Abstract:
A method for recovering acquisition cost wherein a company is engaged by a client to provide marketing media having a set acquisition cost, a recovery amount, and a recovery condition. The company performs or delivers the marketing media consistent with the acquisition agreement. At least two different audits are performed to determine whether the marketing media were successfully delivered, and the recovery condition was met prior to the return of the recovery amount to the client.

Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    The present embodiments relate generally to a method to recover acquisition costs for marketing media. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    There exists a need to help businesses manage effective and risk free marketing campaigns or marketing spending at the lowest possible cost. 
         [0003]    With rising marketing costs and a fast-paced hi-tech environment, business owners must find a way to stay ahead of the competition and to be able to compete financially without overspending on marketing products and services. 
         [0004]    A need has existed for a system that enables the recovery of acquisition costs, which include the costs to buy, rent, or lease products, services, or delivery medium of such products and services based on use of different kinds of goals and media. 
         [0005]    There exists a need to help businesses to increase profit margin by reducing marketing expenditure. 
         [0006]    There exists a need to help businesses to sustain growth and competitiveness by effectively allocating funding into crucial areas, such as research and development, by reducing marketing cost. 
         [0007]    There exists a need to help start-up businesses to establish their brands in the beginning by effectively marketing their products and services without the constraint of marketing spending. 
         [0008]    There exists a need to help non-profit organizations or political parties to communicate effectively with the public at minimal cost. 
         [0009]    There exists a need to eliminate marketing frauds such as computer pay-per-click fraud, or falsely report of marketing statistical data etc. that can quickly deplete company marketing budget. 
         [0010]    The present embodiments meet these needs. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    The detailed description will be better understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings as follows: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  depicts an embodiment of the method of the invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  depicts an illustration of a computer system usable to perform the embodied method. 
       
    
    
       [0014]    The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       [0015]    Before explaining the present embodiments in detail, it is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the particular embodiments and that they can be practiced or carried out in various ways. 
         [0016]    The invention relates to a method to recover acquisition costs for marketing media by utilizing an agreement for an acquisition of marketing media, designating a recovery amount, and designating a recovery condition when the recovery amount is returned. 
         [0017]    It should be noted that the term “acquisition cost”, as used herein is the cost paid by the client to the company for the purchasing of marketing media. The acquisition cost or costs of marketing media can include setup and disposal cost, material cost, construction cost, labor cost, design cost, bandwidth cost, hosting cost, delivery and display cost, operating cost, hardware and software cost, advertising cost, advising and consulting cost, insurance cost, penalty cost (if the agreement, which is also termed “contract”, herein is breached), delivery medium cost, deposit, or a variety of other types of cost directly related to buying media. 
         [0018]    The term “marketing media” as used herein, encompasses the following: marketing product(s), marketing service(s), marketing concept(s), delivery medium(s), or any combinations thereof. 
         [0019]    The term “recovery amount” as used herein is defined as a portion (less than 100%), or a full amount (100%), or more than 100%, such as up to 500%, or any predetermined amount, which was agreed upon between the company, the client, a third party, and combinations thereof when the engagement was initiated, which is returned back to the client when the sequence of steps used in the invention are followed. 
         [0020]    For example, a client pays $1 million dollars to the company to display an advertisement 10 million times on a website and agrees the recovery amount is $1 million if the advertisement is displayed 10 million times in 12 months. The recovery condition is the last day of the 12 th  month, upon which the recovery amount of $1 million is returned back to the client. 
         [0021]    The term “recovery condition” can be one, or any combination, of the following: 
         [0022]    (1) A payment date; 
         [0023]    (2) Meeting or exceeding a minimum amount of acquisition cost; 
         [0024]    (3) The occurrence of an event; 
         [0025]    (4) The occurrence of a series of events; 
         [0026]    (5) Successful delivery of the marketing media; or 
         [0027]    (6) Expiration of a period of time for use of a delivery medium; or similar other event. 
         [0028]    In an embodiment of the invention when one or any combination of the events (1) to (6) noted above occurs, a recovery amount of the acquisition cost is returned to the client. 
