U.S. patent application number 14/076396 was filed with the patent office on 2014-05-15 for individualized marketing to improve capacity utilization.
This patent application is currently assigned to Kayak Software Corporation. The applicant listed for this patent is Kayak Software Corporation. Invention is credited to Paul M. English, Jim Giza, Daniel S. Hafner, Steve Hafner, Andrew Patterson, Charles L. Spurr.
Application Number | 20140136316 14/076396 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36648149 |
Filed Date | 2014-05-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140136316 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Spurr; Charles L. ; et
al. |
May 15, 2014 |
INDIVIDUALIZED MARKETING TO IMPROVE CAPACITY UTILIZATION
Abstract
Suppliers of goods and/or services subject to shifts in capacity
utilization design and implement marketing campaigns around
utilization forecasts, targeting marketing expenditures on periods
of excess capacity rather than periods without excess capacity, and
in some embodiments also to alter variables such as pricing,
consumer targeting, or even the intensity of the campaign itself on
a dynamic basis in response to changing market conditions.
Inventors: |
Spurr; Charles L.;
(Wakefield, MA) ; Giza; Jim; (Sutton, MA) ;
English; Paul M.; (Arlington, MA) ; Hafner;
Steve; (Fairfield, CT) ; Patterson; Andrew;
(New York, NY) ; Hafner; Daniel S.; (Fairfield,
CT) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Kayak Software Corporation |
Norwalk |
CT |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Kayak Software Corporation
Norwalk
CT
|
Family ID: |
36648149 |
Appl. No.: |
14/076396 |
Filed: |
November 11, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
13032558 |
Feb 22, 2011 |
8583485 |
|
|
14076396 |
|
|
|
|
11087469 |
Mar 23, 2005 |
7917387 |
|
|
13032558 |
|
|
|
|
60642324 |
Jan 7, 2005 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.43 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0241 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 30/0223 20130101; G06Q 30/0275 20130101;
G06Q 30/0244 20130101; G06Q 30/0251 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.43 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1. A method for executing marketing campaigns, the method executed
by a computer system and comprising: receiving, via a computer
interface, information for a marketing campaign associated with a
supplier of items characterized by fixed capacity and deferred
consumption, the information for the marketing campaign including a
promotion for an item of the supplier and execution criteria for
executing the marketing campaign to present the promotion via a
computer network site; receiving, via the computer interface,
forecast data for the supplier, the forecast data computed based on
future availability of one or more items provided by the supplier;
and automatically modifying the execution criteria of the marketing
campaign based on the forecast data.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to
receiving, from a client device, a request for an item to be
consumed in the future, determining whether the request matches the
modified execution criteria of the marketing campaign; and
responsive to the request matching the modified execution criteria,
automatically determining whether to transmit the promotion for
presentation from a plurality of promotions of marketing campaigns
whose execution criteria matches the request.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein forecast data for the supplier is
computed periodically by a forecast server and provided by the
forecast server for modifying the execution criteria.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein forecast data for the supplier is
computed responsive to an event and provided by the forecast server
for modifying the execution criteria.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the event is a booking pace not
being according to a booking projection.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the event is a set number of
reservations being canceled.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution criteria includes a
set of users for whom the marketing campaign is intended, and
wherein the modification results in a change in the set of
users.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution criteria includes
behaviors of users for whom the marketing campaign is intended, and
wherein the modification results in a change in the behaviors.
9. A system for executing marketing campaigns, the system
comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable storage medium
storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by the
processor are configured to: receive information for a marketing
campaign associated with a supplier of items characterized by fixed
capacity and deferred consumption, the information for the
marketing campaign including a promotion for an item of the
supplier and execution criteria for executing the marketing
campaign to present the promotion via a computer network site;
receiving forecast data for the supplier, the forecast data
computed based on future availability of one or more items provided
by the supplier; and automatically modify the execution criteria of
the marketing campaign based on the forecast data.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable
instructions when executed by the processor are further configured
to: responsive to receiving, from a client device, a request for an
item to be consumed in the future, determine whether the request
matches the modified execution criteria of the marketing campaign;
and responsive to the request matching the modified execution
criteria, automatically determine whether to transmit the promotion
for presentation from a plurality of promotions of marketing
campaigns whose execution criteria matches the request.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein forecast data for the supplier
is computed periodically by a forecast server and provided by the
forecast server for modifying the execution criteria.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein forecast data for the supplier
is computed responsive to an event and provided by the forecast
server for modifying the execution criteria.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the event is a booking pace not
being according to a booking projection.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the event is a set number of
reservations being canceled.
15. The system of claim 9, wherein the execution criteria includes
a set of users for whom the marketing campaign is intended, and
wherein the modification results in a change in the set of
users.
16. The system of claim 9, wherein the execution criteria includes
behaviors of users for whom the marketing campaign is intended, and
wherein the modification results in a change in the behaviors.
17. A computer program product having a computer-readable storage
medium having computer-executable instructions for executing
marketing campaigns, the computer-executable instructions when
executed by a processor configured to: receive information for a
marketing campaign associated with a supplier of items
characterized by fixed capacity and deferred consumption, the
information for the marketing campaign including a promotion for an
item of the supplier and execution criteria for executing the
marketing campaign to present the promotion via a computer network
site; receiving forecast data for the supplier, the forecast data
computed based on future availability of one or more items provided
by the supplier; and automatically modify the execution criteria of
the marketing campaign based on the forecast data.
