WO2001029716A2

WO2001029716A2 - System for implementing an interactive advertising campaign

Info

Publication number: WO2001029716A2
Application number: PCT/CA2000/001250
Authority: WO
Inventors: Robert John Westrope
Original assignee: Centrsource Corp
Priority date: 1999-10-21
Filing date: 2000-10-23
Publication date: 2001-04-26
Also published as: AU1013401A; AU1013301A; WO2001029716A3; WO2001029689A2; WO2001029689A3

Abstract

A system for generating and managing an interactive advertising campaign linking advertisements in conventional media outlets (e.g., radio, television, billboards, etc.) with an online transaction site. The system includes a user interface that allows a user to design an advertising campaign and that generates docket templates and dockets that include details about the advertising campaign content, the media outlets selected to carry advertisements in the campaign, and the timing and frequency of the advertisements. In one embodiment, the system also includes an interface for generating consumer response options to allow consumers to respond directly to a selected advertisement in the campaign.

Description

SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING AN INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING

CAMPAIGN

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U S Provisional Application No 60/160,817, filed October 21, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of advertising, and more particularly to the field of designing and managing advertising content in an interactive advertising and request fulfillment model

BACKGROUND ART Advertisements are extensively used by companies to inform consumers of new products and services To spark consumer interest, advertisers may design a promotional campaign that uses several media outlets, such as radio, newspaper, and television, and may also include promotional offers, such as samples and coupons Ideally, the promotional campaign will reach a large number of people to ensure a large number of leads and sales

A widely-distributed advertising campaign does have several problems, however A primary concern is cost, creating a promotional campaign that attempts to reach a large national audience will necessarily cost more than a campaign designed to reach a smaller, more regional audience Advertisers must balance the costs of broad exposure with the potential increase in sales from the additional exposure Efficiency is another concern because widely-distributed advertisements necessarily reach a large number of uninterested people, making the number of sales and responses to the advertisement relatively low compared to the number of people that the advertisement reached Further, current advertising models make it difficult, if not impossible, for advertisers to track accurately the effectiveness of a specific advertisement because there is no way to link a particular sale or response with a consumer's exposure particular advertisement There is a need for a system that provides more targeted, efficient marketing of goods and services and that facilities consumer response to specific advertisements There is also a need for a system that provides advertisers with a way to track the effectiveness of an advertising campaign and pinpoint which promotions leads and sales There is also a need for a system that links advertisers, advertising agencies, and media outlets together in the design, planning, and execution of advertising campaigns

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a system for generating an interactive response fulfillment campaign that links advertisements in conventional media channels (e g , billboards, print, television, radio, packaging, etc ) with electronic advertising content on, for example, the Internet, wireless systems, or other interactive systems A system according to the present invention includes a user interface that allows a creator (e g an advertiser, advertising agency, or media licensee) to design and manage the interactive advertising campaign, a database that stores advertising data entered by the user through the user interface, and a processor that organizes the entered data to create a response fulfillment campaign, a docket template, and a docket The user interface may include separate interfaces for the response fulfillment campaign and docket template to generate a campaign docket having interfacing capabilities One embodiment of the inventive system includes an interface for generating electronic response box options associated with the advertisement to allow a consumer to respond directly to a corresponding interactive advertisement Also, the system may include interfaces that allow a user to update, change, or otherwise manage the advertising data in a response fulfillment campaign or any of its associated docket templates or dockets In one embodiment, any changes at the response fulfillment campaign level or at the docket template level will automatically be reflected in dockets corresponding to the changed response fulfillment campaign or docket template In another embodiment, independent dockets can be generated without first creating a response fulfillment campaign and docket template This embodiment may be used by, for example, media licensees who are advertising their own products or products of advertisers dealing directly with the media licensee rather than going through an advertising agency As a result, the inventive system facilitates creation of an interactive advertising campaign that provides a direct link between an advertisement and a consumer without requiring any intermediary steps (e.g. going to a retail outlet).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a process flow diagram illustrating the relationship between interfaces and data in the inventive system;

Figures 2A through 2E illustrate one example of a response fulfillment campaign interface according to the present invention; Figures 3 A through 3E illustrate one example of a docket template interface according to the present invention;

Figures 4 A through 4C illustrate one example of a docket having interfacing capabilities according to the present invention;

Figures 5 A and 5B are examples of a campaign summary and campaign calendar, respectively, according to the present invention;

Figures 6 A and 6B are examples of docket summaries according to the present invention;

Figure 7 is a chart illustrating action options for interfacing with an existing response fulfillment campaign; Figure 8 is chart illustrating action options for interfacing with an existing docket template;

Figure 9 is a chart illustrating action options for interfacing with an existing campaign docket; and