         [0029]    The term “payment date” as used herein can refer to, any specific point in time such as: a second; a minute; a hour; a day; a week; a month; a year; a decade; an event; or any arbitrary unit of time that has no correlation to the actual calendar, which is used as a quantifiable measure to determine the recovery condition. 
         [0030]    An exemplary “Specific Payment Date” can be the date that the recovery amount is returned to the client on the 365 th  day after a campaign is started. 
         [0031]    An exemplary “Meeting or Exceeding a Minimum Amount of Acquisition Cost” can be the percentage of the recovery amount is returned to the client based upon the amount of acquisition cost contributed. For example in order to get back a full 100% of the acquisition cost, or more than 100%, such as 400% or 500%, the client is required to purchase $100,000 dollars or more of marketing media. 
         [0032]    An exemplary “Event” can be the day when the client&#39;s company stock is below $12 per share. 
         [0033]    An exemplary “Series of Events” is when the client successfully sold 10,000 products as projected, and a merger between the client and another company has occurred. 
         [0034]    An exemplary “Successful Delivery of the Marketing Media” is when the number of ad exposures successfully reached 10 millions exposures. 
         [0035]    An exemplary “Expiration of Delivery Medium” is when the usage of a broadcasting station or a video-sharing website reached the end of the third year. 
         [0036]    The method of the invention is used by a client and the company to support the client&#39;s objective(s), such as to promote the client&#39;s brand(s), or to promote the client&#39;s products, services, concepts, delivery medium, or any combination thereof. 
         [0037]    The embodied method can be best understood with reference to the Figures. 
         [0038]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the first element, Element  100 , of the method involves the client engaging the company for marketing media. The engagement step can include the drafting of an agreement or contract to define the relationship between the parties including the details of the recovery condition and the recovery amount. 
         [0039]    The engagement step includes defining and identifies all participating parties involved such as but not limited to the client, the company, a third party, or any combination thereof. A third party can be an insurance institution, like State Farm, a bank, a financial institution, such as a stock trading company, like Schwab, a legal advising entity such as a law firm, or a similar service provider, such as an accountant. 
         [0040]    The next step of the method, Element  101 , involves the client, the company, and a third party, or any combination thereof, defining the following terms in the agreement:
       a. The marketing media to be acquired, delivered, performed, or a combination of these items, Element  102 ;   b. An acquisition cost, Element  103 ;   c. A recovery amount, Element  104 ; and   d. A recovery condition shown as Element  105 .       
 
         [0045]    Once an acquisition of marketing media, an acquisition cost, a recovery amount, and a recovery condition are agreed upon, the next step shown as Element  106  is initiated. 
         [0046]    Element  106  involves the delivery of the marketing media, which can be products, services, concepts, or delivery medium by the company or a third party to the client. 
         [0047]    Element  107  shows that the company performs a delivery audit to determine whether the marketing media was successfully delivered, and a recovery condition audit, Element  108 , which is performed to determine whether the recovery condition shown as Element  105  was met or not. 
         [0048]    If both audits (Element  107  and Element  108 ) indicate that the delivery of marketing media and the recovery condition was met, then the delivery of marketing media is stopped, and the agreed upon recovery amount is returned to the client as depicted in Element  109 . The audits are performed using a processor and computer instructions on computer readable media instructing the processor to perform the steps of the audit to verify that delivery has been achieved and the recovery condition has been met. The processor can be a laptop, PC or other wireless processing device like a laptop on using a website connected to a server that is accessible via the Internet. 
         [0049]    The recovery amount can be returned by wire transfer, by bank transfer, by check, by unmarked bills, by cash, by credit, or any symbolic fund, trading, bartering, which can be equated to monetary value that the client has agreed with the company as a method of payment. 
         [0050]    If the marketing media was successfully delivered, but the recovery condition audit shows that the recovery condition  105  was not met, then the method proceeds to the step shown as Element  110 , wherein the delivery of the marketing media is stopped. The client and the company then wait until the recovery condition is achieved, then the recovery amount is returned to the client, Element  111 . 
