Abstract:
A method for distributing digital coupons via a television program, such as a commercial, are described. The method includes enabling insertion of a visual indicator into a television program that advertises a product. The television program is presented to users, such that the visual indicator is indicative of a coupon offer being available for the product being advertised. The method includes enabling addition of the coupon offer to the first user&#39;s loyalty card associated with a first retailer. The method includes enabling addition of the coupon offer to the second user&#39;s loyalty card associated with a second retailer. The coupon offer is available for redemption at the first and second retailers.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS; BENEFIT CLAIM 
     This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120 as a Continuation of application Ser. No. 10/328,300, filed Dec. 23, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,962,931, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. The applicant(s) hereby rescind any disclaimer of claim scope in the parent application(s) or the prosecution history thereof and advise the USPTO that the claims in this application may be broader than any claim in the parent application(s). 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This invention relates to the field promotional marketing. More specifically, this invention relates to a method and system for integrating television brand advertising with promotional marketing. 
     The promotional marketing and coupon industry is fraught with waste and inefficiency. In the year 2001, 344 billion coupons were distributed, while only 3.9 billion or 1.1% were redeemed (Coupon Council of America). Total savings to consumers were $3 billion. Freestanding inserts (FSI&#39;s), one of the more popular ways to nationally distribute coupons, had a redemption rate of less than one percent in 2001. One interesting note is that coupons distributed over the Internet had a redemption rate of 2.91%, almost three times the rate of FSI coupons redeemed. 
     Another popular form of marketing is brand advertising, which is typically done by the use of television commercials. According to the Television Bureau of advertising, in 2001, the amount spent both in network and spot television advertising was $35.8 billion. 
     The Internet as an advertising medium is hampered by its low reach, but has the benefits of being able to be more precisely targeted to an audience. FSI&#39;s and television have a large reach, but are harder to target to a specific audience. FSI creation also has the disadvantage of a longer planning time, as graphic ads need to be created, and then printed and inserted into newspapers on a national basis. This lead-time adds months onto a marketing plan. Tailoring specific offers for specific geographic markets also adds expense to a campaign with the creation of multiple different ads or commercials for each market. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The above-described drawbacks and deficiencies of the prior art are overcome or alleviated by a method for integrating television brand advertising with promotional marketing, the method including: providing a first image to be displayed in different television commercials for products from different advertisers, the first image indicating a website; and providing at the website coupon offers for the products from the different advertisers. The method may further include: providing second images to be displayed in the different television commercials, the second images indicating price point offers associated with the coupon offers for the products. 
     In one embodiment, the first and second images are inserted in the television commercial at a television signal processing location. The television commercial may be encoded with information to be used at the television signal processing location for selecting at least one of the first image and the second image. Different second images may be provided to television signal processing locations associated with different market areas. 
     In another embodiment, the method further includes, selecting from the coupon offers a plurality of coupon offers available to a consumer, wherein the selecting is performed using at least one of a location of the consumer, past behavior of the consumer on the website, and coupons previously redeemed by the consumer. In another embodiment, the method further includes providing at the website a printable coupon or providing credit to a coupon card for redeeming at least one of the coupon offers. In yet another embodiment, the method includes reporting to at least one of the different advertisers information including at least one of: a number of coupons printed by consumers, and a number of coupons redeemed by the consumers. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Referring to the exemplary drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several Figures: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a television screen displaying a commercial for a product and an indicator indicating a coupon offer available for the product; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a system for integrating television brand advertising with promotional marketing; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of the system of  FIG. 2  including a plurality of television signal processing locations each servicing a plurality of consumer locations; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart depicting a process for creation of a coupon database; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart depicting a process for providing local advertising information to television signal processing locations; 
         FIG. 6  is a flow chart depicting a process employed by a website for determining a market area of a consumer; 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart depicting a process employed by the website for providing a selection of coupon offers to a consumer; 
         FIG. 8  is a flow chart depicting a process for coupon printing or encoding; 
         FIG. 9  is a flow chart depicting a retailer redemption process; and 
