Patent ID: 12243055

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following is a description of a system and a method for delivering targeted advertisements to consumers over a network, such as the Internet or similar integrated network. An example of such a system will be described so that one can make the system; however, the embodiments, which are defined by the appended claims, are not limited to only the system described below. With reference toFIG.1, the system8allows for communication among the following individuals or entities: marketers10, financial institutions12and consumers14. The system can also allow companies or entities that are not financial institutions to allow for the delivery of advertisements on their web sites or other communication platform—these entities will be referred to as third party advertisement presenters16.

The marketers10are companies or individuals who wish to deliver an advertisement to the consumers14. More particularly, the system allows marketers10to deliver advertisements to consumers who are ready, able and willing (RAW) to buy the products or services offered by the marketer. The consumers14are also customers of at least one of the financial institutions that share information within the system. The financial transactional history of the consumers, which is provided by the financial institutions, is used to define a market segment that will receive targeted advertisements over the network. The financial institutions12can include banks, savings and loans, credit unions, retailers and the like. The third party advertisement presenters16operate web sites that are not affiliated with the any of the financial institutions (or are unsecure web sites that are operated by the financial institutions) that allow for the delivery of advertisements. The system is designed to maintain the anonymity of the consumers while allowing the marketers to have their advertisements delivered to consumers who fall within their defined market segment.

Generally the system includes a secure database20(or a plurality of secure databases) that is/are operated by the financial institutions12. The financial institution secure database20stores, or warehouses, the financial transactions (and other financial information) of the customers of the financial institution along with other non-financial information. These financial transactions can include the debits and credits of the customers of the bank, the loans that are held by the bank for that customer, credit/debit card transactions and the like. The other information about the customer that is stored in the financial information secure database20includes information such as the identity of the customer, the age and sex of the customer and the home zip code of the customer. This customer information is associated with a unique customer identification code (UCIC) that associates the customer to the information while still maintaining the anonymity of the customer. By anonymity is meant that the information communicated to the advertising delivery provider precludes the provider from knowing who the consumer really is so that the “cookie” presented to the consumer is anonymous. Accordingly, the UCIC can be referred to as an anonymous coding. For example, the UCIC is not based on the name, address or social security number of the customer, which could lead to the identity of the customer becoming known. The UCIC is tied to the financial transactions of the customer, the age and sex of the customer, and the zip code of the customer; however, more personal information, such as the social security number, phone number, credit card numbers and the name of the customer, is not associated with the UCIC, thus protecting the identity of the customer.

The system also includes a secure database22that is operated by advertisement delivery provider. This database22associates the UCIC with the information that is similar to that stored in the financial institutions databases. The advertisement delivery provider database22stores, or warehouses, the financial information and other non-personal information that it receives from a number of different financial institutions. The advertisement delivery provider database22also associates an advertisement delivery identification code (ADIC) and a financial institution identification code (FIIDC) for each individual customer stored in its database and associates these codes with the UCIC that is provided by the financial institution database. The ADIC is unique to each customer stored in the database. The FIIDC is associated with the financial institution that has the provided the customer information for the unique customer. Since the UCIC maintains the anonymity of the consumer to which it is matched, the ADIC and the FIIDC also maintain that anonymity of the consumer because no personal information is matched to these codes. Accordingly, the UCIC and the FIIDC can also be referred to as anonymous codings.

The system8also includes a first interface24, or portal, which will be referred to as a non-consumer portal, that allows marketers10, financial institutions12and third party advertisement presenters16to communicate with the advertisement delivery provider database through a processor26, which runs system software and is operated by the advertisement delivery provider. The system further includes a second interface28, which will be referred to as a consumer portal, through which consumers14will receive targeted advertisements based on non-personal information that is known about the individual consumer who has logged onto the consumer portal28.

Generally, the method for delivering targeted advertisements to consumers includes a marketer10defining a market segment, a financial institution12providing a base of customers from which the market segment can be drawn, and an entity (the advertisement delivery provider) that delivers advertisements to consumers that are within the defined market segment. A market segment is group of people or entities that share one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar product needs. A method for delivering targeted advertisements to consumers will be described in detail so that one skilled in the art can practice the method; however, the order in which the steps of the method are practiced can deviate from the order in which they are depicted in the FIGURES.

FIG.2depicts steps that can be carried out by the marketer to deliver targeted advertisements to consumers. The marketer is the entity that desires to sell a product or a service and therefore wishes to advertise its products or services. The marketer can also simply wish to deliver advertisements to a market segment and not be in the business of selling a product or service, e.g. a charitable organization. At100the marketer defines a market segment that is to receive an advertisement. Prior to defining the market segment, the marketer will typically have developed an advertisement that it would like to deliver to a consumer who is within the defined market segment. For example, a marketer desiring to sell sport cars may define the market segment to be females who have a monthly car payment of over $450. The market segment could be narrowed, for example to where a consumer lives, the number of car payments that the consumer may have left on a car loan or lease, the monthly deposits made into the consumer's checking or savings account and other information that may be relevant in determining whether the consumer is in the market for a sports car. As will be described with more detail with reference toFIGS.3and4, the market segment can be defined solely by the marketer or the market segment can be defined with the aid of software utilized within system.

With continued reference toFIG.1, at100the market segment is defined by the marketer filling out an order screen, which in the depicted system embodiment is a web portal (non-consumer portal24inFIG.1) that is operating the software that facilitates defining the market segment. Financial institution customers that fall within the market segment comprise the group of consumers who will receive the targeted advertisement of the marketer, which in the example described above is an advertisement for a sports car.

At102, market segment order data is batched with other market segment order data that has been received from other marketers or with market segment order data that has been received from the same marketer requesting advertisements be delivered to a different market segment. The market segment data is batched in the advertisement delivery provider database22(FIG.1).

At104, the site (or sites) that is/are to present the advertisement approves or disapproves of the advertisement(s) that are to be delivered on its site. Typically, the site where the advertisement is to be presented is the secure web site where the financial institution's customer performs transactions over the network (e.g. the financial institution's secure web site). Nevertheless, the site where the advertisement is to be delivered can also include unsecure web sites (e.g. cnn.com, espn.com and the like). If the advertisement is not approved, then at106the marketer is informed of this decision and can also be given the reason for the disapproval of the advertisement. More description of the process involved in approval of the advertisement is described atFIG.4.

