Method and system for word of mouth advertising via a communications network

• US 20050149397A1
• Filed: 11/24/2004
• Published: 07/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten USA, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rakuten Commerce LLC (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Morgenstern, Jared, Lim, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,206 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.520
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions

Abstract

An advertising method and system allows individuals or groups to interactively select brands from a service provider to associate with their online presence in exchange for the online service, as part of an online service, or for some reward, monetary or otherwise. Individuals or groups select brands from a pool of advertisers based on personal preference and may use them as a means of expression for their online audience as part of an online service. This provides advertisers with self-selected targeted marketing to affinity groups, the online version of word of mouth advertising. Information regarding the online activity of these individuals or groups, including their audience, reach, and influence is used by the service provider in order to calculate the cost to the participating brand advertisers for supplying their advertisements to the service provider'"'"'s pool as well as to solicit new brand advertisers for the pool.

Claims

1. A system of advertisement distribution comprising:

a user display module adapted to displaying information identifying individuals or groups of individuals and/or their associated content;

a processing module adapted to sending a request to a remote server system in response to input commands from a user, the request indicating a desire for content data relating to the individual or group of individuals, and indicating an identifier of the individual or group whose content is being requested from the server system; and

an information receipt and display module adapted to displaying information received from the server system including content requested and associated advertisements.

3. The system of advertisement distribution of claim 1 wherein the associated advertisements are determined based upon associations previously provided by the individual or group.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the information receipt and display module displays the advertisements in a way indicating that the advertisements are associated with the individual or group whose content is being accessed.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an association module adapted to facilitating users to edit or remove advertisements associated with themselves.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the association module includes:

a find module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to find participating advertisers by accessing the server; and

a provide module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to provide and communicate an advertisement to the server.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the association module includes a request module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to express a desire for a product/service or product/service provider that does not currently participate in the advertising system and to communicate this to the server system.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the association module includes a selection module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to choose the advertisements that they will be associated with and to communicate this to the server system.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the association module includes a remove/edit module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to delete the association or modify the association and to communicate this to the server system.

28. The system of claim 11, further comprising a non-association module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to choose the advertisements with which they will not be associated.

2. An advertisement distribution system server comprising:

an instruction receipt module adapted to receiving requests from at least one client system, the requests indicating desired content data relating to an individual or group of individuals;

a retrieval module adapted to retrieving from a storage device data regarding associated advertisements of the individual or group; and

a return module adapted to returning to a client system data corresponding to the information requested and the associated advertisements.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the server system further comprises:

a content delivery module adapted to returning individual or group content to the client system; and

an advertisement delivery module including;

a data storage medium storing information corresponding to a plurality of individuals or groups;

a receiving module adapted to receiving requests for content, a request including data indicating one of the plurality of individuals or groups whose content is desired;

an advertisement retrieval module that retrieves from the data storage medium information for the indicated user or group whose content is being accessed and that uses the retrieved information to select advertisements from among the previously and expressly decided advertisements associated with the individual or group; and

a merging module that combines the content and advertisements before they are sent back to the requesting client.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein additional information received from the requester may be stored and/or used to select from the previous and expressly decided advertisements.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage medium is adapted to retaining historical information about who has accessed the content and advertisements.

8. The system of claim 5 further comprising a calculation module utilizing data reflecting relationships between individuals and groups to determine a measure of a value for an individual or group'"'"'s advertisements.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the content delivery module and the advertisement delivery module are operated independently.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a plurality of servers wherein the content delivery module and the advertisement module are operated on different servers.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the server system further comprises an association processing module adapted to responding to and processing user requests to edit or remove advertisements associated with themselves.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the association processing module includes a find module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to find participating advertisers.

18. The system of claim 12 wherein the association processing module includes a receiving module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to communicate an advertisement to the server via the client system.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein the association processing module includes a request module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to express a desire for a product/service or product/service provider that does not currently participate in the advertising system.

20. The system of claim 12 wherein the association processing module includes a selection module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to choose the advertisements with which they will be associated.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein the association module includes a remove/edit module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to delete the association or modify the association and to communicate.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the find module is adapted to allow a user to browse product or service names or the product or service provider'"'"'s names.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the find module is adapted to providing recommended brands.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the find module optionally is adapted to restricting advertisements available to individuals or groups based on demographic characteristics of a user accessing the find module.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the find module is adapted to providing paid-for positioning of brands that are targeted towards individuals having designated demographic characteristics.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the find module is adapted to providing additional detail about a specified advertisement selected from a group consisting of the actual advertisement that will be displayed, links for more information about the product/service or the provider of the product/service, popularity of advertisement as defined by a number of individuals or groups deciding to be associated with the advertisement, popularity of advertisement as defined by a number of selections that the advertisement receives, and popularity of advertisement as defined by a number of views that the advertisement receives.