18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the
computer-executable instructions when executed by the processor are
further configured to: responsive to receiving, from a client
device, a request for an item to be consumed in the future,
determine whether the request matches the modified execution
criteria of the marketing campaign; and responsive to the request
matching the modified execution criteria, automatically determine
whether to transmit the promotion for presentation from a plurality
of promotions of marketing campaigns whose execution criteria
matches the request.
19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the execution
criteria includes a set of users for whom the marketing campaign is
intended, and wherein the modification results in a change in the
set of users.
20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the execution
criteria includes behaviors of users for whom the marketing
campaign is intended, and wherein the modification results in a
change in the behaviors.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 11/087,469, filed on Mar. 23, 2005, which claims the benefit of
U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/642,324, filed on Jan. 7, 2005,
the entire disclosure of each is hereby incorporated by
reference.
FIELD OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0002] The present invention relates to marketing in business
contexts involving inventory that is fixed and perishable, and in
particular to dynamic, individualized marketing in such
contexts.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and other businesses
have fixed short-term inventory and low variable costs. For such
businesses, capacity utilization is a critical determinant of
economic performance. Inventory is defined by units of time
(hotels, for example, sell one-night stays for specific nights) and
is perishable (if a specific night is not sold, that inventory
cannot be recovered). Complex forecasting tools have therefore been
developed to help businesses project future demand. Based on such
projections, a hotel, for example, can raise prices when excess
demand is expected and lower prices in anticipation of surplus
capacity. In addition, a hotel can launch marketing campaigns, such
as a summer weekend specials, designed to boost sales during
low-demand periods. While these marketing efforts may increase
sales during specific periods, they have substantial
inefficiencies. First, as they are typically planned well in
advance, marketing campaigns ordinarily cannot react to actual
conditions as they evolve in the marketplace. Second, campaigns are
ordinarily broad-based by nature, targeting broad demographic
groups rather than individuals with plans or preferences directly
relevant to the campaign. Current marketing tools, in other words,
do not allow the marketer to identify consumption patterns in
advance of marketing communication.
SUMMARY
[0004] The present invention allows suppliers of goods and/or
services subject to shifts in capacity utilization to design and
implement marketing campaigns around utilization forecasts,
targeting marketing expenditures on periods of excess capacity
rather than periods without excess capacity. The invention is
especially well suited to use in conjunction with online interface
tools, such as travel sites, that specifically address the target
market. Visitors to such a site have, merely by virtue of their
visit, identified themselves as potential customers of a supplier
such as a hotel, and the information they provide in the ordinary
course of interacting with the site can be used to determine the
relevance of a promotional campaign to them. In recognition of the
fact that multiple suppliers may seek to target a particular
consumer (i.e., site visitor) the invention permits suppliers to
enter, before their promotional campaigns take effect, bids on
consumers fulfilling specified criteria. When a consumer visiting
the site is identified as fulfilling the campaign criteria of more
than one supplier, the campaign shown to the consumer is selected
based on supplier bids and, if desired, other scoring criteria as
well. If the site's policies allow more than one campaign at a time
to be advanced to the consumer, those associated with higher scores
are selected. This approach ensures that limited presentation space
is efficiently allocated and that individual marketers retain
control over campaign expenditures.
[0005] Although it should be understood that the invention has
relevance to virtually any business sensitive to utilization of
fixed capacity, and can be implemented in any suitable manner, for
explanatory purposes the ensuing discussion will focus on hotel
stays and implementation of the invention through a travel site.
Travel-related suppliers (in this case, hotel proprietors) present
their products and services (hereafter "items") via the travel
site, placing and updating pictures, descriptions and amenity
lists. Using the present invention, they can construct and manage
merchandising campaigns, using, for example, the segmentation tools
described herein to focus on specific consumers. These campaigns
can be displayed on the travel site and those of its affiliate
partners or, over time, on other sites that display the travel
site's marketing campaigns. Marketers can view and analyze the
results of their marketing efforts to determine their effectiveness
and make modifications, while the campaign itself can be directly
and unobtrusively offered to visitors via the travel site. The
campaign provides site visitors with offers of potential interest,
and fees can be charged to the campaign organizer on a "per click"
basis--i.e., a fixed amount for each marketing placement to a site
visitor satisfying the predefined campaign criteria--or any other
suitable basis. The campaign organizer may be billed, for example,
when the site visitor, responding to the marketing offer, clicks to
access the "detail page" a hotel maintains for itself within the
travel site.
[0006] The present invention allows the marketer to specify a
consumption pattern (e.g., the nights that the guest will stay in
the hotel) as campaign targeting criteria. Because a travel site
typically gathers a customer's consumption preferences (an arrival
date, a length of stay, a destination) in the course of providing
the very information a visitor seeks, a campaign implemented via
such a site begins with a targeted audience. Using the invention,
marketers can limit their campaigns to customers whose consumption
patterns--gleaned as the consumer interacts with the travel site in
the ordinary course of business--fit their projected capacity
utilization. Moreover, features of the campaign can shift as the
relevant promotional period approaches, depending, in an ongoing
manner, on the campaign's success. This facilitates tactical
responses to short-term changes in demand and marketing campaigns
that isolate periods where capacity is not fully utilized. In some
embodiments, a supplier is able to alter variables such as pricing,
consumer targeting, or even the intensity of the campaign itself on
a dynamic basis in response to changing market conditions.
Marketing efforts may, for example, simply cease when a desired
level of utilization is reached. The present invention may also
permit the supplier to tie marketing campaigns to specific market
segments or even specific individuals. The supplier may, for
example, specify criteria determining consumer eligibility for the
campaign, thereby limiting efforts to individuals fitting the
defined profile, or may segment consumers into categories (based,
for example, on individual identity and/or defined behavior
patterns) each of which is approached with different offers.
