System and method for peer-to-peer advertising between mobile communication devices

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and system for peer-to-peer advertising between mobile communication devices. A subsidy program is set up based on a profile of an advertiser having at least one advertising media. A qualified subscriber is identified for the advertiser based on a profile of a subscriber. One or more advertisers and subsidy programs for the qualified subscriber is selected. In addition, when a communication transmission is received from a source communication device, at least one advertising media is associated with the communication transmission and the communication transmission is transmitted from a source communication device to a destination communication device.

1 . A targeted advertising system for providing access to advertising content from an advertiser to a source communication device, associated with a subscriber, and providing the access to the advertising content from the source communication device to a destination communication device, associated with a recipient, comprising:
 a server, programmed to act as an intermediary and to store and execute instructions that cause the targeted advertising system to perform operations comprising:
 receiving at the server, a first set of information that describes one or more attributes related to the one or more subscribers; 
 receiving at the server, a second set of information that describes one or more attributes for targeting the advertising content to the subscriber; 
 establishing an agreement between the subscriber and the advertiser to access the advertising content; 
 sending, from the server to the subscriber communication device, a third set of information, relating to the set of advertising content, selected on the basis of a match between the first set of information and the second set of information, the third set of information including a component for inclusion in a communication to the recipient communication device; and, 
 providing the advertising content to the recipient communication device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 2  wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving, at the server, an indication that the recipient communication device has interacted with the communication in a defined manner; and, 
 providing the advertising content to the recipient communication device in response to receiving the indication. 
 
     
     
         3 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 2  wherein the operations further comprise:
 incentivizing the subscriber to communicate the component to the recipient communication device. 
 
     
     
         4 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 4  wherein the incentivizing is conditioned on the recipient communication device interacting with the component in a defined manner. 
     
     
         5 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 4  wherein the incentivizing is a subsidy program related to the set of advertising content. 
     
     
         6 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 6  wherein the subsidy program is managed by the server. 
     
     
         7 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 6  wherein the subsidy program is managed by the advertiser. 
     
     
         8 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 2  wherein the first set of information includes a geographic location. 
     
     
         9 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 2  wherein the component includes a link to the server. 
     
     
         10 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 2  wherein the component includes a link to the advertiser. 
     
     
         11 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 2  wherein the communication includes a fourth set of information related to the advertising content and the component is a link to a fifth set of information related to the advertising content. 
     
     
         12 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 2  wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving, at the server, a selection, related to the advertising content, from the subscriber communication device; and, 
 in response to the selection, providing the third set of information to the subscriber communication device. 
 
     
     
         13 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 13  wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving, at the server, from the subscriber communication device, an identification of the recipient communication device that a subscriber has identified for sharing the third set of information; and, 
 in response to receipt of the third set of information, making the third set of information available to the recipient communication device. 
 
     
     
         14 . A targeted advertising system, comprising:
 one or more subscriber communication devices;   one or more recipient communication devices; and,   a server programmed to act as an intermediary between the one or more subscriber communication devices and one or more advertisers, and to store and execute instructions that cause the targeted advertising system to perform operations comprising:
 storing, at the server, a first set of information related to one or more subscribers, the first set of information including a first set of geographic attributes related to the one or more subscribers; 
 storing, at the server, a second set of information related to a target market of the one or more advertisers, the second set of information including a second set of geographic attributes; 
 finding, at the server, a set of matches between the first set of geographic attributes and the second set of geographic attributes; 
 causing the server to respond to the set of matches by providing a set of advertising content to a matched subscriber communication device of the one or more subscriber communication devices; 
 causing the server to respond to a receipt of a set of selections from the matched subscriber communication device of the one or more subscriber communication devices by providing to the subscriber communication device of the one or more subscriber communication devices a link adapted to be forwarded to the one or more recipient communication devices, and; 
 causing the server to respond to a receipt of a signal related to a click on the link by providing to the one or more recipient communication devices a third set of information related to the set of advertising content. 
   
     
     
         15 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 15  wherein the link is related to the set of advertising content. 
     
     
         16 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 15  wherein the link is related to a participation in the targeted advertising system. 
     
     
         17 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 15  wherein the operations further comprise:
 rewarding a subscriber of the one or more subscribers for forwarding the link to one or more recipients having a participation in the targeted advertising system. 
 
     
     
         18 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 18  wherein the participation includes purchasing one of the group of a product and a service. 
     
     
         19 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 15  wherein the operations further comprise:
 encouraging a subscriber of the one or more subscribers to transmit the link to the one or more recipient communication devices. 
 
     
     
         20 . The targeted advertising system of  claim 19  wherein the operation of encouraging further comprises:
 providing a subsidy opportunity conditioned on receiving an indication that a recipient communication device of the set of recipient communication devices has clicked on the link and initiated a purchase related to the set of advertising content.