Abstract:
Print advertising is distributed by generating an ad-template and importing the ad-template into an online library via an Internet connection. The ad-template is modified via the Internet connection and the ads are automatically delivered to publications from the online library via the Internet connection. A server manages the distribution of print advertising. The server includes an Internet connection interface, a printer server interface for receiving an ad-template by the delivery of information from a client via a printer protocol, and online library storage for storing an ad-template received by the printer server interface.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to the distribution of advertisement and promotional materials. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Advertisement is a crucial part of the modern economy. Billions of dollars are spent annually on advertisements with the objectives of attracting consumer attention to one competitive good over another. The most sophisticated advertisement is generated by consulting firms and agencies, or at large corporations, internal marketing departments, taking advantage of economies of scale and distributing the advertisement content to a large number of retail markets spread over a wide area. Frequently advertisements are time sensitive as they feature regional or nationwide sales, seasonal information and information linked to major holidays or buying periods. 
         [0003]    In the state of the art, corporate advertising departments and agencies distribute advertisement copy to local retail marks using a number of technologies. Generally, these technologies can be characterized as cumbersome, slow, and expensive. 
         [0004]    For example, manual delivery of electronic files for generation of print ads may require distribution of large numbers of media (e.g., CD&#39;s) or extensive manual effort for online delivery of suitable copy. 
         [0005]    Furthermore, national or regional content (e.g., illustrating products and sale prices applicable across the nation or region) frequently requires customization for local markets, e.g., to identify the hours or location of a local retailer in a retail chain, or to identify specific exemptions or conditions for a given retailer. This customization is often accomplished manually, at great expense and delay. The cost of such customizations often is prohibitive, as a result of which, the advertisements are not as targeted as would be desired. Additionally, local printers and publications often impose individualized requirements for advertisement copy that vary from one publisher or printer to another, representing an additional customization requirement. 
         [0006]    In addition, the process for advertisement approval is frequently inefficient and fragmented. Documentation formats are often unstructured requiring manual or ad hoc methods for approval. Furthermore, the lack of an audit trail for approval often undermines the accountability in the process. 
         [0007]    The consequences of slow, cumbersome processes in advertisement distribution are numerous, including compromise of a brand identity or image due to inconsistent or undesirable advertisement results, poor service to local stores or franchises in a chain, fragmented communication, excessive late change fees from printers and publications, and disproportionate management effort required in troubleshooting and problem solving advertisement distribution issues. 
         [0008]    A number of services are available to advertisers that seek to streamline the delivery of advertisement content. Among these services are: 
         [0009]    Saepio, which provides a software product that enables local marketers to use a standard web browser to create a desired version of a marketing piece such as a print ad, sales flyer, direct mailer and web-to-print document. 
         [0010]    eMotion Ad Builder is a software product that enables corporate marketing departments and advertisement agencies to provide local marketers with branded marketing content such as print ads, flyers, and direct mailers that can be customized with local messages. 
         [0011]    Pica9 is a software product that provides “production wizards” enabling account managers to produce camera-ready, localized advertising materials, by customizing product, price and location information within the context of a nationalized campaign. 
         [0012]    BRANDflex is a software product that is used for desktop publishing corporate compliant, print-quality advertisements 
         [0013]    AAS is a software product that is related to Saepio, and allows personalization of national marketing materials to account for local conditions. 
         [0014]    BrandMuscle provides a software product for corporate ad version that automates logistics of advertising production, coordination and distribution. 
         [0015]    While these various products are useful in organizing and streamline the process of generating and customizing advertisement materials, there is still opportunity to further increase the efficiency of the generation of advertisements and improve the intercommunication of executives and creative personnel involved in the generation of those materials. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    The present invention overcomes these difficulties with the prior art by providing a server and method of its operation which enables the online distribution of print advertising, by the generation of an ad-template, and importation of the ad-template into an online library via an Internet connection in its native format, where it may be modified and used to deliver ads automatically to publications. Importantly, the delivery to the online library, and the modification at the online library and the delivery of ads, all utilize an Internet connection. Thus, for example, a user of the server need only have a web browser for interfacing to the server. 