Figure 10 is a chart illustrating action options for interfacing with an existing independent docket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The inventive system is designed to provide the tools for allowing advertisers and advertising agencies to develop an interactive advertising campaign (a campaign that links advertisements distributed through traditional media outlets with interactive advertisements via a navigational utility), and select one or more media outlets to participate in the inventive application. One type of navigational utility that can be used with promotions designed through the inventive system is described in commonly assigned, co-pending application U S Application Serial No to Westrope entitled

"Navigational Utility for Interactive Advertisement Fulfillment" (Attorney Docket No 65626-0002), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety To design the advertising campaign itself, the inventive system includes interfaces for designing a response fulfillment campaign that allows consumers to respond directly to an advertisement through response options provided in a corresponding interactive advertisement To monitor the response fulfillment campaigns for any given media licensee, the invention can generate or modify a campaign docket for each media licensee, request/obtain docket confirmation for each media licensee, and print a summary of the campaign details to track the response fulfillment campaign Additional details regarding the manner in which the inventive system facilitates the direct response capabilities of an advertising campaign will be described in greater detail below

Figure 1 is a process flow diagram illustrating the relationship between user interface components of a system 100 for generating an interactive advertising campaign More particularly, the system 100 provides an interface, such as a graphic user interface via a computer, associated with components in a response fulfillment campaign 102 to allow a user to enter, view and organize response fulfillment campaign data In one embodiment, the system provides a response fulfillment campaign interface 102, a docket template interface 104, and a campaign docket 106 having interfacing capabilities (which will also be referred to herein as "interfacing campaign dockets") As can be seen in the Figure, a response fulfillment campaign 102 can have multiple associated docket templates 104 Further, each docket template 104 can have multiple associated interfacing campaign dockets 106 Generally, the data entered in the response fulfillment campaign interface 102 details the nature of the product or service being advertised the phases and timing (i e , staging) of the advertising campaign, and the media licensees that will be participating in the advertising campaign The term "media licensees" is used herein to refer to a media outlet that has entered into a contractual relationship with a provider of the interactive system 100 In one embodiment, an advertiser, an advertising agency or media licensee (collectively referred to herein as "creators") may attach an identifying visual or audio sound logo to the advertisement to identify the advertisement as one having a corresponding interactive advertisement accessible through a navigational utility portal, such as the portal described in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. Patent Application

Serial No. (Attorney Docket No. 65626-0002), the disclosure of which incorporated herein by reference. The docket template 104 for any given response fulfillment campaign 102 links an advertisement and its response options with its associated media licensees. The docket templates 104 also include more detailed information about the response fulfillment campaign, including the creative content of the advertisement, selected electronic response box options along with any descriptive text, and a list of the specific media licensees that will be carrying a particular advertisement. Note that different docket templates may be required if the response fulfillment campaign uses different creative content for different advertisements (e.g., different media outlets having different creative requirements) or if the response options offered are different for different media licensees participating in the same response fulfillment campaign. The system generates interfacing campaign dockets 106 that include all of the response fulfillment campaign information and docket template information entered through their respective dockets. The interfacing campaign dockets 106 allow the creator to fine-tune information, such as the advertisement duration and number of events (e.g., advertisement frequency, placement, etc.). The docket also can act as a communications tool that can be edited by the advertiser, advertising agency, and media licensee for confirmation, modification, or rejection of a particular interactive advertisement. In one embodiment, all parties involved in designing and executing the response fulfillment campaign (i.e., advertiser, advertising agency, media licensee) are notified of any changes, updates, or cancellations or any other status changes, thereby using the campaign docket as a communications tool between the parties involved in designing the response fulfillment campaign.

Figures 2A through 2E illustrate one particular manner in which the inventive system assists in developing an interactive advertising campaign that links conventional media outlets with an interactive system. In the inventive system, the response fulfillment campaign moves through a series of stages during its lifecycle: a "planning" phase, during which the advertising campaign is being planned and constructed; a "pending confirmation" phase, during which the advertiser and/or advertising agency is awaiting acceptance of the response fulfillment campaign from the media licensee, an "active" phase, which begins after at least one media licensee accepts a given response fulfillment campaign, a "live" phase, which begins when the first interactive advertisement is available for consumer interaction, and an "expired" phase, which occurs when the end-date of the campaign is reached The response fulfillment campaign status can also be designated "cancelled" if the owner chooses to end a response fulfillment campaign before it reaches its pre-selected response fulfillment campaign end date Note that the figures are meant to be illustrative only and are not meant to limit the manner in which the system is implemented Also, although the example described below provides an example where a consumer interacts with an advertisement via a computer, the inventive system can also use other electronic devices such as wireless, WebTV ™, telephones and bar coding devices to provide the interactive link Of course, the system can also provide multi-lingual options to reach a larger number of consumers

