Abstract: Offers from multiple entities provide an incentive for consumers to behave in a manner that is beneficial to the offer provider. Each offer is associated with rules that establish conditions that must be met for the offer to be valid. For example, a rule may be established to promote the use a specific form of payment, such as a particular credit card. Thus, the offer would only be valid if the consumer paid for the merchandise using the particular credit card. A merchant may generate its own offers or receive offers from a variety of sources (e.g., a payment processing organization, an issuer, or other external sources).

Abstract: A system and methods to mutually satisfy a consumer with a discount and a vendor with a minimum number of sales by establishing a tipping point associated with an offer for a good or service. If the tipping point is met, the sale of the good or service is executed and the consumer is charged and receives an indication of the discounted sale, such as a certificate. If the tipping point is not met, the discount offer is abandoned and the consumer is not charged. Once the tipping point is established, the vendor receives a payment, even before the consumer uses the certificate. The system and methods also include a reward or loyalty program, an exchange or secondary market for the purchased deals, and a matching algorithm that matches customers to relevant goods or services.

Abstract: The system of the present invention is used to execute data consolidation to combine data from Google, MSN and Yahoo, at least. The user does not need anymore to combine by himself data in spreadsheets. The system allows creating consolidated campaigns that span across search providers, letting the user effortlessly build reports that previously took hours to create each month. The system of the present invention is particularly suited for agencies. A tool designed for agencies needs to allow for management at the client level as well as the agency level. The system client center gives each member of the team a summary view of the client accounts that they're responsible for, along with emerging trend indicators for every major metric.

Abstract: This specification describes technologies relating to content presentation. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the actions of sending one or more redeemable content items to a user, each content item being configured for redemption at a physical retail location; receiving a request from the user to redeem a content item of the one or more content items at a particular physical retail location; validating, using one or more processor, the content item for redemption; if the content item is valid for redemption, notifying a corresponding retailer of the content item redemption to be applied to a pending retail transaction; and logging the redemption. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.

Abstract: A system for delivering targeted content to a device includes a database and a processor. The database stores anonymous identifications for a plurality of customers of at least one financial institution. Each anonymous identification is associated with financial information for a respective customer of the at least one financial institution. The processor includes software that is configured to classify consumers, create a targeted list of content viewers, and deliver a targeted advertisement over a network to a device used by a content viewer on the targeted list. The classifications can be based on the financial information associated with each anonymous identification. The target list of content viewers can be based on at least one selected classification. The advertisement can be delivered to a device used by a content viewer on the targeted list after the device has been used to log onto an application offered by the at least one financial institution.

Abstract: A method and a system offer an incentive to a user of a mobile device based on a geographic location of the mobile device and the intent of the user. A processor-implemented location identification module determines the geographic location of the mobile device of the user. A processor-implemented item identification module identifies an item specified by the user at the geographic location of the mobile device. A processor-implemented incentive module offers an incentive from at least one merchant within a predefined distance based on the identified item and the geographic location of the mobile device.

Abstract: The present invention applies gaming theory and well-understood sales processes and techniques to allow the operator of an interactive sales medium to control what is displayed to a user of the medium in a manner that signals their intentions (e.g., looking for a lower price, looking for a particular incentive, etc.) so that the “strategies” being used by the consumer can be identified and exploited to lead the consumer to a desired end choice. In particular, upon identification of the strategies being used by the consumer, incentives (e.g., gradually increasing rewards and/or decreasing “punishments”) are presented to the consumer in such a way that the margins achieved by an eventual sale are slowly decreased with each presentation of the incentives to the consumer. Since the presentation of each incentive increases the likelihood the consumer will make a purchase, margins are maximized for the seller.

Abstract: A system and computerized method of processing a rebate claim from a purchaser comprising means for or steps of receiving and storing: (a) personal information about the purchaser, including an account identifier associated with a designated account, (b) promotion information comprising one or more promotional offers associated with one or more promoted products, (c) purchase information corresponding to the at least one purchase transaction in which the designated account was used as an instrument of payment. Purchase information is associated with the purchaser using the designated account identifier, the rebate claim is validated, and the collective value associated with the rebate claim is provided to the purchaser. One embodiment may comprise means for or a step of receiving an instruction from the purchaser via an online user interface prior to the end of a qualifying period authorizing completion of rebate claim processing.

Abstract: Various methods, systems, and computer program products are disclosed for communicating location-based promotional messages to a mobile communication device. The method may include receiving a request associated with a mobile communication device. In response to the request, the method may include determining a location of the mobile communication device and a potential interest of a user of the mobile communication device. Based on the location of the mobile communication device and the potential interest of the user, the method may include identifying a promotional message from among other promotional messages. Upon identification, the method may include communicating the promotional message to be displayed at the mobile communication device.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for performing online data queries and purchasing advertisements associated with business listings. The system for performing online data queries is a distributed computer system with a plurality of server nodes each fully redundant and capable of processing a user query request. Each server node includes a data query cache and other caches that may be used in performing data queries. The data query, as well as request allocation, is performed in accordance with an adaptive partitioning technique with a bias towards an initial partitioning scheme. Generic objects are created and used to represent business listings upon which the user may perform queries. Various data processing and integration techniques are included which enhance data queries. An update technique is used for synchronizing data updates as needed in updating the plurality of server nodes.

