AU2010236248B2 - Digital creative interaction system - Google Patents

Description

DIGITAL CREATIVE INTERACTION SYSTEM

PRIORITY

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application serial number 61/169,892, filed on April 16, 2009, and entitled "Digital Platform", which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Advertising agencies, creative contractors and marketers (generally creative agencies) design advertisements (ads) for clients. These ads may be directed toward the public as a whole or a specific segment of the public, at the direction of the clients. The ads are designed in order to meet a business objective typically identified by the clients, the potential clients or a third party. A business objective may include selling a product, selling a service, etc.

[0003] When using an ad, the business objective of is usually to increase sales of a product or service. However, many clients may purchase ineffective ads because it is difficult for the client to determine the impact of an ad on a business objective. For example, once an ad is deployed to the public, it is difficult to determine a measure of sales or other measure of success attributable to the deployment of the ad. Therefore, clients may be deploying ineffective ads to the public that do not garner sales.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0004] The embodiments of the invention will be described in detail in the following description with reference to the following figures.

[0005] Figure 1 illustrates a digital creative interaction system, according to

5 an embodiment:

[0006] Figure 2 illustrates a more detailed block diagram of the digital creative interaction system, according to an embodiment;

[0007] Figure 3 illustrates a method for determining a creative brief, according to an embodiment; and

I O [0008] Figure 4 illustrates a computer system, according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0009] For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the embodiments are described by referring mainly to examples [hereof. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be apparent however, to one of ordinary skill in the art, that the embodiments may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In some instances, well known methods and structures have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the embodiments. Also, the embodiments described herein may be used with each other in various combinations.

1. Overview

[0010] According to an embodiment, a digital creative interaction system integrates creative development and quantitative testing of creative briefs. A creative brief is an advertisement or a description of an advertisement. The digital creative interaction system enables clients to electronically learn of a group of potential consumers for a specific product or service. The digital creative interaction system also prepares and issues a request for creative briefs targeted at the group of potential consumers or at a specific segment of the population for the product or service. [0011] The digital creative interaction system also enables creative agencies to view and respond to various requests for creative briefs. The creative agencies may respond to one or more requests for creative briefs issued by a client with a response bid including a creative brief and corresponding bid that matches parameters in the request for creative briefs. Therefore, if there are multiple responding creative agencies, each responding creative agency is competing against one another by responding to the request for creative briefs with a response bid, introducing a new mode! of engagement between clients and creative agencies.

[0012] Each response bid may be reviewed and approved by the digital creative interaction system or by an external actor based on parameters in the request for creative briefs. Once each response bid is approved, each creative brief is automatically tested against the targeted group of potential consumers before one of the response bids is accepted. At the end of the automated testing process, metrics are captured by the digital creative interaction system. The metrics include data on the impact of the creative brief on the target group of potential consumers, such as user behavior data in response to the creative brief. Once these metrics are captured by the digital creative interaction system, the client may decide which of the response bids will be accepted. [0013] The digital creative interaction system permits clients and creative agencies to interact electronically without having to manually send emails, messages, bids, etc. The digital creative interaction system provides a virtual environment for a client to automatically test each creative brief and dyanmically determine which creative brief to select based on metrics gathered by the electronic system.

2. System

[0014] Figure 1 illustrates a digital creative interaction system 100, according to an embodiment. Figure 1 includes client 102 and creative agencies 104a-n. The client 102 is any entity operable to request creative briefs from the digital creative interaction system 100. The creative agencies 104a-n may include advertising agencies, creative contractors, marketers or any other entity that may respond to a request for creative briefs. The client 102 may access the digital creative interaction system 100 via a network, such as the Internet or other type of network. The client 102 may access the digital creative interaction system 100 in order to issue a request for creative briefs or to determine if a creative brief should be requested. As described above, a creative brief is an advertisement or description of an advertisement for an identified product or service targeted at a group of potential consumers, i.e. a target consumer group. [0015] In figure 1 , the client 102 accesses the digital creative interaction system 100. The client 102 may receive gap determination data 108 indicating the target consumer group to which a creative brief may be directed for a specific product or service. For example, the gap determination data 108 may include data identifying a segment of the population, i.e. target consumer group, that does not purchase a specific product or service sold by the client 102; a segment of population, i.e. a target consumer group, that has a small market share of a product or service sold by the client 102; etc. The gap determination data 108 may include attributes of the target consumer group. The attributes of the target consumer group are attributes common to each member of the target consumer group and may define the target consumer group. For example, the attributes of a target consumer group may be female, Asian, age between 18 and 24, etc. The gap determination data 108 may come from an external source or from the digital creative interaction system 100. As shown in figure 1 , the digital creative interaction system 100 receives the gap determination data 108 from gap determination engine 108, and sends the gap determination data 108 to the client 102.