If the advertisement is approved by at least some of the operators of web sites that are to display the advertisements, than at108, the order data is processed to determine the customers who fall within the market segment. The advertisement delivery provider database22(FIG.1) is queried by the software on the processor26, which may include the database22, to locate customers that fall within the market segment. In this database, each consumer, who is also a customer of one of the financial institutions that is a part of the system, is associated with a financial institution identification code (FIIDC), a unique customer identification code (UCIC) and an advertisement delivery identification code (ADIC). As stated above, each customer in the advertisement delivery provider database is associated with a customer identification that is not traceable back to the customer. Only the financial transaction history, which has been provided by the financial institutions, and other non-identifying information (e.g., zip code, sex, age) is stored in the advertisement delivery provider database and associated with the FIIDC, the UCIC and the ADIC for each individual customer. The UCIC is merely an anonymous profile that does not contain any means to identify the customer, i.e. name or social security number, other than the transactional financial history of the customer. Accordingly, the marketer is able to deliver an advertisement to a consumer who is ready, willing and able to purchase the good or service offered by the marketer; however, the identity of the consumer by the marketer and the advertisement delivery provider remains unknown.

The ADIC also designates the customer, however, this identification is assigned by the software of the system, which is operated by the advertisement deliver provider as opposed to by the financial institutions. The ADIC is most useful when the consumer logs onto a web site other than a secure web site operated by one of the financial institutions that is operating within the system. The ADIC provides an identification of the consumer that can be linked back to the UCIC and the financial information that is associated with the UCIC. When a consumer logs onto a secure financial institution's web site, which will be described in more detail below, the UCIC, which has been assigned by the financial institution, is already known because the financial institution knows the identity of its customer. However, the financial institution does not share the “true identity” (the “true identity” being an identifying characteristic that would allow the identity of the customer to be known to the advertisement deliver provider). Instead the financial institution only provides the UCIC to the advertisement delivery provider which as discussed above is not traceable back to the financial institution's customer's identity. Accordingly, the financial institution is providing a database of anonymous customers each having a different financial history. Thus only the financial transactions (and other non-identifying information) of the customer are known to the advertisement delivery provider.

At108, the database is queried to determine which customers meet the criteria of the market segment to determine the expected success of the campaign. For the sports car example mentioned above, the database is queried to determine which consumers pay over $450 per month for a car. During processing, the expected campaign success and the time it will take the advertisement to meet a predetermined number of the consumers can also be reported to the marketer. For example, where the marketer defines the market segment very narrowly only a few consumers may meet the criteria and the likelihood for success of the advertising campaign is also low or will involve an unacceptable length of time before the number of targeted consumers will receive the advertisement. The number of consumers that meet the criteria of the segment can aid in determining how many consumers will receive the advertisement that is sent out. This will be described in more detail with reference toFIG.6.

At112a report is generated that is sent to the marketer via the first portal24(FIG.1). The report can include such information as the number of consumers in the market segment and the time it will take for a predetermined number of views of the advertisement. The time it will take to reach a predetermined amount of consumers can be determined by the amount of times on average consumers in that market segment log on to certain web sites that allow for the delivery of these targeted advertisements.

At114, the marketer is asked whether it wishes to place an order for advertisements to be delivered.

With reference back to how the market segment is defined (100inFIG.1), with reference toFIG.3, at120the marketer logs onto a secure web site, which in the exemplary method is the non-consumer portal24inFIG.1. The web site can be run by the advertisement delivery provider.

At122the marketer is presented with a screen that asks the marketer to select the item or service that is to be the subject of the advertisement that the marketer wishes to be delivered to consumers. In the example that is discussed above, the marketer may enter “cars” or “sports cars.”

At124, the marketer is then prompted to input the desired number of views or clicks of its advertisement that it wishes to obtain. A view is simply a posting of the advertisement on a web site that is viewed by the consumer. A click is when the consumer clicks on the advertisement and is taken to another web site, which is typically operated by the marketer, or an agent of the marketer, and further information can be provided about the service or product that is the subject of the advertisement.

At126the price that the marketer will pay for the advertisement to be displayed or clicked on the consumers portal26(FIG.1) is displayed on the web page. The price of the advertisement can be a function of the product or service that is the subject of the advertisement. The price can also be a function of whether the advertisement is clicked or simply viewed. For example, products or services having a higher sales price will typically have a higher price per view or click and lower priced items or services will typically have a lower price per view or click.

At128the marketer will then be asked whether it wishes to be assisted in defining a market segment for its product or service or whether it wishes to define the market segment without assistance. If the marketer does not desire assistance in defining the market segment, for example the marketer is knowledgeable of the customers who desire its products, then at132the marketer is provided with additional criteria by which it can define the market segment. For example, at132the marketer can be presented with a grab bag of options to further define the market segment, examples of which include customers who have a current car payment that is within a certain monetary range, customers of a particular sex, customers of a particular age, customers who live in a particular zip code, etc. The grab bag of options may also include criteria that does not correlate exactly to the data stored in either the financial institution data base or the advertisement delivery provider database. For example, the grab bag could include such options: a range of money that the consumer allocates to entertainment, the amount of money spent on travel and other similar criteria. For these aforementioned criteria, the software operating on the system can be designed to calculate the entertainment budget of the customer by adding the monthly transactions of the customer such as movie tickets, concert tickets, sport events, dining, etc. Additionally, the software may factor that some of these purchases may also be in cash, which would not show up as a financial transaction in either database, and account for this by adding some percentage of the monthly total to the customer's budget. The budget can be averaged over a time period, e.g. year. At134the price of the advertisement is then recalculated with each additional criterion that is chosen by the marketer. The price is then displayed on the web site. The more criteria that is selected by the marketer to define the market segment, typically the higher the price of the advertisement.

If the marketer wishes to be assisted in defining a market segment for its product or service, then at136the product or service that is the subject of the advertisement is filtered by way of a taxonomy analysis. The taxonomy analysis classifies the good or service that is the subject of the advertisement. Based on the classification of the good or service that is the subject of the advertisement, questions are presented to the marketer to aid in defining the market segment at138. For example, if the subject of the advertisement is a car, then the marketer can be prompted to decide whether it wishes to deliver advertisements to consumers who have paid 33 monthly installments on a car lease, which is an indication that the lease is about to expire. Another example would be if the subject of the advertisement is a home mortgage refinance product, the marketer can be prompted to decide whether it wishes to deliver advertisements to consumers who originated a mortgage in a certain year (for example, a year in which interest rates were known to be higher than they are at the time that the advertisement will be delivered). After the marketer has answered each question, which further defines the market segment, the price of the advertisement is displayed at134as a function of the criteria chosen by the market (by way of answering the questions).

