RU2724365C1 - System and method for automated production of digital advertising materials - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: advertising business.SUBSTANCE: disclosed group of inventions relates to production of digital advertising materials, specifically to automating marketing activities, particularly batch production of copies, versions and adaptations of digital, graphic and animated advertising materials. System for automated production of digital advertising materials is characterized by availability of cloud storage, user's computer, an assembly module, a network client module, a demonstration panel, a program connection module and an output of the created advertisement material. Group of inventions makes it possible to increase efficiency of production of advertising materials due to optimization of operation.EFFECT: optimization consists in excluding repeated cyclic procedures due to introduction of automation when creating universal adaptive templates of advertising materials for any advertising platforms of Internet and other digital media with different technical requirements and different software and hardware conditions.5 cl, 12 dwg

Description

The group of inventions relates to the field of production of digital advertising materials, namely, the automation of marketing activities, in particular the batch production of copies, options and adaptations of digital, graphic and animated advertising materials intended for placement on advertising platforms of the Internet and other digital media with different technical requirements and in various software and hardware conditions.

Currently, marketing tools for the promotion of goods and services require a wider variety of advertising materials: image files, animated html banners, videos, html markup for e-mail newsletters, etc., which can be conditionally divided into text, graphic, interactive, static, dynamic, etc. Well-known methods of developing advertising materials are single-tasking, and the creation of a second, third advertising material to promote the same product, service makes it necessary to start the work of specialists from scratch. At the same time, to create and use one advertising material, two or three specialists are required: a designer, whose tasks are to develop a layout and group layers and dynamic fields, a marketer who prepares a configuration table of options and, if necessary, an animator that converts the created layout into an HTML template . A change of designer, for some reason, leads to a lack of continuity in work, which complicates the work of a marketer. Obviously, all these circumstances require additional time and money from the advertiser. In addition, as a rule, advertisers tend to use different online platforms to reach a larger audience. The most popular in Russia are, at least: Yandex, Google, Mail, social networks, which impose different requirements on advertising material. In addition, some systems require independent work in their own internal editor in the browser. In this regard, the acute question is the correct conversion of advertising materials of various types in accordance with the requirements of various advertising systems, mailing systems, advertising systems, etc. The author noted that promotion of one product / service may require at least 25 of the most popular unique sizes and formats for different systems, and each created advertising material can be generated in different types of advertising and targeted to different audiences, i.e. in fact, at least 75 promotional materials can be created to promote one product or service.

Existing technical solutions in this area are characterized by a similar principle of operation (Fig. 1): preparation of data and templates, creation of advertising materials, their subsequent “packaging” and transmission to advertising platforms. But they contain a number of restrictions, non-optimized processes, complex looping procedures that require significant resources for the production of promotional materials.

Under the conditions of regular needs of advertisers in the simultaneous use of popular means of advertising materials, known methods of developing marketing material, where 1 advertising material represents 1 editable file, becomes burdensome and ineffective, leads to limited opportunities and, accordingly, reduces the possible indicators of achieved results.

In this regard, the urgent task is to optimize marketing activities.

The most significant solutions in this technical field belong to Yandex, BannerFlow, Google, Motion Tailor and Dynamic Media.

The author did not identify patents for the solutions of these companies, but they need to be cited for a better understanding of the existing problem. Let us consider in detail the possibilities of producing advertising materials of the named companies in conjunction with the illustrative schemes of Fig. 2-5:

1. The known approach of Smart banners (https://yandex.ru/support/direct/smart-banners/about.html) of Yandex.

Smart banners are a Yandex-Direct display ad format (Yandex advertising system) pay-per-click. Smart banners are shown only in networks (Yandex Advertising Network and external networks). To create a smart banner, you need to add a file with a list of products (feed) and configure the visual design. Yandex.Direct will analyze the content of the feed and automatically create a smart banner and separate ads for each product offer. Smart banners can occupy the entire ad unit or only part of it. The method of production of advertising materials from Yandex is illustrated in Fig. 2. The disadvantages of this method in comparison with the claimed system and method are:

- work only within the framework of acceptable templates that cannot satisfy the conceptual needs of large advertisers;

- the banner is collected automatically, but does not have the necessary variations in size and possible text fields, for this you need to create a new banner;

- Work only for placement on the Yandex network;

- there is no possibility of export for other systems;

2. Bannerflow.com - The Swedish platform for managing advertising materials. https://www.bannerflow.com/

Feeds (data sources) allow you to create banners that extract live and automated content from sources such as a product catalog. Using technologies such as web feeds, relevant information can be displayed in online banners. Creating banners from feeds in Bannerflow is carried out in 2 stages:

- Add content feed source;

- add channel source to banners

The 10-step operation algorithm is presented in the diagram of Fig. 3

In the setup wizard, the channel source is first determined. This should be an XML or JSON based feed (recommended). The channel source in the provided location is entered. The Creative Management platform allows you to create, scale, publish, analyze, personalize and optimize your own advertising campaigns.