         [0017]    In the particular disclosed embodiment, the server also allows on-line, web browser modification of the ad-template, by mapping data from database fields to customizable areas of the ad-template. Furthermore, a user may import, via an Internet connection, a database containing localization data to be used within the ad-template, such as a spreadsheet or delimited data file. This localization data may include specific information to be included in specific ads, and a manifest of ads to be generated, and publications to which those ads are to be delivered. This data is merged with the templates to generate the multiple ad versions. 
         [0018]    In the disclosed embodiment, the initial delivery of the ad-template may be facilitated by a printer server interface for receiving the ad-template in the manner of delivery of a print job from a client via a printer protocol, over an Internet connection. 
         [0019]    Furthermore, the server may implement a proof review process, in which proofs are generated from an ad template and localization data, and notifications are delivered to users designated to approve proofs, and those proofs are then reviewed via an Internet connection. The notifications are themselves delivered via an Internet connection. The server may also include a template manager, able to modify the ad-template in response to commands delivered to the template manager via an Internet connection. Further, the server may include a proof manager, displaying and modifying or annotating proofs of ads generated from an ad-template, in response to commands delivered to the proof manager via an Internet connection. 
         [0020]    After approval of proofs, the ads are delivered automatically to publications by generating and delivering notices, via an Internet connection, to publications designated to receive the ads. 
         [0021]    These various specific embodiments comprise separate aspects of the invention, as well as detailed features of other aspects of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0022]    The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with a general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating the process of creating the print material and advertisements consistent with embodiments of the invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating the inputs and outputs of the different stages of the process in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0025]      FIG. 3A  is an exemplary representation of a print window from a commercial design program used to create a template for the process in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0026]      FIG. 3B  is an exemplary representation of a print status window from a commercial design program as the template is being created. 
           [0027]      FIG. 4  is a representation of a web page used to configure the template uploaded in  FIG. 3A . 
           [0028]      FIG. 5  is a representation of a web page used to import manifest data consistent with the process in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0029]      FIG. 6  is a representation of a web page used to create versions of the print material consistent with the process in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0030]      FIG. 7  is a representation of a web page used to verify the versions of the print material consistent with the process in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0031]      FIG. 8  is another representation of a web page used to verify the versions of the print material consistent with the process in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0032]      FIG. 9  is a representation of a web page used to approve or disapprove of a version of the print material verified in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . 
           [0033]      FIG. 10  is a representation of a web page used for delivery of the versions of the print material consistent with the process in  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0034]    Embodiments of the invention provide an opportunity within the advertising industry to automate and streamline the cumbersome, costly process of localizing, personalizing, and distributing print advertising to franchises or company-owned locations. Through online services and the Internet, advertisers and their agencies gain the ability to automatically customize and distribute mass quantities of print advertising in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional methods. The online service may be used, for example, for a national placement (“flight”) of a series of ads or for a single ad revision (“one-off”) or minor customizations. The service utilizes templates generated by the client to produce the series of print advertising. All of the templates of the client&#39;s ads are stored in an on-line library. Template revisions may then be completed in mass by importing a comprehensive ad manifest, e.g. in the form of a spreadsheet, and/or by accessing each individual template. 
         [0035]    Referring now to an overview of an embodiment of the online service  10  accessible via the Internet and illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a client of the online service  10  locally creates a generic version of the print material/advertisement in a design program  12 , such as QuarkXPress®, InDesign®, or any other widely used layout tools and programs. This generic advertisement is uploaded to the online service  10  as a template by printing to an Internet printer set up in the layout tool or program. Other embodiments may use other methods to upload templates, such as e-mail or ftp transfers. Once the templates are uploaded, the client of the online service  10  can use the template manager  14  to group content options (language, locality, or date) to create specific versions of the print material or advertisements. The template manager  14  may also set up user permissions for the templates or parts of the templates as well as manage fonts and images that are to be used in conjunction with the template. 
         [0036]    Print orders or manifests  16  are input containing information defined by the client of the online service  10 . The information in the manifest  16  is combined with the appropriate template in the data manager  18 , which automatically generates proofs  20  of the advertisements for review. Clients or other approving entities  22  may access the proofs  20  through a proof manager  24 . After the proofs have been reviewed and accepted, final documents may then be generated from the proofs  20  and delivered to the appropriate self service web site  26  or point-of-production  28 . 
