SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXAMPLE BASED TARGETED MARKETING

• US 20110106580A1
• Filed: 10/29/2009
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Padmanabhan, Deepak S., Majumdar, Debapriyo, Almeida, Noel J., Krishnapuram, Raghuram, Visweswariah, Karthik, Basak, Jayanta
• Granted Patent: US 9,129,292 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide retailers with the ability to employ concept-based marketing using only a few representative examples. Embodiments of the invention take seed examples, utilize the seed examples to provide an expanded list (that can be edited as desired) representative of the concept, and map the expanded list to a final set of customers to be included in a targeted marketing operation.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith and executable by the one or more processors, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for inputting one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept;

computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs; and

computer readable program code configured to provide one or more output lists based on the expanded list of examples.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more product identifications, and wherein the one or more output lists comprise one or more customer lists.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more customer identifications, and wherein the one or more output lists comprise one or more customer lists.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is further configured to utilize one or more of transaction data, product attribute data and customer demographic data to provide the expanded list.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for editing the expanded list.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for editing the expanded list is configured to permit the user to provide one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information to update the expanded list; and

the computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is configured to calculate an updated expanded list using the one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprise one or more of positive and negative product examples.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprise one or more of positive and negative customer examples.

9. A method comprising:

using one or more processors to execute computer readable program code embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for inputting one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept;

computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs; and

computer readable program code configured to provide one or more output lists based on the expanded list of examples.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more product identifications, and wherein the one or more output lists comprise one or more customer lists.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more customer identifications, and wherein the one or more output lists comprise one or more customer lists.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is further configured to utilize one or more of transaction data, product attribute data and customer demographic data to provide the expanded list.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for editing the expanded list.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

the computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for editing the expanded list is configured to permit the user to provide one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information to update the expanded list; and

the computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is configured to calculate an updated expanded list using the one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprise one or more of positive and negative product examples.

16. The method according to claim 9, wherein the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprise one or more of positive and negative customer examples.

17. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for inputting one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept;

computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs; and

computer readable program code configured to provide one or more output lists based on the expanded list of examples.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more product identifications, and wherein the one or more output lists comprise one or more customer lists.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more customer identifications, and wherein the one or more output lists comprise one or more product lists.

20. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the computer readable program code configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is further configured to utilize one or more of transaction data, product attribute data and customer demographic data to provide the expanded list.

21. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a display device; and

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith and executable by the one or more processors, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to provide a user interface for inputting one or more of product example inputs and customer example inputs representing a marketing concept for a targeted marketing operation;

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more of product example inputs and customer example inputs representing a marketing concept for a targeted marketing operation as seed inputs for a machine learning program configured to provide an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept, the expanded list of examples derived from one or more of a transaction data source, a product attribute data source, and a customer demographic data source; and

computer readable program code configured to provide automatically to the display device one or more output lists according to a predetermined threshold corresponding to examples in the expanded list of examples.