Patent ID: 8417564

Claim:
A method performed by an electronic data machine for allocating advertising resources for a business, said method comprising: generating a database to store a number of characteristics for one or more one business units, wherein at least one characteristic being an average allocation of advertising costs over a select period of time; conducting multiple regression analysis using a logarithm of sales or profits and a logarithm of quantity sold over a time period against characteristics of promotions run by each business unit to produce a regression coefficient for each characteristic, and for each characteristic using a non-linear specification for the effect of the characteristic on sales or profits using said computer and storing results in said database; assigning an impact indicator for each characteristic based on the regression coefficient for each characteristic, the magnitude of the impact indicator for each characteristic indicating the effect of each characteristic on the sales or profits and quantity sold; calculating a marginal effect on sales or profits by differentiating the non-linear specification for the effect of a given characteristic and displaying the marginal effect over time for each characteristic; and allocating resources to a requisite advertising medium over a segment of time based on the calculated marginal effect.