Apparatus and method for utilizing immediate gratification promotions

1. An apparatus comprising:

context collection circuitry configured to collect contextual data regarding a consumer device, wherein the contextual data includes a location of the consumer device retrieved from location services circuitry included in the apparatus;

communications circuitry configured to:

transmit the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device to a promotion and marketing service; and

in response to transmitting the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device to the promotion and marketing service, receive a message indicating terms of an immediate gratification promotion offered by a merchant, wherein the immediate gratification promotion comprises a promotion for which purchase automatically initiates redemption, wherein the immediate gratification promotion is selected based on a determination that the immediate gratification promotion satisfies a minimum relevance threshold set by the merchant or the promotion and marketing system based on at least electronic marketing information associated with a plurality of merchants, and wherein the immediate gratification promotion is selected based on resource management data indicating a product or a service associated with the promotion is available via the merchant, and

input/output circuitry configured to output a message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion; and

negotiation circuitry configured to, in an instance in which the contextual data includes a predefined consumer preference instructing the apparatus to automatically purchase relevant promotions:

determine that the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy triggering criteria included in the predefined consumer preferences, wherein the triggering criteria comprises a user-defined redemption location, and wherein the user-defined redemption location and the location of the consumer device both differ from a merchant location associated with the merchant;

generate the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion in response to determining that the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy the triggering criteria; and

transmit a request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion to the communications circuitry; and

wherein the communications circuitry is further configured to:

in response to receiving the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion, transmit a message to the promotion and marketing service to cause purchase of the immediate gratification promotion and cause automatic initiation of redemption of the immediate gratification promotion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the context collection circuitry is configured to collect the contextual data regarding the consumer device by at least one of:

retrieving the contextual data regarding the consumer device from one or more sensors included in the apparatus, one or more databases included in the apparatus, via the communications circuitry, or via the input/output circuitry; or

deriving, using processing circuitry, the contextual data regarding the consumer device from other contextual data stored in one or more memory.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the contextual data regarding the consumer device comprises at least the location and one of velocity, acceleration, angular velocity, direction-of-travel, mode of travel, temperature, humidity, brightness, gravity, orientation, proximity, recorded audio, time of day, day of the week, seasons, country identification, behavioral history, or one or more predefined consumer preferences.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the input/output circuitry is further configured to receive a set of consumer privacy restrictions, and

the context collection circuitry is configured to collect contextual data in accordance with the received consumer privacy restrictions.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the immediate gratification promotion is generated based on the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device and resource management data regarding the merchant.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the input/output circuitry is configured to output the message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion via a notification tray alert, a notification center message, an in-app message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) text message, a non-MMS text message, or an email.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the input/output circuitry is further configured to receive the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion from a consumer in response to outputting the message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the communications circuitry is further configured to receive an indication that a product or service identified in the immediate gratification promotion is ready for redemption, and

the input/output circuitry is configured to output a message indicating that the product or service is ready for redemption via a notification tray alert, a notification center message, an in-app message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) text message, a non-MMS text message, or an email.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy the triggering criteria comprises comparing the location of the consumer device with the user-defined redemption location to determine if the location of the consumer device is located at the user-defined redemption location.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the triggering criteria further comprises a second set of triggering criteria, and wherein determining that the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy the triggering criteria comprises comparing the terms of the immediate gratification promotion with the second set of triggering criteria.

11. A method comprising:

collecting contextual data regarding a consumer device, wherein the collected contextual data includes a location of the consumer device retrieved from location services circuitry included in the consumer device;

transmitting, by communications circuitry, the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device to a promotion and marketing service;

in response to transmitting the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device to the promotion and marketing service, receiving a message indicating terms of an immediate gratification promotion offered by a merchant, wherein the immediate gratification promotion comprises a promotion for which purchase automatically initiates redemption, wherein the immediate gratification promotion is selected based on a determination that the immediate gratification promotion satisfies a minimum relevance threshold set by the merchant or the promotion and marketing service based on at least electronic marketing information associated with a plurality of merchants, and wherein the immediate gratification promotion is selected based on resource management data indicating a product or service associated with the promotion is available via the merchant;

