AU2007201094A1 - Advertising system and method - Google Patents

Description

S&F Ref: 790962

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name and Address of Applicant Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Which Ad Pty Limited, an Australian Company ACN 123 493 676, of 9 Allen Place, Menai, New South Wales, 2234, Australia Anthony Gothard, Josephine Gothard Spruson Ferguson St Martins Tower Level 31 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 (CCN 3710000177) Advertising system and method The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5845c(715693_1) Advertising System and Method Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to an advertising system and, in particular, to an advertising system utilising a plurality of media-types in concert.

Background Advertising methods can be generally categorized into a push type method, and a pull type method.

Push type advertising methods rely on promotional activities to create consumer demand for a product. The media commonly used for push type advertising include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and the like. On the other hand, pull type advertising methods rely on existing consumer demand for a product to cause consumers to seek out further information on the product. This may be either through regular trade channels such as retail shops, or via public information repositories such as the intemet, or specific classified advertisements.

Push type advertisements, however, are susceptible to being imperfectly recalled by the general public. Imperfect recollection occurs when an audience only partially remembers portions of an advertisement. For example, an audience may remember only that a shoe sale of a certain brand would be commencing soon, but not recall where the sale will be, when it commences, who is holding the sale, and so forth. This may cause the audience to give up trying to recall the original advertisement, or to erroneously associate an advertisement of a competitor with that of the partially recalled original advertisement. While the problem of imperfect or partial recollection can be ameliorated by regular and repetitive exposure of the push type advertisements, this involves significant costs, as increased air-time, page space, and the like are required.

Pull type advertisements, in order to be effective, require existing demand for a product.

Such a level of demand is, however, not always achievable, and if achievable, usually requires a significant amount of prior investment in other forms of advertising, such as push advertising.

6674351 .DOC Advertising using both push and pull type media simultaneously is known. For example, it is common for advertisers to advertise both on radio/television and also in specific classifieds such as the Yellow Pages TM, Trading Post TM, and the like. Such cross-media advertising, however, often lack synergy in that the advertisements offered on one media type do not readily contribute to the effectiveness or success of the advertisement advertised on the other media type. It is further commonly the case that advertisements presented in specific classifieds are updated irregularly, resulting in such advertisements being usually of a more generic nature rather than specific to a time limited event. For example, while a particular business may have an advertisement in a specific classifieds such as the Yellow Pages TM, such an advertisement does not assist an audience in recalling the details of a sale to be held by the same business, which sale was heard, for example, on radio but which was imperfectly recalled by the audience.

Summary According to an aspect of the invention, an advertising system comprises a first advertising medium type supporting push advertising of at least one push advertisement, a second advertising medium type supporting pull advertising of the at least one push advertisement, and a database operable to register therein at least one push advertisement to be advertised on the first advertising medium type. The second advertising medium type is in communication with the database, and the second advertising medium type provides a first interface to the database, such that a push advertisement registered in the database is available as a pull advertisement accessible via the second advertising medium type.

According to another aspect of the invention, an advertisement repository comprises a database in which advertisements to be advertised via at least one push type medium are registered, and in which a first user interface provides access to the database. The repository further comprises a server operable to serve the first user interface to a client terminal and communicate with the database. The first user interface allows search criteria for searching for a registered advertisement to be entered, and presents the search criteria to the server for communication to the database.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method of advertising comprises steps of receiving details of a plurality of push advertisements via a first interface, registering the 667435_I DOC -3details of each push advertisement in a database, providing search means for searching the Sdatabase, receiving search criteria via the search means, formulating a search query based on the search criteria, searching the database based on the search query, outputting a list of registered advertisements best matching the search query, and outputting information of a registered advertisement selected from the list. The search means includes a second interface by which search criteria are entered, and the search criteria includes attributes of an advertised push advertisement, Brief Description of the Drawings At least one embodiments of the present invention, will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. I shows a schematic representation of an advertising system.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of an advertising process; Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a searching process; Fig. 4 shows an exemplary search interface; Fig. 5 shows an exemplary results interface; Fig. 6 shows an exemplary information interface; Fig. 7 is a flow chart of a registration process; Fig. 8 shows an exemplary login interface; Fig. 9 shows an exemplary portfolio management interface; Fig. 10 shows an exemplary registration interface; Fig. 11 shows an exemplary preview interface; 6674351DOC Fig. 12 shows an exemplary confirmation interface; and Fig. 13 shows a schematic block diagram representation of a general purpose computer system upon which the described arrangements may be implemented.

