AU2013263725A1 - Unified business/consumer brandable software platform for collections of content - Management, Distribution and Access - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a computer-implemented method (10) for building and distributing collections of content associated with brands of businesses according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method (10) begins in step (12) where a brandable (i.e. white-label) discovery interface brandable with a brand of a business is provided through which the business may dynamically and interactively navigate media content. Next, in step (14), a brandable management interface is provided through which the business may manage the content collection associated with the brand. In step (16), a brandable programming interface is provided through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by the business. The method (10) ends in step (18) where a brandable consumer interface is provided through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by consumers. Provide a discovery interface brandable with a brand of a business through which the business may navigate interactive content sources to build a collection of content associated with the brand Provide a brandable management interface through which the business may manage the content collection associated with the brand Provide a brandlable programming interface through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by the business Providing a brandlable consumer interface through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or off line by consumers Figure 1

Description

1 UNIFIED BUSINESS/CONSUMER BRANDABLE SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR COLLECTIONS OF CONTENT Field [0001] The present invention relates to a unified business/consumer brandable (or white-label) software platform for collections of content, such as digital music, video, audio and images. Background [0002] Marketers and businesses increasingly use content to build brand equity by linking brands to memories and emotions associated with content that convey meaning to consumers. For example, retail businesses play collections of music in store to tap into the memory and emotions of consumers so that both the brand and the music are easily recalled and recognised at purchase and during consumption of products. By building collections of music and related content and linking them to brands, businesses can create brand communities of consumers whose identification, activities and buying behaviour focus around the brand through a sense of shared identification with and connection to music in the branded collections. The leveraging of secondary associations indirectly transferred to brands by linking them to music and other forms of content in the minds of consumers is an important driver of brand equity. [0003] A major barrier to building brand equity through brand associations with content is a fundamental disconnection in the way businesses and consumers currently discover and access content. Businesses currently select and access music from business-to-business (B2B) music platforms that offer a limited range of static and often dated catalogues of staid music in a few different genres. In contrast, consumers discover and access an unlimited dynamic range of contemporary, independent and alternative music in diverse genres through a rich variety of online sources such as music apps, music magazines, independent music websites and business-to-consumer 2 (B2C) music platforms. This fundamental disconnection between businesses and consumers in discovering and accessing music means existing B2B music platforms cannot be used to create collections of music that are truly customised to businesses and their consumers. Existing B2B music platforms inhibit the brand-building role of music because the music they provide is less memorable, meaningful and likable to consumers than the richer, more personalised and relevant range of contemporary music available to them through online sources. [0004] In addition, existing B2B music platforms only allow consumers to listen to the collections of music while they are on business premises. The limited consumer contact and single touch point provided by existing B2B music platforms prevents businesses from collaborating and interacting with consumers to create value through brand communities built around the service. [0005] A need therefore exists for unified brandable business/consumer platforms for building and distributing collections of content associated with brands of businesses that address or alleviate at least some of the problems described above. Summary [0006] According to the present invention, there is provided a method, including: providing a discovery interface branded with a brand of a business through which the business may navigate interactive content sources to build a collection of content associated with the brand; providing a brandable management interface through which the business may manage the content collection associated with the brand; providing a brandable programming interface through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by the business; providing a brandable consumer interface through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by consumers.

3 [0007] The method may further include(ing) providing the consumers with access to the brandable discovery, play, favourite and sharing interface. The brandable discovery interface, the brandable management interface, the brandable programming interface and the brandable consumer interface may be integrated in a unified brandable software platform. The brandable software platform may be provided to the business and/or the consumers under a software as a service (SaaS) subscription. [0008] The online sources may be selected and recommended to the business based at least in part on profiling the business and/or the consumers. The online sources may be selected from apps, reviews, magazines, internet radio, catalogues, collections, playlists, social media posts, blogs, websites, content providers, content publishers, and combinations thereof. The online sources may be provided in the brandable discovery interface through application program interfaces (APIs). [0009] The brandable management interface may enable the business to preview content items from the content collection associated with the brand and create playlists of favourite content items therefrom. The brandable management interface may further enable the business to associate promotional content with the content collection associated with the brand. [0010] The brandable programming interface may enable the business to schedule delivery of the content collection associated with the brand and or parts thereof to locations or activities associated with the business based on location and/or time. [0011] The access provided to the consumers to the content collection associated with the brand through the brandable consumer interface may be selected from previewing, downloading, streaming, purchasing, sharing, reviewing, commenting, liking, disliking, and combinations thereof.