27. The system of claim 2 further comprising a storage database including advertisement data wherein the advertisement data are associated with categories, the categories including advertisement genre.

29. The system of claim 12, further comprising a non-association processing module adapted to allowing individuals or groups to choose the advertisements with which they will not be associated.

30. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a value evaluation module adapted to determining a value of advertisements associated with individuals or groups; and

an advertiser cost determination module adapted to determining costs to advertisers.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the advertiser cost determination module includes components adapted to:

grouping advertisements into brands as part of a campaign using;

a first equation for approximating a number of word of mouth impressions for a brand, derived intuitively from a probability that a viewer will be impressed upon by the association of the brand and the individual or group, multiplied by the opportunities for impression or views, for all viewers viewing a particular brand across all associated individuals and groups;

number of viewer word of mouth impressions=probability of brand B being impressed upon viewer V by agent A*number of views by V of A with B for all V, A, and chosen brand B; and

a second equation for approximating a probability that a viewer will be impressed upon by the association of the brand and the individual or group, derived intuitively from the probability that a viewer will value the recommendation of an individual or group, multiplied by strength with which the individual or group advocates the brand;

probability of brand B being impressed upon viewer V by agent A=credibility of agent A with viewer V*power of advocacy of brand B by agent A;

wherein the cost to an advertiser for a particular group of advertisements making up a brand is dependent on the number of word of mouth impressions.

32. The system of claim 30 further comprising a credibility module adapted to determine credibility values used in the advertiser cost determining module.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the credibility module determines credibility values wherein a credibility of agent A with viewer V is dependent on the relationship between the agent and the viewer, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C:

friend;

C=1.0;

friend of friend;

C=0.5;

friend of friend of friend;

C=0.25; and

stranger;

C=0.

34. The system of claim 32, further comprising using the credibility module to determine the credibility values wherein the credibility of agent A with viewer V is dependent on the number of relationships X that agent already has, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C:

X>

above 50 friends;

C=1.0;

50>

X>

25;

C=0.5;

X=0 friends;

C=0;

wherein a higher credibility value is designated for more popular people.

35. The system of claim 32 wherein the credibility module determines the credibility values used in the second equation;

wherein the credibility of agent A is derived using a weighted sum of;

a first credibility of agent A with viewer V dependent on the relationship between the agent and the viewer, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C1;

friend;

C1=1.0;

friend of friend;

C1=0.5;

friend of friend of friend;

C1=0.25; and

stranger;

C1=0; and

a second credibility of agent A with viewer V dependent on the number of relationships X that agent already has, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C2;

X>

above 50 friends;

C2=1.0;

50>

X>

25;

C2=0.5;

X=0 friends;

C2=0;

wherein a higher credibility value is designated for more popular people.

36. A system of advertisement distribution, the system comprising,

an instruction receipt module adapted to receiving requests from at least one client system, the requests indicating desired content data relating to an individual or group of individuals;

a retrieval module adapted to retrieving from a storage device data regarding associated advertisements of the individual or group; and

a return module adapted to returning to a client system data corresponding to the information requested and the associated advertisements.

37. A system of advertisement distribution, the system comprising:

a request receiving module that receives a request to display requested information along with an identifier of an individual or group whose content is being requested;

an information retrieving module that retrieves additional information regarding associated advertisements of the individual or group whose content is being requested, identified by the identifier in the request received; and

a communicating module that communicates to a client device the content requested as well as associated advertisements using the retrieved information;

wherein the associated advertisements have been selected by the individual or group.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the associated advertisements are selected via an interactive selection process by the individual or group.

39. The system of claim 37 wherein the associated advertisements are selected via a request received for the advertiser or advertisement.

40. The system of claim 37, further comprising:

an advertisement transmitting module that transmits the advertisements and optionally associated content comprising;

a data storage medium;

a content delivery module for returning individual or group content;

an advertisement delivery module comprising;

a content request receiving module that receives requests for content, wherein the requests include an indication of one of the plurality of individuals or groups whose content is desired;

an advertisement retrieving module that retrieves from the data storage medium information for the indicated user or group whose content is being accessed and that uses the retrieved information to select advertisements from among the advertisements selected associated with the individual or group for merging with the requested content before both are sent to a client device; and

a merging module that merges the content and advertisements before the content and advertisements are transmitted to the client.

41. The system of claim 40, further comprising a data storage medium storing information about access to content and advertisements.

42. The system of claim 40 wherein information about relationships between individuals and groups comprises providing a measure of the value for an individual or group'"'"'s advertisements.

