System and Method for Improving the Performance of Digital Advertisements

• US 20090157442A1
• Filed: 12/13/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tesler, Lawrence G.
• Application Number:
  US11/955,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157442A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Systems and methods for optimizing performance of an ad campaign are disclosed. Generally, an offer is extended to an advertiser to optimize an ad campaign of the advertiser. The offer provides that an optimized version of the ad campaign performs at least as well as an unoptimized version of the ad campaign. Upon acceptance of the offer, an ad campaign optimizer automatically creates an optimized version of an ad campaign and monitors a performance of the optimized version of the ad campaign and the unoptimized version of the ad campaign. The ad campaign optimizer then automatically adjusts a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign based on the monitored performance of the optimized ad campaign and the monitored performance of the unoptimized ad campaign.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing performance of an ad campaign, the method comprising;

extending an offer to an advertiser to optimize an ad campaign, the offer providing that an optimized version of the ad campaign performs at least as well as an unoptimized version of the ad campaign;

automatically creating the optimized version of the ad campaign after receiving an acceptance of the offer;

monitoring a performance of the optimized ad campaign and a performance of the unoptimized ad campaign; and

automatically adjusting a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign based on the monitored performance of the optimized ad campaign and the monitored performance of the unoptimized ad campaign.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the acceptance of the offer; and

receiving an indication of a performance metric associated with the ad campaign to be optimized.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication of a performance metric to be optimized comprises at least one of:

lowering a cost-per-click associated with digital ads of the optimized ad campaign without reducing a number of click-throughs on the digital ads of the optimized ad campaign per day;

increasing a number of click-throughs per day on the digital ads of the optimized ad campaign without raising an overall cost to the advertiser;

or

improving conversions associated with digital ads of the optimized ad campaign.

4. The method of claim 1t further comprising:

compensating the advertiser upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is not performing as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

serving one or more digital ads from the optimized ad campaign and one or more digital ads from the unoptimized ad campaign to a plurality of users.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically adjusting a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign comprises:

increasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and decreasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is performing at least as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically adjusting a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign comprises:

decreasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and increasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is not performing at least as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein decreasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign comprises not allocating a portion of ad campaign activations to the optimized ad campaign.

9. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions for optimizing performance of an ad campaign, the set of instructions operative to direct a processor to perform acts of:

extending an offer to an advertiser to optimize an ad campaign, the offer providing that an optimized version of the ad campaign performs at least as well as an unoptimized version of the ad campaign;

automatically creating the optimized version of the ad campaign after receiving an acceptance of the offer;

monitoring a performance of the optimized ad campaign and a performance of the unoptimized ad campaign; and

automatically adjusting a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign based on the monitored performance of the optimized ad campaign and the monitored performance of the unoptimized ad campaign.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

receiving the acceptance of the offer; and

receiving an indication of a performance metric associated with the ad campaign to be optimized.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

compensating the advertiser upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is not performing as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

serving one or more digital ads from the optimized ad campaign and one or more digital ads from the unoptimized ad campaign to a plurality of users.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein automatically adjusting a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign comprises:

increasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and decreasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is performing at least as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein automatically adjusting a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign comprises:

decreasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and increasing a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is not performing at least as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

15. A system for optimizing performance of an ad campaign, the system comprising:

an ad campaign optimizer operative to;

automatically create an optimized version of an ad campaign in response to an acceptance of an offer to optimize the ad campaign, the offer providing that the optimized version of the ad campaign performs at least as well as an unoptimized version of the ad campaign;

monitor a performance of the optimized ad campaign and a performance of the unoptimized ad campaign; and

automatically adjust a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign based on the monitored performance of the optimized ad campaign and the monitored performance of the unoptimized ad campaign.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an ad campaign management system in communication with the ad campaign optimizer, the ad campaign management system operative to receive the acceptance of the offer and to receive an indication of a performance metric associated with the ad campaign to be optimized.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

an ad provider in communication with the ad campaign optimizer and the ad campaign management system, the ad provider operative to serve one or more digital ads from the optimized ad campaign and one or more digital ads from the unoptimized ad campaign to a plurality of users.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein to automatically adjust a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign, the ad campaign optimizer is further operative to:

increase a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and decrease a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is performing at least as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein to automatically adjust a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign, the ad campaign optimizer is further operative to:

decrease a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and increase a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign upon a determination that the optimized ad campaign is not performing at least as well as the unoptimized ad campaign.

20. A method for optimizing performance of a business campaign, the method comprising;

extending an offer to a client to optimize a business campaign, the offer comprising a guarantee that an optimized version of the business campaign performs at least as well as an unoptimized version of the business campaign;

automatically creating the optimized version of the business campaign after receiving an acceptance of the offer;

monitoring a performance of the optimized business campaign and a performance of the unoptimized business campaign; and

automatically adjusting a portion of a budget allocated to the optimized business campaign and a portion of the budget allocated to the unoptimized business campaign based on the monitored performance of the optimized business campaign and the monitored performance of the unoptimized business campaign.

21. A method for optimizing performance of an ad campaign, the method comprising:

extending an offer to an advertiser to optimize an ad campaign;

automatically creating the optimized version of the ad campaign after receiving an acceptance of the offer;

monitoring a performance of the optimized ad campaign and a performance of the unoptimized ad campaign; and

adjusting a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and a portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign based on the monitored performance of the optimized ad campaign and the monitored performance of the unoptimized ad campaign.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the offer comprises a guarantee that an optimized version of the ad campaign performs at least as well as the unoptimized version of the ad campaign.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the portion of the ad campaign activations allocated to the optimized ad campaign and the portion of ad campaign activations allocated to the unoptimized ad campaign is adjusted automatically.