         FIG. 10  is a flow chart depicting a process employed by the website for providing special offers to consumers who have visited the site previously. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the present invention provides an image of a special offer indicator (indicator)  10  to be displayed on a television monitor  12  on top of a television commercial for a product, service, or the like (hereinafter “product”). The indicator  10  will alert a viewer of the television monitor  12  that a special coupon offer is available for the product at a website, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of which is shown on the indicator  10 . As used herein, a “website” is a site (location) on the World Wide Web. The consumer will go to the website, provide data indicating their geographic location, and be able to select from one or more coupon offers available to consumers in their market area. The indicator  10  may be displayed on top of television commercials for any number of different products from any number of different advertisers, and the website will provide coupon offers available for the different products. The consumer then prints the coupons, or adds credit to a unique coupon card, which is then redeemed at the retailer. The coupon card may be provided by the website operator, or may be a customer loyalty card available from a retailer. The system allows for Point Of Sale (POS) redemption, or more traditional redemption through a coupon clearinghouse. Another embodiment allows the coupon card to contain all offers for that consumer&#39;s market area without the need for encoding the offers on the card. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a system  50  for integrating television brand advertising with promotional marketing is shown. System  50  includes five general locations: a consumer location (e.g., a household)  52 , a point of sale location (e.g., a retail store)  54 , a television signal processing location (e.g., a national network source, a regional television station source, or a local broadcast source such as for a cable television system)  56 , an advertiser location  58 , and a website server location  60 . Positioned at the consumer location  52  are the television monitor  12 , a television signal receiver  64 , a computer  66 , and a printer  68 . Positioned at the point of sale location  54  is a register  70 , such as a cash register, computer, or the like for registering a sale of a product or service. Positioned at the television signal processing location  56  are a computer  72 , video source  74 , decoder  76 , and a graphics generator  78 . A transmitter  80  may also be located at the television signal processing location for transmitting the television signals to the consumer locations  52 . Positioned at the website server location  60  is at least one server computer  82 . Positioned at the advertiser location  58  are a computer  84 , an encoder  86 , and a video source  88 . It will be appreciated that these locations are provided to facilitate description of the system  50 , and the various components of the system  50  may be positioned at locations different than those shown as is convenient for performing the method described herein. 
     Server computer  82  is coupled to computers  66 ,  72 , and  84  by one or more communications networks  90 . Similarly, server computer  82  may be coupled to one or more point of sale registers  70  by a communications network  90 . Communications networks  90  may be a common communications network or different communications networks, and may include one or more of a local area network, a wide area network, an Internet, a telephone network, and the like. To facilitate the description of system  50 , computer  82  and computers  66 ,  72 , and  84  are discussed herein as being single computers. However, it will be appreciated that the functions performed by server computer  82  and the functions performed by computers  66 ,  72 , and  84  may be distributed to any number of computers. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , system  50  is shown including a plurality of television signal processing locations (e.g., television stations)  56 , with each television signal processing location  56  being associated with a plurality of consumer locations  52 . It will be appreciated that television signal processing locations  56  may provide the television signal to consumer locations  52  directly or through any number of additional television signal processing locations  56 . For example, the television signal processing location  56  may include a regional television station source or a local broadcast source that transmits the television signals directly to consumer locations  52  via air or cable. In another example, the television signal processing location  56  shown may include a national network source, which processes television signals and provides them to one or more regional television station sources or to local broadcast sources for transmission to consumer locations  52 . A single server location  60  may be associated with any number of television signal processing locations  56  and any number of advertiser locations  58 . 
     The function of system  50  in performing a method for integrating television brand advertising with promotional marketing will now be discussed. When a manufacturer, retailer, television commercial distributor, company that traffics television commercials, or any combination thereof (hereinafter “advertiser”) decides to promote a product or service using a cents-off coupon, the advertiser decides if the coupon is to be valid for consumers within an entire geographic area or whether the coupon is to be valid only for consumers within one or more market areas within the geographic area. Each geographic area may be defined by political areas (e.g., countries, states, counties, cities, etc.), product marketing regions, or other convenient criteria. Each market area is a portion of a geographical region, and may be defined by television Designated Market Areas (DMA), zip codes, political areas (e.g., countries, states, counties, cities, etc.), product marketing regions, or any other criteria. The advertiser might also decide that different price point offers (coupon values) are to be used for different market areas within the geographic area. The method and system for integrating television brand advertising with promotional marketing described herein allows for multiple price point offers over multiple geographic areas and market areas. 