[0007] Accordingly, in a first aspect, the invention relates to
method of defining and executing a marketing campaign in connection
with a site facilitating interactive searches for items
characterized by fixed capacity and deferred consumption; site
visitors submit preference information relating to consumption and
thereby obtain information concerning availability of the items.
The method comprises receiving, from each of a plurality of
suppliers of the items, (i) a marketing campaign comprising a
promotion and execution criteria and (ii) a bid for presentation of
the marketing campaign to visitors to the site. The preference
information obtained from at least some visitors to the site is
assessed for conformance to the execution criteria, and upon
detection of a match between a visitor's preference information and
the execution criteria of more than one marketing campaign, the
visitor is offered one or more of the campaign promotions based at
least in part on the bids. For example, promotions may be selected
based on a combination of a click-through bid (reflecting how much
a supplier is willing to pay to expose a qualifying consumer to a
campaign) and a past click-through rate (which reflects the
popularity of the supplier's offerings). The execution criteria may
specify parameters corresponding to a capacity forecast, and may
vary dynamically with an actual and an updated forecast capacity.
Alternatively or in addition, the execution criteria specify
particular individuals and/or behavior or consumption patterns.
Numerous billing arrangements may be made so that the supplier pays
based on click-throughs or actual purchase of offered items. The
method may be implemented by executable instructions stored on a
computer-readable medium.
[0008] In a second aspect, the invention relates to a system for
defining and executing a marketing campaign in connection with a
site facilitating interactive searches for items characterized by
fixed capacity and deferred consumption; site visitors submit
preference information relating to consumption and thereby obtain
information concerning availability of the items. The system
comprises a database for storing entries characterizing marketing
campaigns each comprising a promotion and execution criteria,
relating each marketing campaign to a supplier of the items, and
associating with each supplier a bid for presentation of the
corresponding marketing campaign to visitors to the site. An
execution module assesses the preference information obtained from
at least some visitors to the site for conformance to the execution
criteria, and upon detection of a match between a visitor's
preference information and the execution criteria of more than one
marketing campaign, offers to the visitor one or more promotions
based at least in part on the bids.
[0009] In a third aspect, the invention relates to method of
defining and executing a marketing campaign in connection with a
site facilitating interactive searches for items characterized by
fixed capacity and deferred consumption; site visitors submit
preference information relating to consumption and thereby obtain
information concerning availability of the items. The method
comprises receiving, from each of a plurality of suppliers of the
items, a marketing campaign comprising a promotion and execution
criteria relating thereto. The execution criteria are dynamically
updated based on parameters corresponding to a capacity forecast,
and preference information obtained from at least some visitors to
the site is assessed for conformance to the updated execution
criteria. Upon detection of a match between a visitor's preference
information and the execution criteria of more than one marketing
campaign, the visitor is offered one or more promotions.
[0010] In a fourth aspect, the invention relates to a system for
defining and executing a marketing campaign in connection with a
site facilitating interactive searches for items characterized by
fixed capacity and deferred consumption; site visitors submit
preference information relating to consumption and thereby obtain
information concerning availability of the items. The system
comprises a database for storing entries characterizing marketing
campaigns each comprising a promotion and execution criteria and
relating each marketing campaign is related to a supplier of the
items. An execution module dynamically updates the execution
criteria based on parameters corresponding to a capacity forecast.
The execution module assesses the preference information obtained
from at least some visitors to the site for conformance to the
updated execution criteria, and upon detection of a match between a
visitor's preference information and the execution criteria of more
than one marketing campaign, offers to the visitor one or more
promotions.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The foregoing discussion will be understood more readily
from the following detailed description of the invention, when
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional web
server to which the present invention may be applied;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the components of an
implementation of the invention;
[0014] FIG. 3 illustrates a representative user interface by means
of which a marketer can enter campaign parameters; and
[0015] FIGS. 4-6 illustrate workflows representing operation of
certain implementations of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
1. A Representative Travel Site
[0016] Refer first to FIG. 1, which illustrates, in block-diagram
form, a server 100 implementing a travel site useful in conjunction
with the invention. (As used herein, the term "site" refers to any
interactive product, site or area, including but not limited to a
site on the World Wide Web portion of the Internet (a "website").
As indicated in the figure, the server 100 includes a network
interface 105, which enables the server 100 to interact, via a
computer network (typically the Internet), with visitors to the
site as well as suppliers (hotels, airlines, etc.) whose products
and services are featured thereon. The site manager interacts with
the server 100 by means of input/output devices 110 (a keyboard, a
mouse or other position-sensing device, etc.) and a screen display
112. The system further includes a bidirectional system bus 115,
over which the system components communicate, a non-volatile mass
storage device (such as one or more hard disks and/or optical
storage units) 120, and a main (typically volatile) system memory
125. The operation of the server 100 is directed by a
central-processing unit ("CPU") 130.
[0017] The main memory 125 contains instructions, conceptually
illustrated as a group of modules, that control the operation of
CPU 130 and its interaction with the other hardware components. An
operating system 140 directs the execution of low-level, basic
system functions such as memory allocation, file management and
operation of mass storage devices 120. At a higher level, a
web-server block 142 implementing HTTP handles requests for the web
pages that will be transmitted, via network interface 105, to site
visitors. The form and content of the web pages are determined by a
service application 144, which carries out the basic operations
that characterize interactions with site visitors. Web pages served
to a visitor may prompt action by and receive information from the
visitor; such information is transmitted back to the server 100.
Much of the information supplied by a site visitor is utilized by a
search application 146, which performs searches for the products
and/or services requested by a site visitor.