         [0051]    If the marketing media was not successfully delivered as determined by the audit of Element  107 , yet the recovery condition was successful according to the audit of Element  108 , then the recovery amount  104  is returned to the client as shown in the step of Element  112 . Then the step shown in Element  113  occurs, wherein the company continues to deliver the marketing media until it is fully delivered as shown by one or more additional delivery audits performed by the company. Then delivery of the marketing media is stopped. 
         [0052]    The term “acquisition cost” refers to fee that is paid using cash, check, credit, bank transfer funds, or any symbolic funds, trading, or bartering, which can be equated to a monetary value that the client agreed to pay the company, or to invest into the company, or to deposit into a third-party account for the purpose of purchasing media. 
         [0053]    An acquisition of marketing media is defined as an acquisition of marketing products, marketing services, or marketing concepts, which can be a purchase of a number of exposures; or a number of visits to the client&#39;s websites or physical business locations; a purchase of exposures resulting in a number of client products, services, or memberships being sold; a number of marketing item giveaways; a number of visits to events; a number of flyers, handouts, prints, publications; or a marketing target such as, an amount of profit, an amount of cash, a number of credits, a percentage of population, or a number of events; a duration of marketing services in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades; or the time invested in creating marketing campaigns, concepts, slogans, artworks, presentations, flyers, handouts, prints, publications; or any combinations thereof. 
         [0054]    An acquisition of the delivery medium is defined as a purchase or a lease of a partial or a full exclusive right to utilize a channel or a network of channels, such as but not limited to a website, a physical location, a TV station, a radio station, a transportation channel, an individual, a media content delivery company, or any company that has the capability or expertise to perform mass communication. 
         [0055]    The term “client” is defined as any number of the groups, which have a need to communicate or acquire marketing media. 
         [0056]    A “client” can be an individual, a group of individuals, a business, an association, an organization, a non-profit organization, a political party, a partnership, a corporation, an agency, a professional society, an other online business entity, an offline business entity, or any combinations thereof. 
         [0057]    The term “company” is defined as an entity, which has the marketing medium, has marketing media capability, or has the expertise to prepare, create, provide, communicate, or deliver marketing media. The company can be an individual, a group of individuals, a business, an association, an organization, a non-profit organization, a political party, a partnership, a corporation, an agency, professional society, an ad content delivery company, an other online business entity, an offline business entity, a third party or a group of parties associated with this company, any entity that has the capability or expertise to perform mass communication, or any combinations thereof. 
         [0058]    “Marketing media” can be one or more of the following online embedded marketing means, such as: online e-mail marketing, online incentive marketing, online products marketing, online discounts for products and services marketing, online services marketing, online personal-ad marketing, online search engine marketing, online news marketing, online banners marketing, online pop-ups marketing, online maps marketing, online information and blogs marketing, online image marketing, online text marketing, online audio marketing, online video marketing, online syndication marketing, or any combinations thereof. 
         [0059]    The term “online”, as the term is used herein, refers to electronic communication via a public network, such as the Internet or a private network, such as AOL, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Storage Area Network (SAN), System Area Network (SAN), Server Area Network (SAN), Small Area Network (SAN), Personal Area Network (PAN), Desk Area Network (DAN), Controller Area Network (CAN), Cluster Area Network (CAN), or combinations thereof. 
         [0060]    “Syndication marketing” as the term is used herein refers to a form of syndication in which a section of an advertising space is made available for others to use for the purpose of marketing. A form of syndication marketing is RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which is a method that quickly gathers and displays information, images, text, audio, video from multiple sources. 
         [0061]    Embedded marketing is a form of marketing wherein actual products, services, concepts, or brands are purposefully displayed in movie, television, website, broadcast, lyrics, newspaper, magazine articles, and other kinds of mass communications for the purpose of marketing. 
         [0062]    “Marketing media” can also be radio ad creation and placement wherein a marketing message is selectively communicated using, satellite broadcasts, AM frequency broadcasts, FM frequency broadcasts, cable TV broadcasts, and public or private network broadcasts, or any combinations thereof. 