Detailed Description Disclosed herein is an advertising system and method employing both push and pull type advertising in synergy Fig. 1 provides an overview of the advertising system 100. The system 100 includes an advertiser 101, a first push type media 105, a second push type media 110, a first receiver 115 in communication with at least the first push type media 105, a second receiver 120 in communication with at least the second push type media 110, a first client terminal 116, a second client terminal 121, a pull type medium 130, and a network 125 connecting the pull type media 130 to the first and second client terminals 116, 121. Audiences 117, 122 are typically exposed to the push type media 105, 110 via the first and second receiver 115, 120 and have access to the first and second client terminals 116, 121. The first and second receivers 115, 120 can be, for example, a radio in a vehicle, a television, a computer browser operable to display banner advertisements (from the intemrnet or otherwise), and the like. Although two push type media 105, 110 two audiences 117, 122, and two terminals 116, 121 are shown in Fig. 1, it should be understood that any number of push type media, audiences and terminals may be incorporated into the system. Each audience 117, 122 may also be an individual or a group of people.

The advertiser 101 may be a person, business, or other relevant party, wishing to advertise one or more goods or services, or events, and the like. Hereinafter, the subject of an advertisement is referred to as a product, which may be an item, service, event, or anything that could be the subject of an advertisement. In Fig. 1, the advertiser 101 provides a push type advertisement to one or more of the push type media 105 and the push type media 110.

The push type media 105, 110 are media types and/or companies offering push type advertisement. In the general sense, the push type media 105, 110 are media types such as television, radio, print, or even Internet banner advertisements. In a more specific sense, the 667435_1 IDOC 4 push type media 105, 110 may represent specific companies/organizations such as a specific Snewspaper, radio station, or television channel.

The audiences 117, 122 are exposed to push type advertisements advertised via the push type media 105, 110. The audiences 117, 122 have access to a pull type media 130 via the client terminals 116, 121. A network 125 provides a connection between the client terminals 116, 121 and the pull type media 130. The network 125 may be, for example, the Internet.

The pull type media 130, which is typically a server, includes a database 140 that is io accessible by the audiences 117, 122. The database 140 is accessible by the audiences 117, 122 via a user interface, typically a web page, displayed on the client terminals 116, 121.

The database 140 of the pull type media 130 is also accessible by the advertiser 101 via the network 125. Access to the database 140 by the advertiser 101 is provided via a separate user interface, different to that of the user interface for the audiences 117, 122, and which is is also typically a web page.

An operation of the advertising system 100 of Fig. 1 is described with reference to a method 200 shown in the flow chart of Fig. 2. The advertiser 101 schedules a push type advertisement to be advertised with one or more of the push type media 105, 110 (step S2A). The advertiser 101 also registers the push type advertisement with the pull type medium 130 (step S2B). Registration of the push type advertisement with the pull type medium 130 generates an entry in the database 140 of the pull type media 130.

Advertisement of the push type advertisement (step S2C) is conducted at step S2C in the conventional manner known to those skilled in such art, through any one or more of the push type media 105, 110.

As previously mentioned, it is not uncommon for audiences of an advertisement to imperfectly recall the advertisement. Imperfect recollection can be attributed, for example, to the audience not being particularly interested in the advertised product at the time, or caused by distractions such as driving at the time an advertisement is broadcasted, in the case of radio advertisements. It is often the case, however, that the audience at least partially recalls a portion of the advertisement. This may be, for example, the product being 667435_1 DOC -6advertised, the discount being offered, a jingle that was played, the time of day and/or broadcast channel the advertisement was played, and the like.

The advertising system 100 allows the audiences 117, 122 to search, access, and recall an advertisement by searching the database 140 of the pull media 130. Typically, the audiences 117, 122 connect to the pull media 130 via the network 125 to search the database 140. The pull media 130, at step S2D receives search criteria from the audiences 117, 122 relevant to an advertisement the audiences 117, 122 want to recall. The search criteria are typically based on whatever information the audiences 117, 122 can recall of the advertisement. The i0 search criteria is formulated as a search query as necessary, to be presented to the database 140. The pull media 130 presents a list of all registered advertisements matching the audiences search criteria at step S2E, from which list the audiences 117, 122 can select a best match. At step S2F, the pull media 130 determines the audiences' selection, and presents detailed information on the selected advertisement to the audiences 117, 122. The detailed information most desirably includes at least the same information as contained in the original push advertisement. Preferably, a digital copy of the original push advertisement is also made available for reproduction. The digital copy may be, for example, a video clip, audio clip, graphic file, or other format as appropriate.

