EP2171665A1

EP2171665A1 - A method and system of processing telephone calls involving targeted commercials

Info

Publication number: EP2171665A1
Application number: EP08763602A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Daniel Mattes; Roman Scharf
Original assignee: Jajah Inc
Current assignee: Jajah Inc
Priority date: 2007-06-20
Filing date: 2008-06-22
Publication date: 2010-04-07
Also published as: WO2008155774A1; JP2010530698A; BRPI0811804A2

Abstract

A method of processing telephone calls between a subscriber of a VoIP service provider and a called party. The service provider derives personal profile data of the subscriber and stores it in a database, classified according to pre-set criteriae. It will then share a portion of the classified data with one or more commercial entities. Upon placing a call by the subscriber, the service provider will launch to the subscriber information identifying the one or more of said entities best matching the subscriber preferences. The subscriber is enabled to consent receiving at a later stage and through different media, commercial material from any one or more of said one or more entities in consideration of a bonus.

Description

A METHOD AND SYSTEM OF PROCESSING TELEPHONE CALLS INVOLVING TARGETED COMMERCIALS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to telephony and more specifically to the integration of commercial advertisement thereinto.

BACKGOUND OF THE INVENTION

Injecting commercials during the "dead" telephony intervals gains more popularity. By the term "dead" intervals it is meant the time lapsing after dialing and waiting for the called party to pick-up the phone; when receiving a "busy" signal; when waiting for an operator to complete the connection in cases where calls are placed via a service provider (such as Jajah^®); or when waiting in "hold" position (see for example International Publication No. WO 2006/082580) Partnering with advertisers/sponsors allows World Wide Web

(www) based telephony providers to offset part of their costs and hence offer their users communication services at low cost and sometimes even free-of-charge. Advertisers and sponsors are interested in delivering targeted advertisements using the different media made available by the telephony service providers, including audio, web-based advertisement and email or text message follow-up as it allows them to clearly target their audience.

Furthermore, advertisers and sponsors have been well introduced with the method of bidding for advertisement time or spot in any of the media channels.

The above equation is mainly true with respect to the World Wide Web (www) based (VoIP) services telephony providers, where communication services are given at low cost and sometimes even free- of-charge while the costs (+profit) are derived from the sponsors, launching ads on the subscribers' screen upon connecting the website of the VoIP telephony service provider, or when logging into the account using a portable media device.

From the standpoint of the sponsors, their main concern is to focus the commercials as much as possible on potentially interested members of the public, who are exposed to the advertisement at any given time. Hence, the competition among commercial sponsors is less in terms of overall volume but rather on the effectiveness of the advertisement (actual buyers vs. advertising investment). Therefore, sponsors are willing to pay more per unit of advertisement (TV time; number and frequency of internet banners; newspapers space; advertising area and popular locations of billboards; etc., etc.,) if it is directed to a selected group of the public rather than launching it "blindly".

On the other hand, it is well known that the public of Internet users become more and more resentful and even hostile against commercial stuff flooding their screens wherever they surf. They will react the same way if commercials would appear when connecting to their VoIP telephony service provider, even if customized to their personal profile.

The present invention is directed to remedy the deficiencies of the known targeted commercial advertising method. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is thus the general object of the invention to offer a "marketplace" service between telephony service providers and a plurality of commercial entities.

It is a further object of the invention to apply the marketplace service to the VoIP telephony service providers.

It is a still further object of the invention to enable the targeting of advertisement to the potentially more receptive group of customers.

It is a still further object of the invention to offer telephony services at reduced cost as a result of transactive cooperation between the service provider and one or more ad sponsors. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of processing telephone calls between a subscriber of a VoIP service provider and a called party involving targeted commercial advertisement, the method comprising the steps of: One-time deriving by the service provider personal profile data of the subscriber, storing the said data in a database, classified according to pre-set criteriae, sharing a portion of said classified data with one or more commercial entities. Upon placing a call by the subscriber, launching to the subscriber information identifying the one or more of said entities best matching the subscriber criteria, and enabling the subscriber the option to consent receiving commercial material from any one or more of said one or more entities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and additional features of the invention will become more readily understood in the light of the ensuing description of several preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein-

Hg. 1 is a flow-chart of processing calls according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; and Hg. 2 represents a system of operating the method according to a modified embodiment thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Taking Jajah^® as an example, it can collect client profile information at different points, such as during the registration process, during the payment process, or separately when the client submits personal preferences. The profile includes personal details such as TeI. numbers(s), mail, e-mail and website addresses, credit card information, personal preferences, hobbies, etc., which are stored at the company's database for future communication and accounting purposes.

A client who wishes to place a call first enters the Jajah^® website (Stage I in the flow-chart of FIG.l) and logs-in to his account, or is automatically identified by the system.

Jajah^® identifies the client by his/her e-mail address and/or password, and launches his/her personal web-page on the computer screen for entering the number of the called party.

According to the present invention, this page will also contain the information as specified in Stage II, namely an explanation about the three available optional routes. Since Jajah^® is already familiar with some of the client's preferences, the selection of one or more potential sponsoring companies could be tailored in advance to match any of such preferences out of a variety of sponsors that engaged Jajah^® for exposure according to the scheme herein outlined.