43. The system of claim 37, further comprising a deciding module adapted to that enabling individuals or groups to decide the advertisements that they will be associated with prior to their association using a data storage medium storing advertising information for a plurality of advertisers, advertisements, users and groups.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the client device comprises:

a finding module that enables individuals or groups to find participating advertisers and their advertisements by accessing the data storage medium;

an advertisement providing module that enables individuals or groups to provide and communicate an advertisement to the system for pending inclusion in the data storage medium;

a request expressing module that enables individuals or groups to express their desire for a product/service or product/service provider that does not currently participate in the advertising and to communicate this to the system;

an advertisement selection module that enables individuals or groups to select the advertisements that they will be associated with and to communicate this to the system; and

an modifying module that enables individuals or groups to modify their association and to communicate this to the system.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the finding module comprises a searching module adapted to conducting information retrieval searching based on search keys including product name, service name, product provider name or service provider name.

46. The system of claim 44, wherein the finding module comprises a browsing module that enables individuals or groups to browse product or service names or the product or service provider'"'"'s names.

47. The system of claim 44, wherein the finding module is adapted to access recommended brands that are determined using data mining techniques.

48. The system of claim 44, wherein the finding module comprises a restricting module that restricts advertisements available to individuals or groups based on information about the individual or group, using a predetermined criteria corresponding to a certain advertiser.

49. The system of claim 44, wherein the finding module comprises paid-for positioning brands that are targeted towards individual users or groups.

50. The system of claim 44, wherein the finding module comprises a detail displaying module that displays additional detail about the advertisement, wherein the additional detail comprises:

a. the actual advertisement to be displayed;

b. links for more information about the product/service or the provider of the product/service;

c. popularity of advertisement as defined by number of individuals or groups deciding to be associated with the advertisement;

d. popularity of advertisement as defined by the number of clicks that the advertisement receives; and

e. popularity of advertisement as defined by the number of views that the advertisement receives.

51. The system of claim 37, further comprising a featuring module adapted to feature advertisers based on their comparative willingness to pay.

52. The system of claim 44, wherein the advertisement selecting module enables individuals or groups to select advertisements that they view associated with other individual'"'"'s or group'"'"'s content.

53. The system of claim 37, wherein advertisements are associated with categories in the data storage medium.

54. The system of claim 37, further comprising an election module adapted to enabling individuals or groups to elect to avoid association with the available advertisers.

55. The system of claim 37, further comprising:

an evaluating module that evaluates the value of advertisements associated with individuals or groups; and

a cost determining module that determines costs to advertisers.

56. The system of claim 55, wherein the cost determining module comprises:

an advertisement grouping module that groups advertisements into brands as part of a campaign using;

a first equation for approximating the number of word of mouth impressions for a brand, derived intuitively from the probability that a viewer will be impressed upon by the association of the brand and the individual or group, multiplied by the opportunities for impression or views, for all viewers viewing a particular brand across all associated individuals and groups;

number of viewer word of mouth impressions=probability of brand B being impressed upon viewer V by agent A*number of views by V of A with B for all V, A, and chosen brand B; and

a second equation for approximating the probability that a viewer will be impressed upon by the association of the brand and the individual or group, derived intuitively from the probability that a viewer will value the recommendation of an individual or group, multiplied by strength with which the individual or group advocates the brand;

probability of brand B being impressed upon viewer V by agent A=credibility of agent A with viewer V*power of advocacy of brand B by agent A;

wherein the cost to an advertiser for a particular group of advertisements making up a brand is dependent on the number of word of mouth impressions.

57. The system of claim 56, further comprising a credibility determining module that determines the credibility used in the second equation.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the credibility of agent A with viewer V is dependent on the relationship between the agent and the viewer, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C:

friend;

C=1.0;

friend of friend;

C=0.5;

friend of friend of friend;

C=0.25; and

stranger;

C=0.

59. The system of claim 57, wherein the credibility of agent A with viewer V is dependent on the number of relationships X that agent already has, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C:

X>

above 50 friends;

C=1.0;

50>

X>

25;

C=0.5;

X=0 friends;

C=0;

wherein a higher credibility value is designated for more popular people.

60. The system of claim 57, wherein the credibility of agent A is derived using a weighted sum of:

a first credibility of agent A with viewer V dependent on the relationship between the agent and the viewer, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C1;

friend;

C1=1.0;

friend of friend;

C1=0.5;

friend of friend of friend;

C1=0.25; and

stranger;

C1=0; and

a second credibility of agent A with viewer V dependent on the number of relationships X that agent already has, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C2;

X>

above 50 friends;

C2=1.0;

50>

X>

25;

C2=0.5;

X=0 friends;

C2=0;

wherein a higher credibility value is designated for more popular people.