[0018] In operation, suppliers of travel-related products and
services may sign up with the proprietor of server 100 and provide
reference web pages that illustrate offering attributes--e.g., in
the case of a hotel, rooms and amenities. These are stored in mass
storage 120. When a consumer visits the site, he may specify, via
web pages served via service application 144 and web-server block
142, criteria relating to an upcoming trip--e.g., the location and
dates of his expected stay, along with price constraints. These
criteria are utilized by search application 146 to perform a
search, via the Internet, of supplier sites (and possibly travel
meta-sites) for airlines and hotels with offerings that conform to
the visitor's requirements. Search results are assembled into a web
page by service application 144. In general, the served web page
takes the form of a list, showing various offerings consistent with
the visitor's specified criteria as well as their characteristics.
In addition, for offerings provided by suppliers that have
partnership arrangements with the travel site, the served web page
may contain links to pages (stored either in devices 120 or at the
supplier's site) describing the offering in greater detail. On the
visitor side, the travel site may allow consumers to sign up as
members and, following log-in, permit posting of comments and/or
pictures onto web pages set up by (or for) suppliers. In this way,
visitors obtain a sense of participation by contributing to the
information content of the travel site, and benefit from
observations posted by others. Moreover, the sign-up process can
involve provision by a consumer of information that may be
specified by a marketer in connection with a bid as described
herein. For example, consumers signing up with the travel site may
be asked to provide generic demographic (e.g., age range, gender,
state of residence), financial and/or preference information that
may be utilized as targeting information to a marketer. A profile
including this information is created for the consumer and stored
in a database on a device 120, and this profile, along with the
constraints specified by the visitor in connection with a
particular planned trip, can be searched for matches to criteria
supplied by marketers in connection with their campaigns.
2. A Representative Implementation of the Invention
[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 implementing the invention
in the context of a travel site.
[0020] The log-in and profile server 210 corresponds, in general
architecture and function, to server 100 described above.
Similarly, the search application 215 corresponds to application
146 shown in FIG. 1. It is shown in FIG. 2 as a separate element
not only to better convey the operational flow associated with the
illustrated system, but also because it is not necessary to have
application 215 resident as a running process on server 210;
rather, search and log-in functionality can be distributed among
physical or logical servers as desired. The consumer, accessing
log-in and search functions from a client machine 217 via the
Internet, need not be aware that she is receiving web pages from
different sources; her experience is of a single interaction.
[0021] A marketing server 220 stores and manages marketing
campaigns. In general, this server (which, again, has the basic
components illustrated in FIG. 1) provides functionality to support
the definition of campaigns, their triggering or execution
criteria--i.e., the information which, when matched to that
supplied by a consumer visiting the site, causes placement of a bid
for campaign access to that consumer, and which is typically stored
along with data defining the campaign itself in database 222--as
well as accounting and reporting routines. These may be implemented
as executable programs or as application program interfaces (APIs),
which allow those accessing the server to define the
characteristics and capabilities of these functions. The marketing
server 220 also includes executable instructions defining a
placement bidding engine, which assesses bids and identifies
"winning" campaigns, and a workflow engine, which among other
things handles placement of campaigns to consumers visiting the
travel site. The consumer, in other words, furnishes search
criteria to search application 215, and log-in server 210 also
maintains information about the consumer that may be relevant to
campaign execution criteria. When the consumer executes a search
via search application 215, all of this information is made
available to marketing server 220, which searches database 222 for
campaigns having execution criteria matching the consumer's search
and/or profile information.
[0022] The profile information relevant to a marketing campaign can
take many forms. Most simply, it not used at all; a marketer may be
interested only in, for example, a consumer's dates of travel
rather than information about the consumer himself. In this case
the only parameters relevant to bidding of a campaign are the
search criteria, and the consumer's profile is not considered. More
typically, marketers target their campaigns based, at least in
part, on general demographic information. A marketer may even
target specific consumers, who can be identified by member IDs in a
loyalty program run by the marketer's company (sometimes herein
referred to as a "partner" to denote a business relationship
between the marketer's company and the travel site). In any case,
when a search is performed, log-in server 210 sends data
representative of the consumer's profile to marketing server 220,
which applies this information as appropriate along with the search
parameters to the execution criteria of campaigns stored in
database 222.
[0023] Marketers define campaigns and otherwise interact with
marketing server 220 by means of a portal application 225. This
application allows a marketer, working at a client machine 230, to
communicate securely with the host of portal application 225 in
order to define campaigns, view reports relevant to her account,
provide data (e.g., forecast data) relevant to execution of
campaigns, and supply identifiers for specific consumers to whom
she wishes to target a campaign. Again, these identifiers may be in
the form of loyalty-program member IDs, which the marketer may
obtain from a separate loyalty server 235. Once again, portal
application 225 may be implemented as a running process marketing
server 220, or may reside on a separate server. Moreover, the
functions provided by marketing server 220 and log-in server 210,
as well as the search and portal applications 215, 225, may be
implemented on a single server or multiple physical or logical
servers.
[0024] As further explained below, a marketer's company may have
sophisticated forecasting tools in place. Marketing server 220 may
be configured for direct communication with forecast servers
240.
3. Campaign Definition Management and Placement
[0025] Implementations of the present invention utilize system
functionality that differs from conventional search marketing
tools. In particular:
[0026] "Consumption Date Targeting" allows marketers to specify the
consumption dates as a campaign execution parameter. This parameter
restricts the display of the marketing campaign to those consumers
whose anticipated consumption of the service matches the marketer's
target consumption pattern. As a concrete example, a hotel marketer
may, via portal application 225, specify certain stay dates (e.g.,
weekend nights in February, March, and April) for a campaign that
offers an upgraded room at no charge. Given the "stay date"
campaign parameter, the upgraded room offer is only displayed to
consumers who plan to stay on those dates.