In providing a means by which the audience 117, 122 can search through a repository of push advertisements, the susceptibility of push advertisements to being imperfectly recalled by audiences is ameliorated. Further, the registration of a push advertisement with the pull type media 130 can be more cost effective than the conventional approach of purchasing a large amount of air-time and/or page space to ensure sufficient and repetitive exposure of a push type advertisement to audiences. The disadvantage of high financial costs associated with "blanket exposure" of a push type advertisement may therefore be ameliorated.

In a variation of the advertising system 100, push type advertising is also used to advertise the pull type media 130 to increase the exposure and demand, and hence effectiveness, of the service offered by the pull type media 130. Push type advertisements that have been registered with the pull type media 130 are appended with a reference to the pull media 130.

For example, in the case of a push advertisement advertised on radio, a reference to the pull 667435 |DOC media 130 and/or a statement that the push advertisement just heard is registered on the pull type media 130, is desirably appended to the push advertisement.

The air-time and/or page space allotted in each push type advertisement to advertising the pull type media 130 in this manner is relatively small, and consequently relatively inexpensive. The combined air-time/page space summed from all push type advertisements referencing the pull type media 130 is however sizable. Advertising the pull type media 130 in this manner spreads the advertising costs over a plurality of advertisers, all of whom also benefit from the increased exposure and demand of the pull type media 130.

The above advertising system may be embodied as a computer system 1300, such as that shown in Fig. 13 wherein the processes of Figs. 2, 3 and 7 may be implemented as software, such as one or more application programs executable within the computer system 1300. In particular, the steps of the process are effected by instructions in the software that are carried out within the computer system 1300. The instructions may be formed as one or more code modules, each for performing one or more particular tasks. The software may also be divided into two separate parts, in which a first part and corresponding code modules realize the transactions between the interfaces of Figs. 4 to 6 and 8 to 12, and a second part and corresponding code modules manage a user interface between the first part and a user.

The software may be stored in a computer readable medium, including the storage devices described below, for example. The software is loaded into the computer system 1300 from the computer readable medium, and then executed by the computer system 1300. A computer readable medium having such software or computer program recorded on it is a computer program product.

As seen in Fig. 13, the computer system 1300 is formed by a computer module 1301, input devices such as a keyboard 1302 and a mouse pointer device 1303, and output devices including a printer 1315, a display device 1314 and loudspeakers 1317. An external Modulator-Demodulator (Modem) transceiver device 1316 may be used by the computer module 1301 for communicating to and from a communications network 1320 via a connection 1321. The network 1320 may be a wide-area network (WAN), such as the 667435_1 DOC Internet or a private WAN. Where the connection 1321 is a telephone line, the modem 1316 Smay be a traditional "dial-up" modem. Alternatively, where the connection 1321 is a high capacity (eg: cable) connection, the modem 1316 may be a broadband modem. A wireless modem may also be used for wireless connection to the network 1320.

The computer module 1301 typically includes at least one processor unit 1305, and a memory unit 1306 for example formed from semiconductor random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM). The module 1301 also includes an number of input/output interfaces including an audio-video interface 1307 that couples to the video display 1314 and loudspeakers 1317, an I/O interface 1313 for the keyboard 1302 and mouse 1303 and optionally a joystick (not illustrated), and an interface 1308 for the external modem 1316 and printer 1315. In some implementations, the modem 1316 may be incorporated within the computer module 1301, for example within the interface 1308. The computer module 1301 also has a local network interface 1311 which, via a connection 1323, permits is coupling of the computer system 1300 to a local computer network 1322, known as a Local Area Network (LAN). As also illustrated, the local network 1322 may also couple to the wide network 1320 via a connection 1324, which would typically include a so-called "firewall" device or similar functionality. The interface 1311 may be formed by an EthernetTM circuit card, a wireless BluetoothTM or an IEEE 802.21 wireless arrangement.

The interfaces 1308 and 1313 may afford both serial and parallel connectivity, the former typically being implemented according to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standards and having corresponding USB connectors (not illustrated). Storage devices 1309 are provided and typically include a hard disk drive (HDD) 1310. Other devices such as a floppy disk drive and a magnetic tape drive (not illustrated) may also be used. An optical disk drive 1312 is typically provided to act as a non-volatile source of data. Portable memory devices, such optical disks (eg: CD-ROM, DVD), USB-RAM, and floppy disks for example may then be used as appropriate sources of data to the system 1300. The database 140 may, for example, be comprised of a combination of one or more such storage devices.