     After deciding on the geographic area, the market areas, and the price point offer for each geographic or market area, the advertiser then accesses a coupon database stored on server computer  82  via network  90  using computer  84 . The server  82  is programmed with instructions for implementing a process  100  for creating a coupon database for the advertiser&#39;s product. A flow chart depicting an example of this process is shown in  FIG. 4 . In the example of  FIG. 4 , the geographic area is a nation, and the market area is a DMA or zip code area. Upon selecting a product and coupon offer for the product (block  102 ), the advertiser accesses the server  82 . The advertiser is presented with a selection of whether the coupon offer is regional (e.g., national) or based on market area (e.g., DMA or zip code) (block  104 ). If the advertiser selects region, he or she is presented with a user interface allowing a single price point offer to be provided for the geographic area (block  106 ). For example, a soup advertiser may want to offer a $1 off coupon to everyone in the United States during the warm summer months, when soup sales are slower. If the advertiser selects market area, he or she is presented with a user interface allowing the different price point offers (cents-off offers) to be entered for different market areas (block  108 ). For example, a soup advertiser may offer a $1 off coupon on soup in a warmer climate market such as Las Vegas, where soup sales are lower. In the Boston DMA, the price point offer may only be $0.50, as more soup is consumed in colder climates, and the call to action can be a lower offer. In another example, an advertiser may offer a $1.00 off coupon to consumers in the same zip code, and offer no discount to consumers outside this zip code. The size of the market area, the number of market areas, and the number of different price point offers made to consumers within the different market areas can be configured as needed. The database stored on server computer  82  includes fields for identifying the advertiser, the market area(s) associated with the coupon offer, the price point offers for each geographic or market area, and other details. The system database is only limited to server computer  82  capacity, and this capacity can be expanded as needed by adding more memory to server computer  82 , or more server computers  82  to the system. 
     After the different price point offers have been entered for the different market areas, the process continues where it is determined how the market areas are defined (e.g., by DMA or by zip code) (block  110 ), and the different market area definitions are converted to a single, predetermined market area definition (blocks  112 ,  114 ). In the example shown, if the different price point offers have been entered for different DMAs, the DMAs are converted to their corresponding zip code or codes. From either block  112  or block  114 , the process  100  continues at block  116  where the coupon database is populated with the coupon offer data. 
     As shown at block  118 , the coupon database may include fields such as: market area or areas in which the coupon offer is valid (e.g., zip code or codes for coupon offer), specific price point offer (value) of the coupon for the indicated market area or areas, advertiser (e.g., manufacturer) name, offer valid dates, color coding information, printing control or other security information, expiration date, purchase requirement, product name and logo, website name and logo, picture of the product, UPC bar code information, retailer information. After the database has been populated, the process ends (block  120 ). 
     Any number of advertisers may input coupon offers to the database on server computer  82  for any number of their products. As previously noted, the system database is only limited to server computer  82  capacity, and this capacity can be expanded as needed by adding more memory to server computer  82 , or more server computers  82  to the system. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the advertiser records and edits the television commercial to its finished form, which is provided via video source  88  to encoder  86 . The video source  88  may include a pre-recorded video tape, a video feed from a television station, a digitally stored video, or any other provider of video signals. The television commercial from video source  88  is then encoded with signals from computer  84  indicating the position, size, and duration of the indicator  10  that is to be placed in the television commercial. The indicator information will be downloaded to computer  84  from server  82  via network  90  for encoding into the television commercial. 
     Preferably the indicator information is encoded in the Vertical Blanking Interval, or VB 1  of the television commercial. This is the area of a video signal that is between video frames, and has capacity to contain small amounts of data. One example of VBI use is closed captioning for the hearing impaired, commonly contained on line  21  of the video signal. The Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers (SMPTE) has created a standard for data formats within the VBI (SMPTE Standard 334.m). The regional advertising information encoded into the commercial may be packetized, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,542. 
     The indicator information only needs to be encoded on the commercial once, as the appropriate indicator  10  to be inserted into the television commercial will be provided to the television signal processing locations  56 , as is discussed in further detail hereinafter. Thus, only one specially encoded commercial needs to be created for any number of television signal processing locations  56 . This will save time and money in distribution of the commercials, as different offers may be inserted nationally, locally, or regionally at the television signal processing locations  56 . 
