Systems and methods related to delivering targeted advertising to consumers

Abstract

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for delivering targeted advertising to users. A digital ad targeting system is adapted to operate with respect to expressly provided profiles of and relating to consumers. The expressly provided profiles may include psychographic information of and relating to consumers. The system may include an application, a database, and/or an interface. Related methods are disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of providing an affinity-based digital ad targeting solution, the method comprising:
 accessing a set of responses expressly provided by a consumer in response to questions;   comparing the set of responses to other sets of responses expressly provided by at least one advertiser in response to the questions, each of the other sets of responses associated with one or more advertisements;   selecting, based at least in part upon a result of the comparing, one of the advertisements; and   serving that advertisement to the consumer.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the questions is for psychographic profiling of the consumer. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the question relates to at least one thing selected from the group consisting of intentions, likes, dislikes, preferences, actions, and needs. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the consumer in return for compensation expressly provides the consumer responses. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the responses comprise a distribution of a constrained set of tokens over answers to a constrained set of questions. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein comparing the responses comprises applying a distance function that calculates a distance between the set of responses provided by the consumer and the other sets of responses which constitute profiles of consumers that the advertisers desire to target. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the distance function is of a type selected from the group consisting of linear, non-linear, symmetrical, non-symmetrical, continuous, and discrete. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising charging a fixed fee to an advertiser, the fixed fee relating to the distance. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising charging a variable fee to an advertiser, the variable fee relating to the distance. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the consumer receives affinity points for providing the set of responses with the points redeemable for a benefit to the consumer. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising providing a varying amount of affinity points to the consumer for providing at least one of the responses in the set of responses, the varying amount of points relating to the distance. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein at least one of the advertisements is comprised at least in part of two or more advertisement creative modules with the modules selected dynamically to minimize the distance. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, based at least in part upon a comparing of the responses, at least some of the advertising campaigns are ranked and an indication of the ranking is communicated. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the ranking is based at least in part upon the price each advertiser is willing to pay as a result of the serving of such advertiser's advertising campaign. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein at least one of the prices is a fixed price. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein at least one of the prices is dynamic and determined at auction. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the auction is at least in part comprised of:
 receiving a fixed price of a first advertisement;   receiving a maximum bid price of the first advertisement;   receiving a second price of a second advertisement;   when the second price exceeds the fixed price, conducting an auction in which a first bid is based upon the maximum bid price and a second bid is based upon the second price, the auction both determining a sale price and making a selection of one of the first advertisement and the second advertisement; and   storing the sale price and the selection.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein at least one of the fixed price, the maximum bid price, and the second price is associated with a fit band comprised of sets of possible distance functions.