         [0063]    The radio ad marketing message refers to creation of unique marketing ads; embedding a marketing message in lyrics; embedding a marketing message in music; embedding marketing messages in specific topics; targeted discussion; or targeting a marketing message to specific products, services, or groups. 
         [0064]    “Marketing media” can also be television commercial creation and placement wherein a marketing message is selectively created, and is selectively communicated by using a marketing ad campaign; a banner broadcasted on a television screen; a slogan broadcasted on a television screen; a musical broadcasted on a television screen; a play broadcasted on a television screen; lyrics of a song broadcasted on a television screen; infomercials broadcasted on a television screen; spot marketing broadcasted on a television screen; TV show embedding marketing; TV syndication marketing; video embedding marketing; video game embedding marketing; video cassette movie embedding marketing; digital video disc movie embedding marketing; cable TV; network TV; Web-TV marketing; and any combinations thereof. 
         [0065]    An example of television commercial creation and placement is selectively creating a marketing message by creating a slogan that employs the use of musical lyrics and selectively communicating the message by broadcasting it during prime time network television. 
         [0066]    “Marketing media” can also be electronic or non-electronic mobile public marketing displays. Wherein, the electronic or non-electronic mobile public marketing can be the actual vehicles, or a marketing message selectively displayed on any part of a commercial vehicle; a non-commercial vehicle; a public transportation; a rental vehicle, a bus; a taxi; a boat; a ship; a jet ski, a vehicle that runs on tracks or monorails, such as a train, a trolley, a rollercoaster; an automobile; a snowmobile; a recreational vehicle; a sports utility vehicle; a truck; a van; a bicycle; a stroller; a motorcycle; a scooter; an airplane; a livestock, a domestic animals, a banner pulled by aircraft; a racecar, a lighter than air vehicle; a vehicle capable of traversing outer space or undersea; and any combinations thereof. 
         [0067]    An example of electronic or non-electronic mobile public marketing can selectively displaying a marketing message, such as a picture of a client&#39;s product with a slogan, upon a vehicle, such as, a public bus, wherein the message can be selectively displayed upon the interior or exterior of the bus. 
         [0068]    “Marketing media” includes electronic or non-electronic stationary public marketing displays including but not limited to the actual physical product itself, or a marketing message selectively displayed on a billboard; a sign; a movie theater screen; a poster; a banner; a flag; a retail store display screen; a sport arena display screen; a recreational arena display screen; a restaurant display screen; a restaurant menu; on restaurant and hotel furniture; on any part of a restaurant, hotel, or rental property; on restaurant and hotel window; a gaming and entertainment station; a hospitality display screen; a commercially projected screen; an umbrella; a bench; a stair case; a restroom; an interactive urinal communicator; a telephone or information booth; a water fountain; a waiting area; a break area; a beverage and snack vending machine; a multi-products dispenser machine (petroleum products, electronic products, toys, candies etc.); a transportation station area; a rest stop area; a refueling station; a bridge; a swimming pool; a recreational arena; a park; a building; a residential building; a fence; a rail; a road; a street; a highway; a toll-way; a parking spot; a parking lot; a parking garage; an other large visible structure or area, such as but not limited to a telephone pole, an open field, the sky; and any combinations thereof. 
         [0069]    “Marketing media” includes electronic or non-electronic personal mobile multi-function interactive marketing means, such as the following actual physical product itself, or a marketing message selectively communicated using a wireless mobile device, such as a cell phone; a camera; a global positioning system, a mobile video display; a mobile music player; a laptop; a Bluetooth®; a personal digital assistant (PDA); a Blackberry™; a pager; a MP3 player; a MP4 player; a video game; and other portable electronic device; a toy; a stroller; a shirt; a uniform; a pair of pants; an undergarment; an other garment; a tattoo; a temporary tattoo; a purse; a wallet; a handbag; a make-up accessory; a towel; a watch; an umbrella; a piece of sports equipment, uniform, and tools; a hat; a helmet; a headband; a wristband; a pair of sunglasses; a pair of eyeglasses; a pair of goggles; a pair of gloves; a mask; a suit; a jacket; a pair of shoes, boots, flip flop; a piece of recreational gear, uniform, and tools; a piece of luggage; a suitcase; a lunch bag; a set of playing cards; a business card; a box; a bottled beverage; any consumable products; a restaurant condiment package; a napkin; a tray; a cup; a coaster; wrapping paper; an office supply product; a pen; a pencil; an eraser; a notebook; a mouse pad; a personal computing product; a livestock or domestic animals; and any combinations thereof. 