3 The digital creative interaction system 100 converts the gap determination data 108 into a message for the client 102. The message includes the gap determination data 108 and is viewable by the client 102 whenever the client 102 accesses the digital creative interaction system 100. When the client 102 accesses [he digital creative interaction system 100, [he client 102 may view all of the messages, i.e. the gap determination data 108 that has been converted Into the messages. The messages may also be sent directly to an email system of the client 102, a text messaging system of the client 102, etc.

[0017] Based the gap determination data 108 in the messages, the client

102 may prompt the digital creative interaction system 100 to electronically prepare and issue a request for creative briefs 112 to creative agencies 104a-n. The request for creative briefs 112 identifies requirements, also referred to as parameters, for a creative brief responding to an identified need for marketing to the target consumer group for the product or service identified by the gap determination engine 108. The digital creative interaction system 100 may also prepare and issue the request for creative briefs 112 automatically for each message containing the gap determination data 108.

[0018] The request for creative briefs 112 may be created from a template based on the gap determination data 108. For example, the request for creative briefs 112 is created when the gap determination data 108 is populated in the template. The template is populated with gap determination data 108 in a product or service to be sold field, a target consumer group field and attributes of the target consumer group field. Once the template is populated with the gap determination data 108, the digital creative interaction system 100 further popuiates a creative brief parameters field and a bid parameters field. The creative brief parameters are requirements for creative briefs. The creative brief parameters may include maximum size, specific colors, layout dimensions, layout design preferences, etc. The bid parameters are requirements for the bids corresponding to the creative briefs. The bid parameters may include currency, minimum amount, maximum amount, an acceptable range, etc. Once the creative brief parameters and the bid parameters are populated in the template by the digital creative interaction system 100, the request for creative briefs 112 is complete. The request for creative briefs 112 may be posted to an electronic board in the digital creative interaction system 100 or may be sent electronically to the creative agencies 104a-n via text, email, automated message alert, etc.

[0019] The creative agencies 104a-n access the digital creative interaction system 100 via a network such as the Internet. The creative agencies 104a-n may prepare and respond to the request for creative briefs 112 with response bids 114a-n. The response bids 114a-n may include a creative brief, as discussed above, and a corresponding bid for the use of the creative brief. All, some or none of the creative agencies 104a-n with access to the digital creative interaction system 100 or with access to the request for creative briefs 112 may respond to the request for creative briefs 112 with response bids 114a-n. In figure 1. the creative agency 104a and the creative agency 104b respond to the request for the creative briefs 112 with [he response bids 114a and 114b, respectively. The creative agency 104n does not respond to the request for creative briefs 112,

[0020] Once some or a!! of the creative agencies 104a-n have responded to

5 the request for creative briefs 112, the response bids 114a and 114b are reviewed and approved by the digital creative interaction system 100 or by an external actor. For example, in figure 1 , the digital creative interaction system 100 reviews the response bids 114a and 114b. The review of the response bids 114a and 114b includes determining if the response bids 114a and 114b conform with the

I O requirements in the request for creative briefs 112. More specifically, the response bids 114a and 114b are reviewed to determine if the product or service to be sold, the target consumer group, the attributes of the target consumer group, the creative brief parameters and the bid parameters match the requirements in the request for creative briefs 112. If the digital creative interaction system 100