4 [0012] The present invention also provides an apparatus, including: a memory; and a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to perform the above method. [0013] The present invention further provides a medium storing instructions that are executable by a processor to perform the above method. Brief Description of Drawings [0014] Embodiments of the invention will now be described byway of example only with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 is a flowchart of a method for building and distributing collections of content associated with brands of businesses according to an embodiment of the invention; and Figures 2 to 15 are example screenshots of a brandable software platform for implementing the method. Detailed Description [0015] Figure 1 is a flowchart of a computer-implemented method 10 for building and distributing collections of content associated with brands of businesses according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method 10 begins in step 12 where a brandable (i.e. white-label)discovery interface brandable with a brand of a business is provided through which the business may dynamically and interactively navigate (i.e. search, browse, discover, review recommended, and preview) media content, such as music, video, audio and/or images, from interactive content sources to build, create, compile, collate or curate a collection of content associated with the brand. The interactive content sources are online and/or offline (i.e. private) content sources that are selected and recommended to the business based at least in part on unique profiling of the business and/or the consumers. The interactive content and content-related sources are also selected and recommended to the business based at least in part on aggregating online content and content- 5 related sources, and monitoring and analysing online trends in accessing online content globally or regionally, such as popular or trending downloads, streams, blogged, and viewed online content. The interactive sources include, for example, apps, reviews, magazines, internet radio, catalogues, collections, playlists, social media posts, blogs, websites, content providers, content publishers, and combinations thereof. Other equivalent interactive content and content-related sources may also be used. The online sources are provided in the discovery interface through, for example, APIs. The content discovered and selected by the business to associate with the brand through the brandable discovery interface is sourced from conventional commercial and non-commercial content sources, such as major and independent content providers, content publishers and content websites. Content from commercial sources is provided to the business, and accessed and used by the business and/or consumers, on commercial licensing terms. Content from independent, open or non-commercial content sources may be provided free. Digital rights to access and use the content, such as copyright in downloading, streaming and publicly performing the content, may be managed by the provider of the brandable discovery interface on behalf of the business. [0016] Next, in step 14, a brandable management interface is provided through which the business may manage the content collection associated with the brand. The brandable management interface enables the business to preview content items from the content collection, and collate playlists of favourite content items therefrom. In addition, the brandable management interface optionally enables the business to associate other content, such as promotional content, with the content collection associated with the brand. [0017] In step 16, a brandable programming interface is provided through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by the business. Online access to the content collection associated with the brand is provided from remote storage, while offline access is provided from local storage at a location associated with the business. A media player is optionally provided at the business location for 6 playing the content collection associated with the brand. The brandable programming interface also enables the business to schedule online delivery of the content collection associated with the brand to locations, activities or events associated with the business based on location and/or time. [0018] The method 10 ends in step 18 where a brandable consumer interface is provided through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by consumers. The brandable access provided to the consumers to the content collection associated with the brand through the brandable consumer interface includes, for example, previewing, downloading, streaming, purchasing, sharing, reviewing, commenting, liking, disliking, tweeting, and combinations of other popular forms of social media interaction and communication. The brandable consumer interface enables the business and the consumers to collaborate through a brands community built around the brandable service. This collaboration between the business and the consumers enables the content collection associated with the brand to dynamically evolve over time based at least in part on feedback from the consumers or crowd sourcing of contents items from online sources. [0019] The brandable discovery interface, the brandable management interface, the brandable programming interface and the brandable consumer interface of the method 10 are integrated in a unified, brandable software platform. The brandable software platform is provided to the business and/or the consumers, for example, under a SaaS subscription. Optionally, the consumers are provided with access to the brandable discovery interface of the business under the SaaS subscription. [0021] The invention will now be described in more detail by reference to the following example, which is illustrative only and does not limit the scope of the invention. Description of Embodiments Example - Unified business/consumer brandable music platform 7 [0022] Figures 2 to 15 are example screenshots of brandable graphical user interfaces of a unified business/consumer brandable music platform according to an embodiment of the invention. In this example, the brandable software platform is configured for a business having a brand brandable "Mega Grocery". The brandable platform is provided to the business under a SaaS subscription. The user/consumer interfaces of the brandable platform have a common top banner section brandable "Mega Grocery" that includes music playback controls, and downloading (storing) and streaming playback options. A menu section is provided on the left hand side of the interfaces. The menu section presents options including: search, play, find, discovery, top charts, new releases, listen, collection, favourites, schedule, track listing, and calendar. Advertising and/or network overview and/or social user links are provided on the right hand side of the interfaces. The central section of the interfaces varies between discovery, management, programming and consumer interfaces depending on which particular menu option is selected. [0023] Figures 2 to 8 illustrate example discovery interfaces of the brandable platform through which a business user/consumer may browse and discover music to include in a collection of music to be associated with the business brand. In Figure 2, the discovery interface enables a business user to browse and preview tracks of an album that has been recommended based on profiling the business and their target customers. The album is represented by a thumbnail cover image and an accompanying text summary. A pop-up menu enables the business user to preview and interact with the album tracks through options including: buy; share; add to favourites; add to collection; queue next; queue to end; and clear and play. In Figure 3, the brandable discovery interface presents thumbnails of recommended albums related to the album in Figure 2. [0024] In Figure 4, the brandable discovery interface includes a lower section displaying thumbnails of music genres for the business user to browse. The upper section displays an interactive album preview section having thumbnails of album covers that can be moved left or right. Figures 5 and 6 8 illustrate an alternative interactive album preview which is overlaid with a dropdown menu of icons of APIs from online music-related apps and related online music content sources used for and in conjunction with the business profiling process, for example Hypemachine, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone magazine. Again, these online music discovery sources are recommended and available to the business user based on profiling the business and their target customers. Recommendations presented to business users though the discovery interfaces of the brandable platform may also be based on returned results of song suggestions based on aggregated global listening trends from music services around the world that match the business's target customer demographic and service objectives. [0025] Other equivalent music-related sources may also be presented and recommended in the discovery interfaces depending on the business and customer profiling. For example, internet radio streams, such as popular music countdown radio streams, may be included in the discovery interface and music from these sources may be included in the collection of music associated with the brand for programming and scheduling to business locations. Other music-related online content sources such as concert, festival and sporting event simulcasts may also be included and recommended through the brandable platform. The collection of music associated with the brand may further be built up based on a combination of the recommendation results returned by profiling process, and business and/or consumer feedback on and interaction with the brands collection and online sources such as digital radio station queuing and playlist features. [0026] In Figure 7, the discovery interface of the brandable platform displays popular tracks in the rock genre to enable the business user to discover and select music for inclusion in the collection of music associated with the brand. The music in the rock genre that is selected and recommended to the business through the brandable discovery interface is based on profiling of the business and its customers. The provider of the discovery interface compiles, curates and collates a selection of music in the rock genre to recommend to the business by aggregating online content and content-related sources in the 9 rock genre, and monitoring and analysing relevant trends in accessing online content in the rock genre, such as popular or trending downloads, streams, blogs and views of online rock content by samples of consumers that match the business and/or consumer profile. The brandable discovery interface in Figure 8 displays thumbnails of recommended albums in the rock genre. The various discovery interfaces of the brandable platform enable the business user to navigate, search, discover and select music from a diverse range of content and recommended online sources to build a collection of music associated with the brand. [0027] Figures 9 to 11 illustrate example brandable programming interfaces of the brandable platform through which the business user may programme or schedule online or offline delivery of the content collection associated with the brand at business locations based on geolocation and/or time. In Figure 9, the brandable programming interface enables the business user to programme playing of the collection of music associated with the brand over a week using a calendar display. The programming interface in Figure 10 enables the business user to programme music from different genres in the collection of music associated with the brand for a particular geographical business region. In addition, the brandable programming interface enables the business user to add and schedule promotional content from the collection of music associated with the brand for a region or geolocation. In Figure 11, the brandable programming interface enables the business user to select and interact with a track listing or genre/s and/or combinations of, from the collection of music associated with the brand for a particular day. [0028] Figure 12 to 15 illustrate example brandable management interfaces of the brandable platform through which the business user may manage and administer the collection of music associated with the brand. The management interfaces in Figures 12 to 15 respectively enable an administrator and other authorised users of the brandable platform to manage user groups, system settings, individual business users, account details and playlists.