         [0070]    An example of an electronic personal mobile multi-function interactive marketing means is an event announcement selectively communicated to the public by sending a text message on a mobile phone. 
         [0071]    Another example of electronic personal mobile multifunction interactive marketing means is when a multi-function interactive service provider delivers a coupon in real-time onto a person&#39;s cell-phone screen as the person walks by the store, which offers the coupon. 
         [0072]    “Marketing media” can also be viral marketing, which is a service that can include hiring a public speaker; hiring a person with a marketing sandwich; creating surveys and hiring surveyors to perform the surveys; locating and contracting for celebrity, athletes, political figure endorsements; marketing at a trade show; marketing at a live show; marketing at a live event; locating and contracting for concert band endorsements; marketing on a customer&#39;s artwork; marketing using body arts; marketing in graffiti; marketing on livestock or domestic animals; marketing by imprinting on sands, beaches, turfs; marketing on blogs; marketing in media; marketing in digital media; marketing with instant messaging; marketing by sponsorship; sending out chain e-mails; creating a controversial debate; participating in Internet Relay Chatting (IRC); marketing on a Bluetooth®; embedding a marketing message in music lyrics; embedding a marketing message in movie plots; embedding a marketing message in novel plots; embedding a marketing message in game plots; participating in multi-level marketing; arranging personal meetings or net meeting; participating in seminars; performing lectures; participating in demonstrations; marketing by word-of-mouth; targeting advertisements toward certain products, services, groups; and any combinations thereof. 
         [0073]    “Marketing media” can include marketing services that promote a brand, a product, a service using contests or games. The term “contests”, as referred to herein, includes a lottery game, a sweepstake, a contest game, a celebrity game, an online game, an off-line game, an other type of game, and any combinations thereof. 
         [0074]    “Marketing media” can also be printed and recordable marketing media such as the product itself, or periodicals, personal letters, books, newspapers, napkins, stickers, temporary tattoo, consumable products, non-consumable products, coasters, cups, bottles, containers, trays, wrapping paper, toilet paper; toys, musical instruments, direct mail, customer payment receipts, business cards, free standing inserts, flags, banners, yellow pages, white pages, other phone books, flyers, calendars, personal classified ads, folders, posters, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVD), solid state recordable media, promotional items, commercial packaging, non-commercial packaging, computer peripheral, livestock, domestic animals, and any combinations thereof. 
         [0075]    An example of selectively communicating a marketing message in print or other recordable media can be displaying a picture of a specific product accompanied by a sales slogan in a popular magazine. 
         [0076]    Any combination of the marketing media above can be included in the acquisition of marketing media. 
         [0077]    The invention further contemplates that the method can be implemented as computer instructions on computer readable media for instructing a processor to perform the method to recovery acquisition cost as described above. 
         [0078]    It is additionally contemplated that the method or the computer instructions can be embodied into a computer system as depicted in  FIG. 2 , which is an illustration of a computer system to perform the embodied methods. 
         [0079]      FIG. 2  shows a workstation  300  including a computer  301 , which can be coupled to a video display  302  via an external graphics bus  306 . 
         [0080]    The external graphics bus  306  can be an Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) compliant bus. The term “coupled” as used herein encompasses a direct connection, an indirect connection, or the like. 
         [0081]    Computer  301  in an embodiment includes a processor  310 , such as the Pentium™ processor manufactured by Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif. In another embodiment, the processor  310  can be an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Computer  301  can include a memory  320  coupled to the processor. 
