CA2329928A1 - Peer-to-peer system to enable viral marketing and associated method - Google Patents

Peer-to-peer system to enable viral marketing and associated method Download PDF

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Publication number
CA2329928A1
CA2329928A1 CA 2329928 CA2329928A CA2329928A1 CA 2329928 A1 CA2329928 A1 CA 2329928A1 CA 2329928 CA2329928 CA 2329928 CA 2329928 A CA2329928 A CA 2329928A CA 2329928 A1 CA2329928 A1 CA 2329928A1
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Canada
Prior art keywords
peer
genealogy
product
marketing
viral marketing
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Abandoned
Application number
CA 2329928
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French (fr)
Inventor
Peder Jakobsen
Robert Dube
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BLUEAIR NETWORKS
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Priority to CA 2329928 priority Critical patent/CA2329928A1/en
Publication of CA2329928A1 publication Critical patent/CA2329928A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00Commerce
    • G06Q30/02Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A wireless-based multimedia business and consumer referral and information exchange system, by which process, providers of usable references earn compensation and users of such references achieve discounts or other benefits in their goods and services purchases.

Description

Peer-to-Peer System to Enable Viral Marketing and Associated Method Field The invention relates generally to Internet marketing, and more particularly to a peer-to-peer system to enable viral marketing and an associated method therefore.
Background The Internet and more particularly, e-commerce has presented unique opportunities and challenges to businesses. Marketing methods continue to evolve in an attempt to generate business.
In general, Internet marketing is a remote, unsocial, intruding, untrusted digital interaction. While traditional marketing focuses on branding versus product supremacy, most marketing models ignore the factors that influence a buyer. These campaigns may take a long time to deploy, are static, difficult to scale and cannot be monitored or modified in real time. The strategy is based on market testing, surveys, demo/psychographics and past buying behaviour profiling. For these reasons, mass marketing models are very inefficient (2% yield) and expensive, ranging from $100 -$150 / customer acquisition.
Therefore, there exists a need for a peer-to-peer system to enable viral marketing and an associated method therefore.
Summary A system and method for viral marketing is disclosed.
According to an embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of viral marketing including a genealogy of influencers providing referrals comprising the steps of providing at least one referral of a product or service; providing a reward to each influencer in the genealogy upon purchase of the product or service; and providing an incentive to one, many or all influencees to purchase the product or service.
According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided a system of viral marketing comprising: a genealogy of influencers providing referrals for a particular product or service; means to reward each influencer when a particular product or service is purchase based on a referral; and means to provide incentive to each potential purchase.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Brief Description of the Drawings Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1 illustrates an overview of the disclosed system;
Fig. 2 illustrates an influence network in detail;
Fig. 3 illustrates the genealogy of the influence network of Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 illustrates a viral marketing model;
Fig. 5 illustrates the four technologies of the system;
Figs 6 and 7 illustrate airoffers;
Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate airpower; and Fig. 10 illustrates airplay.
Similar references are used in different figures to denote similar components.
Detailed Description A glossary of terms is provided first:
Offer - an offer is defined as any object which contains perceived value to the receiver such as a coupon, a voucher, a discount, product information, a service, a programmable object containing intelligence or an incentive to take a predetermined action.
Referrer - a person initiating a referral Referree - a person receiving the referral from the Referrer. Typically this is a friend, family member, neighbour, co-worker, business associate or acquaintance.
Influencer - a referrer who is recognized and trusted by a given referee Reward - The word reward as used in this document may be defined as being monetary, material, humanitarian, emotional or recognition oriented in nature.
The disclosed system and method of viral marketing relies on informal referral (person-to person, word of mouth) social interaction based on a person sharing his or her experience relating to product or service since people are much more influenced to buy based on advice from a trusted party than from branding, or mass marketing.
The disclosed system and method also rewards products supremacy and penalizes products with deficiencies. This system is referred to as viral marketing.
In addition, the model markets the Influencers (sometimes referred to as hubs) and is permission based (i.e., pull versus push).
Referring to Figure 1, a word of mouth electronic referral system is illustrated. An Influencer recommends, suggests or refers a particular product to a Referree.
The Influencer may receive a referral reward and upon the closure of a transaction (i.e. the purchase of the product), may receive a purchase reward. In situations where the business rules dictate, those offering these references are rewarded by an accumulation for them in an on-line data warehousing system or on a hand-held device, of an immediately accessible account of non-specific credits, bonuses, prizes, charitable donations or other rewards. Those accepting such referrals are provided an incentive through a systematic accounting allocation to them of non-specific purchase discounts or other benefits. Estimations, recordings and accountings of the value of these credits, discounts and other benefits are facilitated through an Internet-enabled server system using a set of configurable business rules which define the attributes (i.e.
expiration, value, dependencies, restrictions, limitations, transferability, etc.) of the incentive. As incentives are collected, they become accessible though secure online access and the use of Internet enable wireless hand-held computers, laptops, personal computers, mobile telephones, land-line phones, and other networkable devices with video display capabilities The reward system supports various renumeration models. At one extreme, the reward system may be pyramidal in nature, in that it rewards not only the direct Influencer of the buyer, but also to the Influencer or the Influencer up to the top of the influence ladder, as seen in Figures 2 and 3. At the other extreme, product or service information may be transferred between parties with no reward or renumeration beyond loyalty or common interest. The referral pattern operates across an influence network to market the product. A detailed illustration of an influence network is seen in Figure 2.
In this example, an influence network is depicted demonstrating the various categories of hubs, spokes and transfer points in a given network. This realization suggests the possibility of an assortment of rewards to correspond with a given hub characteristic.
The genealogy of the influence network is seen in Figure 3. This figure extends the concept defined in Figure 2 by defining sample information which may be attached to the transferred object (i.e. coupon, product data, etc.) enabling traceability or a genealogy effect to occur.) Each offer includes a complete influence genealogy identifying all the persons involved in the influence ladder leading to a given purchase from the top influencer to the bottom buyer. This genealogy capture data, combined with the information about goods promoted by a given influence network may be provided to S
various retailers, manufacturers and market research firms. This data is obtained on a consensual basis by identifying each Influencer by some means, such as name, email address, phone number or postal codes.
Referring to Figure 4, a viral wireless model is illustrated. This figure illustrates the four elements of a viral wireless campaign, which are Promote, Purchase, Analytics and Campaign. The Promote element suggests a viral campaign initiates the transfer of an offer from a targeted group of trusted product experts through an influence network to a larger target market. The Purchase element demonstrates that a genealogy data is collected as the offer passes through an influence network and the genealogy data set achieves closure when an offer (in this case a coupon) is redeemed through a purchase transaction. . The Analytics element represents a source of computer intelligence and resources who can decipher the genealogy data into clear patterns which identify various "hubs" within the influence network. This information is then exposed to other resources and systems in the Campaign element. It is used re-start the cycle and target the appropriate hubs for the next promotion.
Therefore what is disclosed is a word of mouth electronic referral system that uses wireless technologies and Internet enabled systems t promote immediate and spontaneous information exchange among referrals of products and services concerning characteristics such as price, quality ratings, warranty specifications, or generalized attributes pertaining to form, fit or functions.
Various types of offers or other digital incentive programs offered by manufacturers or marketing services organizations can be easily adapted to the disclosed system after being appropriately transformed to wireless suitability or other distribution means.
The rewards for influencers are awarded by manufactures, distributors and various sources of interest and redeemed directly at the retailers, through on line facilities or other sources of redemption.
The wireless model uses three technologies referred to as airoffer, airpower and airplay, as seen in Figure 5 to comlect the four elements of a viral wireless marketing model.