! 5 determines a response bid does not match the requirements in the request for creative briefs 112. a response is sent to the creative agency that sent the response bid indicating that the response bid was rejected for non-conformance. If, however, the digital creative interaction system 100 determines the response bid matches the requirements in the request for creative briefs 112, the creative brief is

10 marked as approved and sent to test system 110. [0021] The dashed line around the digital creative interaction system 100 and the test system 110 indicates the test system 100 may also be included in the digital creative interaction system 100. The test system 110 places the creative brief into a live environment, such as the Internet, to measure the impact of the creative brief on the target consumer group. For example, if the creative brief is an advertisement for shoes for European women between 18 and 24, the creative brief is placed online to measure the impact of the creative brief on the segment of the population that includes European women between 18 and 24, The test system 110 captures user behavior data including user behavior of the target consumer group when presented with the creative brief. The user behavior data includes the specific response of a member of the target consumer group and the number of times the specific response was encountered, among other data. The captured user behavior data is returned to the digital creative interaction system 100. The captured user behavior data for each creative brief tested may be used by the client 102, along with the corresponding bid, to determine which of the response bids 114a and 114b to accept.

[0022] Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram detailing the digital creative interaction system 100, according to an embodiment. The digital creative interaction system 100 includes gap determination data conversion unit 210, request for creative briefs creation unit 220, response bid approval unit 230 and testing control unit 240. The dashed box around the digital creative interaction system 100 and the lest system 110 indicates the test system 100 may also be included in the digital creative interaction system 100.

[0023] The gap determination data conversion unit 210 receives the gap determination data 108 from the gap determination engine 106. As discussed above, the gap determination data 108 output by the gap determination engine 106 may include a product or service to be sold, a target consumer group, and attributes of the target consumer group. The gap determination data conversion unit 210 converts the gap determination data 108 into a message for the client 102 so the client 102 may view the gap determination data 108 as messages from the digital creative interaction system 100.

[0024] The request for creative briefs creation unit 220 creates the request for creative briefs 112 if the client 102 prompts the digital creative interaction system 100 to electronically prepare and issue the request for creative briefs 112 or if the digital creative interaction system 100 is configured to automatically prepare and issue the request for creative briefs 112 for each message created by the gap determination data conversion unit 210. The request for creative briefs creation unit 220 creates the request for creative briefs 112 by populating a template, as discussed above. Once the template is populated by the request for creative briefs creation unit 220, the request for creative briefs 112 is complete. [0025] The response bid approval unit 230 receives the response bids 114a and 114b from [he creative agencies 104a and 104b. Once the response bids 114a and 114b have been received, the response bids 114a and 114b are reviewed to determine if the response bids 114a-n conform with the requirements in the request for creative briefs 112 by the response bid approvai unit 230. if the response bid approval unit 230 determines a response bid does not match the requirements in the request for creative briefs 112, a response is sent to the creative agency that sent the creative brief indicating that the response bid was rejected for non-conformance. If, however, the response bid approvai unit 230 determines the response bid matches [he requirements in the request for creative briefs 112, the creative brief is marked as approved.

[0026] The testing control unit 240 forwards the creative briefs of the approved response bids 114a and 114b to the test system 110. The test system 110 places the creative briefs into a live environment, such as the Internet to measure [he impact of the creative briefs on the target consumer group, as discussed above. The test system 110 captures user behavior data including user behavior of the target consumer group when presented with the creative briefs. The captured user behavior data is returned to the testing control unit 240, which contains memory to store the captured user behavior data. The captured user behavior data for each creative brief tested may be used by the client 102, along with the corresponding bid, to determine which of the response bids 1 14a and 114b to accept.

3. Method

[0027] Figure 3 illustrates method 300 for determining a creative brief , according to an embodiment. The method 300 is described with respect to the digital creative interaction system 100 shown in figures 1 and 2 by way of example and not limitation. The method 300 may be performed by other systems. The method 300 starts at step 310 and includes steps 310-332.