[0027] "Capacity Utilization Targeting" enables marketers to
integrate forecasting systems 240 as part of their campaign
creation. Supplier forecasting systems use different methods (e.g.,
extrapolation of comparison current booking trends against
historical booking trends) to estimate demand and capacity
utilization in the future. Using the present invention, marketers
write campaign targeting rules against the results of these
forecasting systems. For example, a hotel forecasting system may
predict hotel occupancy on a rolling 90-day basis. Using portal
225, a marketer may construct a campaign with the following
parameters: "pay up to $0.75 per click when occupancy is less than
60% and pay up to $0.50 per click when occupancy is less than 80%."
While this functionality is related to consumption date targeting,
it provides additional value because the occupancy forecast is
dynamic. As the hotel gathers more information about future
capacity utilization (i.e., guests make or cancel reservations),
this information, in turn, affects the execution of a marketing
campaign in accordance with user-defined rules.
[0028] "Individual Customer Targeting" permits marketers to develop
campaigns that target individual guests. As noted, marketers can
develop unique customer lists for a campaign. As an example, an
airline may comb through its frequent-flier database to identify a
list of 200 members who will be eligible for an offer of "triple
miles when booking business class." This group of travelers and
their frequent-flier numbers are uploaded to marketing server 220
and serve as a campaign parameter. As consumers navigate and use
the travel site (i.e., server 210 and search application 215), they
provide information about themselves, such as frequent-flier
numbers, through their customer profiles. The campaign is only
invoked when a consumer matching the campaign criteria is
present.
[0029] FIG. 3 illustrates a representative user interface presented
by portal application 225, and by means of which a marketer
defines, via the web, a campaign and its basic parameters. The
marketer first names the campaign ("placement name") and enters
both a maximum bid (i.e., a cost per click, or "CPC") and a maximum
monthly budget (which limits the number of monthly click-throughs
given the maximum CPC), as well as start and end dates for the
campaign. The marketer selects target hotels, which are the subject
of the illustrated campaign, from database 222; in other words,
portal application 225 accommodates marketers who represent more
than a single partner company. The marketer may also enter
placement criteria specifying characteristics of the consumers to
whom the campaign will be targeted. In the depicted screen, the
criteria that may be specified include the city to which a visitor
to the site plans to travel, and a date span, relevant to the
marketer (involving a low-utilization period), that must match the
visitor's travel plans.
[0030] Additional campaign parameters within the marketer's control
and definable via other screens provided by portal application 225
include the following:
[0031] (a) Placement Types (Ad Units)--the invention facilitates
development of marketing campaigns for defined "Placement Types." A
Placement Type defines the screen location where the promotional
campaign will be presented to the consumer following a search
(e.g., the right rail of the page showing hotel or airline flight
search results). Placement Types may specify or constrain the types
of offers, segmentation, and merchandising material associated with
them, and typically are subject to different pricing or represent a
parameter upon which marketers may bid. Representative Placement
Types include:
[0032] Search Placement--A competitively bid placement for higher
positioning in a search-result list for specific individual
products (e.g., a specific hotel property or properties).
[0033] Booking Option Placement--A placement for including a
booking agent in the direct booking options offered to
travelers.
[0034] Booking Message Placement--A placement for including a
marketing message with a booking link offered to travelers.
[0035] Opaque Placement--A placement added to a search result
screen from an "opaque" (i.e., hidden) partner that is visually
highlighted as a different class of result. It must match the
visitor's current search criteria, be a specifically priced offer,
be available for booking and provide incremental value over
comparable items in the standard search results (e.g., an offer for
a room in a four-star hotel that is cheaper than any standard
four-star result).
[0036] Sponsored Link (Side Ad) Placement--A competitively bid
placement of an advertisement as supplemental page content (e.g., a
Google-style, side-bar advertisement) that is specific to the
current search context, user profile and/or page content (keyword
matching).
[0037] Upsell Placement--A placement that associates an offering
from another, "upsell" partner, e.g., a specific, dynamic
"Air+Hotel" package with every individual flight search result (if
such a package is available from an upsell partner). Initial
integration is generally with a single upsell partner; additional
upsell partners can, however, be supported for slots not filled by
the primary partner or to rotate in as the primary upsell
partner.
[0038] Alternative Hotel Placement--A placement that allows the
marketer to identify similar hotels to the hotel that has been
selected.
[0039] Featured Supplier Placement--A placement that features
search results from a single, specific supplier or brand. The
featured results are displayed on the same page as standard hotel
results but are visually highlighted as a different class of
result.
[0040] Non-native Search Placements--A placement may be on a
third-party site or network beyond the travel site.
[0041] (b) Segmentation Criteria--The invention allows a marketer
to segment the consumer audience for purposes of defining target
classes of consumer for different campaigns. This segmentation is
possible because of the information gathered by marketing server
220 about the consumer and his or her consumption patterns prior to
selecting a marketing campaign. Segmentation criteria may
include:
[0042] Guest Stay or Travel Dates--For a hotel, this is the arrival
date and length of stay at a property. Likewise, a car rental
company is interested in the dates that the guest plans to rent the
car. For an airline, this can be the origination/destination
pair.
[0043] Forecast Occupancy/Load Factor--For partners that have built
interfaces between their forecasting system 240 and marketing
server 220, campaigns can be segmented based on forecast occupancy,
load factor, or other measures of capacity utilization. For these
campaigns, the marketer defines capacity utilization conditions
(e.g., less than 80%) when the promotion is to be available. The
marketer's server 240 then determines the availability of the
campaign at any given point in time.