Figures 2 A through 2D are screen shots of a possible response fulfillment campaign interface 102 in the inventive system When a creator, such as an advertiser or advertising agency, generates a new response fulfillment campaign, the system 100 may automatically generate a response campaign identification code that uniquely identifies a particular response fulfillment campaign 10 The response fulfillment campaign interface provides fields 202 to allow the creator to enter specific details about the response fulfillment campaign into the system for storage in a system database These details may include information about the advertiser and/or advertising agency designing the response fulfillment campaign, the response fulfillment campaign name 208 (to allow the campaign creator to locate the campaign information easily in the system database), the advertiser's name 210, the name of the advertisement 212, the brand name 214, product category 216, product type, the product class 220 (e g , high, medium, or low), the product value/price 222, the geographic coverage of the campaign 204, and the start and end dates/times of the campaign 224 The system may also provide fields where the owner can input additional information about the response fulfillment campaign 102, including owner-defined fields for additional customization The choices for selected fields 200, such as the geographic coverage field can be provided in the form of pull-down menus, if desired

Once the response fulfillment campaign details have been input by the creator via the response fulfillment campaign interface 102, the interface 102 includes an interactive portion 226 that allows the creator to select media licensees The information selected or entered by the creator acts as filtering criteria for selecting media licensees that meet the owner's target market Possible fields (not shown) include geographic coverage (e.g , international, national, regional, local), the type of media licensee (e.g., newspaper, magazine, radio, etc.), category, format, target audience, and the media licensee's name (to allow the owner to select a specific known media licensee quickly) As the owner enters filtering criteria into the system 100 via the response fulfillment campaign interface 102, the system 100 provides a list of potential media licensees meeting the chosen criteria The media licensee list preferably contains information, such as the name, category, format and target audience, that would help the creator select an appropriate media outlet. In a preferred embodiment, the response fulfillment campaign interface 102 includes an option for viewing details about any media licensee on the generated list Once the creator selects a media licensee, that media licensee is placed on a "selected media licensee list" in the response fulfillment campaign At this point, the creator may choose to reset the filtering criteria and select additional media licensees until the owner's selected media licensee list is complete

Next, the response fulfillment campaign interface 102 provides the creator with the option to select electronic response box options for the response fulfillment campaign, as shown in Figure 2C When implemented, the electronic response box allows a consumer to respond directly to a particular advertisement via a navigational utility Further, the electronic response box feature of the inventive system allows the creator to track the effectiveness of a response fulfillment campaign because the electronic response box indicates a response to a specific advertisement The specific electronic response box options that are provided by the response fulfillment campaign interface 102 and that can be offered by the creator to the consumer include sending information about the advertised product/service by mail, offering product information and/or a coupon that can be downloaded and printed, sending a product sample, placing the consumer on a mailing list, and contacting the consumer via phone or e-mail and purchasing the advertised product/service For each of these options, the creator can select the maximum number of requests allowed per consumer as well as for the entire response fulfillment campaign and any other information that helps the creator fulfill consumer responses to a particular advertisement Once the creator has designed the details of the response fulfillment campaign via the system's campaign interface 102, such as the one shown in Figures 2 A through 2C, the system proceeds to estimate the cost of the campaign based on the data entered through the response fulfillment campaign interface Figure 2D is an example of selected electronic response boxes with their associated cost structure Note that in one embodiment, the amount actually billed to the media licensee may be less than the amount generated by the system, depending on the contract terms with the media licensee The system 100 automatically calculates the unit price for each electronic response box option, the estimated maximum price for each electronic response option and estimated total response fulfillment campaign cost (if the creator has specified a maximum number of requests), and, if appropriate, a foreign exchange rate to be used in the response fulfillment campaign In a preferred embodiment, the media licensee carrying the advertisement is billed only when a consumer responds to an interactive advertisement by selecting an electronic response box option After all of the response fulfillment campaign information has been entered into the system via the campaign interface, the system proceeds to a docket template interface 104 so that the creator can create a docket template, which groups general response fulfillment campaign information with specific advertisement content, layout, and electronic response box option/content information for one or more selected media licensees An example of a docket template interface is shown in Figures 3 A through 3E Generally, the docket template interface 104 is template-driven to allow a creator to add interactive capability advertisements with little effort In one embodiment, the docket template interface 104 allows the creator to select a docket template name 300, electronic response box options 302, media licensees 304, advertising content (including selecting from a list of standard layout options) 306, and to attach image and/or text files 308 to be displayed to the user Note that there may be multiple docket templates 104 per response fulfillment campaign, particularly if different media outlets (e.g., radio and print) are used for promoting the same product or service. Each docket template includes the campaign information entered by the creator via the response fulfillment campaign interfaces 102 shown in Figures 2A through 2C