outputting, by input/output circuitry, a message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion;

in an instance in which the contextual data includes a predefined consumer preference instructing automatic purchase of relevant promotions:

determining, by negotiation circuitry, that the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy triggering criteria included in the predefined consumer preferences, wherein the triggering criteria comprises a user-defined redemption location, and wherein the user-defined redemption location and the location of the consumer device both differ from a merchant location associated with the merchant;

generating, by the negotiation circuitry, the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion in response to determining the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy the triggering criteria;

transmitting, by the negotiation circuitry, a request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion to the communications circuitry; and

in response to receiving, by the communications circuitry, the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion, transmitting a message to the promotion and marketing service to cause purchasing of the immediate gratification promotion and cause automatic initiation of the redemption of the immediate gratification promotion.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein collecting the contextual data regarding the consumer device includes at least one of:

retrieving the contextual data regarding the consumer device from one or more sensors, one or more databases, via the communications circuitry, or via the input/output circuitry; or

deriving, using processing circuitry, the contextual data regarding the consumer device from other contextual data stored in one or more memory.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the contextual data regarding the consumer device comprises at least the location and one of velocity, acceleration, angular velocity, direction-of-travel, mode of travel, temperature, humidity, brightness, gravity, orientation, proximity, recorded audio, time of day, day of the week, seasons, country identification, behavioral history, or one or more predefined consumer preferences.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving a set of consumer privacy restrictions,

wherein collecting the contextual data comprises collecting the contextual data in accordance with the received consumer privacy restrictions.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the immediate gratification promotion is generated based on the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device and resource management data regarding the merchant.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein outputting the message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion comprises outputting the message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion via a notification tray alert, a notification center message, an in-app message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) text message, a non-MMS text message, or an email.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion from a consumer in response to outputting the message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy the triggering criteria comprises comparing the location of the consumer device with the user-defined redemption location to determine if the location of the consumer device is located at the user-defined redemption location.

19. An apparatus comprising:

means for collecting contextual data regarding a consumer device, wherein the contextual data includes a location of the consumer device;

means for transmitting, by communications circuitry, the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device to a promotion and marketing service;

means for in response to transmitting the collected contextual data regarding the consumer device to the promotion and marketing service, receiving a message indicating terms of an immediate gratification promotion offered by a merchant, wherein the immediate gratification promotion comprises a promotion for which purchase automatically initiates redemption, wherein the immediate gratification promotion is selected based on a determination that the immediate gratification promotion satisfies a minimum relevance threshold set by the merchant or the promotion and marketing service based on at least electronic marketing information associated with a plurality of merchants, and wherein the immediate gratification promotion is selected based on resource management data indicating a product or a service associated with the promotion is available via the merchant;

means for outputting, by input/output circuitry, a message identifying the terms of the immediate gratification promotion; and

in an instance in which the contextual data includes a predefined consumer preference instructing the apparatus to automatically purchase relevant promotions:

means for determining, by negotiation circuitry, that the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy triggering criteria included in the predefined consumer preferences, wherein the triggering criteria comprises a user-defined redemption location, and wherein the user-defined redemption location and the location of the consumer device both differ from a merchant location associated with the merchant;

means for generating, by the negotiation circuitry, the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion in response to determining that the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy the triggering criteria;

means for transmitting a request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion to the communications circuitry; and

means for, in response to receiving the request to purchase the immediate gratification promotion by the communications circuitry, transmit a message to the promotion and marketing service to cause purchase of the immediate gratification promotion and cause automatic initiation of redemption of the immediate gratification promotion.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the means to determine the terms of the immediate gratification promotion satisfy the triggering criteria comprises means to compare the location of the consumer device with the user-defined redemption location to determine if the location of the consumer device is located at the user-defined redemption location.