61. The system of claim 57, further comprising a power of advocacy determining module that determines the power of advocacy of brand B by agent A derived as a ratio of the number of times an advertisement of brand B appears associated with agent A and the total number of associated advertisements associated with agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads, D of which are related to the brand being evaluated, having the ratio equal to D/N.

62. The system of claim 57, further comprising a power of advocacy determining module that determines the power of advocacy of brand B by agent A derived as a ratio of the total amount of pixel space of all advertisements that appear of brand B with agent A and the total amount of pixel space used for all associated advertisements for agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads totaling R pixels, S of which are related to the brand being evaluated and having T pixels each, determining the ratio equal to S*T/R.

63. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

a power of advocacy determining module that determines the power of advocacy of brand B by agent A derived from a weighted sum of;

a first ratio of the number of times an advertisement of brand B appears associated with agent A and the total number of associated advertisements associated with agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads, D of which are related to the brand being evaluated, having the first ratio equal to D/N; and

a second ratio of the total amount of pixel space of all advertisements that appear of brand B with agent A and the total amount of pixel space used for all associated advertisements for agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads totaling R pixels, S of which are related to the brand being evaluated and having T pixels each, determining the second ratio equal to S*T/R.

64. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

a position determining module that determines the positioning of available advertisements for display in the finding module; and

a cost calculating module that calculates the cost to the advertiser.

65. The system of claim 64, wherein the cost calculating module comprises:

a first ranking determining module that determines a relative position of brands within a category or subcategory; and

a second ranking determining module that determines individuals or groups of individuals meeting a predetermined criteria to target marketing of predetermined brands;

wherein the cost to an advertiser is dynamically determined based on the ranking positioning of the advertiser'"'"'s ads.

66. The system of claim 56, further comprising:

a position determining module that determines the positioning of available advertisements for display in the finding module; and

a cost calculating module that calculates the cost to the advertiser.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the cost calculating module comprises:

a first ranking determining module that determines a relative position of brands within a category or subcategory; and

a second ranking determining module that determines individuals or groups of individuals meeting a predetermined criteria to target marketing of predetermined brands;

wherein the cost to an advertiser is dynamically determined based on the ranking positioning of the advertiser'"'"'s ads; and

wherein the ranking positioning is determined using a second price blind auction model where a bid is a combination of an advertiser'"'"'s stated maximum value for a word of mouth impression, and the advertisement'"'"'s frequency of selection by associated individuals or groups.

68. The system of claim 67 wherein the predetermined criteria comprises at least one of click-through rates, number of relationships as defined in a relationship database, profile information about the associated user or group, and statistics relating to the type of viewers that an individual or group may receive.

69. The system of claim 44 further comprising an advertiser campaign information displaying module that displays information regarding advertiser campaigns.

70. The system of claim 37, further comprising at least one of:

an advertisement activity retrieving module that retrieves additional information regarding advertisement activity to be sent to the client device;

a managing module that manages an advertisement wherein managing the advertisement comprises at least one of an ability to suspend or withdraw the advertisement from the system, change a maximum bid for a word of mouth impression for an advertisement, and change targeting information for the advertisement;

a new advertisement providing module that provides a new advertisement to the system; and

a paying module that monitors and pays outstanding bills via an electronic payment system.

71. The system of claim 70 wherein the advertisement activity retrieving module comprises:

a. a cost module that breaks down a cost for the advertisement requested;

b. an impressions determining module that determines a total number of impressions for an advertisement;

c. an advertisement selected determining module that determines a total number of times an advertisement was selected;

d. an association determining module that determines a total number of users or groups associated with an advertisement; and

e. a contribution determining module that determines information regarding a particular individual'"'"'s or group'"'"'s contribution to the campaign via their associated advertisements.

72. The system claim 70 further comprising a previewing module that enables an advertiser to preview the effects of a higher bid using an auction system.

73. The system of claim 70 further comprising at least one of:

a procuring module that procures advertisers and advertisements for a system where advertisements are associated with individuals or groups;

an association request receiving module that receives requests from individuals or groups to be associated with non participating products/services companies;

a threshold determining module that determines a threshold for determining when a demand for an advertiser is high enough to approach the advertiser;

a hypothetical advertisement processing module that processes a hypothetical advertisement based on the associations suggested by the number of requests for the non-participating product/service; and

a campaign converting module that converts the hypothetical campaign into a live campaign.