FIG.4more particularly describes how the site (or sites) that is/are to present the advertisement approve(s) or disapprove(s) of the advertisement(s) that are to be delivered on its site(s). At150, the software that is operated by the advertisement delivery provider determines whether the marketer that wishes to have the advertisement displayed is a pre-approved marketer. Operators of web sites that will display advertisements can pre-approve certain marketers or classifications of marketers that are approved to display advertisements on their web sites. Whether the marketer is already a pre-approved marketer or is similar to a preapproved marketer and how many web site operators have pre-approved the marketer can have an effect on how quickly its advertisement will be viewed or clicked by the predetermined threshold of consumers that it desires to view or click its advertisement.

At152, if the marketer has been preapproved by the web site operator that will display the advertisement, then the advertisement is automatically approved and placed in a queue of advertisements that are waiting to be viewed by customers who log onto the operator's web site and who are within the market segment that has been defined by the marketer. The queue of advertisements can be stored in the advertisement delivery provider database22(FIG.1). At154a report can be generated and sent to the marketer informing the marketer of the web sites that have approved the marketer's advertisement.

If the marketer has not been preapproved by the web site operator, then at156the advertisement delivery provider determines whether the marker is a marketer or a classification of marketer that is always disapproved by the operator of the web site. If the marketer is a marketer or is in a classification that is always disapproved by the web site operator, then a report is generated, at106onFIG.1, informing the marketer of the disapproval status.

If marketer is not always disapproved, then the advertisement is viewed by the web site operator at158. The web site operator can be sent the advertisement via e-mail or the web site operator can log onto a web site, which can be the non-consumer portal24inFIG.1, that is operated by the advertisement delivery provider to view the advertisement(s) awaiting approval. The web site operator then approves or disapproves the advertisement at162. If the advertisement is approved, then the advertisement is placed in the queue at152and the report is generated at154. If the advertisement is not approved, then at164the web site operator who was requested to display the advertisement is asked to answer why the advertisement has been disapproved. The web site operator, at166, is also given the option to deny all advertisements from this particular marketer or classification of marketer. If the web site operator chooses to always disapprove the marketer, then at172the marketer is added to an always disapprove list and the marketer will always be disapproved by the web site operator. If the web site operator chooses to not always disapprove the marketer, then the marketer is not placed on the always disapprove list. The marketer is then notified that the advertisement has been disapproved by the web site operator.

With reference back toFIG.2, after the advertisement has been approved by the web site that is to display the advertisement—the advertisement may be displayed on a number of different web sites, each requiring some sort of approval—the projected success of the advertisement reaching the predetermined threshold of consumers is determined at108.FIG.5provides a more detailed description of how the projected success is determined.

With reference toFIG.5, at190the number of consumers in the advertisement delivery provider database that fall within the market segment is determined. This is accomplished by querying the advertisement delivery provider database to locate the consumers that match the market segment that has been defined by the marketer. At192, the software running on the system determines if the number of consumers in the market segment is too low. If the number of consumers that match the market segment is too low, then, at194, the marketer is notified that there is a small likelihood that the advertisement will be viewed by the number of consumers that the marketer would like to view the advertisement. An example of the consumers in the market segment being too low is where the marketer wishes to display their advertisement 100,000 times but the advertisement delivery provider database only returns100eligible consumers in the market segment, then the advertisement will most likely take too long to display 100,000 times. At196, the marketer will be given the option to redefine the market segment to reach a greater number of consumers. If the marketer chooses to redefine the market segment, then, at198, the marketer is returned to128inFIG.3to see if the marketer desires assistance in defining the market segment. In addition to, or in lieu of returning to fully redefining the market segment, at198the marketer can also be presented with recommendations for increasing the number of consumers within the market segment. The software of the system can break out the criteria used to define the market segment and suggest that if certain criteria for the market segment were to be removed then the number of consumers that could view the advertisement could be increased. For example, the marketer could be presented with the option to define the market as including both males and females, where the original market segment criteria was limited only to females. If the marketer chooses not to redefine the market segment, then, at202, the advertisement is not ordered by the marketer.

If the number of consumers is not too low, for example if the marketer desires 100,000 views of the advertisement and 75,000 consumers qualify for the market segment, then, at204, the software of the system returns a report to the marketer that the advertising campaign should be successful. The report can include an estimate of the time it will take the advertisement to display the desired number of views of the advertisement. This information can be based on the number of consumers who have qualified for the market segment and the web surfing habits of the consumers in the market segment.

Moving to the consumer side of the advertisement delivery process, at220the consumer14(FIG.1), who is also a customer of the financial institution12(FIG.1), logs onto the financial institution's web site. The consumer logs onto a protected portion of the financial institution's web site where the consumer must identify himself appropriately so that, for example, the financial institution allows the user to perform banking transactions over the Internet.

After the consumer logs onto the financial institution's web site software that is running on the financial institution's web site, which is also part of the system8(FIG.1), checks for the presence of a cookie, or similar file, stored on the consumer's computer at222. The cookie included is a text file that is stored on the consumer's computer that includes the ADIC. If the cookie is not present, then at224the software that is running on the financial institution's web site assigns an ADIC for the customer that corresponds with the UCIC for that consumer. The UCIC is known since the consumer has logged into the financial institution's secure web site, thus verifying the identity of the consumer. This ADIC is then stored as a cookie on the consumer's computer for later reference.

If the cookie is present or after the cookie has been stored on the consumer's computer, then at226the software queries the advertisement delivery provider database for defined market segments for advertising campaigns for which the customer qualifies. At228, the software determines whether the customer qualifies for any market segments for advertising campaigns that are warehoused in the advertisement delivery provider database. If the customer does not belong to a defined market segment, then at232a non-targeted advertisement is displayed on the web site. If the customer belongs to a defined market segment, then at234a targeted advertisement can be displayed on the web site.

If the consumer belongs to a plurality of market segments, then a plurality of advertisements that correlate to the market segments can be delivered to the web site for display. As discussed above, the web site can display a tab that can be clicked to display all of the advertisements for which the consumer qualifies. Alternatively, the software can be designed to display only a few of advertisements that correlate to the market segments in which the customer resides. The software can be designed to deliver the advertisements for which the greatest price was paid by the marketer to have their advertisements displayed.