     After the indicator information is encoded into the television commercial, the encoded television commercial is sent to each television signal processing location  56  as a video tape, a digital video disk, a digital signal via a communications network, a video signal feed from a television station, or any other convenient means. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , a process  130  for providing advertising information to each television signal processing location  56  is shown. This process  130  may be performed at a predetermined frequency (e.g., once per day), or whenever the coupon database is updated. Information for each television signal processing location  56  is included in a TV station database in server computer  82 . For each television signal processing location  56 , the TV station database may include fields for information such as: station call letters, network affiliation, contact information, status of participation in system  50  (active, inactive), time zone, data regarding broadcasting equipment (e.g., decoder  76  and graphics generator  78 ) used at location  56 , data feed method, and associated market area or areas (e.g., DMA, zip code, etc.). 
     After the coupon database has been created as described with reference to  FIG. 4 , (block  132 ), the coupon database is processed to provide a list of current coupon offers (block  134 ). For coupon offers available to the entire geographic area, advertising information is retrieved from the coupon database and is sent via network to each television signal processing location (blocks  136 ,  138 , and  140 ). For coupon offers available to specified market areas, the coupon database is queried to determine the market area for each coupon offer (block  142 ), then the TV station database of is queried to determine the television signal processing locations  56  associated with the market areas of the coupon offers (block  144 ). The advertising information for each coupon offer is then sent to the television signal processing locations  56  associated with the market area or areas of the coupon offer (block  146 ). 
     After the advertising information is downloaded to the specific television signal processing locations  56  (blocks  140 ,  146 ), it is used to populate an image database in computer  84 . The advertising information includes graphic images for the indicator  10 , which is shown in  FIG. 1 . The advertising information may also include an audio tone to be inserted into the transmitted commercial, as an audio indicator of an offer to the consumer. When the commercial airs, the advertising information is selected from the image database in computer  84 , inserted into the commercial (block  148 ), and transmitted to the consumer locations  52  (block  150 ) or provided to another television signal processing location  56 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the indicator  10  may consist of a two-part graphic image having a first image  14  and a second image  16 . The first image  14  identifies a website managed by server computer  82 , alerting the consumer that there is a coupon offer for the specific product on the website. For example, the first image  14  may include at least a portion of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)  18  of the website. The second image  16  contains a specific price point offer  20 , be it cents or dollars off. This second image  16  can be customized for each market area individually by providing different local advertising information to different television signal processing locations  56 . The number of images stored in the image database of computer  84  need not be that many. For example, there may be a first image  14 , which always remains the same, and a few price point offer second images  16 . 
     When the encoded commercial is provided by video source  74  at television signal processing location  56 , the VBI encoded information is decoded by decoder  76  and provided to computer  72 . The information about where, when, and what indicator  10  is to be displayed is included in the information, and will be used by computer  72  to query the appropriate location in the image database. For example, the decoded information may indicate that the indicator  10  is to be displayed in the lower left hand corner of the displayed commercial for a period of 20 seconds, and should appear 15 seconds after the start of the commercial. The image and audio information from the image database is retrieved by computer and output to graphics generator  78 , which inserts the video signals for the indicator and any audio signals into the commercial. 
     After the indicator  10  has been inserted in the video signal for the commercial, television signals provided to another television signal processing location  56  or are provided to a transmitter  80  where they are transmitted to any number of consumer locations  52 . The television signals may be transmitted to the consumer locations  52  using any conventional transmission system, such as, for example, a radio frequency transmission system, satellite transmission system, optical transmission system, or hard-wired (e.g., cable) transmission. Transmitter  80  transmits a television commercial to be received by the receiver  64  and displayed by the television monitor  12  at the consumer locations  52 . 
     Periodically, the image database at one or more television signal processing locations  56  may be updated, either over network  90  or manually. This allows for the removal of indicators  10  associated with old offers, and the replacement of indicators  10  to reflect updated oilers. If, for a particular television signal processing location  56 , a computer  72  is not coupled to server  82  or does not have the necessary image database, the commercial simply plays without the indicator  10 , with the encoded VBI data being ignored by the computer  72  and formatter  78 . 
     While VBI encoding of the commercial is preferred, any commercially available encoder/decoder combination may be used. By allowing the encoded data to be in specific lines within the television signal, multiple decoder formats can be used within the same commercial, encoding it only once. Alternatively, with a national, regional, or local promotion campaign, all or part of the indicator  10  could be physically placed (not encoded) in the television commercial at, for example, the advertiser location  58 , allowing television signal processing locations  56  that are not participating in the promotion to offer viewer benefit. 