74. The system of claim 73, wherein the threshold is determined from the number of word of mouth impressions.

75. A system of advertisement distribution comprising:

a user display module adapted to displaying information identifying individuals or groups of individuals and/or their associated content;

a user input module adapted to receiving input commands from a user;

a processing module adapted to sending a request to a remote server system in response to input commands from the user via the input module, the request indicating a desire for content data relating to the individual or group of individuals, and indicating an identifier of the individual or group whose content is being requested from the server system; and

an information receipt and display module adapted to displaying information received from the server system including content requested and associated advertisements.

76. A system of advertisement distribution, the system comprising:

a displaying module that displays information identifying individuals or groups of individuals and/or their associated content and associated advertisements; and

a request transmitting module that transmits a request to the displaying module to display the requested information along with an identifier of the individual or group whose content is being requested to a server system; and

wherein the associated advertisements have been selected by the individual or group.

77. The system of claim 76 further comprising first and second display modules, an action module, and a communication module;

wherein the first display module displays information identifying individuals or groups or their associated content;

wherein the action module sends a request to a server for the content associated with the individual or group, the request including the identifier of the individual, group, and/or their associated content;

wherein the communication module communicates requests and receives content from the server system; and

wherein the second display module displays the advertisements selected by the individual or group whose content is being accessed.

78. The system of claim 77 wherein the first and second display modules exist in a browser.

79. The system of claim 77 wherein the action module is selected from the group consisting of a hyperlink being activated and a form being submitted.

80. The system of claim 76, wherein the server system comprises:

a content delivery module for transmitting individual or group content;

an advertisement delivery module comprising;

a data storage medium that stores information for a plurality of individuals or groups;

a request receiving module that receiving requests for content, wherein a request comprises an indication of one of the plurality of individuals or groups whose content is desired;

an advertisement retrieving module that retrieves from the data storage medium information for the indicated user or group whose content is being accessed and that uses the retrieved information to select advertisements from among the advertisements associated with the individual or group for merging with the requested content; and

a merging module that merges the content and advertisements.

81. The system of claim 76, further comprising:

a deciding module that enables individuals or groups to decide the advertisements with which they will be associated;

a finding module that enables individuals or groups to find participating advertisers and their advertisements by accessing the server'"'"'s advertisement data storage medium;

a providing module that enables individuals or groups to provide and communicate an advertisement to the server system for pending inclusion in the advertisement data storage medium;

a product/service requesting module that enables individuals or groups to express their desire for a product/service or product/service provider that does not currently participate in the advertising system;

a selecting module that enables individuals or groups to select advertisements with which they will be associated; and

a modifying module that enables individuals or groups to modify an association.

82. The system of claim 81, wherein the finding module comprises an additional detail displaying module that displays additional detail about the advertisement, wherein the additional detail comprises at least one of:

a. the actual advertisement to be displayed;

b. links for more information about the product/service or the provider of the product/service;

c. popularity of advertisement as defined by number of individuals or groups deciding to be associated with the advertisement;

d. popularity of advertisement as defined by the number of clicks that the advertisement receives; and

e. popularity of advertisement as defined by the number of views that the advertisement receives.

83. A method of advertisement distribution, the method comprising:

displaying information identifying individuals or groups of individuals and/or their associated content; and

sending a request to display the requested information along with an identifier of the individual or group whose content is being requested in response to an action being performed indicating a desire for content relating to the individual or group of individuals; and

receiving the request;

retrieving additional information regarding associated advertisements of the individual or group whose content is being requested, identified by the identifier in the received request; and

returning the content requested as well as associated advertisements using the retrieved information;

wherein the associated advertisements have been previously and expressly decided by the individual or group.

84. The method of claim 83 wherein the associated advertisements are decided via an interactive selection process by the individual or group.

85. The method of claim 83 wherein the associated advertisements are decided via a request for the advertiser or advertisement.

86. The method of claim 83 wherein the associated advertisements are decided by the individual or agent via their supply by the individual or group.

87. The method of claim 83 wherein the associated advertisements are decided by the individual or group via a grant for their usage.

88. The method of claim 83 further comprising:

providing first and second display components, an action component, and a communication component;

wherein the first display component displays information identifying individuals or groups or their associated content;

wherein the action component sends a request to a server for the content associated with the individual or group, the request including the identifier of the individual, group, and/or their associated content;

wherein the communication component transmits requests and receives content from a server system; and

wherein the second display component displays the decided advertisements of the individual or group whose content is being accessed.

89. The method of claim 88 wherein the first and second display components exist in a browser window.

90. The method of claim 88 wherein the action component is selected from the group consisting of a hyperlink being activated and a form being submitted.

91. The method of claim 88 wherein additional information identifying the requester is communicated to the server system.

92. The method of claim 88 wherein the advertisements are displayed so that the client user is aware that the advertisements are decided by the individual or group whose content is being accessed.