         [0037]    The data flow for the process utilized in the online service  10  may be seen in the block diagram of  FIG. 2 . As stated above in conjunction with  FIG. 1 , document templates  30  are created in a commercial layout tool or program  12  and the document data is uploaded to the online service  10  via an Internet printer or other uploading methodology. Print manifest data  16  is uploaded by the client to the online service  10  as well as a location list  34  containing localization data, such as geographic location, delivery type/format, preferred delivery means, etc., which may be stored with the templates as location data  36  that is used in preparation of the proofs  20 . The data manager  18  combines the document data  32  (stored templates) with data from the manifest  16  and location data  36  in the case of location specific versions of the advertisements. Text size and position references  38  are also consulted and additionally stored so that they can be retrieved and reused. The data manager  18  then checks the imported data for any errors, and if none are found, generates a set of proofs  20 . The proofs  20  are then reviewed by appropriate approving entities, which either approve or deny the use of each of the versions of the advertisements. This process is recorded in the proof log  40  by the data manager  18 . Final documents  42  are generated from the approved proofs  20  and delivered in production ready form  46 . Once the advertisements has been delivered, billing data  48  consisting of a list of versions of advertisements generated, approved and delivered is created which is in turn used to bill the client for the work completed. If the data manager  18  detects errors in the generation process, the data manager  18  writes the errors into an error report  50  which may be reviewed by the ordering client. 
         [0038]    An Internet printer is set up on the local client&#39;s machine that is used to upload template files to the online service  10 . This allows the template files to be uploaded in their native formats rather than in a proprietary format.  FIG. 3A  shows an exemplary print window  52  from a commercial layout package. The user of the package selects the Internet printer from the printer drop down menu  54 . This printer is set such that when files are uploaded via this printer, they are stored in an on-line library of templates in a specific area accessible only to this client. In other words, the client is recognized based on the Internet printer during the upload. The upload process is initiated when the client hits the print button  56  in the print window. Progress of the upload may be monitored through a print status window  58  as shown in  FIG. 3B . Once the template files are uploaded to the appropriate client areas, the templates are ready for versioning using the template manager  12  in the online service  10 . 
         [0039]    The client accesses the template manager  12  using a standard HTTP protocol through the web interface  60  shown in  FIG. 4 . Customizable areas of the ad-template are automatically mapped to date from the database files, such as the print manifest  16  and location data  36 . Additionally, the web interface  60  allows the client to further customize the template for local or other markets. The client may select areas of the template and make the areas variable, such that the areas may be automatically changed when creating the different versions of the advertisements. For example, the client may assign attributes  62  to the variable elements, such as headlines  64 , photos or images  66 , addresses  68 , among others. After defining the variable areas, fonts, and other template access information, the templates are ready to use to create versioned advertisements. 
         [0040]    As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , a new print order may be initiated by uploading a print manifest file  16  using the web interface  70 . A manifest file, or print order source, is, in some embodiments, a spreadsheet or other delimited file that provides the data manager  18  with versioning information. The data manager  18  the automatically creates the print versions from this spreadsheet. In order to upload a manifest file  16 , the client selects the print order source by selecting the browse button  72  and selecting a manifest file  16 . The online service  10  then enables multiple configuration and/or format options, which may be selected from the drop down menu  74 . Access permissions may be added by selecting the permissions and adding them with the boxes  76 . The manifest file  16  may then be uploaded by selecting the upload button  78 . The manifest file  16  is uploaded and checked for errors, which are reported with the upload. 
         [0041]    The data manager  18  is now able to create the ad versions from the newly uploaded print order. The client builds the versions using the web interface  80  shown in  FIG. 6 . First the assembly is named by typing in a name in block  82 . Any permissions pertaining to this assembly are selected and added in the boxes  84 . The print order that was uploaded is attached by selecting  86  the manifest file  16 . This may also reference data from the location data  36  database previously uploaded. The manifest  16  and location data  36  are merged with the templates to create multiple versions of the advertisements. The versions may now be reviewed/spot checked for any initial errors. The client selects the view assembly button  88  to review the versions. The data manager  18  verifies that the assembly has no errors and then transfers the client to the web interface  90  to spot check the versions shown in  FIG. 7 . A representation of a version  92  of the advertisements is shown in the interface for visual inspection by the client. The client may check items that were variables in the template to ensure that the proper information was added. Information such as addresses  94 , headings  96 , photos  98 , among others may be verified. After verification of the first version, the client may use the next button  100  to check the next version of the advertisements. After each of the versions have been verified, the client can generate proofs  20  of versions by selecting the generate button  102 . The proofs  20  are then ready for the approval process. In some embodiments, the generator may report the number of errors, number of versions to generate, number of templates used, number of vendors, number of publications, etc. 