The docket template interface 104 includes a field that allows the creator to enter a descriptive name for the docket template 300 to make it easier to differentiate and locate the docket template from a list The docket template interface 104 also includes presentation layout templates 308 from which the creator can select The presentation layout templates 308 determine the layout of the electronic response boxes and the advertisements when they are displayed to the consumer The creator provides the creative content for the advertisement and may choose to attach an image, audio, and/or text file containing the creative content to the presentation layout template 308 The attached file or files can be in any format that the inventive system can accept The docket template interface 104 may also include a field where the owner can insert formatted text to appear in the advertisement This template-driven presentation layout ensures some degree of uniformity in the advertisements presented to the consumer via the navigational utility so that a consumer can locate relevant content and respond to the advertisement with little effort and consequently little frustration, enhancing the consumer experience Further, the presentation layout templates allow the creator to design multiple interactive advertisements quickly and efficiently Once the user selects the presentation layout, the docket template interface 104 provides the owner with the option to select specific electronic response box options for the docket template from the electronic response box options selected in the response fulfillment campaign interface 102 At this step, the docket template interface 104 presents the creator with the list of electronic response box options that were originally selected through the response fulfillment campaign interface 102 Using the docket template interface 104, the creator selects one or more electronic response box options that are appropriate for the specific docket template For each electronic response box option, the docket template interface 104 may also include a corresponding descriptive text field for the creator to enter text to be displayed to the consumer to help the consumer select an appropπate response option The descriptive text field also provides the creator with the opportunity to add promotional content and encourage the consumer to select a response option before leaving the interactive advertisement

Once the creator has completed the fields in the docket template interface 104, the owner selects one or more media licensees to be associated with the specific docket template from the oπginal media licensee list generated via the response fulfillment campaign interface to complete the docket template Once the docket template is completed, the docket template interface 104 provides an option to allow the creator to preview the advertisement as it will appear to the consumer

After the docket template is completed, the system 100 automatically generates a campaign docket 104 with interfacing capabilities for each media licensee selected in the docket template as at least one docket template is required per response fulfillment campaign to generate the campaign docket 106 The inventive system provides a campaign docket only when the campaign status is "planning", "pending confirmation", "active" (I e , before any advertisements are made public) or "live " Before generating a campaign docket, the system 100 confirms that the owner has selected a presentation layout, at least one electronic response box option, and at least one media licensee The system 100 also confirms that that the electronic response box content has been provided by the creator Once all of the above validations have been confirmed, the system 100 creates one campaign docket for each selected media licensee Each campaign docket 106 preferably is assigned a unique docket locator number by the system 100, which can be used as the locator code that would be entered by the consumer via the above referenced navigational utility portal

An example of such a campaign docket 106 having interfacing capabilities is shown in Figures 4 A through 4C As can be seen in the Figures, the campaign docket 106 includes all of the information entered m the campaign docket 106 and the docket template interface 104 The campaign docket 106 also includes editable fields to change the frequency 400, placement and insertion of the advertisement in the selected media outlet as well as fields where the campaign docket start/end dates and times can be adjusted 402 In one embodiment, the default docket start/end dates and times are the same as the response campaign start/end dates and times If the docket start/end dates and times are modified by the creator, the system 100 verifies that the new docket start/end dates and times are within the time window set by the campaign start/end dates and times

The inventive system allows the creator to customize selected fields in the docket when the response fulfillment campaign in the "planning" stage The campaign docket fields that are editable by the owner preferably include the campaign docket start and end dates/times 402 and the number of occurrences that the advertisement will appear through a given media licensee 400 At this stage, the campaign docket 106 can be viewed by the advertiser (e.g. advertising agency) and the media licensee to which the campaign docket 106 has been assigned.

Once the creator has completed developing the response fulfillment campaign, the docket template(s) and the campaign docket(s), the system 100 preferably conducts a validation process. More particularly, the system 100 validates that the creator has filled in all of the required fields for developing the response fulfillment campaign, that all of the required fields for each electronic response box option have been filled in, that at least one media licensee has been selected, that at least one docket template has been created, and that a campaign docket has been created for each selected media licensee. If the system 100 detects any incomplete fields, the creator is notified that there are mandatory fields still requiring input and requests input from the creator until all of the required fields are completed. Once all of the fields in the campaign interface, docket template interface(s), and campaign dockets are completed, the system 100 contacts the selected media licenses with a request for confirmation via electronic mail and after the dockets have been sent to the respective media licensees, the status of the campaign is changed from "planning" to "pending confirmation", indicating that the owners are awaiting approval of the docket by at least one media licensee.

Figures 5 A and 5B illustrate examples of campaign summaries generated by the inventive system after all of the fields in all of the interfaces 102,104 have been completed by the creator to design the response fulfillment campaign. In the campaign summary, the creator can view the status 500 of all response fulfillment campaigns 502 for its company. The campaigns are preferably sorted by status and then in reverse chronological order by creation date. Once a response fulfillment campaign has been created, the campaign summary generated by the system preferably is interactive to allow the creator to update, cancel, delete, copy, expire, or retire a campaign, depending on the status of the response fulfillment campaign. The system may also generate an interactive campaign calendar, an example of which is shown in Figure 5B, to allow an owner to view the dates at which various response fulfillment campaigns will be running.