[0044] Search Dates--This refers to the dates on which the guest is
conducting a search.
[0045] Star/Service Level--This refers to the service level
requested by the guest. For an airline, this may be "non-stop
flights." For a hotel, this may be "four-star hotels."
[0046] Cabin/Room Class--This refers to the level of service the
guest wishes to purchase. For an airline, this may refer to coach,
business, or first class. For a hotel purchase, a guest might
select from standard rooms and suites. For cars, a consumer might
distinguish between economy and premium cars.
[0047] Price range--This refers to the amount of money the guest
will pay for a service. A marketer may, for example, restrict a
campaign to consumers specifying a price range that exceeds the
supplier's offer price.
[0048] Number of guests/travelers
[0049] Number of rooms/seats
[0050] Proximity to a location--A campaign may be targeted to
guests who are searching for a specific location or point of
interest (e.g., the Empire State Building).
[0051] Keyword--Keywords are other descriptive attributes the guest
may use to target a campaign. Examples include beach, tennis, ski,
resort.
[0052] Unique Consumer Identifier--As previously noted, some
campaigns are targeted to a specific consumer or consumers. This
segmentation approach requires the marketer to develop a list of
target consumers and the unique identifiers for those consumers
(e.g., loyalty program number, credit card, frequent-flier number).
These consumer identifiers are then loaded into database 222. When
a campaign is invoked, marketing server 220 (via profile server
210) checks against visitor profiles to confirm whether a
particular visitor is eligible for the promotion.
[0053] (c) Campaign Collateral and Merchandising--A campaign can
include collateral and merchandising elements. These elements allow
the marketer to display a unique offer, present a more compelling
version of its product, and/or increase the prominence of its
products on the page. Typical campaign collateral elements
include:
[0054] Sort Order Control--A campaign may control the order in
which results are displayed.
[0055] Text Placement--The text message can be defined by the
parameters of the placement. For example, a text placement may be
defined as a 50-character string.
[0056] Banner Placement--The campaign may include a banner
advertisement or other related placement. This can be defined by a
number of pixels, based on the space constraints of the page.
[0057] Graphics and Images--The campaign may include other logos,
graphics or images. Again, these images can be defined in terms of
placement dimensions.
[0058] Unique Offer Capability--A campaign may allow a marketer to
include a unique offer as part of the campaign. The marketer can,
for example, provide a link to a landing page, a promotion access
code, a "rate access code," a "room type designator," or other
indicator to ensure availability and fulfillment of the offer or
service associated with this campaign.
[0059] External Ad Sales Integration--A placement can integrate
advertising from other search marketing companies. For example, the
invention can include offers from an outside search engine in the
results generated by search application 215.
[0060] (d) Campaign Sort Order--A key element of many campaigns is
the "sort order" of results. The marketing server 220 manages
scarce resources (the limited number of available search
placements) against marketer interest (the marketers competing for
those placements). To manage this conflict, server 220, in one
embodiment, utilizes the following methodology:
[0061] The positional rank of a competitively bid placement is a
function of the placement's "click-through bid" and its
effectiveness (the "click-through rate"). The click-through bid is
the amount a particular marketer is willing to pay for prominent
placement of a link; this amount is compared against other
marketers' bids in an auction format as explained below, with
higher bids being awarded more prominent or desirable positions.
The click-through rate reflects the rate at which site visitors
actually click on the link to consider the marketer's promotion.
This formula rewards suppliers who submit compelling promotional
placements and displays to travelers the placements that are most
likely to be of interest to them, while limiting consumer exposure
to campaigns associated with unpopular suppliers.
[0062] For competitively bid placements, the actual cost for a
click is the amount necessary to attain the highest position
relative to other bidders without exceeding the supplier's maximum
CPC bid. When the actual cost is not driven by a competing bid,
then a minimum percentage of the CPC bid is used.
[0063] (e) Budgeting/Payment--Marketers are provided with the
ability to control their bids and pay for their expenditures.
Budgeting tools associated offered via portal application 225
desirably include:
[0064] A tool to allow budget parameters to be established for a
marketing campaign. These include a maximum marketer-specified CPC
and a maximum marketer-specified overall campaign monthly
budget.
[0065] An advanced budgeting tool that allows hotels to vary their
maximum CPC for different stay dates within a single defined
campaign. This tool allows the marketer to enter different CPCs for
each day of the campaign. On the advanced budgeting tool, the
marketer is able to see the estimated click-through for each day of
the campaign (using the maximum allowed CPC for that day).
[0066] A campaign will be invoked (and the marketer's account
charged) every time a consumer clicks on a hotel link when the sort
order has been affected by the campaign criteria. But if a site
visitor re-sorts the results (e.g., by sorting the results by price
or proximity to a point of interest) and clicks on a hotel link
with an associated campaign, the campaign will not be charged.
[0067] An optional monthly spend limit can be set for a
placement.
[0068] The invention supports a variety of billing models. For the
purpose of competitively bid placements, all of these billing
models are converted into CPCs using past performance as an
assumption:
[0069] Cost Per Click (CPC)--This is the primary pricing model in
which click-throughs on the buyer's booking link are immediately
billable.
[0070] Cost Per Booking (CPB)--In this pricing model, clicks that
result in completed reservations are recorded as conversions and
are billable after the booking has been completed. The CPB rate can
be either a flat price per booking or a percentage of the booking
revenue or a percentage of revenue with a cap (e.g., 10% up to
$20).