The components 1305, to 1313 of the computer module 1301 typically communicate via an interconnected bus 1304 and in a manner which results in a conventional mode of operation of the computer system 1300 known to those in the relevant art. Examples of computers on 667435_1 DOC -9which the described arrangements can be practised include IBM-PC's and compatibles, Sun SSparcstations, Apple MacTM or alike computer systems evolved therefrom.

Typically, the application programs discussed above are resident on the hard disk drive 1310 and read and controlled in execution by the processor 1305. Intermediate storage of such programs and any data fetched from the networks 1320 and 1322 may be accomplished using the semiconductor memory 1306, possibly in concert with the hard disk drive 1310. In some instances, the application programs may be supplied to the user encoded on one or more CD-ROM and read via the corresponding drive 1312, or alternatively may be read by 1o the user from the networks 1320 or 1322. Still further, the software can also be loaded into the computer system 1300 from other computer readable media. Computer readable media refers to any storage medium that participates in providing instructions and/or data to the computer system 1300 for execution and/or processing. Examples of such media include floppy disks, magnetic tape, CD-ROM, a hard disk drive, a ROM or integrated circuit, a magneto-optical disk, or a computer readable card such as a PCMCIA card and the like, whether or not such devices are internal or external of the computer module 1301. Examples of computer readable transmission media that may also participate in the provision of instructions and/or data include radio or infra-red transmission channels as well as a network connection to another computer or networked device, and the Internet or Intranets including e-mail transmissions and information recorded on Websites and the like.

The second part of the application programs and the corresponding code modules mentioned above may be executed to implement one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to be rendered or otherwise represented upon the display 1314. Through manipulation of the keyboard 1302 and the mouse 1303, a user of the computer system 1300 and the application may manipulate the interface to provide controlling commands and/or input to the applications associated with the GUI(s).

In a typical implementation, the pull type media 130 and the database 140 of Fig. 1 are embodied by a server computer, like the computer 1300, and the audience (individual) 117, 122 has access thereto via a client computer 1330 (116, 121) via the network 1320 (125).

The client computer 1330 for all intents and purposes essentially corresponds in structure and basic function to the computer 1300.

667435 I.DOC Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a method 300 executable by the pull media server 130 to search the database 140 in response to a request from a client computer 1330 operated by an interested audience (individual) 117, 122. The method 300 is typically implemented as a computer program and has a first step S3A at which the pull type media 130 detects access by the audience 117, 122 via the network 125. The access by the client 1330 is typically afforded by a web browser application such as Internet Explorer TM (Microsoft Corp.) or Netscape Navigator TM (Netscape Corp.), which interacts with the software of the method 1300. Upon detecting an access by the audience 117, 122, the server (pull type media 130) presents the audience 117, 122 with an interface 400 (Fig. which is typically a web page.

The interface 400 is typically displayed on a display screen (1314) of the client 1330, and presents the audience 117, 122 with a number of search fields 410, 420, 430 by which information/attributes of an imperfectly recalled advertisement can be entered. The field 410 permits the audience (individual) 117, 122 to select a geographical region in which an advertisement was experienced, and the field 420 to identify the type of media by which the advertisement was conveyed. The field 430 is used to permit the audience 117, 122 to enter a keyword or other information (imperfectly) recalled from the advertisement. Though three search fields are depicted in the interface of Fig. 4, it should be understood that the number of search fields is not so limited and there may be as many or as few search fields as would be most appropriate to a particular arrangement.

By way of the interface, the server receives at step S3B any information/attributes recalled by the audience 117, 122 about a particular advertisement into the search fields 410, 420, 430 of the user interface 400. Further at step S3B, a search query is formulated by the server 1300 (130) in response to the search criteria/information entered by the audience 117, 122 and the search query is communicated to the database 140, from which a list of advertisements 540 best matching the entered information is presented to the audience 117, 122 at step S3C using another interface screen 500 of Fig. 5 displayable on the screen (1314) of the client 1330. The audience 117, 122 reviews the advertisements 510, 520, 530 in the list 540 and selects the advertisement previously heard/viewed on push type media 105, 110 from the list 540, if it is present in the list. The audience's selection is detected by the server, and detailed information 600 as seen in Fig. 6 of the selected advertisement is retrieved from the database 140 and presented to the audience at step S3D. Both the list of 667435 I.DOC -11advertisements 500 and the detailed information 600 may be presented to the audience over Sthe network 125, so as to be displayed on a display device (not shown) on the audience's end.

s If a digital copy of the original push advertisement is also stored in the database 140, the audience 117, 122 may choose to reproduce the digital copy, this being detected by the server 1300 at step S3E. In this regard, the pull media 130 may prompt the audience 117, 122 to select whether or not to reproduce the digital copy, and/or the digital copy may be presented as a passive link/URL, and the like. The digital copy is uploaded and/or reproduced to the audience 117, 122 at step S3F if"Yes" was detected as selected at step S3E. Otherwise, the pull media 130 enquires if the audience wishes to perform another search at step S3G.