Figures 6A and 6B are examples of possible campaign docket summaries that can also be generated by the inventive system; Figure 6A is a campaign docket summary shown in calendar form, while Figure 6B shows a campaign docket summary that lists the dockets grouped by status. For the creator, the campaign docket summaries provide an overall view of all of its specific advertisements, their status, and the dates duπng which they will be running For the media licensee, who has access only to campaign dockets to which it is specifically assigned and its own independent dockets (which will be explained below), the docket summaries allow the media licensee to monitor the status of its own dockets as the creators design and modify their response fulfillment campaigns

The actions available to the creator for updating any portion of the response fulfillment campaign (1 e , campaign, docket template, or docket) 700 via the above- described interfaces depend on the campaign status, docket status, and the party conducting the modification Duπng the "planning" phase 702, the creator can modify the response fulfillment campaign as desired if no campaign dockets have been created If campaign dockets have been created, the system will allow the creator to change the docket dates, product information (I e , category, type, class, cost), or to add or remove a media licensee If any of these changes are made, the system automatically updates the campaign docket and docket template to reflect the changes As noted above, the system checks any changes to the docket dates to make sure that the new docket dates fall between the start and end dates of the campaign

If the response fulfillment campaign is at a "pending confirmation" phase 704, indicating that the dockets have been created with notification sent to all of the media licensees, the creator can still change the campaign dates, product information, electronic response box options, docket template, creative content, or media licensees during this stage If the campaign dates, docket template, or selected media licensees change, the system notifies the media licensees affected by the change Any changes in the response fulfillment campaign or in the docket template are preferably propagated automatically downward to all affected dockets If the campaign is at an "active" phase 706, indicating that one or more media licensees have accepted a campaign docket in a given response fulfillment campaign, any changes in the campaign dates may change the docket status back to "pending", and the system will request the media licensees for confirmations of the new campaign dates If the creator adds a media licensee, the system generates a new campaign docket and requests confirmation from the new media licensee If the creator removes a media licensee from a campaign and if that media licensee had an active campaign docket, however, the system removes the campaign docket for that media licensee and notifies the affected media licensee about the removal

Once the interactive advertisement is made available to consumers, the campaign status is considered "live" 708 During this time, both the media licensee and the advertiser/advertising agency can choose to change the docket end date, note that if the advertiser or advertising agency changes the date, the system notifies the media licensee for reconfirmation of the change

The creator also has the option to cancel, delete, or copy the response fulfillment campaign The option to cancel the response fulfillment campaign is available only when the response fulfillment campaign is at a "planning" or "pending confirmation" 704 phase If the creator chooses to cancel a response fulfillment campaign, the system will change the status of the campaign and the status of all of the campaign dockets to "cancelled" and then notify all affected media licensees about the cancellation If the owner chooses to delete a response fulfillment campaign altogether, the campaign itself, all docket templates, and all dockets corresponding to the response fulfillment campaign are removed from the system and the affected media licensees are notified of the deletion To ensure that there is a record of the activity, the system preferably notes the username of the party requesting the deletion and the time and date the request occurred

The option to copy an existing campaign is available to the creator regardless of the response fulfillment campaign status, except in the case of a deleted campaign This option allows the owner to create a new response fulfillment campaign by copying an existing response fulfillment campaign and assigning a new campaign identification number to the copy The system also copies all docket templates associated with the original response fulfillment campaign into the new response fulfillment campaign, leaving the creator only with the task of changing the campaign and docket dates

If the campaign status is "active" 706 or "live" 708, the creator has the option to force the campaign to expire immediately by changing the end date and time of the campaign to the current time Once the campaign is expired, the system changes the status of each affected docket to "Expired" and notifies any affected media licensees of the expiration

Once the campaign status is "expired" 712, the campaign can be retired either automatically by the system or manually by the owner Response fulfillment campaigns can be automatically retired by the system after a predetermined system retention period passes once the campaign has expired To retire a campaign manually, a creator simply requests retirement of the campaign After receiving the request, the system removes the advertisements corresponding to the campaign from the database, thereby making them unavailable for consumer viewing