Abstract: In one aspect, a system includes a transaction handler to process transactions, a data warehouse to store transaction data recording the transactions processed at the transaction handler and to store mapping data between first user identifiers and first account identifiers, a profile generator to generate a profile of a user based on the transaction data, and a portal coupled to the transaction handler to receive a query identifying a second user identifier used by the first tracker to track online activities of a user. The system is to identify a second account identifier of the user from the second user identifier based on the mapping data between the first user identifiers and the first account identifiers to facilitate targeted advertising using the profile of the user and/or to provide information about certain transactions of the user related to a previously presented advertisement.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for recruiting, communicating with, and paying participants of interactive advertising are described. The present invention is a system through which advertisers car recruit, communicate with, and pay their potential customers for their time. The system achieves these functions without the advertiser or the customer having to be in the same location—all logistics are handled through the system's web site, database, and communications interfaces. The system enables advertisers to promote interactive seminars in which they try to sell products to potential customers. Most importantly, the advertisers are able to offer their potential customers financial rewards for their time, such as 25 cents per minute to reward a customer for listening to a sales pitch. The system then provides a real-time communications link between the advertiser and customer. The system automatically bills the advertiser and rewards the customer for the time that they interact.

Abstract: A subscription-based discounted delivery service that allows consumers to make purchases from multiple merchants through multiple sales channels. User preference information is stored by the service provider and provided to any of the multiple merchants from whom the user seeks to make a purchase, from the product detail page of such merchant, to be delivered using the discounted delivery service.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to systems for rewarding influencers in a Web 2.0 environment. More specifically, in some implementations, a system is configured to assess an influence of an electronically-accessed content on an involvement between an accessor and a third party, and may also be configured to facilitate a reward to one or more influencers based on one or more assessed influences.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a method and system for automatic management of targeted marketing campaigns. The system may include user interface presentation components for allowing selection of marketing matrix data defining a target population and selection of suppressions for limiting the target population. The system may further include integration components implemented by a processor for integrating the marketing matrix with the suppressions and automatically generating record selection components for automatically selecting records from a database based on the marketing matrix data and suppressions and creating a selection table including the selected records. Additionally, the system may include a list generation engine for generating a campaign list based on the created selection table and transmission components for transmitting the generated campaign list to at least one list recipient.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for delivering targeted content to a customer through a voice response unit (VRU). When the customer calls into the VRU, the customer is prompted to enter identification information. A unique customer identification code (UCIC) associated with the customer is used to look up an anonymized customer profile stored by a third party server. An advertisement identification code (ADIC) associated with the anonymized customer profile is used to identify targeted offers for the customer. The customer is then informed of the targeted offers verbally by the VRU. Optionally, the customer is presented with details of the offer verbally via the VRU. According to another aspect, the customer can select alternate media for delivery of the offer details (e.g., email, text message, etc.).

Abstract: Methods and systems to search with a mobile device are described. The system receives a request, over a network, from a mobile device. The request includes search information to search a database and location information to identify the location of the mobile device. Next, the system generates search results based on the search information. The search results include a plurality of items. Next, the system arranges items in the search results based on the location of the mobile device. Finally, the system communicates a user interface, over the network, to the mobile device. The user interface includes the search results. The search results include the items. The arrangement of the items in the search results is based on the location of the mobile device.

Abstract: This specification describes technologies relating to content presentation. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the actions of determining a location history for a user, where the location history includes a plurality of location data points for the user; analyzing the location history to derive a category for the user; associating the user with the category; and using the user's associated category to boost one or more candidate content items for delivery to the user.

Abstract: A system for improving shape-based targeting by using interest level data is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes creating one or more trade zones, wherein creating a trade zone includes grouping a set of parameters to deliver custom shapes, clustering the custom shapes according to offline data and geographic distribution of IP addresses, and mapping clusters of the custom shapes to IP addresses. Data indicating consumption of a content source is received by one or more trade zones at a calculated rate and the calculated rate is analyzed to determine an interest associated with each trade zone. Targeting is based on a selected trade zone, wherein the selected trade zone is selected based upon a desired interest representative of a desired audience. A targeting request is transmitted including instructions or information associated with a target action, and the target action is performed.

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to providing a status for one or more rewards using a format in a plurality of display formats. Portable device information associated with a portable device and acceptance point device information associated with an acceptance point device are determined. A status for one or more rewards is determined based on the portable device information and the acceptance point device information. A display format is then determined from a plurality of display formats based on the portable device information and acceptance point device information. A status is then displayed using the display format.