Granted Patent B1

US 8,666,807 · App. 12/318,778 · Granted Mar 4, 2014

Abstract

Claims (94)

1. A computerized method for managing a media advertising proposal from inception to completion of an order with one or more media outlets, comprising:

storing customer account records in a database communicatively coupled to a media proposal tool, the customer account records associated with a plurality of different customers, and including information indicating a plurality of stage-dependent relationships indicating particular relationships of the customer account records at different states of an order process;

receiving a customer request for placement of an advertisement in one or more media outlets, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

creating a media advertising proposal, based on user inputs into the media proposal tool, in response to receiving the customer request, by executing a program instruction in a computer system, the media advertising proposal comprising a schedule including at least one placement of the advertisement in one or more selected media outlets;

storing the media advertising proposal in the database, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

accessing one or more external applications to integrate information and data into the media advertising proposal, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

assigning a grade to the media advertising proposal, the grade indicating a likelihood of the media advertising proposal resulting in an order, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

entering the media advertising proposal into a computerized workflow in the media proposal tool for review and approval, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

presenting the media advertising proposal for approval, the media advertising proposal being presented to a first entity determined based on a first, stage-dependent relationship, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

in response to the media advertising proposal being approved, injecting the media advertising proposal as an order into the traffic and billing system by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a media advertising proposal includes receiving advertising parameters for the media advertising proposal in the media proposal tool.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing customer records in the media proposal tool, wherein the customer records include information about the customer, by executing program instruction in a computer system; and

entering the customer information from the customer records into the media advertising proposal, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing one or more external applications includes accessing a credit information tool and retrieving credit rating information about the customer.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprises creating a financial stress index, using the credit rating information, wherein the financial stress index is used in adverting cost calculation for the media advertising proposal, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing one or more external applications includes accessing a yield manager system to determine and retrieve pricing for the schedule in the media advertising proposal, wherein the method incorporates the retrieved pricing into the media advertising proposal.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing one or more external applications includes accessing a yield management system and the method further comprising:

calculating an optimal rate for the schedule in the media advertising proposal based on information received from the yield management system, by executing a program instruction in a computer system; and

incorporating the optimal rate in the media advertising proposal, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing one or more external application includes accessing an audience delivery engine; determining and retrieving scheduling information for meeting customer advertising goal, wherein the customer advertising goals include at least one of a number of impressions for the advertisement.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the method further comprises incorporating the retrieved scheduling information into the media advertising proposal.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing one or more external applications includes accessing a traffic and billing system; determining and retrieving data regarding availability of advertising times or spaces on one or more media outlets.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more media outlets include media outlets chosen from a list consisting of: radio station, television stations, internet radio sites, internet websites, print media, billboards, and combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein accessing traffic and billing system is repeated; updating the retrieved availability data to reflect changes made to the media advertising proposal.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprises displaying the retrieved availability data to a user of the media proposal tool, by executing a program instruction in the computer system.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the displayed availability data includes availability data from a plurality of media outlet.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the displayed availability data includes availability data from a plurality of media types.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the retrieved availability data includes multiple weeks of media advertising availability.

17. The method of claim 1 in which the media advertising proposal includes a schedule for airing the advertisement on a plurality of media outlet types.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a graphical representation of data regarding availability of advertising times or spaces on one or more media outlets, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the graphical representation graphically displays how much advertising time or space is currently booked and how much time or space is available to book.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the graphical representation graphically displays how much advertising time or space will be booked if the media advertising proposal is accepted and booked as an order.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the graphical representation reflects the probability of booking the media advertising proposal based on the assigned grade.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the graphical representation provides a visual indication if the media advertising proposal will cause advertising time or space to be over-booked.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the graphical representation is a process bar.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the media proposal tool executes the computerized workflow.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein executing of the computerized workflow includes displaying, to a user identified based on at least one of the plurality of stage-dependent relationships, the media advertising proposal on a proposal graphical user interface (GUI) with at status indicating that the media advertising proposal requires a user's attention.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the proposal GUI enables the user to submit approval of the media advertising proposal.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving feedback about the order from the traffic and billing system, by executing a program instruction in the computer system; and

adjusting the schedule in the media advertising proposal based on the feedback, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

analyzing customer goals for the media advertising proposal based on the received feedback, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

computing a fulfillment score that indicates whether the customer goals are met, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

wherein adjusting the schedule in the media advertising proposal based on the feedback includes adjusting based on the fulfillment score, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

29. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

scheduling the order in the traffic and billing system, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

analyzing the scheduled order using business rules, by executing a program instruction in a computer system; and

adjusting the schedule in the scheduled order based on the analyzing, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein the media advertising proposal includes a plurality of media products.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising:

retrieving pricing and availability information for each of the media products, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

retrieving weighting for each of the media products, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

applying the weighted pricing for each of the media products, by executing a program instruction in a computer system;

displaying the weighted pricing information and availability information for each of the media products, wherein the weighted pricing information appears as comparable values for each of the media products, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

32. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing a customer account record for the customer requesting the placement of the advertisement, by executing a program instruction in a computer system; and

assigning a tag to the customer account record indicating a level of priority for the customer, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising providing automated alerts to a user of the media proposal tool based on the priority level for the customer, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

34. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing a customer account record for the customer requesting the placement of the advertisement, by executing a program instruction in a computer system; and

assigning a parent/child relationship between the customer account record and another account record in the media proposal tool, by executing a program instruction in the computer system.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising sending the media advertising proposal to the first entity based on the assigned parent/child relationship, by executing a program instruction in the computer system.

36. The method of claim 34 further comprising billing for the airing of the advertising in the advertising media proposal based on the assigned parent/child relationship, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

37. The method of claim 34 further comprising:

generating a report of fulfillment of the media advertising proposal and airing of advertising in the injected order, by executing a program instruction in a computer system; and

communicating the report to a second entity determined based on the assigned parent/child relationship based on a second, stage-dependent relationship, the stage dependent relationship indicating the entity associated with a second stage, different from the first stage, in media advertising proposal, by executing a program instruction in a computer system.

38. The method of claim 34 wherein:

the another account record is an agency record,

the customer account record is assigned a child status in the parent/child relationship, and

the agency account record is assigned a parent status in the parent/child relationship.

39. The method of claim 34 wherein:

the another account record is a representative firm record,

the customer account record is assigned a child status in the parent/child relationship, and

the representative firm account record is assigned a parent status in the parent/child relationship.

40. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing one or more external applications includes receiving business intelligence data from a business intelligence source and incorporating the business intelligence data into the media advertising proposal.

41. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a media advertising proposal includes:

displaying a proposal GUI on a mobile device; and

deceiving input from mobile device, wherein the input includes parameters for the media advertising proposal.

42. A computerized system for managing an advertising proposal from inception to completion of an order with one or more media outlets, comprising:

a server that hosts a media proposal tool for creating media advertising proposals based on user inputs into a media proposal tool, each media advertising proposal comprising a schedule including at least one placement of the advertisement in one or more selected media outlets;

a media proposal tool database server coupled to a media proposal toll database storing customer account records, the customer account records database associated with a plurality of different customers, and including information indicating a plurality of stage-dependent relationships indicating particular relationships of the customer account records at different stages of an order process;

one or more application servers, connected to the media proposal tool server, that includes data and information utilized by the media proposal tool for creating media advertising proposals, including advertising schedule availability data; and

one or more workstations for displaying graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for viewing media advertising proposal and the information from the one or more database servers, and for entering user input that is used to create the media advertising proposals; and

wherein the media proposal tool includes instructions stored in memory on the server, the media proposal tool configured to:

create the media advertising;

store the media advertising proposal in the media proposal tool database;

access the one or more applications servers to integrate the data and information therefrom into the media advertising proposal;

entering the media advertising proposal into a computerized workflow in the media proposal tool for review and approval;

if the media advertising proposal is approved, injecting the media advertising proposal as an order into a traffic and billing system in communication with the media proposal tool server;

receive feedback about the order from the traffic and billing system, by executing a program instruction in a computer system; and

adjust the schedule in the media advertising proposal based on the feedback, by executing a program instruction in a computer system; and

implementing different business rules at different stages of an advertising proposal process, in accordance with the plurality of stage-dependent relationships.

Assignments (22)