Figure 8 illustrates options for working with an existing docket template in a campaign To reach a particular docket template, the creator first selects a response fulfillment from a campaign summary, such as a summary shown in Figure 5 A, campaign to display a list of docket templates created for that campaign The owner can then select a specific docket template for modification The options for updating a docket template can vary depending on the stage of development of the campaign As can be seen in the Figure, if the docket template is at the "planning" stage 802, the owner can modify the docket template (if no dockets have been created) or, of dockets have been created, make changes to the docket template, which will be propagated to all dockets associated with that docket template by the system Note that the docket template interface, as can be seen in Figure 3 A described above, gives the creator the option to add or remove media licensees from the media licensee list If a media licensee is removed from the campaign docket template, the system will remove the media licensee's associated docket automatically If the docket template is at the "pending confirmation" phase 802 and has been sent to all appropriate media licensees for approval, any substantive changes made in the docket template (e g , date changes, selected electronic response box options) will be propagated by the system to all associated campaign dockets and will notify all affected media licensees of the change If only the creative content is changed, however, media licensee notification is optional If the advertiser/advertising agency removes a media licensee from a docket template, the media licensee is notified of the removal and the system removes any associated campaign dockets for that media licensee from the system

If the docket template is in the "active" phase 806, where at least one media licensee has accepted their corresponding campaign docket, the same rules as the "pending confirmation" phase apply to this phase In addition, if the creator (e.g advertiser/advertising agency) chooses to add a media licensee during the "active" phase 806, the creator must also create a campaign docket for the new media licensee and enter the relevant information through a new docket interface The system then generates the request for confirmation If the owner removes a media licensee at this stage, and if the media licensee has a docket with an "active" status, the system removes the campaign docket from the system and notifies the affected media licensee automatically If the creator changes a docket template when one or more of its associated campaign dockets is in the "active" status 806, the system automatically generates a reconfirmation notice asking the creator to verify that the information has been changed and asking any media licensees affected by the change to reconfirm their campaign dockets

If the docket template is in a "live" phase, where the advertisement corresponding to the campaign docket is made available for consumer interaction the creator can modify any field in the docket template if the media licensee changes the dates in the docket template, for example system sends an e-mail notification to the advertiser/advertising agency If the creator changes dates in the docket template, the system sends an e-mail notification requesting reconfirmation of the date changes to the media licensee Further, if the owner changes other details in the docket template (e g , electronic response box text), the system automatically sends a change notification to the media licensee and reflects the changes in the advertisements, preferably as soon as the changes have been entered into the system

Figure 9 illustrates the manner in which the system allows owners and media licensees to work with existing campaign dockets To locate existing campaign dockets, a creator (e g , an advertiser or advertising agency) can view all of the response fulfillment campaigns sorted by status, with all of the docket templates and dockets listed under their associated response fulfillment campaign Alternatively, the creator can sort campaign dockets by media licensee and then by the name of the advertisement Once the creator locates the desired campaign docket and displays its corresponding docket interface, the creator and the media licensee can take various actions depending on the docket's status If the campaign docket is in the planning stage, the system provides the creator with the option to update or delete the campaign docket If the creator chooses to delete the campaign docket, the campaign docket is removed from the system If the campaign docket is in the "pending confirmation" phase, where docket notification has been send to the media licensee for review, the system allows access by the advertiser, the advertising agency, and the media licensee, allowing the advertiser or advertising agency to update or cancel the campaign docket and allowing the media licensee to update, accept, or reject the docket

Once the media licensee accepts the campaign docket and places the docket in the "active" phase 804, the advertiser, advertising agency and media licensee all have the option to update or cancel the docket Once a particular campaign docket has passed its docket start date and has gone to the "live" phase 804, all parties have the option to update or expire the docket, as explained above Once the end date of a particular campaign docket has passed, thereby changing the status of the campaign docket to "expired" 910, all parties have the option to retire the campaign docket immediately by changing the end date of the docket to the current date and time or wait until the system-defined time period has passed to retire the campaign docket automatically

Note that during the "pending confirmation" 904 or "active" 906 docket status, the creator has the option to cancel the campaign docket, the campaign docket from the system entirely If the advertiser or advertising agency selects this option, the system changes the campaign docket status to "cancelled" 914, removes the corresponding media licensee's name from the associated docket template, and notifies the media licensee of the removal If the advertiser or advertising agency requests cancellation during an "active" phase 906, the system changes the docket status to cancelled and notifies the media licensee of the cancellation The system also modifies the corresponding advertisement to reflect the cancellation

Figure 10 illustrates the options available in working with an "independent docket" which is a docket created by the media licensee or advertiser without a corresponding campaign or docket template A media licensee may choose to create an independent docket if it is advertising its own products (e g , if a newspaper wishes to place advertisements promoting itself) or if an advertiser contacts the media licensee directly to place an advertisement In each case, the advertisement and its corresponding independent docket is created without going through an advertising agency or planning an entire advertising campaign Because the media licensee is the only party who creates and manages the independent docket, the independent docket can be created without going through any confirmation or approval steps