The disadvantages include:

- Work only in the built-in editor with restrictions on animation and features;

- the inability to download promotional materials for use in external environments;

- placement only through the company's own advertising server in a limited list of advertising systems;

- the work implies the presence of the competence of a designer / animator who manually creates advertising materials using the capabilities of the system, there is no any auto assembly.

3. Dynamic Google Ads https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2471185?hl=en from Google.

Thanks to dynamic remarketing, a feed is created for all materials or services of the user company, as well as attributes such as unique identifiers, images and prices. Using data from your channel to create responsive ads, dynamic remarketing shows the most relevant information in these ads to people who have previously visited the site. There are different types of channels for different types of business. For example, an airline may create a flight feed. People who visited the airline’s website can then see an advertisement with information about the flights they searched for, viewed or started to book. When a channel is created, a database of materials or services that can be used in responsive ads is created.

Feeds can be created as .csv, .tsv, .xls or xlsx files and then uploaded to Google ads. Rows are goods or services. Columns are the attributes of each item that is listed (for example, unique identifiers, prices, and descriptions), and must match the letters and spaces of their specification. It’s important to include identifiers in the channel, as they are used by the remarketing tag to connect people in the company’s lists with the materials they viewed.

The algorithm for working in Dynamic Google Ads is shown in detail in Figure 4. The disadvantages of this method in comparison with the claimed system and method are the following restrictions:

- The environment is one of Google’s materials and allows you to create materials only for Google’s advertising systems;

- The editor is available only as an external application Google Web Designer, which is a niche tool and only a few specialists - designers are able to work with it;

- only standardized configuration is offered inside the system; there is no way to comply with the detailed technical requirements of companies;

- export to an advertising system requires knowledge of the specifics of advertising systems;

- there is no way to create a universal adaptive template;

- no auto assembly.

4. Motion Tailor and Dynamic Media have a similar algorithm for creating advertising materials, shown in the diagram Fig. 5.

DynamicMedia (https://dynamicmedia.agency/ru/) - an automated platform for creating dynamic movies of cinematic quality, with a personalized appeal to each user or segment

MotionTailor (https://www.motiontailor.com/) is a marketing tool that allows you to create, A / B test and personalize video ads based on customer data.

The claimed system and method for the production of promotional materials solves such problems of this analogue as:

- templated ones do not always fit the client’s tasks and it is required to develop new ones on external environments, such as Adobe AfterEffects;

- the system implies independent use;

- the system requires certain knowledge, therefore the tool is more for designers / animators than marketers, which confirms the presence of managers from the system who do the work for advertisers;

- all processes are performed manually.

The prior art is also characterized by clarified patent sources.

CN 108021629 C1 (priority 2017-11-22, IPC G06F17 / 30) describes a method, apparatus and system for generating data of advertising materials. According to the invention, it allows to simplify the creation of contextual advertising by reading the settings embedded in the tables. This eliminates the need to use hard-coded methods of creating promotional materials, which avoids repetitive actions by staff and improves work efficiency. The method includes:

- obtaining a configuration file configured by the user in accordance with the requirements, where the configuration file includes a data label element;

- obtaining a pre-configured table of lexical settings, where the table of lexical settings includes a lexical name and a data resource corresponding to the lexical name, and the data tag element has a mapping relationship with the lexical name;

- analysis of the configuration file through the lexical settings table in accordance with the display relation and obtaining a data resource corresponding to the data tag element in the configuration file as the target data resource from the lexical settings table;

- Obtaining target basic data of the material.

The specified method is implemented thanks to a system including a generating device, a first database and a second database. The generating device is connected to exchange data with the first and second databases. The first database is used to store the basic data of the material and tables of lexical settings. The second database is configured to receive and store creative data generated by the generating device. The generating device includes four modules.

The known solution, although aimed at automating the advertising campaign, is limited by the contextual advertising settings, while the purpose of the present invention is to simplify the user’s work on creating advertising material without the secondary involvement of a designer, animator with the ability to quickly convert the primary layout to different types, types and formats.

