Showcasing of products featured in entertainment productions

• US 20040019524A1
• Filed: 04/09/2003
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Aaron Timothy Marshall
• Original Assignee: Aaron Timothy Marshall
• Inventors: Marshall, Aaron Timothy
• Application Number:
  US10/410,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20040019524A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A process for showcasing goods or services placed in an entertainment production includes the steps of identifying possible placement candidates, negotiating with sources of identified products, maximizing use of featured products in the production, and, after production has been completed, generating an interactive catalog of featured products linked both to the production and to the source. The source of the featured product may be charged a placement fee based at least in part on the prominence of the display in the catalog and/or on the extent to which the catalog is circulated to potential consumers of the featured products and services. The interactive catalog is preferably organized by scenes and/or product categories and contains hyperlinks to sources of the featured products, thus providing the viewer/consumer with the ability to easily discover, locate and purchase any products that have been showcased in a movie or television show using product placement.

Claims

1. A method for showcasing products placed in an entertainment production, comprising the steps

identify possible product placement candidates

negotiate with sources of identified products,

generate list of products to be featured in that production

finalize scripts, set designs and/or locations using a number of the featured products after production has been completed, generate an interactive catalog of featured products with links both to the production and to a source of each of the featured products, and

publish the interactive catalog

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the production links include a production still showing a particular featured product

3. The method of claim 2 wherein

one of the source links identifies a manufacturer or distributor of the particular featured product,

4. The method of claim 2 wherein

one of the sources link identifies a catalog retailer selling the particular featured product,

5. The method of claim 2 wherein

one of the source links identifies a retail outlet where the particular featured product may be inspected and purchased.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein

on of the source links is a hyperlink to an Internet website associated with the particular featured product

7. The method of claim 6 wherein

the negotiate step includes a provision for a payment based on interest in a featured product generated by the interactive catalog and

the hyperlink includes an internet server with a counter for counting the number of clicks on that particular hyperlink.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein

at least some of the production links are organized by scene

9. The method of claim 2 wherein

the interactive catalog is organized by product category

10. The method of claim 2 wherein

the interactive catalog includes featured products omitted from the final production release

11. The method of claim 10 wherein deleted scenes from the production are used to link the production to the omitted featured products

12. The method of claim 2 wherein

the interactive catalog includes supplemental submenus leading to goods and/or services not associated with particular scenes from the final production release.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein said goods and/or services include hotels, cruise ships, entertainment venues, designer goods, sporting goods, and/or recreational activities.

14. An interactive catalog of products featured in an entertainment production, comprising:

a first menu hierarchy for selecting products based on scenes from the production;

a second menu hierarchy for selecting products based on categories independent of the production; and

a separate product information display for each featured product,

wherein each said product information display includes a scene from the production and a hyperlink to an Internet website associated with that featured product.

15. The interactive catalog of claim 14, further comprising a third menu hierarchy for selecting featured products that were not visible in a final production release,

16. The interactive catalog of claim 15, wherein the product information display for a particular not visible product includes a deleted scene from the production in which that featured product was visible.