The consumer can also indicate to the institution that he/she is not interested in receiving any such advertisement and so the institution, or the delivery provider, will block the delivery of any advertisements to that consumer.

With reference toFIG.7, where a consumer logs onto a web site that is operated by a third party advertisement presenter, i.e. a web site that is not a secure web site of a financial institution (e.g. cnn.com, espn.com) the process for delivering an advertisement is slightly altered as compared to the process depicted inFIG.6. At250the consumer logs onto a third party advertisement presenter's web site. At252, the software running on the third party presenter's web site checks for a cookie containing the ADIC. If the cookie is not present, at254, a non-targeted advertisement is delivered to the web site for the consumer to view. If the cookie is present, then at256the software queries the advertisement delivery provider database for defined market segments for advertising campaigns for which the customer qualifies. At258, the software determines whether the customer qualifies for any market segments for advertising campaigns that are warehoused in the advertisement delivery provider database. If the customer does not belong to a defined market segment, then at254a non-targeted advertisement is displayed on the web site. If the customer belongs to a defined market segment, then at262a targeted advertisement can be displayed on the web site.

Similar to the process defined with regard toFIG.6, if the consumer belongs to a plurality of market segments, then a plurality of advertisements that correlate to the market segments can be delivered to the web site for display. As discussed above, the web site can display a tab that can be clicked to display all of the advertisements for which the consumer qualifies. Alternatively, the software can be designed to display only a few of advertisements that correlate to the market segments in which the customer resides. The software can be designed to deliver the advertisements for which the greatest price was paid by the marketer to have their advertisements displayed. In other words, an advertisement that costs $10 per display will have a greater likelihood of being delivered to a web site than an advertisement that costs $5.

With reference toFIG.8, the results of the advertisement display are reported to the marketer. At270the delivered targeted advertisement is displayed on the web site that the consumer is viewing (whether the web site is the secure web site of a financial institution or a third party advertisement presenter's web site). At272the software of the system records that the advertisement has been displayed. At274the software determines whether the advertisement has been clicked. If the consumer does not click on the advertisement, then this action is recorded at276. If the consumer does click on the advertisement, then the consumer is directed to another web site, typically operated by the marketer, and this action is recorded at278. At282a report is generated that is sent to the marketer that provides the results of the advertising campaign. Since the marketer can pay for an advertisement on a “view or display” basis and on a “click” basis, the report can provide a basis for billing the marketer for the advertising campaign. Moreover, the report can provide the marketer information such as the percentage or viewed advertisements that were clicked, which will be helpful in defining future market segments for similar products.

FIG.9is a schematic diagram illustrating the pertinent activities of the consumer and advertiser in the context of the present embodiment.

FIG.10is a diagram showing communication paths between consumers, advertiser, the bank and the advertisement delivery provider.

In accordance with various other features described herein, systems and methods are described that overcome the above-described problems by incentivizing vendors to provide larger discounts when offering an item or service in an advertisement placed on a third party website, in return for reduced cost associated with advertisement placement on the website. Similarly, the described systems and methods encourage an owner or host of the website to accept a smaller payment for advertisement placement on the website in return for larger discounts for customers visiting the website.

It will be appreciated that although the “events” that are tracked are described herein as being associated with a website (e.g., user clicks on a web page, user completion of a survey on a website, presentation of an ad on a website, etc.), such events are not limited to being associate with a website. For example, an event can include user activation of an application (an “app”), on a computer or a mobile device. In another example, the event includes a user action (e.g., executing, interacting with, etc.) with the app. For instance, the event can comprise a user downloading and/or installing an app on a mobile device such as a smartphone. Moreover, the advertisements described herein are not limited to being displayed on a website, but rather can also be presented to the user within an application, during application download or installation, or the like. Events that occur via interaction with the application, such as user clicks on the advertisement, purchases of the item or service offered in the advertisement, etc., can then be tracked and a CPE determined therefor.

With reference toFIG.11, a system410is illustrated that facilitates providing targeted, vendor-generated advertisements via a retail merchant's website to a qualified customer, and sending an invoice to a vendor generating the advertisements wherein the vendor is given a scalable discount per event associated with one or more targeted advertisements placed based on the size of a discount offered by the vendor in the advertisement. In accordance with the various systems and methods described herein, the event may be, for example, the occurrence of a predefined number of presentations or impressions of the advertisement to qualified customers. For instance, the event may be 1000 presentations of the advertisement, and the cost per thousand (e.g., cost-per-mil) presentations is a function of the size of the discount offered in the advertisement. Other examples of events may include without limitation: a predefined number (e.g., 1, 5, 10, 100, 500, 1000, etc.) of times the advertisement is clicked on by qualified users to whom the advertisement is presented (e.g., a cost-per-click or per predefined number of clicks); an action or predefined number of actions, such as the customer completing a form or survey, buying an item, etc. (e.g., a cost-per-action); a predefined amount of revenue generated from the targeted advertisement presentations (e.g., a cost-per-revenue); a transaction or predefined number of transactions such as a purchase or the like (e.g., a cost-per-transaction); or any other suitable metric by which the effectiveness of the targeted advertisement can be measured in order to charge the vendor for placing the targeted advertisement. In any case, the greater the discount offered by the vendor, or the greater the size of the offer in the advertisement, the lower the CPE for placing the targeted advertisement. In one example, the bank may select a CPE amount as a function of what they want to be paid, and the offers are correlated to make up that total. For instance, if a bank desires a $7 CPE and the offers are a mix of $5 and $8 CPEs, the system can mix the offers to achieve the desired CPE of $7 (e.g., two-thirds of the events are associated with $8 CPE offers, and one third with $5 CPE offers.

The diagram of the system is provided for the purpose of explaining interrelationships between various data in the system, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the arrangement shown. Although each of the blocks in the diagram is described sequentially in a logical order, it is not to be assumed that the system processes the described information in any particular order or arrangement.

The system410includes a vendor user interface (UI)412(e.g., a computing device such as a personal computer, laptop, PDA, Smartphone, etc.), via which the vendor (or manufacturer) enters parameter information related to a desired advertisement or offer that the vendor wishes to present to qualified customers on a retail merchant's website. Additionally, the vendor identifies or enters an event type (e.g., a user-click, purchase, completed form, or the like) that the vender wishes to be detected to calculate the CPE. The vendor UI412accesses a system server414(e.g., an advertisement server run by an advertisement generating company or entity and which generates advertisements for placement on one or more websites) that is coupled to one or more processors416, which in turn is coupled to a memory418(e.g., a computer-readable medium or database, etc.). The processor416and memory18may be integral to the server or remote thereto.