     System  50  allows for the indicator  10  to be displayed on a local, regional, or national basis while allowing for coupon offers to be tailored to a geographical or market area basis. The indicator  10  may be discreet enough as not to distract from the brand advertising of the television commercial, but noticeable enough to viewers interested M promotional offers. When a consumer viewing television monitor  12  is alerted to the specific offer by viewing the indicator  10 , they can use computer  66  to connect to the website maintained by server  82  via network  90 . The website is configured to determine the market area of the consumer using an input field to be filled in by the user or by querying a cookie located in the consumer&#39;s computer  66 . The use of the unique identifier or “cookie” in computer  66  allows server  82  to identify a particular user and to target that specific user for specific coupon and price point offers, based on geographic location, past behavior on the website, or by coupons previously redeemed. 
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart depicting a process  160  that may be employed by server computer  82  for determining the market area of the consumer. After the consumer views the television commercial with the indicator  10  (block  162 ), the consumer browses the website indicated in the indicator using computer  66  (block  164 ). The website then queries the consumer&#39;s computer  66  for a cookie associated with the website (block  166 ). If the cookie exists (block  168 ), indicating that the consumer has previously logged into the site, the consumer is logged into the website and a customized greeting appears (block  170 ). If the cookie does not exist (block  168 ), the consumer is asked whether he or she has logged onto the site before (block  172 ). If the consumer responds affirmatively, the consumer is provided with a field for entering a password (block  174 ), and, after entering the password, the consumer is logged into the site and the consumer&#39;s information is retrieved from the consumer database (block  170 ). If the consumer responds negatively (block  172 ), the website queries the consumer for registration information such as an address, phone number, zip code, password, and the like (block  176 ). This information is then stored with a corresponding consumer identifier in the consumer database (block  178 ), and a cookie including the identifier is provided to computer (block  180 ). The consumer is then logged into the site (block  170 ). After the consumer is logged onto the site (block  170 ), the consumer&#39;s market area (e.g., zip code) is retrieved from the cookie in computer  66  (block  182 ), and the user is redirected to a coupon offer page in the website (block  184 ). 
       FIG. 7  is a flow chart depicting a process  200  employed by the  1 , website for providing the coupon offer page to the consumer. After the consumer&#39;s market area is determined using the process of  FIG. 6  (block  202 ), the consumer is asked whether he or she wants to search for specific coupon offers (block  204 ). If the consumer answers affirmatively, the consumer is presented with a field to enter key words (block  206 ), which are used along with the consumer&#39;s market area to query the coupon database (block  208 ). If no coupon offers matching the key words and market area are found (block  210 ), the consumer is again asked to enter key words (block  206 ). If coupon offers are found (block  210 ), the consumer is presented with a listing of the matching coupon offers (block  212 ). If, at block  204 , the consumer answers negatively, the coupon database is queried for coupon offers valid in the consumer&#39;s market area (block  214 ). If coupon offers are found, the consumer is presented with a listing of the matching coupon offers (block  212 ). The coupon offers may be presented to the consumer arranged by category and sub category of item (block  216 ). Associated with each coupon offer presented to the consumer is a check box, field, or the like, which allows the consumer to select one or more coupon offers from the list (block  218 ). After the consumer is finished selecting coupon offers (block  220 ), a coupon printing or encoding process  250 , as shown in  FIG. 8 , is started (block  222 ). 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , the coupon printing or encoding process  250  begins after the consumer is finished selecting coupon oilers (block  252 ). The process  250  continues at block  254 , where a list of the coupon offers selected by the user is generated from the coupon database. At block  256 , it is determined whether the coupon is to be printed. This decision may be made in response to a selection by the consumer, or by a predetermined setting made by the advertiser or operator of the website. If the coupon is to be printed, a unique session and user ID is generated from the coupon data and from the consumer&#39;s information (block  258 ). The coupons are then generated featuring the appropriate fields from the coupon database (block  260 ). The coupons are then sent to a secure print application for printing (block  262 ), and may be encoded with a unique identification. The consumer may choose to print the coupon in either color or black and white. The printed coupon contains specific pieces of data pulled from the database in server  82 . These pieces of data may include: specific price point offer or face value of the coupon; color coding to prevent fraud; expiration date (either fixed or based on date printed); purchase requirement; product name and logo; “Internet Coupon” labeling; website name and logo; picture of the product; encoded UPC bar code; legal disclaimer wording. Each coupon may also be encoded with a specific user ID to prevent fraudulent redemption. 