         [0082]    Memory  320  encompasses devices adapted to store digital information, such as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Rambus™ DRAM (RDRAM), flash memory, a hard disk, an optical digital storage device, a solid-state storage device, a combination thereof, etc. 
         [0083]    The computer  301  can be coupled to a keyboard  303  and a mouse  304  via an external computer bus  305 . In one embodiment, the external computer bus  305  is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) compliant bus. 
         [0084]    Memory  320  can include computer instructions adapted to be executed by the processor  310  to perform an embodiment of the method of the present invention. 
         [0085]    The term “computer instructions adapted to be executed” includes computer instructions that are ready to be executed in machine language by a processor, or are computer instructions that require further manipulation (for example, compilation, decryption, decoding, or provided with an access code) to be ready to be executed by a processor  310 . 
         [0086]    In one embodiment, the memory  320  can include a graphical user interface (GUI) module  321  to implement a graphical user interface for use by a user. 
         [0087]    In another embodiment, the workstation  300  is coupled to a server  360  via a network  350 , and the server  360  has a processor  380  and a memory  390 . Memory  390  can include instructions adapted to be executed by the processor  380  to perform a method in accordance with embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0088]    Examples of network  350  include the internet, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Storage Area Network (SAN), System Area Network (SAN), Server Area Network (SAN), Small Area Network (SAN), Personal Area Network (PAN), Desk Area Network (DAN), Controller Area Network (CAN), Cluster Area Network (CAN), or a communications network, a computer network, or any combination thereof, etc. 
         [0089]    In an embodiment, the server  360  is coupled to a storage device  361  that typically stores data on magnetic medium such as a magnetic disk, a solid-state storage device, or an optical storage device. 
         [0090]    The storage device  361  may store application programs and associated data files and or documents. Examples of documents include word processing documents, spreadsheet documents, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) documents, graphics, video, audio data and the like. 
         [0091]    Workstation  300  can access data stored in the storage device  361  via server  360  and network  350 . 
         [0092]    In an embodiment, server  360  can display information on display  302  by sending information signals to workstation  300  via network  350 . Examples of display information include data a GUI component, a web page, and the like. 
         [0093]    The storage device  361  can contain data  323  can encompass hierarchical data, non-hierarchical data, and the like. Data  323  can be a document corresponding to a particular application such as a word processing document, a spreadsheet document, an HTML document, and the like. 
         [0094]    Computer instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform the embodied methods are stored on a computer-readable medium and distributed as software. 
         [0095]    The computer-readable medium can be a device that stores digital information. For example, a computer-readable medium includes software program that can be transferred through a public or private network, a portable magnetic disk, such as a floppy disk; a portable solid-state memory device; or a Zip™ disk, manufactured by the Iomega Corporation of Roy, Utah (Zip™ is a registered trademark of Iomega Corporation); or a Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM); or a Digital Video Disc (DVD), a direct computer peer-to-peer communication is known in the art for distributing software. The computer-readable medium can be distributed to a user that has a processor suitable for executing instructions adapted to be executed by the use of a network. 
         [0096]    It is additionally contemplated that in one embodiment of the invention, computer instructions on computer readable media can instruct the processor to perform the steps of an embodiment of the method. 
         [0097]    An embodiment of the method contemplates that at least one of the audits can be repeated or revised during the course of the engagement of the company by the client to shorten the time period for performing or delivering of the marketing media. 
         [0098]    The audit is preferably performed by the company, but can be performed by the client, a third party, or a combination of these entities. 
         [0099]    An embodiment of the method contemplates that the recovery amount can be any predetermined amount, which was agreed upon between the company, the client, a third party, or combinations thereof when the engagement was initiated, which is returned back to the client. 
         [0100]    The acquisition of marketing media can be for marketing campaigns, marketing products, marketing services, marketing concepts, or the delivery medium of such campaigns, products, services, and concepts. The marketing media can be an online or off line marketing. 
         [0101]    While these embodiments have been described with emphasis on the embodiments, it should be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the embodiments might be practiced other than as specifically described herein.