10 [0029] In addition to the brandable business user interfaces described above, customers of the business are optionally given access to the brandable discovery interfaces of the brandable platform either free upon registration or under a SaaS subscription. These consumer users of the brandable platform are also able to access the brands content collection online or offline using the streaming and downloading playback options presented in the brandable banner section of the brandable platform. For example, consumer interfaces of the brandable platform may direct consumers to a mobile version of the brandable platform where they can share the songs in the brands collection with their friends on their smartphones or tablets, or to a desktop version of the brandable platform to listen to and share the songs in the brands collection from their personal or laptop computers through a function inside the brandable platform. [0030] The music and related content discovered and selected by the business to associate with the brand through the brandable discovery interface is sourced from conventional commercial and non-commercial content sources, such as major and independent music providers, music publishers and content websites. The music content is provided to the business, and accessed and used by the business and/or consumers through the respective brandable interfaces, on commercial licensing terms. The provider of the brandable software platform may manage digital rights, such as copyright, in the collection of music content associated with the brand on behalf of the business to enable it and its customers to use and access the music content on commercial terms. Consumer access and use of the music content associated with the brand may be paid for or subsidised by the business. For example, the business may pay licence fees in whole or part for music downloads or streams by its customers, for example, if they are members of the business's loyalty rewards plan, if they make a certain amount of purchases in a given time period, or for free for a limited introductory period. At the end of the introductory time period, or if the consumers stop making the requisite amount of purchases, the business may offer its customers ongoing access and use of the music collection associated with the brand through the brandable platform on a subscription basis.