[0028] At step 310, the digital creative interaction system 100 determines whether gap determination data 108 has been identified for a product or service. As discussed above, the gap determination data 108 may include the product or service to be sold, the target consumer group, and the attributes of the target consumer group. If gap determination data 108 has not been identified, the process ends at step 310. If gap determination data 108 has been identified, the process continues to step 312.

[0029] At step 312, the identified gap determination data 108 is converted to a message for the client 102. The message includes the gap determination data 108 and is viewable by the client 102 whenever the client 102 accesses the digital creative interaction system 100. As discussed above, when the client 102 accesses the digital creative interaction system 100, the client 102 may view all of the messages. The messages may also be sent directly into an email system of the client, a text messaging system of the client, etc.

5 [0030] At step 314, the digital creative interaction system 100 determines whether a request for creative briefs 112 is to be created. As discussed above, based the gap determination data 108 in the messages, the client 102 may prompt the digitai creative interaction system 100 to prepare and issue the request for creative briefs 112 or this may be determined automatically by the digital creative

I O interaction system 100. If a request for creative briefs 112 is not to be prepared, the process ends at step 314. if a request for creative briefs 112 is to be prepared, the process continues to step 318.

At step 316, the request for creative briefs 112 is created from a template based on the gap determination data 108. As discussed above, the 5 request for creative briefs 112 is created when the template is populated with gap determination data 108 in the product or service to be soid field, the target consumer group field and the attributes of the target consumer group field and when the digitai creative interaction system 100 further populates the creative brief parameters field and the bid parameters field. [0032] At step 318, the request for creative briefs 112 is issued to creative agencies 104a-n. The request for creative briefs 112 may be posted to an electronic board in the digital creative interaction system 100 or may be sent electronically to each of the creative agencies 104a-n via text, email, automated message alert, etc.

[0033] At step 320, the digital creative interaction system 100 determines whether response bids 114a-n have been received. As discussed above, the response bids 114a~n include a creative brief and a corresponding bid for the use of the creative brief. AIL some or none of the creative agencies may respond with a response bid. If at least one response bid has not been received, the process ends at step 320. if at least one response bid has been received, the process continues to step 322.

[0034] At step 322, the response bids 114a and 114b received at step 320 are reviewed by the digital creative interaction system 100 or by an external actor. The review of the response bids 114a and 1 14b includes determining if the response bids 114a and 114b conform with the requirements in the request for creative briefs. The response bids 114a and 114b may be reviewed to determine if the product or service to be sold, the target consumer group, the attributes of the target consumer group, the creative brief parameters and the bid parameters match the requirements in the request for creative briefs 112. If it is determined that a response bid does not match the requirements in the request for creative briefs, a response is sent to the creative agency that sent the creative brief indicating that the response bid was rejected for non~conformance at step 324. if, however, it is determined that the response bid matches the requirements in the request for creative briefs, the creative brief is marked as approved and the process moves onto step 326.

[0035] At step 326, the creative brief is sent to the test system 110.

[0036] At step 328, the test system 110 accepts the creative brief and piaces the creative brief into a live environment, such as the Internet, to measure the impact of the creative brief on the target consumer group.

[0037] At step 330, the test system 110 captures user behavior data including user behavior of the target consumer group when the presented with the creative brief. The user behavior data inciudes the specific response of a member of the target consumer group and the number of times the specific response was encountered, among other data. The captured user behavior data is returned to the digital creative interaction system 100.

[0038] At step 332, the captured user behavior data for each creative brief tested may be used by the client 102, along with the corresponding bid, to determine which of the response bids to accept. For example, digital creative interaction system 100 may rank or weight the creative briefs. The creative briefs may be ranked or weighted based on cost to the client for the creative brief and effectiveness of the creative brief. Effectiveness is determined from metrics from the captured user behavior of step 330. The metrics may indicate whether the users made a purchase when presented with the brief or whether a user clicked on the ad, or other metrics. The system may present the rankings, weights and metrics to the client 102 and the client may select a creative brief. The creative agency may then be paid for the selected creative brief, and the selected creative brief is then used by the client, such as for advertising or other marketing.