The pull media 130 determines that the audience wishes to perform another search if it is detected that the icon 610 is selected. If the audience 117, 122 decides to perform a further search, the pull media 130 presents a new search interface 400 to the audience 117, 122 at step S3H and repeats steps S3B to S3G.

If the pull media 130 determines that the audience 117, 121 does not wish to perform another search, the pull media 130 then enquires at step S31 if the audience 117, 121 wishes to return to the list of search results 540, or to end the search process by, for example, taking no further action. The pull media 130 determines that the audience wishes to return to the list of search results 540 if the link 620 is selected. In this case, the operation returns to step S3D. Otherwise, the process ends.

In making available a digital copy of the original push advertisement for the audience 117, 122 to download/reproduce, the audience 117, 122 is able to confirm that the displayed detailed information of the selected advertisement does in fact pertain to the push advertisement the audience 117, 122 originally viewed/heard.

An operation of registering a push type advertisement with the pull type media 130 is illustrated with reference to Figs. 7 to 12. Fig. 7 is a flow chart of a method 700 implemented by the server 1300 of the pull media 130 which again is preferably 667435_1 .DOC -12implemented in software. At step S7A, access by an advertiser 101 via an interface 800 (Fig. 8) of the pull type media 130 is detected. The advertiser 101 is prompted to log in (step S7B) to validate the advertiser's identity. If the advertiser 101 has not previously registered with the pull type media 130, the advertiser 101 will be required to follow a separate registration process (not shown) first. After logging in, the pull medium 130 presents the advertiser 101 with a menu interface 900 (Fig. From the menu interface 900, the advertiser 101 is able to manage their advertisement portfolio to, for example, add a new advertisement by selecting an icon 910, edit an existing advertisement by selecting an icon 920, view their account summary by selecting an icon 930, and the like (step S7C).

I0 If selection of the icon 910 is detected at step S7C, control proceeds to step S7D where the advertiser 101 is presented with an advertisement registration interface 1000 seen in Fig. The advertisement registration interface 1000 allows the advertiser 101 to enter information/attributes about a corresponding push type advertisement being advertised (or to be advertised), on a push type media 105, 110. For example, the advertisement registration interface 1000 allows the advertiser to enter in the type of push media that one or more corresponding advertisements are being advertised on, a commencement and end date of such advertisements, and the like. Other information/attribute that can be entered include the locality in which the push type advertisement is being, or is to be, played/published, keywords, an attached media file (graphic, audio, or video) of the push type advertisement, and the like.

When all relevant information has been entered, and processed by the server 1300 the advertiser 101 is then presented with a preview interface 1100 at step S7E, as shown in Fig.

11. The preview interface presents a draft of the advertisement registration, as it would appear to the public, to the advertiser 101. A summary of costs and other information of the advertisement registration, such as chosen keywords, states selected, media types selected, etc, may also be presented to the advertiser 101 in the preview interface 1100 for confirmation. The advertiser 101 is then prompted to indicate at step S7F if the advertisement registration details and visual appearance of the advertisement registration are acceptable. At this point, the advertiser 101 has the option of indicating that the details as entered are acceptable ("Yes" "Submit" in Fig. 11) or returning to the advertisement registration interface 1000 for further editing "Edit" in Fig. 11).

667435 I.DOC 13 If the advertiser 101 indicated at step S7F that the registration details and the visual appearance of the advertisement registration are acceptable, the advertisement registration is registered at step S7J in the database of the pull type media 130 and an advertisement confirmation screen 1200 (Fig. 12) is presented to the advertiser 101, completing the advertisement registration operation of the method 700.

If at step S7C, the icon 920 is selected, the advertiser 101 is prompted to select an existing advertisement registration to be edited, and subsequently presented with a registration editing interface. The registration editing interface is substantially similar to the advertisement registration interface 1000, and allows the information/attributes of the advertisement registration to be amended. At step S7H, the advertiser 101 is presented with a preview of the amended registration and prompted to indicated if the registration as amended is acceptable. If further changes to the registration are desired, the advertiser 101 is allowed to return to step S7G to further edit the advertisement registration. Otherwise, the changes to the advertisement registration are saved at step S7 and the operation completed.

