Campaign goal pricing

• US 8,386,398 B1
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hickman, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Vetter, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/124,453
• Time in Patent Office: 1,742 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.35, 705/14.41, 705 1443- 45, 705 1469- 71, 705/400
• US Class Current: 705/400
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Advertising pricing based on campaign goal progress and/or achievement. Surveys conducted during campaign initiation can determine baseline statistics for goals. Periodic surveys during and after the campaign can be used to measure progress toward a goal and/or whether the goal has been achieved. Pricing of the campaign can be tied to goal progress and/or achievement. In one implementation, lift in brand awareness among an audience can be a campaign goal that is measured. Survey results are integrated into an ad server for running display ads on a publisher website and the advertiser only pays for percentage point lifts in reader awareness.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying a campaign metric for an advertising campaign, the campaign metric for measuring progress toward a qualitative campaign goal for the advertising campaign, the qualitative campaign goal being specified by a value of the campaign metric, the qualitative campaign goal being a campaign goal that progress toward is determined independent of per-action cost metrics;

determining, by a computer, a cost model allocating cost against a budget of the campaign based on the progress made toward the qualitative campaign goal, the determining including;

measuring an initial campaign metric value of the advertising campaign based on survey results received from advertisement surveys served for a portion of advertisements during an initial time period;

specifying an allocation of the cost against the budget for a plurality of values of the campaign metric, the plurality of values including the initial campaign metric value, a goal metric value, and a plurality of values having a magnitude between the initial campaign metric value and the goal metric value, wherein each value is independent of per-action cost metrics;

measuring subsequent campaign metric values for the advertising campaign based on survey results received from advertisement surveys served for a portion of advertisements during a subsequent time period that is after the initial time period;

for each subsequent campaign metric value;

determining a value indicative of progress made toward the campaign goal based on the subsequent campaign metric value and one of the initial campaign metric value or a prior subsequent campaign metric value;

determining, by the computer, a campaign cost that is proportional to the value indicative of the progress made toward the campaign and the allocation of cost against the budget based on the progress specified by the cost model; and

charging the campaign cost against the budget.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the campaign metric value is related to brand awareness lift.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein measuring an initial campaign metric value of the advertising campaign comprises:

serving advertisements associated with the advertising campaign;

serving the advertisement surveys for the portion of the advertisements that are served during the initial time period;

receiving results in response to user participation in the advertisement surveys; and

determining a baseline brand awareness lift value for the initial time period.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein measuring subsequent campaign metric values for the advertising campaign comprises:

serving advertisements associated with the advertising campaign;

serving the advertisement surveys for portion of the advertisements that are served during the subsequent time period that is after the initial time period;

receiving results in response to user participation in the advertisement surveys; and

determining a subsequent brand awareness lift value for the subsequent time period.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining a value indicative of progress made toward the campaign goal based on the subsequent campaign metric value and one of the initial campaign metric value or a prior subsequent campaign metric value comprises:

determining a brand lift difference of the subsequent brand awareness lift value and the initial brand awareness value or the prior subsequent brand awareness lift value; and

wherein determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the value indicative of the progress made toward the campaign further comprises;

determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the brand lift difference and the allocation of the cost against the budget.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the brand lift difference comprises determining a campaign cost that is linearly proportional to brand lift difference.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the brand lift difference comprises determining a campaign cost that is stepwise proportional to brand lift difference.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a campaign cost that is proportional the value indicative of the progress made toward the campaign comprises:

determining a bid scaling value that is proportional to the value indicative of progress made toward the campaign goal; and

scaling advertisement bids associated with the campaign by the bid scaling value.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the advertisement surveys comprise surveys that determine whether a survey participant recognizes a brand of a product or service that is advertised.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining if the brand lift difference exceeds a qualitative goal value; and

if the brand lift differences exceeds the qualitative goal value, then discontinuing the advertising campaign.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the campaign metric value is related to target demographic penetration.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the campaign metric value is related to advertisement recall.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a campaign progress threshold is exceeded based on the value indicative of progress made toward the campaign goal; and

suspending the campaign if the campaign progress threshold is not exceeded.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing software, the software comprising instructions executable by a processing system and upon such execution cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

identifying a campaign metric for an advertising campaign, the campaign metric for measuring progress toward a qualitative campaign goal for the advertising campaign, the qualitative campaign goal being specified by a value of the campaign metric, the qualitative campaign goal being a campaign goal that progress toward is determined independent of per-action cost metrics;

determining a cost model allocating cost against a budget of the campaign based on the progress made toward the qualitative campaign goal, the determining including;

measuring an initial campaign metric value of the advertising campaign based on survey results received from advertisement surveys served for a portion of advertisements during an initial time period; and

specifying an allocation of the cost against the budget for a plurality of values of the campaign metric, the plurality of values including the initial campaign metric value, a goal metric value, and a plurality of values having a magnitude between the initial campaign metric value and the goal metric value, wherein each value is independent of per-action cost metrics;

measuring subsequent campaign metric values for the advertising campaign based on survey results received from advertisement surveys served for a portion of advertisements during an subsequent time period that is after the initial time period; and

for each measured subsequent campaign metric value;

determining a value indicative of progress made toward the campaign goal based on the subsequent campaign metric value and one of the initial campaign metric value or a prior subsequent campaign metric value;

determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the value indicative of the progress made toward the campaign and the allocation of cost against the budget based on the progress specified by the cost model; and

charging the campaign cost against the budget.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the campaign metric value is related to brand awareness lift.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

determining a baseline brand awareness lift value for the initial time period;

determining a subsequent brand awareness lift value for a subsequent time period;

determining a brand lift difference of the subsequent brand awareness lift value and the initial brand awareness lift value or the prior subsequent brand awareness lift value; and

determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the brand lift difference and the allocation of the cost against the budget.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operation of determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the brand lift difference comprises the operation of determining a campaign cost that is linearly proportional to brand lift difference.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the campaign metric value is target demographic penetration.

19. A system, comprising:

a campaign data store storing data defining an advertising campaign and advertisements associated with the campaign;

a data processing apparatus in data communication with the campaign data store; and

a memory in data communication with the data processing apparatus and storing instructions executable by the data processing apparatus and that upon such execution cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising;

determining a cost model allocating cost against a budget of the campaign based on the progress made toward a qualitative campaign goal, the qualitative campaign goal being a campaign goal that progress toward is determined independent of per-action cost metrics, the determining including;

measuring an initial campaign metric value of the advertising campaign based on survey results received from advertisement surveys served for a portion of advertisements during an initial time period and measuring a subsequent campaign metric value for the advertising campaign based on survey results received from advertisement surveys served for a portion of advertisements during an subsequent time period after the initial time period; and

specifying an allocation of the cost against the budget for a plurality of values of the campaign metric, the plurality of values including the initial campaign metric value, a goal metric value, and a plurality of values having a magnitude between the initial campaign metric value and the goal metric value, wherein each value is independent of per-action cost metrics;

determining a value indicative of progress made toward the campaign goal based on the subsequent campaign metric value and one of the initial campaign metric value or a prior subsequent campaign metric value; and

determining a campaign cost that is proportional to the value indicative of the progress made toward the campaign and the allocation of cost against the budget based on the progress specified by the cost model.