Apparatus, System and Method for a Brand Affinity Engine Using Positive and Negative Mentions and Indexing

• US 20140058791A1
• Filed: 10/01/2013
• Published: 02/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritone Media
• Original Assignee: Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Steelberg, Ryan, Steelberg, Chad
• Granted Patent: US 10,223,705 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 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

An apparatus, system and method of implementing a computerized brand affinity engine. The apparatus, system and method include at least a plurality of computerized access points having accessible thereto a plurality of sites mentioning at least one sponsor, a categorized, hierarchical database of keywords, wherein at least the keywords falling in at least one category of the hierarchy correspond to a sponsor category of the at least one sponsor, and a tracker, wherein the tracker tracks positive ones of the mentions of the at least one sponsor on ones of the plurality of sites and negative ones of the mentions of the at least one sponsor on ones of the plurality of sites, in accordance with positive and negative keywords of the categorized, hierarchical database in the sponsor category, and wherein the tracker issues an rating with regard to the at least one sponsor in accordance with the positive ones and the negative ones of the mentions. An assessment of optimal sponsors for particular markets and/or in particular geographies that additionally increases sponsorship opportunities in particular markets and/or in particular geographies is thereby provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented data mining system for use in rating endorsers, comprising:

a server computer having a tangible computing processor, the processor in data communication with a non-transitory computer memory that stores instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the computer to implement;

a search engine that searches a plurality of information feeds for mentions of an identified endorser in conjunction with keywords;

a ratings engine that rates the mentions in at least a portion of the information feeds based on an identified subset of a categorical hierarchy of the keywords and a number of words in the information feeds between the endorser and the corresponding keywords, wherein positive mentions and negative mentions are separately tracked and combined into an overall rating;

an information engine that obtains information regarding a number of viewings of the rated mentions in the information feeds;

a repository that stores each of the plurality of information feeds; and

a data miner communicatively connected to the search engine, the ratings engine, and the repository, the data miner operative to generate a consumer opinion index of the endorser based on a correlation of the rating of the mentions and the number of viewings,

wherein the information feeds stored in the repository, the mentions of the subject in conjunction with the keywords, and the consumer opinion index are searchable,

wherein the mentions are permanently available from the repository; and

wherein the endorser is one of an affinity brand, a marketing partner, and a sponsor.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one search engine searches at least daily.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one search engine searches at least weekly.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one subject includes a surname.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one subject includes a brand name.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one subject includes an adjective.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one subject includes an noun.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one subject includes a phrase.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the consumer opinion index is displayed in relation to a location of the mention.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the information feeds include any web accessible content.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the information feeds are limited to a predefined geographic scope.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the information feeds are limited to a predefined event.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said ratings engine comprises a manual one of the ratings.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said ratings engine comprises an automatically issued one of the ratings.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one search engine comprises a web crawler.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the number of viewings comprises information provided by a provider of the information feed.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein said repository comprises at least one relational database.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the mention is used to recommend a prospective endorser for an endorsed advertisement.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the mention comprises a press release.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the mention comprises a news release.