[0071] Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)--In this pricing model, only
clicks that result in consumed reservations are billable but only
after the traveler uses the reserved product. The CPA rate can be
either a flat price or a percentage of the consumed revenue or a
percentage of revenue with a cap (e.g., 10% up to $20).
[0072] (f) Campaign Management Features/Metrics and
Reporting--Portal application 225 provides marketers with some or
all of the following capabilities and information on the impact of
their campaigns:
[0073] Placements may be temporarily deactivated (paused) by
marketers with sufficient access rights.
[0074] Placements may be temporarily deactivated (suspended) by an
administrator for payment or editorial problems.
[0075] Placements may be permanently deactivated (retired) by
marketers with sufficient access rights.
[0076] Basic Metrics include:
[0077] Estimated average ranking--provides the marketer with the
average rank of a campaign against the other campaigns that include
the same criteria. For campaigns in which the marketer has selected
a limited number of dates, the basic estimated average ranking will
take the ranking over the stay days requested by the marketer.
[0078] Estimated monthly search volume--provides the marketer with
the estimated number of searches that will be generated over the
next month for the location that has been selected (e.g., there
will be 1000 searches for New York in January). This number is
typically based on average search volume for the trailing three
months times the growth rate for the trailing 45 days.
[0079] Estimated monthly clicks--provides the marketer with the
number of clicks he can expect from his campaign. To generate this
number, the share of clicks associated with each average ranking is
tracked. "Monthly clicks" is the estimated market share times the
estimated monthly search volume times the estimated click-through
from the hotel details page to the hotel page.
[0080] Estimated monthly cost--the number of clicks from the search
results to the hotel details page times the estimated average cost.
This may be based on the average cost per day times the click
volume per day, rather than on the maximum CPC for the campaign
times the total clicks per month.
[0081] Estimated missed clicks--the estimated number of clicks
missed because the campaign's budget limit was reached prior to the
end of the budget period.
[0082] Number of impressions for each placement per budget month
(which can be rolled up to the placement's campaign or to the
account level).
[0083] Number of clicks for each placement per budget month.
[0084] Number of conversions (bookings) for each CPB placement per
budget month.
[0085] Details for each click including date, time, IP address,
affiliate information and any other information necessary or useful
to measure the effectiveness of the placement.
[0086] Details for each conversion recorded including time, date,
IP address, booking price, affiliate information and any other
information necessary or useful to measure the effectiveness of the
CPB placement.
[0087] Advanced metrics may provide the marketer with the estimated
number of clicks for each day of the campaign. The marketer can
then include a conversion rate to estimate the number of
reservations it will receive from the campaign.
[0088] Campaign planning tools allow marketers to specify a number
of clicks or reservations required for a given day (and marketing
server 220 will suggest a price that achieves this goal), and to
specify a date range and a budget parameter, in which case
marketing server 220 identifies the lowest cost days for this
campaign.
[0089] Emails and messages tell the marketer she is running out of
budget, that she has been outbid, and that she is missing
demand:
[0090] Weekly budget status email covering all of the marketer's
campaigns and placements.
[0091] An optional alert email to the marketer if/when a placement
spends 50% of its budget "ahead of schedule."
[0092] An optional alert email to the marketer if/when a placement
spends 90% of its budget "ahead of schedule."
[0093] An optional alert email to the marketer if/when a placement
spends 100% of its budget "ahead of schedule."
[0094] An optional email alert when a campaign has been outbid.
[0095] An optional email alert when a campaign's average placement
has fallen below a target specified by the marketer (e.g., alert me
if my average campaign placement falls below 1.5).
[0096] An optional email alert when CPC traffic is below some cost
specified by the marketer (e.g., tell me what parameters are less
than $0.50 CPC)
4. Operational Workflows
[0097] FIGS. 4-6 illustrate typical operational sequences of a
representative implementation of the invention. FIG. 4 shows how a
marketer, using a workstation communicating with a marketing server
in accordance with the invention, develops and causes execution of
a marketing campaign. In step 410, the marketer logs into the
marketing server, which recognizes the marketer's password or other
authentication parameters and retrieves her profile (step 412).
Based on this profile, the marketing server determines the
functions that should be made available to the marketer (step 414),
sending a selection screen that presents the marketer with a set of
options (e.g., manage account, create campaign, edit active
campaigns, view reports). In this example, the marketer selects the
"create campaign" option (step 416). The marketing server receives
this selection and, in response, generates HTML markup instructions
corresponding to a placement screen (such as that shown in FIG. 3).
These markup instructions are transmitted to and displayed on the
marketer's workstation. The marketer interacts with the displayed
page (in practice, a typical interaction will likely involve more
than one displayed page) to establish campaign parameters (step
420). The campaign parameters may include campaign name, maximum
CPC, monthly budget, start date, end date, target hotel(s), and
dates of interest. By selecting dates, the marketer is requiring
prospective guests searches to include these dates. Other campaign
types (e.g., a side-rail or booking message campaign) require
additional parameters such as placement type (side-rail, booking
message, etc.), product type (air, car, hotel, etc.), whether
campaign text is to be displayed when the campaign is invoked,
campaign collateral (images, banner ads, or logos) that will be
displayed when the campaign is invoked, and search-related keywords
representing other descriptive attributes that the marketer may
wish to target (e.g., if a site visitor enters the term "beach" or
"luxury").
[0098] The marketing server captures these parameters (step 422)
and computes placement performance estimates (step 424). These may
include estimated average rank for this campaign (based on the
cost/click for this campaign as compared to all other campaigns
active at the same time), estimated monthly search volume (the
number of searches in which the campaign might be invoked, based on
an extrapolation of growth rates and past campaign performance),
and estimated monthly clicks (based on the average rank, the number
of searches, and the share of searches that go to each rank). In
step 426 the user receives these estimates and confirms the
campaign parameters; alternatively, the marketer may alter them to
repeat steps 420-424 in order to improve the estimates. Upon the
marketer's confirmation, the marketing server begins executing the
campaign.
