Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
  • G09F3/00—Labels, tag tickets, or similar identification or indication means; Seals; Postage or like stamps
  • G09F3/02—Forms or constructions
  • G09F3/0288—Labels or tickets consisting of more than one part, e.g. with address of sender or other reference on separate section to main label; Multi-copy labels

Definitions

• This invention relates to advertising. More particularly, the invention relates to an advertising means and to a method of advertising.
• form shall have an extended meaning to include a work in tangible form, such as a printed document, a digital representation of a work and a computer generated image of a work, and the phrase “business form” shall have a corresponding extended meaning.
• an advertising means comprising a business form having defined thereon an advertising zone for displaying advertising material and having arranged on the zone advertising material relating to the business of a party other than the sender or printer of the business form.
• the business form may be an invoice for goods or services or a monthly statement of account or payslip, or the like, and may be a paper-based form or a work in an electronic format.
• the form may be a digital representation of a business form, or in the form of a computer generated image of a business form.
• the advertising zone may be defined on the front of the business form.
• the advertising material of the advertising zone may be associated with advertising material or information carried on the rear of the business form.
• the advertising zone may be associated with newsletters or other forms of communication accompanying the business form.
• a method of advertising including the step of depicting an advertisement on behalf of an advertiser on a zone defined on a business form of a sender of the form, the advertiser not being either the sender or printer of the form.
• the invention further extends to a method of doing business, the method including the steps of receiving instructions from an advertiser for the placement of an advertisement and arranging for the placement of the said advertisements on at least one business form of a party other than the sender or printer of the business form.
• the method of doing business may include the further steps of canvassing for the placement of advertisements; concluding contracts for selling space on the business form of a sender of the said business form; collating the said advertisements; and contracting with senders of business form for the use of advertising space on their business form.
• FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an advertising means, in accordance with the invention.
• Figure 2 shows a schematic flow diagram of a method of doing business whereby the method of advertising is incorporated, in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 3 shows a schematic flow diagram of a method of doing business whereby the method of advertising is incorporated, in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.
• reference numeral 10 generally indicates an advertising means, in accordance with the invention.
• the advertising means 10 comprises a business form 12, in the form of a monthly statement of account 14, having defined thereon an advertising zone 16 for displaying advertising material 18 relating to the business of a party other than the sender of the business form.
• the business form 12 may be any convenient form such as an invoice for goods or services, or the like.
• the advertising zone 16 is defined on the front of the business form 12.
• the monthly statement 14 has an identification field 20, containing an identification of the sender of the statement 14. Further, the statement 14 has a zone 22 defined thereon for printing address details 24 of a recipient of the statement 14, ie the customer of the sender. A further field 26 defined on the statement 14 is used to carry transaction details 27 and the balance outstanding on the account. It will be noted that all of the above information relates to the transactions on business forms between the creditor and the debtor or employer employee, with the exception of the advertising material 18 carried in the advertising zone 16. This material relates to persons, goods or services related to a third party and generally not directly connected with the transactions between creditor and debtor or employer employee.
• FIG 2 a first embodiment of a method of doing business using the advertising means according to the invention is illustrated schematically.
• the operator of the business shown as the Service Provider 50, enters into an arrangement with one or more Publishers 52, who are the senders of business forms, such as the statement 14.
• the arrangement provides that the Service Provider 50 will display advertisements in an advertising zone of the Publisher's business forms.
• the Publisher 52 will receive payment of an arranged amount, which serves to off-set the costs of producing and delivering its monthly statements 14.
• the Publisher 52 either directly or through agents, contracts with one or more Media Houses 54 to solicit advertising from Advertising Agencies 56 or directly from the public.
• the Media House 54 receives the advertising material from the Advertising Agencies 56 and places advertisements with a suitable preselected Publisher 52.
• the Advertising Agencies 56 make payment of the agreed fee to the Service Provider 50 who, in turn, pays the Publisher 52. It will be appreciated that the Service Provider 50 could itself carry out the actions of the Media House 54. Other variations of the scheme are also possible and within the scope of the invention.