     In one embodiment, the website managed by server  82  could provide the consumer with the ability to select a particular retailer or point of sale  54  for each coupon selected. The server  82  would then tailor the coupon for the particular retailer or point of sale  54 . In another embodiment, a particular retailer or point of sale  54  may pay the advertiser or operator of the website to have the name of the retailer or point of sale  54 , along with any additional savings for shopping at the retailer or point of sale  54 , appear on the coupon. This may be limited by server  82  to consumers in certain market areas. 
     Depending on advertiser preference, the website managed by server  82  may allow for the printing of individual coupon offers on single sheets of letter-sized paper that would not require the coupons to be torn or cut to be redeemed. This single sheet of paper would help save in paper handling fees from a standard coupon redemption clearinghouse. 
     If the coupons are not to be printed (block  256 ), the coupon offers are stored in a database in server computer  82  by consumer identification (block  264 ). The coupon offers can then be retrieved by user identification at the point of sale  54 . Alternatively, if the coupons are not to be printed (block  256 ), the coupon offers may be stored as credit associated with a customer loyalty card provided by a retailer. For example, a retailer may offer a customer loyalty card that, when used during check out at the retailer&#39;s store, provides a discount available only to customers with the loyalty card. Server computer  82  may be configured to provide the coupon offers to the point of sale location  54 , or to a central server associated with point of sale location  54 , where the coupon offers are stored as credit on the customer loyalty card. When the consumer uses the customer loyalty card at checkout at the point of sale location  54 , the coupon discount will be applied. This may be an option available to the consumer on the website, or may be performed automatically by an agreement between the operator of the website and the retailer. 
     From either block  262  or block  264 , process  250  continues at block  266 , where a record of the offers printed or stored by the consumer is stored in an invoice database in server computer  82 . Records in the invoice database are sorted by advertiser (block  268 ), which allows the operator of server  82  to bill the advertiser for the printing or selection of the specific offers. Software contained within the server  82  allows for specific control of the coupon offers, including number of coupons that can be printed by one individual. 
     After the invoice database is sorted (block  268 ), the consumer&#39;s session at the website is over, and the consumer may redeem the coupons at the point of sale  54 . Referring to  FIG. 9 , a coupon redemption process  280  is shown. When the consumer shops with the retailer at the point of sale  54  (block  282 ), they can select their products for purchase from their shopping list or coupon list (block  284 ). After the consumer has selected the products for purchase, they then enter the checkout line to purchase the products (block  286 ). 
     If the coupons are printed (block  288 ), the consumer presents the coupon to the retailer (block  290 ) and a scanning device at the point of sale  54 , which may be part of register  70 , is used to scan the entire sheet of coupons at once (block  292 ). The scanning device may include a feeder mechanism and bar code reader. Once the discounts have been applied to the purchase, the coupon sheet or coupons may be destroyed, marked as used, or otherwise voided. Scanning the bar code of the coupon provides the register  70  with information regarding the coupons, including each product and its associated discount (block  300 ). 
     If the consumer is using a coupon card, the consumer presents the retailer with the card (block  294 ), and the retailer scans or otherwise enters the consumer&#39;s coupon card and provides the coupon card ID to the server  82  via network  90  (block  296 ). If the coupon card is a customer loyalty card provided by the retailer, the coupon card ID is matched to coupon offers previously selected and stored as credit on the customer loyalty card (block  298 ). Information regarding each product and its associated discount (price point offer) are then provided to the register  70  (block  300 ) by any system employed by the point of sale location  54  for applying customer loyalty cards. Alternatively, if the coupon card is provided by the website operator, the consumer&#39;s coupon card ID is matched to coupon offers previously selected and stored by the consumer in server  82  (block  298 ). The server  82  then provides register  70  with information regarding each product and its associated discount (price point offer) via network  90  (block  300 ). 
     After the information for each product and its associated discount is provided to the register  70  (block  300 ), register  70  matches the products purchased to the specific coupon offers (block  302 ). If there is no match (block  302 ), no discount is applied to the products purchased by the consumer (block  304 ). If there is a match (block  302 ), the applicable discount is applied at the point of sale ( 306 ). If the register  70  is coupled to the server  82 , point of sale redemption instantly occurs, and the sales data is provided by register  70  to server  82  via network  90 . The sales data is then recorded in the server  82  database for invoicing the advertiser (blocks  308 ,  312 ). The sales data may also used to void the coupon offer in the server  82  for the particular customer to prevent duplicate use (block  310 ). If there is no point of sale redemption (e.g., if register  70  is not connected to network  90 ), the coupon is sent to a manual coupon redemption center for collecting and counting. 