         [0042]    The online service  10  is adaptable to individual approval methods. In one embodiment, the approvers may approve versions via a simple on-line process based on permissions assigned by the client. In the on-line process, a list of assemblies awaiting version approval is presented with an error status and the number of versions in each assembly. The assembly is selected by the approver, which directs the approver to the proof manager  24  web interface  104  show in  FIG. 8 . The web interface  104 , displays the different versions  106   a ,  106   b , etc. and their current approval status. To review one of the versions, the approver selects the review hypertext  108  near the version that he or she wants to inspect. The selection displays the particular version in the web interface  110  show in  FIG. 9 . The version may then be accepted  112  or denied  114  by selecting the appropriate icon. Additionally in some embodiments, the approver may be allowed to make minor changes to each individual proof based on protections set by the client. The changes may include moving text, changing a font or font size, or selecting a different picture, for example. 
         [0043]    Once approved, the delivery manager  24  through its web interface  116 , shown in  FIG. 10 , allows the client to select an assembly or assemblies for delivery. In one embodiment, the online service  10  will automatically deliver versions directly to the client&#39;s vendors, publications, and other points of production. To deliver the versions, first a delivery package is named by typing a name in the box  118 . The version assembly package is then selected from the windows  120  and added to the delivery content. If a self service package is being created, a template is also selected for delivery in the windows  122 . The delivery is confirmed by selecting the delivery button  124 . In some embodiments, a report is produced indicating the number of versions in the delivery package, any self service templates, and any error status. The client may then indicate that they have the authorization or the authority to deliver the deliverables and then hits a send button. The delivery package is then queued for automatic delivery, which may be via e-mail or ftp delivery for some embodiments using electronic delivery. Additionally, in some embodiments, a delivery notice may be sent to the approvers and/or to publications designated to receive the ads indicating that there has been a delivery of the approved ads. In other embodiments, the client may deliver a portion of the versions of the printed material or only those that have been approved, skipping over those versions of ads that have not been approved. Forms of the electronic delivery may include PDF format, EPS format, etc. The format selection may be determined from the manifest data, distribution area, etc. 
         [0044]    Some embodiments of the delivery manager may also run status reports to determine if all of the proofs have been approved. These reports may automatically generate overviews and summaries of recent flights. Reports may be run by flight, user, or client. As data is merged with the templates to create versions, the actual placement and size of the merged data is stored so that it can be compared with any restrictions added to the template. This allows the data manager  18  to automatically report any potential errors caused by data overflowing its allowed space. In some embodiments, the size and placement data is written to a text file during the processing of the final Postscript file. Run error reports may use this output data to determine if any proofs are flagged as “Need Attention” by the system. The delivery manager  18  may determine that a proof needs attention based on layout issues that are related to content size, resolution, and margin settings. For example, if the text is outside an area, the proof is flagged as “Need Attention.” The approver approving the version may remove the flag after reviewing the version. The client may also receive revision requests sent by approvers during the review process. 
         [0045]    As described above, both versioned ads and templates may be delivered. Delivering templates along with versioned ads allows local markets to receive ready-to-go campaigns or customize their marketing materials on an ad-hoc basis. The customizable materials may be versioned directly by the end user based on the delivered template and in accordance with the protections and limitations set for those templates. For example, the template may allow the end user to move text or to change graphics between images from an approved set to better customize the advertisement for their target audience. 
         [0046]    Communications with the online service  10  utilize security measures to protect the intellectual property uploaded and managed on the server hosting the online service  10 . Encrypted communications are used utilizing accepted standards such as 128 bit SSL to assist in preventing the interception of the client&#39;s data between the client&#39;s location and the secure server. Additional server-side encryption may also be employed for additional security, which encrypts data at the time it is received in the server and decrypts the data only for transmission to the client&#39;s browser. 
         [0047]    While all of the present invention has been illustrated by a description of various embodiments and while these embodiments have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicants to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and method, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of the applicant&#39;s general inventive concept.