to advertise to the
same target profile group as the first advertiser. FIG. 3 shows the
reservation flow diagrams for all three advertisers. The first
column showing the reservation flow diagrams for the first
advertiser Softdrink1 Ltd., which are basically the same as those
shown in FIG. 2, but are repeated for easy reference for the
explanation of the flow diagrams for the second and third
advertisers, Softdrink2, Ltd. and Softdrink3, Ltd., in the second
and third columns, respectively
[0061] Once SoftDrink1 Ltd. has reserved 40,000 advertisements of
the initially available total inventory of 100,000, the remaining
inventory for the target profile group includes only 60,000
possible advertisements. This is indicated to the next advertiser
who accesses the advertising management system 14 and selects the
same target profile group, i.e., Softdrink2, Ltd. (see the schedule
diagram at the bottom of the second column in FIG. 3 wherein the
available segmented size is shown as being 60K).
[0062] As noted above, the operator of the advertising management
system has allocated only 50,000 advertisements to tier 3 and since
the first advertiser has been allocated 40,000 advertisements, only
10,000 advertisements remain in tier 3 for allocation to other
advertisers. The second advertiser, Softdrink2 Ltd., wants 30,000
advertisements (entered into the field "Size of campaign" under the
"Pricing" tab) and therefore can be allocated 10,000 from tier 3
and the 20,000 from tier 2, since the total number of available
advertisements in tier 2 is 30,000. Since the price for each
advertisement in tier 3 is $0.05 and the price for each
advertisement in tier 2 is $0.10, the cost of SoftDrink2 Ltd.'s
advertising campaign is
10,000.times.$0.05+20,000.times.$0.10=$2,500.
[0063] Once SoftDrink1 Ltd. and Softdrink2 Ltd. have reserved
70,000 advertisements of the initially available total inventory of
100,000, the remaining inventory for the target profile group
includes only 30,000 possible advertisements. This is indicated to
the next advertiser to access the advertising management system 14
and select the same target profile group, i.e., Softdrink3, Ltd.
(see the schedule diagram at the bottom of the third column in FIG.
3 wherein the available segmented size is shown as being 30K).
[0064] As noted above, the operator of the advertising management
system has allocated 30,000 advertisements to tier 2 and since the
second advertiser has already been allocated 20,000 advertisements
from tier 2, only 10,000 advertisements remain in tier 2 for future
allocation. The third advertiser, Softdrink3 Ltd., has requested
15,000 advertisements and therefore can be allocated 10,000 from
tier 2 and the remaining 5,000 from tier 1. Since the price for
each advertisement in tier 2 is $0.10 and the price for each
advertisement in tier 1 is $0.20, the cost of SoftDrink3 Ltd.'s
advertising campaign is
10,000.times.$0.10+5,000.times.$0.20=$2,000.
[0065] After all of these advertisers have entered their
information relating to their advertising campaigns, tier 1 will
still contain 15,000 available advertisements for allocation to
other advertisers. It should be noted that some operational
parameters of the advertising management system 14 do not have to
be displayed to the advertisers. For example, it might not be
desirous to display the composition of the inventory fill levels
and number of available messages to the advertisers.
[0066] The interface of the advertising management system 14 also
enables advertisers to create advertising campaigns based on a
budget, in contrast to determining the number of advertisements as
in the example explained above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
Aside from a difference in the pricing portion of the interface,
the other portions of the interface, i.e., Campaign, Profile and
Schedule, are used in the same manner as for numeric-based
advertising campaigns. The difference is that instead of an
indication of a field to allow for entry of the size of the
campaign, the field allows for entry of the budget of the
campaign.
[0067] FIG. 4 shows an example of the pricing portions of the
interface for budget-based advertising campaigns using the
advertising management system in accordance with the invention.
Each advertiser has a budget of $3,000 for its campaign and the
sequence of using the interface is the same as in the above
example, i.e., first Softdrink1, Ltd., then Softdrink2, Ltd. and
then Softdrink3, Ltd.
[0068] The first advertiser, Softdrink1, Ltd., enters the budgeted
amount of $3,000 for its campaign and the interface automatically
allocates the number of advertisements in each tier it can receive
for that budget. Filling of the tiers begins from the lowest priced
tier, in this case, tier 3, and proceeds upward to tier 1. For its
budgeted amount of $3,000, the first advertiser is able to receive
an allocation of 50,000 advertisements from tier 3, the entire tier
3 allocation, and an allocation of 5,000 advertisements from tier 2
(for a total of 55,000 advertisements). For its budgeted amount of
$3,000, the second advertiser is able to receive an allocation of
25,000 advertisements from tier 2, the remaining allocation of
advertisements in tier 2, and an allocation of 1,000 advertisements
from tier 1 (for a total of 26,000 advertisements). For its
budgeted amount of $3,000, the third advertiser is able to receive
an allocation of 15,000 advertisements from tier 1. Tier 1 will
still contain 5,000 available advertisements for allocation to
other, later-reserving advertisers.
[0069] The interface described above is highly user-friendly since
each advertiser can, at their own initiative, adjust the size of
their campaign to obtain an acceptable cost, when a numeric-based
advertising campaign is being created, or alternatively, can adjust
the price of their campaign to obtain an acceptable number of
advertisements, when a budget-based campaign is being created. The
advertising system can automatically calculate the total price for
different numbers of advertisements when creating a numeric-based
advertising campaign and can also automatically calculate the
number of advertisements that can be obtained for a fixed price
when creating a budget-based advertising campaign. This allows the
advertisers to independently, without assistance from the operator
of the advertising management system 14, optimize their advertising
campaigns.
[0070] Moreover, since pricing can be a factor of the selected
target profile, the manner in which the advertisements are being
delivered to the consumers and/or the schedule, the advertisers can
freely change any of the target profile, delivery methods and
schedule to obtain an optimum or acceptable advertising campaign,
all using the computer interface. Assistance by the operator of the
advertising management system 14 should not be required, or only
minimal.
[0071] The foregoing invention therefore provides a new and
improved mobile marketing arrangement and method wherein
advertisers are able to direct their advertisements to consumers in
one or more specific target profile groups, thereby performing
segmentation, at fixed prices for delivery of such advertisements,
i.e., without requiring a higher price for the selection of
specific target profile groups. Thus, some embodiments of the
mobile marketing arrangement and method have independent pricing
for advertising to each of a plurality of different target profile
groups. The pricing of each target profile group is performed
according to supply and demand irrespective of the pricing for any
other target profile group.
[0072] Having described exemplary embodiments of the invention with
reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be appreciated that
the present invention is not limited to those embodiments, and that
various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one of
ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope or
spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
* * * * *