TARGETING ADVERTISEMENTS TO ATHLETES

• US 20120221127A1
• Filed: 12/02/2011
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Athlete Journey, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AthletePath, Inc.
• Inventors: Embree, David, Wallsmith, Kris, Hotovy, Laurie
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/91
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An athlete service platform implemented at a server system obtains athletic performance information and selectively stores that information in a plurality of athlete-user accounts in which each athlete-user account is associated with a respective athlete competing in one or more athletic events. The server system obtains a set of advertisement parameters from an advertiser which specify how and whether to direct one or more advertisement messages to one or more of the plurality of athlete-user accounts. The set of advertisement parameters includes at least one performance parameter. The server system identifies, with reference to the plurality of athlete-user accounts and the athletic performance information stored in those athlete-user accounts, a target athlete-user account associated with an athlete that has achieved the performance parameter as indicated by the athletic performance information. The server system directs the advertisement message to the target athlete-user account.

Claims

1. A method for a server system, comprising:

obtaining athletic performance information and selectively storing that information in a plurality of athlete-user accounts, each athlete-user account being associated with a respective athlete competing in one or more athletic events;

obtaining a set of advertisement parameters which specify how and whether to direct one or more advertisement messages to one or more of the plurality of athlete-user accounts, the set of advertisement parameters including at least one performance parameter;

identifying, with reference to the plurality of athlete-user accounts and the athletic performance information stored in those athlete-user accounts, a target athlete-user account associated with an athlete that has achieved the performance parameter; and

directing the advertisement message to the target athlete-user account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement message includes:

an indication of the performance parameter achieved by the athlete associated with the target athlete-user account; and

an offer for a product or a service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance parameter indicates a first-time achievement parameter;

and

wherein identifying the target athlete-user account includes;

responsive to the first-time achievement parameter, identifying at an information processing engine from the athletic performance information received by the information processing engine, a first-time achievement for the athlete associated with the target-user account.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement parameters further includes an offer parameter defining an offer for a product or a service, wherein the offer includes an exclusive offer that is not available to the general public;

and

wherein the advertisement message indicates the exclusive offer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement parameters further includes at least one biographical parameter;

and

wherein the method further comprises;

obtaining athlete biographical information for the plurality of athlete-user accounts; and

wherein identifying the target athlete-user account further includes filtering the plurality of athlete-user accounts based, at least in part, on a comparison of the athlete biographical information and the biographical parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the set of advertisement parameters includes:

receiving the set of advertisement parameters at a server system over a communications network, the set of advertisement parameters defined by one or more inputs provided via an advertiser-user interface at a computing device; and

storing the set of advertisement parameters at the server system in association with an advertiser-user account.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

generating the advertiser-user interface at the server system based, at least in part, on a type of the athletic event or the athletic performance information; and

transmitting the advertiser-user interface to the computing device over the communications network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the athletic performance information includes:

receiving the athletic performance information at a server system over a communications network from a computing device; and

storing the athletic performance information at the server system in association with the plurality of athlete-user accounts.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating an athlete-user interface at the server system;

transmitting the athlete-user interface to the computing device over the communications network; and

wherein the athletic performance information is at least partially defined by one or more inputs provided via the athlete-user interface at the computing device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the computing device includes a server device;

wherein receiving the athletic performance information at the server system over the communications network from the server device includes;

requesting a data resource at the server device over the communications network;

receiving the data resource at the server system from the server device over the communications network responsive to the request; and

parsing the athletic performance information from the data resource.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating an event administrator-user interface at the server system;

transmitting the event administrator-user interface to the computing device over the communications network; and

wherein the athletic performance information is at least partially defined by one or more inputs provided via the event administrator-user interface at the computing device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the advertisement message to the target athlete-user account includes:

sending the advertisement message to an email address associated with the target athlete-user account.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

charging a financial fee to an advertiser-user account associated with the advertisement message responsive to directing of the advertisement message to the target athlete-user account.

14. A server system, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device having instructions stored thereon executable by the processor to;

obtain athletic performance information and selectively store that information in a plurality of athlete-user accounts, each athlete-user account being associated with a respective athlete competing in one or more athletic events;

obtain a set of advertisement parameters which specify how and whether to direct one or more advertisement messages to one or more of the plurality of athlete-user accounts, the set of advertisement parameters including at least one performance parameter;

identify, with reference to the plurality of athlete-user accounts and the athletic performance information stored in those athlete-user accounts, a target athlete-user account associated with an athlete having achieved the performance parameter; and

direct the advertisement message to the target athlete-user account, the advertisement message including;

an offer for a product or a service, and an indication of the performance parameter achieved by the athlete associated with the target athlete-user account.

15. The server system of claim 14, wherein the instructions include an information processing engine executable by the processor to:

responsive to the performance parameter indicating a first-time achievement parameter, identify at the information processing engine, a first-time achievement for the athlete associated with the target-user account from the athletic performance information; and

indicate the first-time achievement in the advertisement message.

16. The server system of claim 14, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:

generate an athlete-user interface at the server system;

transmit the athlete-user interface to a computing device over a communications network, the athlete-user interface including the advertisement message.

17. The server system of claim 16, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:

generate an advertiser-user interface at the server system;

transmit the advertiser-user interface to a computing device over the communications network;

obtain the set of advertisement parameters at the server system over the communications network from the computing device, the set of advertisement parameters defined by one or more inputs provided via the advertiser-user interface at the computing device; and

charge a financial fee to an advertiser-user account associated with the advertisement message responsive to directing of the advertisement message to the target athlete-user account.

18. The server system of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:

generate an event administrator-user interface at the server system; and

transmit the event administrator-user interface to a second computing device over the communications network;

wherein the athletic performance information is at least partially defined by one or more inputs provided via the event administrator-user interface at the second computing device.

19. A method for a computing device, comprising:

presenting an advertiser-user interface via the computing device;

receiving a set of advertisement parameters via the advertiser-user interface, the set of advertisement parameters including at least one performance parameter, and at least one offer parameter defining an offer for a product or service; and

sending the advertisement parameters to a server system via a communications network, the advertisement parameters to enable the server system to direct an advertisement message indicating the offer to a target athlete-user account identified from among a plurality of athlete-user accounts associated with respective athletes competing in one or more athletic events, the target athlete-user account associated with an athlete having achieved the performance parameter as indicated by athletic performance information stored at the server system.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving financial account information for an advertiser-user account via the advertiser-user interface; and

sending the financial account information to the server system to enable the server system to charge a financial fee to the advertiser-user account responsive to directing the advertisement message to the target athlete-user account.