The processor416executes, and the memory418stores, computer executable instructions for carrying out any and all functions, methods, techniques, etc., described herein. The memory418may be a computer-readable medium on which a control program is stored, such as a disk, hard drive, or the like. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic storage medium, CD-ROM, DVD, or any other optical medium, RAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, variants thereof, other memory chip or cartridge, or any other tangible medium from which the processor416can read and execute. In this context, the system410may be implemented on or as one or more general purpose computers, special purpose computer(s), a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLO, PLA, FPGA, Graphical card CPU (GPU), or PAL, or the like.

The vendor enters advertisement or offer parameter information420in the vendor UI412, which is received at the server14(e.g., over an Internet connection, a cellular connection, etc.), processed by the processor416, and stored in the memory418. The offer parameters420may include, without being limited to, information describing items422to be offered for sale to the customer, discount information424(e.g., a discount percent, a fixed amount off, etc.), expiration information426, other terms428of the offer (e.g., 10% off for a purchase over $50.00), a number of permitted acceptances of the offer (e.g., offer valid to the first1000customers who accept the offer on a first-come first-served basis), etc. The offer parameter information420additionally includes target customer criteria430(i.e. vendor-specified Klis) that describe what the vendor considers to be an ideal customer to whom the offer should be presented. The vendor may provide or generate artwork or graphics that are employed or presented in the advertisement. The processor416executes instructions to generate one or more offer advertisements432based on the vendor-entered offer parameter information and the graphics or artwork provided by the vendor.

Additionally, the processor416access a cost-per-event (CPE) lookup table (LUT)434to retrieve pricing information for the advertisement(s)432. Pricing may be a function of any suitable variables including but not limited to advertisement size, prominence of the advertisement on a webpage, etc. Additionally, the price information CPE LUT434is a function of the size of the discount offered by the vendor. For instance, given a set of offer parameters, an advertisement may have a CPE of $15 for placing1000targeted advertisements. If the vendor offers a 10% discount in the advertisement, the CPE may be $13. A discount of 20% may result in a CPE of $10.50, and so on. In another example, the discount may be a flat-rate discount (e.g., $10, $20, etc., where greater discounts are rewarded with lower CPEs). It will be appreciated that the reduced CPE scale for larger discounts may be linear or non-linear, as a matter of design choice.

Optionally, the target customer criteria430include tolerance or threshold information (not shown), whereby the vendor can specify a tolerance for the target customer criteria being met. For instance, the vendor can specify that if a predefined percentage of the criteria (e.g., 80%, 90%, 95%, etc.) of the criteria are met by a customer, then the offer may be presented to the customer, to increase a number of customers reached by a given advertisement while ensuring that the customer is still a desirable target for the advertisement. According to an example, a vendor may specify three Klis that the vendor desires to be associated with a customer in order to present the targeted advertisement to the customer. The vendor may assign priority levels or weights to each of the Klis. If fewer than a desired number of customers match all three criteria, then the third-priority KII may be dropped and customers matching the two more heavily weighted Klis may be targeted for presentation of the advertisement in order to achieve a desired number of advertisement presentations to the desired number of qualified customers.

The server414(and/or processor416) accesses a website436, which may be the vendors' own website, or any other website that permits advertisements to be placed thereon. The website436has associated therewith a customer profile database438that includes customer profiles440for any number of customers (labeled as C1, C2, CN, where N is an integer). The customer profiles440include information about the customers that is entered directly by the customer (e.g., age, zip code, personal interests or hobbies, occupation, marital status, etc.) or that is inferred by customer actions (e.g., purchases, webpage history, etc.). When a customer logs on to the website436via a customer UI442, the processor executes a matching algorithm444(e.g., a set of computer-executable instructions) that compares the customer's profile440to the target customer criteria430to determine whether the customer satisfies the target customer criteria430. If a match is identified, then the offer advertisement432is presented to the customer on the website436.

Events447are trackable inputs (ad presentations, clicks, transactions, actions, revenue generated, etc.) associated with the advertisement and are stored to the memory418. As events occur, an event tally component or algorithm446is run by the processor416to keep track of the number of events447. Periodically (e.g., monthly, quarterly, etc.), invoice data448is generated comprising the number of events associated with the advertisement, the CPE for the advertisement, and the total cost of the advertisements for the period. An invoice450is generated by the processor416from the invoice data448and transmitted to the vendor. When the vendor pays the amount due on the invoice, a portion of the payment is provided to the owner of the website446, and the remainder is retained by the provider of the advertisement placement service (e.g., the server owner).

The server414is operated by an advertisement company or the like, which generates advertisements and targets specific customers for the vendor. According to another aspect, the advertisements can be pre-generated by the vendor and provided to the advertisement server for presentation to qualified customers. Because the matching algorithm444identifies customers by their customer profiles, which may be closely held by the company owning the website, anonymity is maintained with regard to the vendor. That is, potentially private customer profile information is not provided to the vendor, but rather only access for comparison to the target customer criteria specified by the vendor. Indeed, the vendor need not be informed of the identity of the customers to whom its offers are advertised.

FIG.12illustrates a method of providing the service described with regard toFIG.11, in accordance with various aspects described herein. One or more of the steps described with regard to the method ofFIG.12may be performed on a computer468. At470, offer parameter information is received from a vendor. At472, a CPE lookup table is accessed to identify a CPE for the offers, which are presented on a particular website. The CPE is a function of the offer parameters, including the size of the discount offered, as well as the event type (presentation, click, purchase, survey completion, etc.) specified by the vendor. At474, the offer is presented to qualifying customers when they log on to the website. Customer qualification is determined by comparing vendor-specified target customer criteria to a customer profile for the customer. At476, the vendor-specified event is detected a tally of the number of times the specified event has occurred is updated (e.g., periodically or continuously). Periodically, a vendor invoice is generated, at478. The invoice is transmitted to the vendor at480. Payment is received from the vendor at482.

A predetermined portion of the vendor's payment is then provided to the website owner or host, at484. In this manner, the website host receives payment for permitting the advertisement to be displayed on its website, and accepts a smaller payment per event for advertisements displayed for larger discounts for its visitors. In another example, the website owner receives a prescribed fee per event (e.g., per a predefined number of advertisement presentations, per a predefined number of clicks on the advertisement by targeted customers, etc.), and the advertisement provider accepts a smaller payment for larger discounts. In yet another example, the website owner and the advertisement provider both accept a reduced payment when the vendor offers larger discounts. The vendor is incentivized to provide larger discounts to entice customers to click on the advertisement, and the website host is incentivized to charge less per advertisement display in order to provide larger discounts to its visitors or customers, which in turn increases the likelihood of future visits to the website by customers.