The information required to generate an independent docket available are generally the same as the fields described above with respect to the campaign docket and will therefore not be repeated here Because the independent docket is not linked to any campaign or docket template, all of the information that would be entered via the campaign and docket template interfaces must be entered directly into the independent docket The unique locator number for the independent docket is also assigned by the system at the The media licensee creates the independent docket Note that because the fields and data required for an independent docket are generally the same as for the campaign docket, a separate example of an independent docket will not be provided here Figure 10 shows the options for working with an existing independent docket As noted above, changes made to the independent docket do not involve any approval or confirmation cycle because the independent docket is managed only by one user group

(e.g , the media licensee) alone During the "planning" phase 1002, the media licensee has the option to update, delete, or copy the independent docket Copying the independent docket would allow the media licensee to generate a new independent docket based on information in an existing independent docket, thereby reducing the number of fields that the media licensee has to complete to create the new independent docket In addition, the media licensee has the option to make the independent docket active, which will change the status of the independent docket from "planning" 1002 to "active" 1004

Once the independent docket has entered the "active" phase 1004, the media licensee has the option to update, cancel, or copy the docket If the independent docket is cancelled, the system changes the independent docket status to "cancelled" 1012, giving the media licensee at that point the option to copy the independent docket or delete the independent docket from the system altogether When the independent docket has entered the "live" phase 1006, duπng which the interactive advertisement is made available to consumers, the media licensee can update or copy the independent docket In addition, the media licensee has the option to expire the independent docket during the "live" phase 1006, which changes the independent docket end date/time to the current end date/time Once the independent docket enters the "expired" phase 1008, the media licensee can copy the independent docket or retire the independent docket so that the corresponding interactive advertisement is no longer available to consumers In summary, the inventive system is a business-to-business application that links advertisers, advertising agencies, and media licensees to create, update and confirm participation in interactive advertisements to consumers More particularly, the inventive system allows advertisers to design promotional campaigns that link advertisements distributed through traditional media outlets with the Internet in a transaction-based, pay- for-performance model In a preferred embodiment, advertisers pay only for those promotions that generate qualified leads and sales because the invention provides a direct, online link between specific advertisements and consumers responding to that advertisement

As a result, the inventive system assists advertisers, advertising agencies, and media licensees with the design, modification, and confirmation of advertising campaigns as well as provides tracking and organization of multiple advertising campaigns. The invention also captures information about the campaign throughout its design and execution process, including the geographic coverage and timing of advertising events, creative development, and communication between all participants in the campaign Those of skill in the art will understand that the inventive system can be implemented using any software language and can have any specific user interface without departing from the scope of the invention It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that the method and apparatus within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS

1 A system for generating an interactive advertising campaign, comprising at least one user interface, a database that stores advertising data entered by the user via said at least one user interface, the advertising data including a consumer interactive portion, and a processor that organizes the advertising data into at least one of a response fulfillment campaign, docket template, and campaign docket, wherein the response fulfillment campaign can have at least one corresponding docket template and wherein the docket template can have at least one corresponding campaign docket

2 The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one user interface includes a response fulfillment campaign interface, a docket template interface, and a campaign docket having interfacing capabilities

3 The system of claim 2, wherein the response fulfillment campaign interface includes fields for entering advertising data corresponding to at least one from the group consisting of an advertiser name, advertisement name, brand name, product information, geographic coverage, and campaign start/end information

4 The system of claim 3, wherein the response fulfillment campaign interface further comprises a media licensee selection interface linked to the geographic coverage field, wherein the geographic coverage field acts as a filter for generating a list of media licensees from which the user can select

5 The system of claim 2, wherein the response fulfillment campaign interface further comprises a media licensee selection interface having at least one field for developing filtering criteria, wherein the filtering criteria is at least one selected from the group consisting of geographic coverage, media licensee type, category, format, target audience, and media licensee name

6 The system of claim 2, wherein the response fulfillment campaign interface further comprises an electronic response box interface for generating a consumer response option for the campaign

7 The system of claim 6, wherein the electronic response box interface includes a plurality of consumer response options that can be selected for the response fulfillment campaign

8 The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of consumer response options are selected from the group consisting of mailing information, printing/downloading information, mailing a coupon, printing/downloading a coupon, sending a sample, phoning the consumer, phoning the consumer at a specified time, placing the consumer on a mailing list, and initiating a purchase

9 The system of claim 7, wherein the electronic response box interface further comprises a response option descriptive text field for each of said plurality of consumer response options for entering text corresponding to the respective consumer response option

10 The system of claim 6, wherein the electronic response box interface further comprises a descriptive text field for entering text corresponding to the consumer response option

11 The system of claim 7, wherein the processor further comprises a campaign cost calculator that determines a campaign cost based on at least one of the product information and the selected consumer response options

12 The system of claim 2, wherein the docket template interface includes fields for entering advertising data corresponding to at least one from the group consisting of advertisement content, presentation layout, response option, response option content, docket template start/end information and campaign docket start/end information

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the docket template interface includes a presentation layout interface.