11 Further alternatively, the brandable consumer interface may enable consumers to purchase content items from the content collection associated with the brand. [0031] The integrated business and consumer interfaces of the brandable platform enable the business to continue their brand conversation with their customers beyond the in store experience. For example, the consumer interfaces may integrally provide social media apps/sites and API integration, such as Facebook and Twitter, to enable customers to share, recommend and like/dislike songs in the music collection associated with the brand. Other consumer interfaces may act as virtual jukeboxes to allow customers to select and interact with the music collection associated with the brand and related videos playing in-store. Further consumer interfaces may provide customers with music-related information, such as alerts for concerts and gigs, artist/band news and tour dates (eg via Songkick API), promotions and competitions all related to the music and video content that is being used by the business to help shape their brand. In addition, consumer interfaces may allow customers of the business to purchase music in the brands collection and related content from inside the brandable platform. [0032] Embodiments of the present invention provide a unified brandable software platform that integrates businesses and consumers in the collation and distribution of brands collections of content. The unified business/consumer brandable content platform provides businesses with brand association with media content that their customers consider memorable, meaningful and likable. The integration of consumers in the creation and distribution of brands collections of content provides opportunities for brand building, reinforcement and activation initiatives, such as audio stream advertisements, graphics, promotions, offers, prizes, and loyalty club integration for voucher redemption, QR or barcode scanning etc. [0033] The above embodiments have been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims that follow.

Claims (13)

1. A method, including: providing a brandable discovery interface brandable with a brand of a business through which the business may navigate interactive content sources to build a collection of content associated with the brand; providing a brandable management interface through which the business may manage the content collection associated with the brand; providing a brandable programming interface through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by the business; providing a brandable consumer interface through which the content collection associated with the brand may be accessed online or offline by consumers.

2. A method according to claim 1, further including providing the consumers with access to the brandable discovery interface.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the brandable discovery interface, the brandable management interface the brandable programming interface and the brandable consumer interface are integrated in a unified brandable software platform.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the brandable software platform is provided to the business and/or the consumers under a software as a service (SaaS) subscription.

5. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the online sources are selected and recommended to the business based at least in part on profiling the business and/or the consumers.

6. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the online sources are selected from apps, reviews, magazines, internet radio, catalogues, collections, playlists, social media posts, blogs, websites, content providers, content publishers, and combinations thereof.

7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the online sources are provided in the brandable discovery interface through application program interfaces. 13

8. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the brandable management interface enables the business to preview content items from the content collection associated with the brand and create playlists of favourite content items therefrom.

9. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the brandable management interface enables the business to associate promotional content with the content collection associated with the brand.

10. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the brandable programming interface enables the business to schedule delivery of the content collection associated with the brand to locations or activities associated with the business based on location or time.

11. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the access provided to the consumers to the content collection associated with the brand through the brandable consumer interface is selected from previewing, downloading, streaming, purchasing, sharing, reviewing, commenting, liking, disliking, and combinations thereof.

12. An apparatus, including: a memory; and a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to perform a method according to any preceding claim.

13. A medium storing instructions that are executable by a processor to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.