According to the advertising system and method presently disclosed, the problems of imperfect recollection of advertisements commonly associated with push advertisements are ameliorated. The system allows audiences of a push advertisement to be able to recall an advertisement using information such as the category of the advertisement, the locality in which it was heard/viewed/read, the media type that it was advertised on, and so forth. This reduces the need for repetitive presentation of the push type advertisement, hence affording a financial saving to advertisers. Additionally, push type advertisements which are registered in the database of the pull type media may include a reference to the interface of the pull type media. This increases the exposure and reputation of the pull type media, and at the same time increases the effectiveness of the pull type advertisements which are the advertisements registered with the pull type media.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications and/or changes can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, the embodiments being illustrative and not restrictive.

667435_1 .DOC

Claims (21)

1. An advertising system, comprising: a first advertising medium type supporting push advertising of at least one push advertisement; a second advertising medium type supporting pull advertising of the at least one push advertisement; and a database operable to register therein at least one push advertisement to be advertised on the first advertising medium type, wherein the second advertising medium type is in communication with the database and the second advertising medium type provides a first interface to the database, such that a push advertisement registered in the database is available as a pull advertisement accessible via the second advertising medium type.

2. The advertising system of claim 1, wherein the second advertising medium type allows a search of the database to be performed using one or more attributes of a push advertisement encountered via the first advertising medium type.

3. The advertising system of claim 2, wherein the one or more attributes is selected from the group consisting of medium type, medium channel, locality of presentation, date of presentation, product type, and keyword.

4. The advertising system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first advertising medium type is radio, television, print, or internet.

The advertising system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the second advertising medium type is the Internet.

6. The advertising system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one push advertisement includes a reference to the database accessible via the second advertising medium type. 667435_ IDOC

7. The advertising system according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one push advertisement includes a reference to a corresponding pull advertisement accessible via the second advertising medium type.

8. The advertising system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a digital copy of a push advertisement advertised on the first advertising medium type is stored in the database in correspondence with a registration of the push advertisement.

9. The advertising system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the second advertising medium type further provides a second interface for facilitating access to the database to allow registration of new advertisements.

An advertisement repository, comprising: a database in which advertisements to be advertised via at least one push type medium are registered; a first user interface providing access to the database; and a server operable to serve the first user interface to a client terminal and communicate with the database, wherein the first user interface allows search criteria for searching for a registered advertisement to be entered, and presents the search criteria to the server for communication to the database.

11. The advertisement repository of claim 10, further comprising a second user interface providing access to the database, the second user interface allowing new advertisement registrations to be created in the database, and allowing existing advertisement registrations to be edited, and wherein the communication means further allows access to the second user interface via the network.

12. The advertisement repository according to any one of claims 10 to 11, wherein the server receives a response to the search query from the database, and outputs the response to a communication means. 667435_1.DOC -16-

13. The advertisement repository of claim 11, wherein the second user interface is Goperable to allow a digital format of an advertisement to be advertised via the push type medium to be stored in the database.

14. A method of advertising involving a push advertisement advertised on one or more push type advertising media, the method comprising the steps of: registering the push advertisement in a database of a pull type advertising medium.

The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of advertising the 1o pull type advertising medium type in the push advertisement.

16. A method of advertising, comprising the steps of: receiving details of a plurality of push advertisements via a first interface; registering the details of each push advertisement in a database; providing search means for searching the database, the search means including a second interface by which search criteria are entered; receiving search criteria via the search means, the search criteria including attributes of an advertised push advertisement; formulating a search query based on the search criteria; searching the database based on the search query; outputting a list of registered advertisements best matching the search query; and outputting information of a registered advertisement selected from the list.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of receiving the details of the push advertisement further includes receiving a digital copy of the push advertisement, and the step of registering the details of the push advertisement further includes storing the digital copy in correspondence with the received details.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of outputting detailed information of an advertisement further includes making available for download or reproduction a digital copy of the push advertisement. 667435_1 .DOC -17-

19. An advertising system as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the embodiments, as that embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings.

A advertisement repository as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the embodiments, as that embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings.

21. An advertising method as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the embodiments, as that embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings. Dated 14 March, 2007 Which Ad Pty Limited Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person SPRUSON FERGUSON