WO2003009261A2

WO2003009261A2 - Advertising means and method

Info

Publication number: WO2003009261A2
Application number: PCT/IB2002/002824
Authority: WO
Inventors: Raymond Anthony Middleton
Original assignee: Brillantad Cc
Priority date: 2001-07-19
Filing date: 2002-07-19
Publication date: 2003-01-30
Also published as: EP1444677A2; WO2003009261A3

Abstract

This invention relates to advertising means comprising a business form (12) having defined thereon an advertising zone (16) for displaying advertising material and having arranged on the zone advertising material (18) relating to the business of a party other than the sender (20) or printer of the business form.

Description

ADVERTISING MEANS AND METHOD

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to advertising. More particularly, the invention relates to an advertising means and to a method of advertising.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

It is common practice for businesses and institutions to make use, in the course of their business, of a variety of business forms that are sent to their customers, clients or personnel. Such business forms include invoices for goods or services and monthly statements of account, payslips and the like. Generally the identity and trade marks of the business or institution sending such forms are displayed on the form and may be highlighted. In some cases, the business or institution concerned places messages or advertisements on the form, conveying information to their customers or clients. These messages are placed by the sender of the relevant form and generally relate to the business of the sender of the form.

In this specification the word "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. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide an advertising means and method of advertising which makes use of a form used in the normal course of business to provide a novel means and method of advertising.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided 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. Thus, the form may be a digital representation of a business form, or in the form of a computer generated image of a business form.

In the case of a paper-based 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.

Further, the advertising zone, or the advertising material displayed thereon, may be associated with newsletters or other forms of communication accompanying the business form.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided 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.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is now described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of an advertising means, in accordance with the invention; and

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.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In Figure 1 of the drawings, 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. It will be appreciated that 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.

As is common in the case of statements of account, 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.

In Figure 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. For each advertisement placed, 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. In the scheme as illustrated, 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.

By means of the invention there is provided 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.

In Figure 3 a second embodiment of a method of doing business using the advertising means according to the invention is illustrated schematically. For the purpose of illustrating the method in this embodiment it is intended that the following terms shall have the following meanings: "Publisher" includes the sender of a Business Form.

"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.

"Advertisement" 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.

It will be appreciated that in this second embodiment the definitions and steps of conducting this method may differ for different situations. Such different steps will be, as best possible, be indicated herein.

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. In terms of this contract 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. Once the space in the Advertising Zone 16 is sold 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.

Should the Publisher 60 not approve the Advertising Material 18, the Advertiser will be granted the opportunity to alter the Advertising Material 18 in order to be approved by the Publisher 60.

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.

Alternatively 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.

It will be appreciated that 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.

Claims

1. 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.

2. Advertising means as claimed in claim 1 in which the business form is an invoice for goods.

3. Advertising means as claimed in claim 1 in which the business form is an invoice for services.

4. Advertising means as claimed in claim 1 in which the business form is a monthly statement of account.

5. Advertising means as claimed in claim 1 in which the business form is a payslip.

6. Advertising means as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 5 in which the business form is a paper-based form.

7. Advertising means as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 5 in which the business form is a work in an electronic format.

8. Advertising means as claimed in claim 7 in which the business form is digitally represented.

9. Advertising means as claimed in claim 7 in which the business form is in the form of a computer generated image.

10. Advertising means as claimed in claim 6 in which the advertising zone of the paper-based business form is defined on the front of the business form.

11. Advertising means as claimed in claim 10 in which the advertising zone is defined on the front of the business form and is associateable with advertising material or information carried on the rear of the business form.

12. Advertising means as claimed in claim 10 in which the advertising zone, or advertising material displayed thereon, is associated with a newsletter accompanying the business form.

13. Advertising means as claimed in claim 10 in which the advertising zone, or advertising material displayed thereon, is associated with another form of communication accompanying the business form.

14. A method of advertising comprising 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.

15. A business method comprising the steps of receiving instructions from an advertiser for the placement of an advertisement on at least one business form and arranging for the placement of said advertisement on a business form of a party other than the sender or printer of the business form.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15 which includes canvassing potential advertisers to place advertisements on the business form.

17. A method as claimed in claim 15 or in claim 16 which includes concluding contracts for selling space on the business form of a sender of said business form.

18. Advertising means substantially as herein described and as illustrated with reference to Figure 1.

19. A method of advertising substantially as herein described and as illustrated with reference to Figures 2 to 3.

20. A method of doing business substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 2 to 3.