Another well-known solution is JP2010097494A (priority 2008-10-17, IPC G06Q 30/02; G06Q 30/06) advertising system, method and program. The system is able to select a template identifier from a variety of templates, the advertisement creation module reads the settings data and the template associated with the identifier, an advertisement is created from the template storage module based on the above template. The system is equipped with a media plan for creating templates and stores all created options. The process of sending advertising materials to advertising sites is performed using API processing. The system analyzes the performance of ads placed on the ad network and has an auto-replace module for ads. To do this, use the reporting API. The received report is saved in the results storage tool. Editing of advertising materials is provided if necessary by replacing the advertising material with other material loaded into the advertising management system. The system provides for the planning of advertising impressions through accounting for the advertiser's budget by the number of impressions or by day. The method and program detail the order and stages of operation of the specified system.

The specified technical solution is the closest analogue for the claimed system. The invention is aimed at optimization to increase the effectiveness of advertising. With all the advantages of the well-known solution, it has the following disadvantages: creating templates that are completely entrusted to the system, based only on the media plan and identifiers, does not allow the machine to develop universal templates of different configurations, there is no batch production of copies, options and adaptations of digital, graphic and animated advertising materials. The system is not networked and misses its functionality such important optimization tools as cloud storage, synchronization and approval of final versions online before sending them to the site. Copies of advertising materials are created by the software piece by piece, without the simultaneous creation of variations in size and technical characteristics.

The well-known technical solution, although it has the ability to compare settings with specific templates for piece-by-piece production of advertising materials, is more focused on the subsequent analysis of the productivity of placing the specified advertising material on the network and does not solve the problem of optimizing the user’s work without the secondary involvement of a designer, animator to create copies of advertising material with the ability quick conversion of the primary layout for different types, types and formats.

The technical result of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of production of promotional materials through the optimization of work. Optimization consists in eliminating repeated cyclic procedures due to the introduction of automation when creating universal adaptive templates for advertising materials for any advertising sites on the Internet and other digital media with different technical requirements and various software and technical conditions.

The proposed solution is aimed at the automated creation of copies and options for advertising materials of the primary layout with various text, graphic and script content, sizes and shapes by using configuration files, network folders and MS Excеl files or the like. Compared with existing analogues, this system allows you to cover the entire popular list of types of advertising materials, sizes, formats and combine on a single platform the entire cycle from planning and designing advertising campaigns and materials, to their final production, packaging and delivery through special program instructions to the side placement sites.

A brief description of the drawings.

Fig. 1 - Represents a diagram illustrating the traditional algorithm of actions in the production of advertising materials (all actions are performed manually and repeated);

Fig.2 - a diagram of the production process of advertising materials on the example of the Yandex system;

Fig. 3 - a diagram of the production process of advertising materials on the example of the Bannerflow system;

Fig. 4 - diagram of the production process of advertising materials on the example of the Google system;

Fig. 5 - diagram of the production process of advertising materials on the example of the Motion Tailor system;

Fig. 6 is a diagram of the claimed system illustrating incoming modules and their relationships in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 7 - demonstration of the project display in the cloud storage, access through the user's computer;

Fig. 8 is a demonstration of displaying a template folder based on individually modified HTML on a user's computer;

Fig. 9 - demonstration of displaying the folders of a template based on Adobe Animate on a user's computer;

Fig. 10 - demonstration of displaying a media plan on a user's computer;

Fig. 11 is an example of displaying a demo panel with the assembly results on a user's computer;

Fig. 12 - shows the final result of the work received on the user's computer screen.

Further, with reference to the presented illustrative materials 6-12, the claimed group of inventions is described in detail.

Referring to Fig. 6, the advertising materials production system is a close interaction of the modules and blocks embedded in it, namely:

Data 1, which is what should be in the templates (logos, text, images, videos) and basic templates are sent to the assembly module 2 directly, or through the network client module 3 and cloud storage 4.

Assembly module 2 is the core of a software-based system — thanks to the prescribed commands and programmed process algorithms — it reads data about a template, reads data from Excel files, compares data with each other and performs auto-assembly for all sizes, technical requirements and advertising platforms specified in the settings . Assembly module 2 provides multi-threaded assembly of options for advertising materials: from tens to thousands for a predicted time, universalization of development: from small to large formats, configuration of basic settings from one place for all formats through Excel tables and auto-assembly of reusable templates with the possibility of customization (individual refinement ) on demand, which directly affects the achievement of a technical result.

Network Client Module 3 is a software-based network architecture in which tasks or network load are distributed between service providers, called servers, and service customers, called clients, that accepts source data and basic template files to transfer them to cloud storage 4. Module 3 is responsible for synchronizing files and data between the computer of the marketer (user) 5 with cloud storage 4 and assembly module 2, participates in the generation of a demo panel 6 with filters and public access by reference, thereby speeding up the work and optimizing the process.