Let us assume that the client selects to receive advertisement. Knowing already that the client is a fan of Jazz music, Jajah will present one or several jazz/music related advertisers or sponsors, preferably located in the same residential/office area of the client. It can be more likely predicted that the client will choose this particular sponsor (Company A of Stage III.) Company A, i.e. the selected sponsor/advertiser, should thereafter follow-up by sending the client e-mails, brochures, newsletters, purchase coupons, etc., etc.

In this manner, Company A targets its advertising to people who have indicated interest for its products or services (Stage IV). The client is more likely to be receptive to company A's ads. than the members of the public at large.

The client's account is credited a certain number of minutes (e.g. ,10) of free-of-charge calling time which must be conducted during a limited period of time (e.g., one week), or with a pre-set amount of money, at the client's option. Optionally, and according to a further refinement of the present invention, during this "credit period", whenever connecting Jajah^® (by web or by designated software), the client will be notified that his/her calls are being sponsored by Company A (Stage VII). This will enhance still further the readiness of the client to be responsive to the advertisements received from this particular company.

Notification of the client can be in the form of message on his/her personal web-page at Jajah^®, or, in case of direct calls, by an audio announcement.

This additional aspect of the invention contributes to the goodwill of both Jajah^® and Company A.

As already mentioned, the client is under no obligation to take part in the sponsorship scheme (see first option of Stage II); and if he/she does — there are no strings attached. He/she can disregard any additional connection with the company who sponsored his/her calls and ignore their material.

FIG. 2 concerns an additional aspect of the present invention.

Since the telephony service provider holds in its database information which is most valuable to advertisers, it can use it in an even more profitable way. It can offer the subscriber, within the framework of Stage (II) of FIG. 1, a further option, namely, to establish direct connection to one or more companies who best fit his/her preferences, instead of remaining passive in the sense of waiting for the company(ies) to approach him/her sometimes later on as in the preceding example.

This virtually creates a "customers/sponsors interactive marketplace", whereby the sponsors "offer" their merchandise and the customers (subscribers) are looking around and make their choices, all in real time.

Moreover, should there be more then one company interested in the personal profile of the particular caller, the service provider is able to bargain and "sell" the data to the highest bidder. Hence, another

"marketplace" is created, namely between the service provider and several products/service providers.

Obviously, the selected company will become the sponsor of the subscriber in question, who will be awarded the benefits described above (options (1) or (2) of Stage (H)), with or without a special bonus if an actual purchase has been concluded.

In order to reduce the above-described method into practice, the Provider will generate a database of potential sponsors, classified according to the relevant categories of targeted public, for example: males over 40, living in South-California, hobbyists of carpentry. When the subscriber logs-in or at different stages during the time the subscriber is logged into the Jajah® site, the subscriber will be presented with a one or more best matching sponsors. The client will select one of the sponsors presented by Jajah®. By doing so and performing the required action, for example filling-in a registration form or printing a coupon, the client will be credited with a number of free minutes, or an amount of $x, to his/her Jajah account.

Upon placing a call, the subscriber will be asked if he/she wishes this to be a sponsored call or a regular, paid call. In case the subscriber chooses a paid call, the process of establishing connection will proceed normally.

In case the subscriber selects this (and future) calls to be sponsored, according to options (1) or (2) of stage II, he/she will be credited in one of the prescribed forms (money or free time). This process shall apply whether or not the subscriber still owns a credit at his/hers account.

The learnt reader will readily understand that this "marketplace" mode of operation may be offered in combination with the previously described options, or separately, at the discretion of the telephony service provider, and subject to it's technological capabilities. Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains will readily appreciate that numerous changes, variations and modifications can be effectuated without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as above described.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of processing telephone calls between a subscriber of a VoIP service provider and a called party involving targeted commercial advertisement comprising the steps of :

a. One-time deriving by the service provider personal profile data of the subscriber;

b. storing the said data in a database, classified according to pre-set criteriae; c. sharing a portion of said classified data with one or more commercial entities; d. upon placing a call by the subscriber, launching to the subscriber information identifying the one or more of said entities best matching the subscriber criteria; and e. enabling the subscriber the option to consent receiving commercial material from any one or more of said one or more entities.

2. The method as claimed in Claim 1 comprising the further step of granting a bonus to the subscriber in consideration of said consent.

3. The method as claimed in Claim 2 comprising the further step of introducing the subscriber to the said entity.

4. The method as claimed in Claim 3 comprising the further step of, upon placing one or more calls by the said subscriber, flaging to the subscriber that said bonus was granted/sponsored by the said one entity.

5. The method as claimed in Claim 4 wherein said bonus is in the form of a limited time period of free-of-charge calling.

6. The method as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the said bonus is in the form of a credit added to the subscriber account with the service provider.

7. The method of as claimed in Claim 3 comprising the further step of establishing direct contact between the said one entity and said subscriber.

8. A system for processing telephone calls between a subscriber of a VoIP service provider and a callee involving targeted commercial advertisement comprising: a. means for deriving by the service provider personal profile data of the subscriber;

b. means for storing the said data in a database, classified according to pre-set criteriae; c. means for sharing a portion of said classified data with one or more commercial entities; d. means for launching the subscriber information upon placed call, identifying the one or more of said entities best matching the subscriber criteria; and e. means for enabling the subscriber an option to consent receiving commercial material from any one or more of said one or more entities.