93. The method of claim 83, further comprising:

providing a server system for returning the decided advertisements merged with associated content comprising;

a content delivery component for returning individual or group content;

an advertisement delivery component comprising;

a data storage medium storing information for a plurality of individuals or groups;

a receiving component for receiving requests for content, a request including an indication of one of the plurality of individuals or groups whose content is desired;

an advertisement retrieval component that retrieves from the data storage medium information for the indicated user or group whose content is being accessed and that uses the retrieved information to select advertisements from among the advertisements associated with the individual or group for merging with the requested content; and

a merging component that combines the content and advertisements.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein additional information received from the requestor is at least one of stored and used to select from the advertisements.

95. The method of claim 93, wherein information about who is accessing the content and advertisements is stored in the data storage medium.

96. The method of claim 93 wherein information about relationships between individuals and groups may be utilized to provide a measure of a value for an individual or group'"'"'s advertisements.

97. The method of claim 93, wherein the content delivery component and the advertisement delivery component are independently operated.

98. The method of claim 83, further comprising:

having individuals or groups decide the advertisements that they will be associated with prior to their association comprising;

a data storage medium storing advertising information for a plurality of advertisers, advertisements, users and groups;

a client component for the selecting of associated advertisements with an individual or group.

99. The method of claim 98 wherein the client component comprises a find component that enables individuals or groups to find participating advertisers and their advertisements by accessing the data storage medium.

100. The method of claim 98 wherein the client component comprises a provide component that enables individuals or groups to provide and communicate an advertisement for pending inclusion in the data storage medium.

101. The method of claim 98 wherein the client component comprises a request component that enables individuals or groups to express their desire for a product/service or product/service provider that does not currently participate in the advertising system and to communicate this to the server system.

102. The method of claim 98 wherein the client component comprises a selection component that enables individuals or groups to select the advertisements with which they will be associated.

103. The method of claim 98 wherein the client component comprises a modify component that enables individuals or groups to modify the association.

104. The method of claim 98, wherein the find component comprises a search component that enables individuals or groups to search on the product or service name or the product or service provider'"'"'s name.

105. The method of claim 98, wherein the find component comprises a browse component that enables individuals or groups to browse product or service names or the product or service provider'"'"'s names.

106. The method of claim 98, wherein the find component comprises determining recommended brands using data mining techniques.

107. The method of claim 98, wherein the find component comprises an advertisement restricting component that restricts advertisements available to individuals or groups based on at least one of information about the individual or group and using a predetermined criteria corresponding to a certain advertiser.

108. The method of claim 98, wherein the find component comprises paid-for positioning brands that are targeted towards individual users or groups.

109. The method of claim 98, wherein the find component displays additional detail about the advertisement comprising:

a. the actual advertisement to be displayed;

b. links for more information about the product/service or the provider of the product/service;

c. popularity of advertisement as defined by number of individuals or groups deciding to be associated with the advertisement;

d. popularity of advertisement as defined by the number of clicks that the advertisement receives; and

e. popularity of advertisement as defined by the number of views that the advertisement receives.

110. The method of claim 98, wherein the find component features advertisers based on their comparative willingness to pay.

111. The method of claim 98, wherein the selection component allows individuals or groups to select advertisements that they view associated with other individual'"'"'s or group'"'"'s content.

112. The method of claim 98, wherein advertisements are associated with categories in the storage database.

113. The method of claim 98, further comprising a non-association module that enables individuals or groups to elect to avoid association with the available advertisers.

114. The method of claim 83, further comprising:

evaluating a value of advertisements associated with individuals or groups; and

determining costs to advertisers comprising;

grouping advertisements into brands as part of a campaign using;

a first equation for approximating a number of word of mouth impressions for a brand, derived intuitively from a probability that a viewer will be impressed upon by the association of the brand and the individual or group, multiplied by the opportunities for impression or views, for all viewers viewing a particular brand across all associated individuals and groups;

number of viewer word of mouth impressions=probability of brand B being impressed upon viewer V by agent A*number of views by V of A with B for all V, A, and chosen brand B; and

a second equation for approximating a probability that a viewer will be impressed upon by the association of the brand and the individual or group, derived intuitively from the probability that a viewer will value the recommendation of an individual or group, multiplied by strength with which the individual or group advocates the brand;

probability of brand B being impressed upon viewer V by agent A=credibility of agent A with viewer V*power of advocacy of brand B by agent A;

wherein the cost to an advertiser for a particular group of advertisements making up a brand is dependent on the number of word of mouth impressions.

115. The method of claim 114, further comprising:

using a credibility component to determine the credibility used in the second equation;

wherein the credibility of agent A with viewer V is dependent on the relationship between the agent and the viewer, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C;

friend;

C=1.0;

friend of friend;

C=0.5;

friend of friend of friend;

C=0.25; and

stranger;

C=0.