Cloud storage 4 is responsible for data storage and interacts with the network client module 3 and the software connection module 7. Storing data on an intangible medium allows you to work in the file operating system at any time, anywhere, and also connect interested participants to the project for collaboration.

User computer 5 is a local storage and command center, allowing you to work with data and templates, give commands to build module 2 by loading new data (Excel files) 1 or changing existing ones into it, thereby configuring basic settings from one place to all formats through Excel spreadsheets, the consequence is a significant contribution to the overall system optimization.

Demonstration panel 6 displays all successfully created copies of advertising materials in the form of a web page with a permanent address and functionality for sorting options and public demonstrations, it can be viewed by reference and all project participants can give feedback, wherever they are. Thus, the demonstration panel 6 when interacting with other modules of the system reduces the time spent on the production of promotional materials.

The software connection module 7 is responsible for configuring and managing the connection, and optimizing the process of automatically loading advertising materials into external advertising systems. The module interacts with cloud storage 4.

The output unit of the corresponding state of the advertising material 8 is responsible for packaging a group of advertising materials in a specialized managed set (WRAPPER) or creating options for advertising materials by filling in the relevant data with a pre-prepared template in real time when interacting with the external data receiving unit 9. This packaging principle makes the system ready to unload archives / packages with copies of advertising materials for each advertising platform with its technical requirements.

The external data receiving unit 9 collects data about requests and searches of customers and sends this information to the system with the aim of rebuilding personalized advertising.

Based on the data in Fig. 8, it follows that each project in the system is represented by a folder in the operating system that is synchronized with the build server. Each project folder contains a regulated set of system folders and folder templates for promotional materials. When filling folders with files and making changes to configuration tables, the system synchronizes content with the server and initiates assembly. Results and errors are displayed in special log files.

Based on the data in Fig. 9, it follows that for a project with templates implemented on individually modified HTML in folders, master templates, there is an HTML layout and related files (JS & CSS) that are saturated with the data stream from _FEEDS_ and then generated or in the HTML version or into a static image file JPG & PNG.

Based on the data in Fig. 10, it follows that for projects using templates implemented in Adobe Animate in the template folders, the source is in the FLA format and the result of export from the system is in the form of an HTML file and accompanying graphic files.

Based on the data in Fig. 11, it follows that the main configuration tool is Excel files and the form of a media plan, in which a list of formats, platforms, and other variables associated with the preparation of advertising material is attributed. After filling in all the cells and saving, the media plan file is ready for work and synchronization with the server. If errors occur, it generates a log file with a description of the recommendations.

Based on the data in Fig. 12, it follows that after successful assembly, a set of advertising materials is formed in the project folder in the subfolder of the finished materials, packaged in the archive for the corresponding TT sites and stubs in GIF format. The URL is also a demo panel in a web browser, which displays all received promotional materials for viewing. The demo panel has a filtering function that allows you to show at the same time, for example, all created advertising materials of size 240 × 400, it is possible to view the selected advertising material in a separate window.

A detailed description of the method of production of advertising materials on the specified system, referring to Fig. 7:

The system works in a mode of sequentially-parallel cumulative tasks, therefore, waiting for the results of the first stages does not interfere with the work in subsequent stages.

1. The user fills out or changes the table of the media plan for assembly under the technical requirements. In the table of options, the variables defined in the templates of advertising materials are indicated in columns, and their values in rows. For graphic objects, a link to the name of the image file is indicated, for a video object, a link to the video fragment. After saving, the system synchronizes with the server and the assembly of the advertising material options is initiated, for each platform and size indicated in the media plan. For banners, Gif stubs for each instance can be automatically generated. Filling or changing the options table is carried out as follows: The user through the user's computer 5 through the cloud storage 4 with the data available in it 1 creates a network folder system, fills in the media plan table, determining which advertising platforms are needed with which technical requirements, which template sizes are preferred, describes possible options, thereby forming a technical task.

2. Preparation of graphic sources and variants of variable objects.

3. Create or modify a universal adaptive animated template. The developer of graphic materials and animations, which can be either a user or another participant in the project through the network client module 3, connects to the cloud storage 4 and, according to the prepared media plan, understands the task for which he prepares graphic materials or animations of the project. He adds the result of his work to the cloud storage 4.

4. Synchronization of the received data in the cloud storage with the Network Client module.

5. Initialization of server-side verification of the correctness of all materials and configuration files and, if successful, launch of the assembly processes, and if errors occur or problems are identified, generate a report in the specialized ErrorLog.txt file, which describes the reasons for the unsuccessful launch and recommendations for elimination. The file is located at the root of the project network folder.