[0099] As explained above, the campaign criteria are business rules
and may be based on the output of a forecasting system, which the
supplier uses to estimate capacity utilization in the future.
Generally, these are proprietary tools that are managed and
optimized by the supplier. As shown in FIG. 5, the forecast server
may compute revised projections (step 510) either periodically or
in response to events (such as a booking pace that exceeds
projections, or cancellations of existing reservations). On a
schedule 512 agreed upon by the marketer and the proprietor of the
marketing server, the revised projections are passed to the
marketing server, which updates campaign parameters (step 514) in
accordance with previously agreed-upon business rules associated
with the campaign. This approach provides a dynamic feedback loop
for the supplier, adjusting the intensity of the campaign in
response to its own success and that of other marketing
activity.
[0100] In some implementations of this approach, additional
information from the forecasting system, e.g., the forecast number
of reservations for each arrival date and length of stay, is
provided. This information is relevant for hotels because managing
length of stay allows hotels to manage occupancy by restricting
stays from guests who are only interested one-night visits and
taking guests with longer stays (that also cover low-occupancy
nights). In this alternative, the marketer can add a parameter that
restricts the campaign to multiple-night reservations that include
the low-occupancy nights.
[0101] In some implementations, the campaign criteria include a
loyalty program number for the individual guest. Many marketers
have extensive customer databases that identify individual
customers through a unique identifier (e.g., a frequent-flier
number). It is expected that the marketer will mine its customer
database to identify target customers for a given campaign. The
marketing server provides an interface that allows the marketer to
upload a list of loyalty program numbers as a campaign criteria
element (FIG. 4, step 420). For these campaigns, the consumer must
be logged in, and his or her customer profile must include the
appropriate loyalty program number for the campaign to be
invoked.
[0102] In some implementations, the marketer creates a campaign
that includes a unique merchandising offer or some communication to
the target audience. In addition to establishing the campaign
parameters (FIG. 4, step 420), the marketer also enters the
creative and merchandising elements of the campaign. This can
include loading images, logos, or text, establishing links to a
landing page, embedding an offer identifier in the search
parameter, or involve other campaign elements that communicate the
offer to the guest and ensure that the offer can be purchased and
fulfilled.
[0103] FIG. 6 illustrates a generalized workflow depicting
interaction with a consumer. With reference to FIG. 6 and also to
FIGS. 1 and 2, the consumer first logs into server 210 (step 610).
The search application 215, which is in communication with or
running on the server 210, receives the consumer's parameters (step
613). These may include, for example, the city to which the
consumer plans to travel, the arrival and departure dates, the
number of guests travelling, and the number of rooms required. The
consumer's search may include other parameters, such as a hotel
descriptor (e.g., beach), a service level (e.g., four-star), or a
proximity to point of interest (e.g., within four miles of Empire
State Building). Any of these may be relevant to execution of a
campaign.
[0104] The search application sends these parameters to the
marketing server 220 and also specifies the number of placements
available on the page that will eventually be sent to the consumer
with search results. The search application thereupon performs a
search for supplier offerings consistent with the consumer's
parameters (step 616). The marketing server utilizes the parameters
to search the campaign database 222 (step 619) for campaigns having
execution criteria matching the parameters. If more than one
campaign is identified, the campaigns are ranked (step 622) in
terms of position and also placement, and the top-ranked
campaign(s) selected (step 625). As explained above, positional
ranking can be based on parameters other than or in addition to the
click-through bid. To maintain credibility with site visitors and
offer them campaigns in which they are likely to have interest, the
ranking algorithm may also consider the popularity of the
supplier's offerings as measured, for example, by the click-through
rate. The number of selected campaigns corresponds to the number of
available placements communicated by the search application. Data
representing these campaigns, along with data indicating their
respective page placements (based on the originators' placement
requests and bids), are communicated to the search application.
[0105] As a result of its search, the search application
accumulates supplier information responsive to the consumer's
parameters, and assembles these, along with the campaign data
provided by the marketing server, into a web page (step 628) to be
transmitted to the consumer's computer via the Internet. (Here,
search application 215 is presumed to contain functionality
corresponding to service application 144 and web-server block 142;
see FIG. 1.) The assembled web page contains the selected
promotional campaigns, arranged in accordance with their respective
placement assignments, and is displayed (step 631) on the
consumer's computer. If a user selects a campaign (step 634), the
search application reports the placement to the marketing server
(step 637), which records it for billing purposes (step 640). The
search application either provides the requested information or
redirects the consumer to a site through which he can take
advantage of the promotion (step 643). If the user decides to
purchase the offering (step 646), this may also be recorded
depending on how the marketer is to be billed (e.g., by CPA or
CPB).
[0106] It will therefore be seen that the foregoing represents a
highly extensible and flexible approach to improving capacity
utilization through individualized marketing campaigns. The terms
and expressions employed herein are used as terms of description
and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of
such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the
features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is
recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope
of the invention claimed. For example, the various modules of the
invention can be implemented on a general-purpose computer using
appropriate software instructions, or as hardware circuits, or as
mixed hardware-software combinations. Moreover, although the
above-listed text and drawings contain titles and sub-headings, it
is to be understood that these title and sub-headings do not, and
are not intended to limit the present invention, but rather, they
serve merely as titles and headings of convenience.
* * * * *