FIG.13illustrates a system500that facilitates providing targeted, vendor-generated advertisements via a financial institution's website to a qualified customer, and sending an invoice to a vendor generating the advertisements wherein the vendor is given a scalable discount per event associated with targeted advertisements placed based on the size of a discount offered by the vendor in the advertisement. An “event” may be a predefined number of advertisement presentations to qualified customers, one or more transactions, one or more clicks on the advertisement, or any other suitable metric as described above with regard the preceding figures. The system500includes the vendor UI412, via which the vendor enters parameter information related to a desired advertisement or offer that the vendor wishes to present to qualified customers on a retail merchant's website. Additionally, the vendor identifies or enters an event type (e.g., a user click, purchase, form or survey completion, etc.) that the vendor wishes to be tracked in order to calculate the CPE. The vendor UI412accesses the system server414, which is coupled to one or more processors416, which in turn is coupled to the memory418(e.g., a computer-readable medium or database, etc.). The processor416and memory418may be integral to the server or remote thereto.

The vendor enters advertisement or offer parameter information420into the vendor UI412, which is received at the server414(e.g., over an Internet connection, a cellular connection, etc.), processed by the processor416, and stored in the memory418. The offer parameters420may include, without being limited to, information describing items422to be offered for sale to the customer, discount information424(e.g., a discount percent, a fixed amount off, etc.), expiration information426, other terms428of the offer (e.g., 10% off for a purchase over $50.00), etc. The offer parameter information420additionally includes target customer criteria430that describe what the vendor considers to be an ideal customer to whom the offer should be presented. The vendor enters the offer information by selecting offer parameters from one or more dropdown menus, entering information into a text box or field, or the like. The vendor may provide or generate artwork or graphics that are employed or presented in the advertisement. The processor416executes instructions to generate one or more graphical offer advertisements432based on the vendor-entered offer parameter information and the optional graphics or artwork provided by the vendor.

Additionally, the processor416accesses the CPE LUT434to retrieve pricing information for the advertisement(s)432. Pricing may be a function of any suitable variables including but not limited to advertisement size, prominence of the advertisement on a webpage, etc. Additionally, the price information in the CPE LUT34is a function of the size of the discount offered by the vendor. For instance, given a set of offer parameters, an advertisement may have a CPE of $20 for placing1000targeted advertisements. If the vendor offers a 10% discount in the advertisement, the CPE may be $18. A discount of 20% may result in a CPE of $16 and so on. It will be appreciated that the reduced CPE scale for larger discounts may be linear or non-linear, as a matter of design choice.

Optionally, the target customer criteria430include tolerance information, whereby the vendor can specify a tolerance for the target customer criteria being met. For instance, the vendor can specify that if a predefined percentage of the criteria (e.g., 80%, 90%, 95%, etc) of the criteria are met by a customer, then the offer may be presented to the customer, increase a number of customers reached by a given advertisement while ensuring that the customer is still a desirable target for the advertisement. According to an example, a vendor may specify five criteria or Klis that the vendor desires to be associated with a customer in order to present the targeted advertisement to the customer, and the vendor may assign priority levels or weights to each of the Klis. If fewer than a desired number of customers match all five Klis, then the lowest-priority KII may be dropped and customers matching the four more heavily weighted Klis may be targeted for presentation for the advertisement in order to achieve a desired number of advertisement presentations to the desired number of qualified customers.

The server414(and/or processor416) accesses a financial institution's website502, which permits advertisements to be placed thereon. The website502has associated therewith a customer profile database504that includes customer profiles506for any number of customers (labeled as C1, C2, CN, where N is an integer) of the financial institution. The memory418stores anonymized customer profiles507that include key lifestyle information or indicators (Klis)508, which may include information about the customers C1through CN that is entered directly by the customer (e.g., age, zip code, personal interests or hobbies, occupation, marital status, etc.) or that is inferred by customer actions (e.g., purchases, webpage history, anonymized bank account and/or transaction information, etc.). Such information and the user thereof to identify target customers is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/266,199, and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/403,656, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. Anonymization of the customer profile information is described herein with regard toFIGS.1-10.

When a customer logs on to the website502via the customer UI442, the processor executes the matching algorithm444(e.g., a set of computer-executable instructions) that compares the Klis508in the customer's profile506to the target customer criteria430to determine whether the customer satisfies the target customer criteria430. If a match is identified, then the offer advertisement432is presented to the customer on the website502.

Events447are trackable inputs (e.g., user clicks, purchases, forms filled out by the user, other user actions, etc.) and are stored to the memory. As the trackable events occur, the event tally component or algorithm446is run on the processor416to keep track of the number of events associated with the advertisement. Periodically (e.g., monthly, quarterly, etc.), invoice data448is generated comprising the number of events associated with the advertisement (e.g., in a given time period or invoicing interval), the CPE for the advertisement, and the total cost of the advertisements for the period. An invoice450is then transmitted to the vendor. When the vendor pays the amount due on the invoice, a portion of the payment is provided to the financial institution, and the remainder is retained by the provider of the advertisement placement service (e.g., the server owner).

FIG.14illustrates a method of providing the service described with regard toFIG.13, in accordance with various aspects described herein. One or more of the steps of the method described with regard toFIG.14may be implemented on a computer468. At520, offer parameter information is received (e.g., at an advertisement placement service or provider) from a vendor. At522, a CPE lookup table is accessed to identify a cost per event for the offer on a financial institution's website. The CPE is a function of the offer parameters, including the size of the discount offered, the type of event specified by the vendor (e.g., click, purchase, ad presentation, competed form, etc.). For instance, a larger discount has a lower CPE than a smaller discount for the same item or service. At524, the offer is presented to qualifying financial institution customers when they log on to the financial institution's website. Customer qualification is determined by comparing vendor-specified target customer criteria to Klis in a customer profile stored in a financial institution database for the customer. At526, the vendor-specified event is detected and a tally of the number of times the event occurs is updated (e.g., periodically or continuously). Periodically, a vendor invoice is generated, at28. The invoice is transmitted to the vendor at530. Payment is received from the vendor at532. A predetermined portion of the vendor's payment is then provided to the financial institution, at534. In this manner, the financial institution receives a payment for permitting the advertisement to be displayed on its website, and may accept a smaller payment per event associated with advertisements displayed in exchange for larger discounts for its customers. The vendor is incentivized to provide larger discounts to entice customers to click on the advertisement, and the financial institution is incentivized to charge less per advertisement display in order to provide larger discounts to its visitors or customers, which in turn increases the likelihood of future visits to the financial institution website (i.e., increased website traffic).