     The data collected by server  82  for coupon printing/storage and for each coupon redemption may be provided in report form for use by advertisers or retailers. This report can be provided to advertisers and retailers on a yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, or sub-daily basis, and may be applied by advertisers or retailers in various ways. For example, a report indicating the number of coupon offers selected by consumers will allow an advertiser to determine the effectiveness of a coupon offer. In another example, the server  82  can detect if a specific coupon offer has been printed, but not yet redeemed. A report indicating this information will allow the advertiser to increase or otherwise change the offer to hasten redemption. In another example, the number of offers printed or stored by consumers in a market area can be used to forecast a demand for that product in that market area. With such forecasting ability, advertisers or retailers can stock a particular product in advance of this demand. Other information that may be reported by server  82  include number of site registrations, number of coupon cards versus number of printed coupons used, redemption rate as a function of discount, and the like. 
     The database in server  82  may be configured to allow advertisers to update their coupon offers themselves, using computer  82  at the advertiser location  58 , allowing the advertiser to quickly change coupon offers without contacting the various television signal processing locations  56 . Based on aggregate data received on specific redemption rates for specific offers, which may be stored in server  82  and retrieved by computer  84  or provided in the aforementioned reports provided by server  82 , the coupon offer may be changed based on immediate and actual redemption data. This change to the coupon offer for the product can be made quickly by altering the coupon database in server  82  using computer  84  (or any other authorized computer) via network  90 . Once the coupon database has been changed, the appropriate advertising information can be provided to the image database at each of the appropriate television signal processing locations  56 . Thus, the next time the television signal processing location  56  transmits the television commercial, the updated indicator  10  will appear, and when the consumer accesses the website to retrieve the coupon, the coupon offer will have already been updated. 
       FIG. 10  depicts a process  320  employed by the website managed by server  82  for providing special offers to consumers who have visited the website previously. When a previous consumer browses the website managed by server (block  322 ), the cookie is read from the consumer&#39;s computer  66  (block  324 ). Using the consumer&#39;s identification number from the cookie, the consumer&#39;s past coupon redemption behavior is retrieved from the database in server  82  (block  326 ). If the consumer has not redeemed coupon offers previously retrieved by the consumer from the coupon database (block  328 ), those unredeemed coupon offers are retrieved from the database (block  330 ). If any of these unredeemed offers have been changed or marked for additional discounts (block  332 ), these offers are presented to the consumer in interstitial or pop-up fashion (block  334 ), allowing the consumer to select the offers that appeal to them (block  336 ). After the consumer has selected the offers (block  336 ), or if the consumer has redeemed all previously printed or stored offers (block  328 ), the consumer&#39;s past behavior and redemption are analyzed (block  338 ). This analysis may include, for example, providing bonus points for the number of times a consumer has redeemed coupons. Based on the results of the analysis, the server then determines whether the consumer is entitled to other special offers (block  340 ). For example, additional cents-off may be provided to a consumer who has accumulated a certain amount of bonus points. The special offers may be presented to the consumer for selection in interstitial or pop-up fashion (block  342 ). After the consumer reviews and selects any desired offers (block  344 ), the consumer provided with the regular offers page of the website (block  346 ), as described with reference to  FIG. 7 , where the consumer can select regular offers and proceed to the coupon printing or coupon card process of  FIG. 8  (block  348 ). 
     The present invention provides a way to use the large reach of television advertising to help target promotional or coupon marketing. This will allow greater efficiency of current advertising monies being spent on both brand and promotional advertising. It also allows greater time flexibility in the changing of offers, from months to mere hours and the ability to offer quickly-perishable coupons. For example, if the manufacturer noticed a particular coupon offer was not doing well in one market area vs. the rest of the region, all they would have to do is contact the server location  60  with instructions to change the coupon offer. This may be accomplished through a connection with server  82  via network  90 . Within hours or minutes, the coupon offer in the database in server  82  would be changed, and advertising information including the change would be downloaded to computer at the television signal processing location  56  associated with the market area, where the image database in computer would be updated to include the changed price point offer displayed in indicator  10 . The next time the TV commercial is transmitted for that product, the new price point offer would be presented to the consumer. To change the same offer in a nationally printed FSI would take months, if not being impossible. 
     While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another.