14 The system of claim 13, wherein the presentation layout interface includes at least one pre-defined layout template that determines the layout of the advertisement.

15 The system of claim 12, wherein the docket template interface includes an advertisement layout interface through which advertisement content can be entered

16 The system of claim 15, wherein the advertisement layout interface includes means for entering at least one of an image file, an audio file, a text file, and text

17 The system of claim 12, further comprising a response option selection interface through which the user can select one or more response options.

18 The system of claim 12, further comprising a media licensee selection interface through which the user can select one or more media licensees.

19 The system of claim 12, further comprising a preview generator that generates a preview advertisement based on the entered advertising data as the advertisement will appear to a consumer.

20 The system of claim 2, wherein the system automatically generates a campaign docket based on the advertising data

21 The system of claim 20, wherein the campaign docket includes advertising data obtained through the campaign interface and docket template interface.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the campaign docket includes an interfacing for conducting at least one of accepting, rejecting, deleting, canceling, expiring, retiring, or updating the docket.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor organizes the advertising data into an independent docket having a plurality of fields, and wherein the independent docket is generated without a corresponding response fulfillment campaign or docket template.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the plurality of fields in the independent docket include fields for entering advertising data corresponding to at least one from the group consisting of an advertiser name, advertisement name, brand name, product information, geographic coverage, and independent docket start/end information.

25. A system for generating an interactive advertising campaign, comprising; a response fulfillment campaign interface having a plurality of fields for entering advertising data corresponding to at least one from the group consisting of an advertiser name, advertisement name, brand name, product information, geographic coverage, and campaign start/end information, the campaign interface further including a response box interface having a plurality of consumer response options that can be selected for the response fulfillment campaign; a docket template interface having a plurality of fields for entering advertising data corresponding to at least one from the group consisting of advertisement content, presentation layout, response option, and response option content; and having a presentation layout interface with at least one pre-defined layout template that determines the layout of the advertisement and an advertisement content interface through which advertising content can be entered; a database that stores the advertising data entered via at least one of said campaign interface and docket template interface, the advertising data including a consumer interactive portion; a processor that organizes the advertising data from the campaign interface, docket template interface, and campaign docket into at least one of a response fulfillment campaign, docket template, and campaign docket, wherein the response fulfillment campaign has at least one associated docket template and wherein the docket template has at least one associated campaign docket, and wherein the processor automatically generates a campaign docket based on the advertising data and links common advertising data from the response fulfillment campaign, docket template, and campaign docket together such that a change in one of the response fulfillment campaign, docket template, and campaign docket will be reflected in another one of the docket template and docket

26 The system of claim 25, wherein the response fulfillment campaign interface further comprises a media licensee selection interface linked to the geographic coverage field, wherein the geographic coverage field acts as a filter for generating a list of media licensees from which the user can select

27 The system of claim 25, wherein the response fulfillment campaign interface further comprises a media licensee selection interface having at least one field for developing filtering criteria, wherein the filtering criteria is at least one selected from the group consisting of geographic coverage, media licensee type, category, format, target audience, and media licensee name

28 The system of claim 29, wherein the plurality of consumer response options for the response box interface are selected from the group consisting of mailing information, printing/downloading information, mailing a coupon, printing/downloading a coupon, sending a sample, phoning the consumer, phoning the consumer at a specified time, and placing the consumer on a mailing list and initiating a purchase

29 The system of claim 29, wherein the response box interface further comprises a response option descriptive text field for each of said plurality of consumer response options for entering text corresponding to the respective consumer response option

30 The system of claim 29, wherein the processor further comprises a campaign cost calculator that determines a campaign cost based on at least one of the product information and the selected consumer response options

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the advertisement layout interface includes means for entering at least one of an image, an audio file, a text file, and text.

32. The system of claim 25, further comprising a response option selection interface through which the user can select one or more response options.

33. The system of claim 25, further comprising a media licensee selection interface through which the user can select one or more media licensees.

34. The system of claim 25, further comprising a preview generator that generates a preview advertisement based on the entered advertising data as the advertisement will appear to a consumer.

35. The system of claim 20, wherein the campaign docket includes advertising data obtained through the campaign interface and docket template interface.

36. The system of claim 38, wherein the campaign docket includes an interface conducting at least one of accepting, rejecting, deleting, canceling, expiring, retiring, or updating the docket.

37. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor organizes the advertising data into an independent docket having a plurality of fields, and wherein the independent docket is generated without a corresponding response fulfillment campaign or docket interface.

38. The system of claim 40, wherein the plurality of fields in the independent docket include fields for entering advertising data corresponding to at least one from the group consisting of an advertiser name, advertisement name, brand name, product information, geographic coverage, and independent docket start/end information.

39. The system of claim 25, further comprising a notification system that generates a notification message when data is modified via at least one of the response fulfillment campaign interface, docket template interface, and campaign docket.