116. The method of claim 114, further comprising:

using a credibility component to determine the credibility used in the second equation;

wherein the credibility of agent A with viewer V is dependent on the number of relationships X that agent already has, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C;

X>

above 50 friends;

C=1.0;

50>

X>

25;

C=0.5;

X=0 friends;

C=0;

wherein a higher credibility value is designated for more popular people.

117. The method of claim 115, further comprising:

using a credibility component to determine the credibility values used in the second equation;

wherein the credibility of agent A is derived using a weighted sum of;

a first credibility of agent A with viewer V dependent on the relationship between the agent and the viewer, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C1;

friend;

C1=1.0;

friend of friend;

C1=0.5;

friend of friend of friend;

C1=0.25; and

stranger;

C1=0; and

a second credibility of agent A with viewer V dependent on the number of relationships X that agent already has, as defined by a relationship database storing predetermined credibility values C2;

X>

above 50 friends;

C2=1.0;

50>

X>

25;

C2=0.5;

X=0 friends;

C2=0;

wherein a higher credibility value is designated for more popular people.

118. The method of claim 114, further comprising using a power of advocacy component for determining the power of advocacy of brand B by agent A derived as a ratio of the number of times an advertisement of brand B appears associated with agent A and the total number of associated advertisements associated with agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads, D of which are related to the brand being evaluated, having the ratio equal to D/N.

119. The method of claim 114, further comprising using a power of advocacy component for determining the power of advocacy of brand B by agent A derived as a ratio of the total amount of pixel space of all advertisements that appear of brand B with agent A and the total amount of pixel space used for all associated advertisements for agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads totaling R pixels, S of which are related to the brand being evaluated and having T pixels each, determining the ratio equal to S*T/R.

120. The method of claim 114, further comprising:

using a power of advocacy component for determining the power of advocacy of brand B by agent A derived from a weighted sum of;

a first ratio of the number of times an advertisement of brand B appears associated with agent A and the total number of associated advertisements associated with agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads, D of which are related to the brand being evaluated, having the first ratio equal to D/N; and

a second ratio of the total amount of pixel space of all advertisements that appear of brand B with agent A and the total amount of pixel space used for all associated advertisements for agent A, with an agent being associated with N ads totaling R pixels, S of which are related to the brand being evaluated and having T pixels each, determining the second ratio equal to S*T/R.

121. The method of claim 98, further comprising:

determining the positioning of available advertisements for display in the find component; and

calculating the cost to the advertiser comprising;

using a first ranking component for determining the relative positioning of brands within a category or subcategory; and

using a second ranking component used by advertisers for targeted marketing of brands to individuals or groups of individuals meeting some pre-specified criterion;

wherein the cost to an advertiser is dynamically determined based on the ranking positioning of the advertiser'"'"'s ads.

122. The method of claim 114, further comprising:

determining the positioning of available advertisements for display in the find component; and

calculating the cost to the advertiser comprising;

using a first ranking component for determining the relative positioning of brands within a category or subcategory; and

using a second ranking component used by advertisers for targeted marketing of brands to individuals or groups of individuals meeting a predetermined criteria;

wherein the cost to an advertiser is dynamically determined based on the ranking positioning of the advertiser'"'"'s ads; and

wherein the rankings are determined using a second price blind auction model where a bid is a combination of an advertiser'"'"'s stated maximum value for a word of mouth impression, and the advertisement'"'"'s frequency of selection by associated individual or group.

123. The method of claim 122 wherein the predetermined criteria comprises at least one of click-through rates, number of relationships as defined in a relationship database, profile information about the associated user or group, and statistics relating to the type of viewers that an individual or group may receive.

124. The method of claim 122 further comprising displaying information regarding advertiser campaigns.

125. The method of claim 122 further comprising retrieving additional information regarding the advertisement activity to be sent to the client.

126. The method of claim 122 further comprising managing an advertisement, wherein the managing comprises at least one of suspending and withdrawing the advertisement from the system, changing the maximum bid for a word of mouth impression for an advertisement, and changing targeting information for the advertisement.

127. The method of claim 122 further comprising providing a new advertisement.

128. The method of claim 122 further comprising monitoring and paying outstanding bills via an electronic payment system.

129. The method of claim 123, wherein retrieving the additional information regarding the advertisement activity comprises:

a. breaking down the cost component for the advertisement requested;

b. determining the total impressions for an advertisement;

c. determining the total number of times an advertisement was clicked on;

d. determining the total number of users or groups associated with an advertisement; and

e. determining information regarding particular individual'"'"'s or group'"'"'s contribution to the campaign via their associated advertisements.