Using these three technologies, the disclosed method and system enhances and integrates multiple incentive distribution formats whereby the consumer may digitally exchange offers through file transfer, e-mail, wireless hand-held computers, laptops, personal computers, modular phones, television sets and other networkable devices with video display capability.
Airoffer is illustrated in Figures 6 and 7. Airoffer operates wirelessly or via email and may include a media enhancement, offer rules, and genealogy collection. The security and privacy of offers is ensured by an appropriate encryption with offers being de-encrypted for authentication at the point of sale level.
These enhanced offers may make use of avatars, multimedia advertising and interactive video triggers implanted in the viral reward offer, thereby adding value through a richer user experience.
Wireless technology enables viral marketing because of convenience. In terms of distribution technology, including the Internet, wireless Internet and Personal Area Networks (PANS), the Internet is the least effective and PANs the most effective.
Combining PANs with wireless technology such as Bluetooth and 802.11 in handheld devices is an effective system for viral marketing.
Airpower is illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. Airpower takes input from accumulated airoffers and examines the genealogy of viral referrals, incentives and similar offers allowing it to assemble, warehouse and analyse consumer behaviour data for internal and third party uses. Therefore, as a by-product of various exchanges, the system is able to collect consumer behaviour data including the genealogy of a given offer for the purpose of viral marketing.
The airpower model is to enable manufactures, distributors or market research firms to collect and analyse the genealogy data independently. In one embodiment, a transaction fee may be applied for each genealogy.

Airplay is illustrated in Figure 10. Airplay provides and interface for eCRM
and ERP
systems enabling them to take airpower output and link it to their customer relationship data to improve service levels. Airplay also offers a detailed reporting capability on both static consumer data and trend analysis. Airplay is marketed as an eCRM
product add-on . A royalty agreement per eCRM customer may be applied.
The disclosed system and method enables wireless peer-to-peer viral marketing that improves the scope, timeliness and interactivity of online and wireless promotions. The system combines viral marketing, wireless technologies and advanced user interfaces deployed over Internet, personal area and cellular networks and operates on a variety of handheld and desktop devices.
While the invention has been described according to what are presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it must be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Those ordinarily skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent structures and functions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. Therefore, the invention as defined in the claims must be accorded the broadest possible interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

Claims (2)

1. A method of viral marketing including a genealogy of influencers providing referrals comprising the steps of:
providing at least one referral of a product or service;
providing a reward to one, many or all influencers in the genealogy upon purchase of the product or service; and providing an incentive to at least one influencee to purchase the product or service.
2. A system of viral marketing comprising:
a genealogy of influencers providing referrals for a particular product or service;
means to reward each influencer when a particular product or service is purchased based on a referral; and means to provide incentive to each potential purchase.
CA 2329928 2000-12-29 2000-12-29 Peer-to-peer system to enable viral marketing and associated method Abandoned CA2329928A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA 2329928 CA2329928A1 (en) 2000-12-29 2000-12-29 Peer-to-peer system to enable viral marketing and associated method

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA 2329928 CA2329928A1 (en) 2000-12-29 2000-12-29 Peer-to-peer system to enable viral marketing and associated method

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2009030995A1 (en) * 2007-09-04 2009-03-12 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab System and method for interactive marketing using networked devices

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2009030995A1 (en) * 2007-09-04 2009-03-12 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab System and method for interactive marketing using networked devices
WO2009030988A1 (en) * 2007-09-04 2009-03-12 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab System and method for interactive marketing using networked devices
US7870020B2 (en) 2007-09-04 2011-01-11 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab System and method for interactive marketing using networked devices

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