• a method of advertising which permits the senders of ordinary business forms to recoup a portion of their costs in producing and sending the forms. Further, advertising may be targeted at a selected audience who are likely to be interested in the goods or services advertised. Thus, for example, advertisements placed on the monthly statements for electricity by a utility provider or local authority can be fairly certain to reach the attention of persons who have and use electrical appliances. It is anticipated that increasingly business forms will be represented in a digital format and will be transmitted electronically via a network for display via an image on a computer screen. The present invention lends itself to use in such an application.
• Business Form includes printed and/or electronic document (which may include a statement, an invoice, a payslip etc.) that a Publisher sends to other entities (which includes clients, suppliers, employees, etc.).
• “Advertising Zone” includes the space on the Business Form that has been purchased with the intent of placing an Advertisement on that space.
• Advertising Sales Organization includes the entity appointed by the service provider to sell the Advertising Zone on the Business Forms.
• Advertising Material includes material that contains the information that will appear on the Advertising Zone, usually a digital file or film containing an Advertiser's logo, text, and/or image.
• Advertiser includes the combination of an Advertiser's logo, text, and/or image that appears on the Business Form.
• “Fulfillment Organization” includes a design studio, an Advertising Agency, a Publisher (in the traditional sense, not the above definition of "Publisher"), a printer, a printer broker, or a reproduction house. This organization may either be the Publisher itself or it is appointed by the Publisher or appointed by the service provider.
• Advertiser includes an entity, such as an Advertiser, Advertising Agency, or media planning organization that either solely purchases the Advertising Zone, or that both purchases the Advertising Zone and creates the Advertising Material.
• Advertising Agency includes an entity that, on behalf of the Advertiser, either solely purchases the Advertising Zone or that both purchases the Advertising Zone and creates the Advertising Material or solely creates the Advertising Material that will appear in the Advertising Zone.
• Media Planning Agency includes an entity that purchases the Advertising Zone, on behalf of an Advertiser or an Advertising Agency.
• Service Provider includes the operator of the business.
• the service provider 63 directly, or indirectly through the Publisher 60 marketing organization 61 , enters into a contractual agreement (not shown) with the Publisher 60.
• the service provider 63 is allowed to sell the space in an Advertising Zone 16 on the Publisher's 60 Business Forms 12 to potential Advertisers.
• This space in the Advertising Zone 16 is sold to the Advertiser 65 either by service provider 63 or advertising sales organization 64.
• the Advertising Material 18 of the Advertiser 65 is delivered to the Publisher 60 for approval and to stipulate its specifications according to which the Advertising Material 18 is to be printed on the Business Form 12. It must be noted that the approval of the Publisher 60, as described above, is optional.
• This Advertising Material 18 is send to the Publisher 60 by either the service provider 63 or the fulfilment organization 62. Once the Advertising Material 18 that is to be placed within the Advertising Zone 16 is approved, the printing of the Advertising Material 18 on the Business Form 12 can commence.
• the Advertiser will be granted the opportunity to alter the Advertising Material 18 in order to be approved by the Publisher 60.
• the fulfilment organization 62 Once the fulfilment organization 62 has received the approved Advertising Material 18, either directly or indirectly from the service provider 63, it will print the Advertising Material 18 on the Business Form 12 according to the approved specifications of the Publisher 60 and deliver the printed product to the Publisher 60.
• the Publisher 60 may then print its own unique information (not shown), such as its own address and contact details; the client's address, account number, description of goods or services and amounts due on the Business Form 12.
• the Publisher 60 then will arrange for the distribution of the Business Forms 12.
• the Publisher 60 will provide the fulfilment organization 62 with all its unique information, whereupon the fulfilment organization 62 will print the Publisher's 60 unique information on the Business Form 12.
• the fulfilment organization 62 then delivers the Business Form 12 to the Publisher 60 who may arrange the distribution of the Business Forms 12.
• Payment for the different service provided by the different parties involved in this method is made as follows.
• the Publisher 60 invoices the service provider 63, according to the contract, who in turn will invoice the Advertiser 65.
• the payment received from the Advertiser 65 is then utilised to divide between the Publisher 60 and the service provider 63 in terms of the remuneration clauses of the contract.
• the principal responsibilities of the service provider 60 are to facilitate the relationships between the various parties involved in this method. Further to manage the process and to arrange the payment according to the contract and various parties involved in this method.
• the advertising sales organization 64 could be further introduced into this method by arranging for the delivery of the Advertising Material 18, received from the Advertiser 65, to the fulfilment organization 62.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
• Credit Cards Or The Like (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=25589243

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 2002
  • 2002-07-19 WO PCT/IB2002/002824 patent/WO2003009261A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-07-19 EP EP02751464A patent/EP1444677A2/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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