The methods illustrated inFIGS.12and14may be implemented in a computer program product that may be executed on a computer468or computing components (e.g., server414, processor416, memory418, etc.) in the system ofFIGS.11and13. Further, it is to be appreciated that any suitable computing environment can be employed in accordance with the present embodiments. For example, computing architectures including, but not limited to, stand alone, multiprocessor, distributed, client/server, minicomputer, mainframe, supercomputer, digital and analog can be employed in accordance with the present embodiments.

The computer can include a processing unit such as the processor416ofFIGS.11and13, a system memory such as the memory418ofFIGS.11and13, and a system bus that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit. The processing unit can be any of various commercially available processors (e.g., a central processing unit, a graphical processing unit, etc.). Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures also can be used as the processing unit.

The system bus can be any of several types of bus structure including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. The computer memory includes read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). A basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer, such as during start-up, is stored in ROM.

The computer can further include a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, e.g., to read from or write to a removable disk, and an optical disk drive, e.g., for reading a CD-ROM disk or to read from or write to other optical media. The computer typically includes at least some form of computer readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computer.

Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above can also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM, including an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program non-interrupt data. The operating system in the computer can be any of a number of commercially available operating systems.

A user may enter commands and information into the computer through a keyboard (not shown) and a pointing device or stylus (not shown), such as a mouse. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, an IR remote control, a joystick, a game pad, a satellite dish, a scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit through a serial port interface (not shown) that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, a game port, a universal serial bus (USB), an IR interface, etc.

A monitor (not shown), or other type of display device, may also be connected to the system bus via an interface, such as a video adapter (not shown). In addition to the monitor, a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers etc. The monitor can be employed with the computer to present data that is electronically received from one or more disparate sources. For example, the monitor can be an LCD, plasma, CRT, etc. type that presents data electronically. Alternatively or in addition, the monitor can display received data in a hard copy format such as a printer, facsimile, plotter etc. The monitor can present data in any color and can receive data from the computer via any wireless or hard wire protocol and/or standard.

The computer can operate in a networked environment using logical and/or physical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer(s). The remote computer(s) can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, microprocessor based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer. The logical connections depicted include a local area network (LAN) and a wide area network (WAN). Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer is connected to the local network through a network interface or adapter. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer typically includes a modem, or is connected to a communications server on the LAN, or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN, such as the Internet. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that network connections described herein are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

To further enhance security, it is envisioned that the advertising system can provide for the installation of export systems installed in-house in a site owned or operated by the financial institution desiring the service. Providing an in-house export system enables the financial institution to implement filters which ensure that no personal identification information is exported from the financial institution. The in-house export system may, e.g., be configured to export only known, non-sensitive data columns. The in-house export system can be further configured to perform an analytical security scanning of the data being exported as an additional level of security. For example, the system may be configured to monitor the outgoing data to ensure that no data, such as personal names, account numbers, or social security numbers are being inadvertently exported. An in-house export system gives the financial institution an added degree of confidence that the identity of their customers is protected.

It is to be understood that the system is configured to receive the account-level bank transactions through a variety of processes and in a variety of formats. For example, some financial institutions, as previously described, may have in-house export systems installed to ensure that only non-sensitive data is provided to the campaign generation. These in-house export systems can format the data into a format suitable for the campaign generation. On the other hand, some financial institutions may desire, for the sake of reduced processing overhead, to simply provide raw data to the campaign generation. In this event, the campaign generation is programmed to map the desired non-sensitive information to the requirements of the campaign generation and protect the anonymity of the financial institution customers by not accepting any personally identifiable information. It is anticipated that a variety of filter and transformation algorithms can be provided by the campaign generation in order to accommodate a variety of financial institutions, each having different requirements.

With reference toFIG.15, at630the content viewer, who is also a customer of one of the financial institutions, logs onto the financial institution's website or securely enters an application that is operated by or associated with the financial institution. The consumer logs onto a protected portion of the financial institution's website or application where the consumer must identify himself appropriately so that, for example, the financial institution allows the user to perform banking transactions over the Internet or other network. At632, the financial institution passes the UCIC associated with the content viewer from the financial institution to the processor operated by the advertisement delivery provider, which has also been referred to as the targeted content provider. At634, the targeted content provider associates and ADIC with the received UCIC. The advertisement delivery provider can check the advertisement delivery provider database for an ADIC associated with the received UCIC. If no ADIC is associated with the received UCIC, then at636the advertisement delivery provider can assign an ADIC to this device and set a cookie on the device that includes the ADIC or other similar identification. Since an ADIC has not been associated with this device, or this device has erased previous cookies including the ADIC, not enough information is known about this device to send targeted content, e.g. an advertisement for display on the device. Accordingly, at638a non-targeted advertisement can be delivered at this time to the device.

With reference back to step634, if an ADIC is associated with the received UCIC and the ADIC cookie is present on the device, then at640the advertisement delivery provider checks to see if the ADIC cookie that is present on the device matches the UCIC that is associated with this ADIC. If the ADIC matches the UCIC, then enough information is known about this device to send targeted content, because the financial information associated with the UCIC can be used to determine the classifications into which the consumer using the device falls into. Accordingly, at642a targeted ad, or other targeted content, can be delivered to the device.

With reference back to step640, if the ADIC cookie stored on the device does not match the UCIC associated with that ADIC, then at646the advertisement delivery provider can record the association of the ADIC stored on the device (via the persistent cookie that has been previously set) with another UCIC. This can happen for example, where the device is used to log onto two different financial institution applications. When logging into the first financial institution application, the advertisement delivery provider can assign an ADIC associated with the UCIC from the first financial institution. If this device is then used to log onto another secure application of another financial institution, then an ADIC will have already been stored on the device, but the UCIC from the new financial institution will not match the previously received ADIC. After recording the association of the ADIC with the another (different) UCIC stored at646, then at648the advertisement delivery provider can query whether the another (different) UCIC and the ADIC have been identified together enough to meet a threshold. If this another (different) UCIC and the stored ADIC have been identified together enough to meet a threshold, then enough information is known about the device to associate this another UCIC with the ADIC, therefore a single ADIC can now be associated with two UCICs and the financial information from two different financial institutions can be associated with one content viewer or device operated by a content viewer. Accordingly, enough information is known about the content viewer using this device that a targeted advertisement can be delivered. If the UCIC and the ADIC have not been identified together enough to meet a threshold, then a non-targeted advertisement can be delivered.