130. The method claim 123 further comprising enabling an advertiser to preview the effects of a higher bid using an auction system.

131. The method of claim 123 further comprising procuring advertisers and advertisements for a system where advertisements are associated with individuals or groups.

132. The method of claim 123 further comprising receiving association requests from individuals or groups to be associated with non participating products/services companies.

133. The method of claim 123 further comprising determining a threshold for when the demand for an advertiser is high enough to approach the advertiser.

134. The method of claim 123 further comprising processing a hypothetical advertisement based on the associations suggested by the number of requests for the non-participating product/service.

135. The method of claim 123 further comprising converting a hypothetical campaign to a live campaign.

136. The method of claim 129, wherein the threshold is determined from the number of word of mouth impressions.

137. The method of claim 135 wherein the converting to a live campaign comprises a processing a single request from the client for performing the conversion.

138. A sponsorship obtaining system comprising:

a data storage medium that stores proposals and sponsorship information for a plurality of advertisers and users or groups;

an opt-in component for receiving an opt-in request from an individual or group that wants to be part of a direct access system;

a view-and-accept-or-reject-sponsorship-proposals component that allows individuals or groups to view sponsorship proposals created by advertisers and to accept and reject the proposals.

139. The system of claim 138 further comprising a reward component that enables individuals or groups to receive benefits for their sponsorships.

140. The system of claim 138 further comprising a provide-reward component that allows advertisers to provide benefits for their sponsored individuals or groups.

141. The system of claim 138 further comprising a find component that enables advertisers to find participating individuals or groups and their statistics by accessing the data storage medium.

142. The system of claim 138 further comprising a create-and-edit proposals component that enables advertisers to draft and submit sponsorship proposals to a server system.

143. The system of claim 138 further comprising a review-sponsorships component that allows individuals or groups to request from the server the sponsorships that they have rejected or accepted for review.

144. The system of claim 138 further comprising a review-sponsorships component that allows advertisers to request from the server the sponsorships that they submitted to the system for review and tracking.

145. The system of claim 138 further comprising an access enabling module that enables individuals or groups indirect access to advertisers.

146. The system of claim 138 further comprising an access enabling module that enables advertisers indirect access to individuals or groups.

147. The system of claim 138, wherein a service provider receives a fee for facilitating a successful sponsorship.

148. The system of claim 138, wherein the fee is a one-time fee that is dependant on a size of the individual or group'"'"'s audience and a fixed fee.

149. The system of claim 138, wherein the proposals involve a premium per word-of-mouth-brand-impression that is paid to the sponsoring individual or group.

150. The system of claim 138, wherein a service provider receives a percentage of the premium.

151. The system of claim 138, wherein the advertisers reward the individuals or groups using an external service that can be monitored by a service provider.

152. The system of claim 139, wherein the rewards are monetary and advertisers pay a service provider and the service provider delivers the reward to the individual or group.

153. The system of claim 139, wherein the rewards are product or service discounts afforded by the advertisers to the individuals or groups.

154. The system of claim 138, further comprising a redistribution component wherein the rewards can be redistributed as designated by a receiving individual or group.

155. An advertisement distribution method comprising:

receiving a request for content;

retrieving additional information regarding associated advertisements of an individual or group whose content is being requested, wherein the individual or group is identified by an identifier in the received request; and

transmitting to a client device the content requested as well as associated advertisements using the retrieved information;

wherein the associated advertisements have been selected by the individual or group.

156. A method of advertisement distribution, the method comprising:

displaying information identifying individuals or groups of individuals and/or their associated content; and

sending a request to display the requested information along with an identifier of the individual or group whose content is being requested in response to an action being performed indicating a desire for content relating to the individual or group of individuals

157. The method of advertisement distribution recited in claim 156 further comprising:

receiving the request;

retrieving additional information regarding associated advertisements of the individual or group whose content is being requested, identified by the identifier in the received request; and

returning the content requested as well as associated advertisements using the retrieved information.

158. The method of advertisement distribution recited in claim 157 wherein the associated advertisements have been previously and expressly decided by the individual or group.

159. A word of mouth advertising system comprising:

a delivery module wherein a user is provided advertisements or other links associated with an affinity grouping;

a selection module wherein a user can select one of said advertisements or links for viewing; and

a reward module wherein an affinity agent is designated a reward for selection operations performed on advertisements associated with the affinity agent.

160. The word of mouth advertising system of claim 159 further comprising a reward distribution module adapted to distributing among designated individuals or groups rewards designated by the reward module.

161. The word of mouth advertising system of claim 159 further comprising a reputation module generating a reputation rating for an affinity agent.