[0039] According to an embodiment, the digital creative interaction system 100 may aiso be an agent running on equipment belonging to the ciient 102, a system accessed via the Internet, a web service, etc. Figure 4 shows a computer system 400 that may be used as a hardware platform for the digital creative interaction system 100, according to an embodiment. The computer system 400 may be used as a platform for executing one or more of the steps, methods, and functions described herein that may be embodied as software stored on one or more computer readable storage devices, which are hardware storage devices.

[0040] The computer system 400 includes a processor 402, unit or processing circuitry that may implement or execute software instructions performing some or all of the methods, functions and other steps described herein. Commands and data from the processor 402 are communicated over a communication bus 404. The computer system 400 also includes a computer readable storage device 403, such as random access memory (RAM), where the software and data for processor 402 may reside during runtime. The storage device 403 may also include non-volatile data storage. The computer system 400 may include a network interface 405 for connecting to a network, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other known electronic components may be added or substituted in the computer system 400.

[0041] While the embodiments have been described with reference to examples, those skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications to the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the claimed embodiments. Also, the embodiments described herein may be used to determine user behavior in response to creative briefs, which creative briefs to implement that receive the highest scoring in a scoring system based on user behavior data, which creative briefs provide the most website traffic, etc.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A digital creative interaction system, comprising:

a request for creative briefs creation unit creating a request for creative briefs responsive to receiving gap determination data for [he target consumer group and issuing the request for creative briefs to a plurality of creative agencies;

a response bid approval unit receiving a plurality of creative briefs and corresponding bids responsive to the request for creative briefs and determining whether each of the plurality of creative briefs and corresponding bids conform to parameters in the request for creative briefs; and

a testing control unit deploying each of the received plurality of creative briefs that conform to the parameters in the requires for creative briefs to the target consumer group and capturing the user behavior data responsive to the deployed plurality of creative briefs.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein [he target consumer group is defined by at least one common user attribute.

The system of claim 1 , wherein the creative brief is an advertisement.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters include creative brief parameters and bid parameters.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the creative brief parameters include maximum size, colors or layout dimensions.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the bid parameters include currency, minimum amount, maximum amount, or an acceptable range.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the received creative briefs and corresponding bids are compared to the parameters of the request for creative briefs to determine if the creative briefs conform to the parameters in [he request for creative briefs.

8. A method for determining user behavior data for a target consumer group, comprising:

receiving a request for creative briefs for the target consumer group; determining parameters of the request for creative briefs;

issuing the request for creative briefs to a plurality of creative agencies;

receiving a plurality of creative briefs and corresponding bids responsive to the request for creative briefs;

deploying each of the received plurality of creative briefs to the target consumer group; and

capturing the user behavior data responsive to the deployed plurality of creative briefs.

9. The method of ciaim 8, wherein the target consumer group is defined by at least one common user attribute.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the creative brief is an advertisement.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: selecting one creative brief of the deployed plurality of creative briefs based on the captured user behavior data.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

selecting one creative brief of the deployed plurality of creative briefs based on the captured user behavior data and the corresponding bids.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the parameters include creative brief parameters and bid parameters.

14. The method of claim 8. wherein each of the plurality of received creative briefs and corresponding bids are compared to the parameters of the request for creative briefs.

15. The computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer executable program for determining user behavior data for a target consumer group, the computer executable program when executed causes a computer system to: receive a request for creative briefs for the target consumer group;

determine parameters of the request for creative briefs;

issue the request for creative briefs to a plurality of creative agencies;

receive a pluraiity of creative briefs and corresponding bids responsive to the request for creative briefs;

deploy each of the received plurality of creative briefs to the target consumer group; and

capture the user behavior data responsive to the deployed plurality of creative briefs.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the creative brief is an advertisement.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the parameters include creative brief parameters and bid parameters.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the creative brief parameters include maximum size, colors or layout dimensions.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the bi parameters include currency, minimum amount, maximum amount, or an acceptable range.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the received creative briefs and corresponding bids are compared to the parameters of the request for creative briefs.