Analytics can be used to determine whether the device that is being used is a public computer. For example, if many different UCICs are associated with the same ADIC, then an assumption can be made that this device is being used by members of the general public and therefore general advertisements can be delivered to this device. However, if the same UCICs and the ADIC have been associated together many times, it is likely that this device is used by the same person who is a customer of different financial institutions. Accordingly, the financial information available from these different institutions can be associated with the same ADIC. The analytics used to determine whether the UCIC and the ADIC have been identified together enough to meet a threshold will depend on the account type. For example, a consumer will likely not check the financial institution's application where the financial institution holds a car loan for the consumer as often as the consumer will check his or her checking account.

Accordingly, the UCIC associated with the car loan account, may not have to be associated with the same ADIC as much as a checking account would in order to meet the threshold described at step648.

FIG.15depicts one method for delivering targeted content to a device over a network.FIG.15describes how the method includes identifying a consumer who is viewing content based on a unique identifier stored on the device used by the consumer to view the content. For the method described inFIG.15, the unique identifier is a persistent cookie that can be set on the device used by the consumer to access the content.FIG.17depicts another method for delivering targeted content to a device over a network and also employs an unique identifier associated with the device used by the consumer to view the content.FIG.16describes a method for associating the unique identifier with the financial information of the consumer who uses the device.

With reference toFIG.16, at730the content viewer, who is also a customer of one of the financial institutions, logs onto a website or other application that is operated by the financial institution. The consumer logs onto a protected portion of the application where the consumer must identify himself appropriately so that, for example, the financial institution allows the consumer to perform banking transactions over the network. At732, the financial institution passes the UCIC associated with the content viewer who has just logged into the secured financial institution application to the targeted content provider. Another way of stating this is that the targeted content provided receives the UCIC. In this example, the UCIC is passed to the processor operated by the advertisement delivery provider. At734, the advertisement delivery provider captures the IP address for the device used to log onto the secure financial institution application. To protect the identity of the consumer who is using the device to view the secure portion of the financial institution application, the IP address is hashed using a cryptographic hash function, e.g. MD5 and SHA-1. The IP address can only remain temporarily in the server memory of the advertisement delivery provider, and then be let go from the memory of the advertisement delivery provider's server. To further protect the identity of the user of the device, the IP address may not be written to a disk or stored in a database operated by the advertisement delivery provider. The hash value for the IP address, also referred to herein as the hashed IP address, can be the only identification associated with the device that is stored by the advertisement delivery provider. Since it can be extremely difficult or nearly impossible to calculate a text, e.g. the IP address, that has a given hash the IP address for the device used to access the secure application of the financial institution is not known to the advertisement delivery provider. At736, the hashed IP address is stored in a database operated by the advertisement delivery provider and at738, the association of the hashed IP address with the UCIC received from the financial institution is recorded. Accordingly, the device that is used by the operator can be matched with the financial information of the operator, but the IP address of the device used by the operator remains anonymous or unknown to the targeted content delivery provider due to the hashing of the IP address. In addition to cryptographic hashing, other encryption functions and algorithms can be applied to an IP address so that the IP addresses used to access financial institution applications are not stored on the server of the advertisement delivery provider.

FIG.17depicts a method for delivering targeted content to a device over a network using the hashed IP address of the device used to access the network. At750, the consumer views a networked application, e.g. a website (the website need not be associated with a financial institution). At752, the advertisement delivery provider captures the IP address for the device used to view the networked application. At754, the IP address is hashed, e.g. subjected to a cryptographic hash function, and let go from a server operated by the advertisement delivery provider. Similar to what has been described above, in this example the IP address is not written to any database or disk under the control of the advertisement delivery provider.

At756, the advertisement delivery provider determines whether the hashed IP address is associated with a UCIC stored in its database. If the hashed IP address is not associated with a UCIC in the database of the advertisement delivery provider, then at758not enough information is known about the operator of the device to deliver targeted content and therefore non-targeted content is delivered to the device. If however, the hashed IP address is associated with a UCIC at step756then at762, the advertisement delivery provider determines whether the hashed IP address has been associated with multiple UCICs. For example, for the device that is being used to access the networked application may be a public computer and many different UCICs can be associated with the same hashed IP address. Analytics can be used to determine whether the device that is being used to access the networked application is a public computer. For example if many different UCICs are associated with the same hashed IP address, then an assumption can be made that this device is used by members of the general public.

At762if the hashed IP address has not been associated with multiple UCICs, then enough information is known about the operator of the device, since a single hashed IP address has been matched to a single UCIC, and therefore the financial information associated with the consumer that matches the UCIC can be associated with the hashed IP address. This allows for targeted content to be delivered to the device at756. If, however, the hashed IP address has been associated with multiple UCICs at762, then at766the advertisement delivery provider determines whether the associations between this hashed IP address and the multiple UCICs is typical. For example, if the same device is being used to check a mortgage, a car loan, a checking account, and a savings account, then all of these accounts may be owned by the same individual and it can be assumed that the individual who is operating the device that is checking these accounts is the owner of each of these accounts. Accordingly, the financial information associated with each of these accounts can be tied back to a unique identifier for the consumer, e.g. the hashed IP address of the device, and targeted content can then be delivered to that device at step764. However, if the associations between this IP address and the multiple UCICs are not typical, for example hundreds of different checking accounts have been associated with the same IP address, then this device associated with this IP address may be used by the general public and therefore the delivery of targeted content based on financial information of one of the consumers who operates the device would be difficult. Accordingly, non-targeted content can be delivered at step758.

Methods and systems for providing targeted content to specific customers while reducing advertisement cost to a vendor in exchange for increased discounts for the customer have been described with reference to specific embodiments. Modifications and alterations will occur to those upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. For example, the methods and systems described above can also be used to deliver targeted content—content that is not an advertisement—to consumers based on the above described classification and transactional metrics. The invention is not limited to only those embodiments described above. Instead, the invention is intended to cover all modifications and alterations that come within the scope of the appended claims and the equivalents thereof.