The starting materials for auto assembly are:

- templates for promotional materials in HTML formats and a set of related program and graphic files, each of which is placed in the appropriate folders in size, with a specific size in the folder name, in the project’s shared folder.

- an Excel file with the reserved system name Mediaplan.xlsx, with the semantic name "media plan (mediaplan)", which describes links to templates and instructions for which external systems and platforms advertising materials will be collected, as well as from which data source to use text options, graphic, structural and other information for obtaining copies of advertising materials for each dimensional template.

- An Excel file with an arbitrary name, with the semantic name “feed”, located in the _FEEDS_ system folder, designed to store text information options for filling out templates and links to images and video files to receive copies of advertising materials for each dimensional template.

- Graphic or video files located in the _FEEDS_ folder and used to reproduce instances according to the signs from the feed files.

1. Auto-assembly of advertising materials in the cloud storage. Assembly module 2, thanks to its functionality, reads in the cloud storage 4 the availability of ready-made tables with settings and technical requirements, reads the presence in the cloud storage of ready-made graphic or animated materials, and if all the elements are in place, it starts the process of automatic assembly of copies of advertising materials by comparing all the embedded data among themselves and taking into account the settings. The result of Auto-assembly is a lot of variable copies of advertising materials with different sizes, different formats, which are usually created by the Developer of graphic materials and animations manually. If the assembly module considers a change in the source data (making adjustments or new requirements by the user), the system will automatically collect new results from the new data.

2. Saving to the results folder. After Auto-assembly, assembly module 2 automatically saves all created materials to cloud storage 4. All new assemblies are also automatically saved to cloud storage 4. After a successful download, reproduced instances appear in the _READY_ system folder in archive or text file formats containing program code under the conditional name "TEG", for remote launch in advertising systems, in the case of using the storage mode and publication of advertising material remotely, from the servers of this system. In addition, in the inside, in the _BACKUPS_ folder, graphic files appear, which are simplified copies of all produced formats.

3. Remote approval of results. Along with filling out the listed network folders, an anchor link is formed to a specialized web page unique to each project, to which all reproduced copies are sequentially displayed with the possibility of filtering and group or individual viewing.

The _READY_ network local folder may be shared or a public access link to the server copy to provide easy access to instances. Saved auto-assembly results located in cloud storage 4 are made available to the user directly and to all interested project participants through the network client module 3 and the demo panel 6 by reference. If the result is agreed upon - the next step occurs, if corrections are required, then steps 2,4,5,6,7,8 are repeated, where 2 or 4 are changes, and 5-7 are automatic assembly of materials with changes.

4. Packing and transfer of finished advertising materials to advertising sites. Sources for configuring and storing data can also represent an external data stream in standardized data exchange formats XML, JSON, CSV, etc. or through a seamless data exchange cycle through API software connections with external systems through a receiver located in the assembly module 2. Through the software connection module 7, the connection is configured and managed, and the process of automatically loading advertising materials into external advertising systems is optimized, the corresponding output unit is also activated status of advertising material 8, which is responsible for packaging a group of advertising materials, thanks to it any banner can be packed not in an archive, but in a “tag” - an alternative packaging option in the form of program code that forms a permanent communication channel with cloud storage 4 and is compatible with sites placement and external advertising systems. This ensures that all graphics materials are stored in a cloud storage and interconnected to provide variability. When there is only an archive - this may not be enough. Due to the possibility of packaging in the “tag”, response time is provided in real time when the Internet is available; packaging in the “tag” is used in the absence of data is read from archives. The output unit of the corresponding state of the advertising material 8 interacts with the external data receiving unit 9.

The result of using the present invention are the following advantages:

- a flexible method of standardization (digital blanks) leading to savings in production time up to 5 times;

- reduction of technical errors in production to almost 0;

- increased efficiency in the production of promotional materials at least 2 times;

- The cyclic and multithreaded principle of automated reproduction and copying allows you to simultaneously serve a group of tasks without loss of productivity;

- shared access to network folders and functional tools allows you to safely work an unlimited number of users;

- the invention allows to reduce the participation of specialists (designers, animators) in the creation of promotional materials.

Claims (11)

1. A system for the automated production of digital advertising materials, characterized by the presence of a cloud storage responsible for working in a file operating system for data storage, and a user's computer, characterized in that it contains - an assembly module with built-in software that recognizes data about the template, the specified parameters from Excel files, compares them with each other and performs auto-assembly for the given parameters, - a network client module, which is a software-based network architecture, receiving source data and basic template files for transferring it to the cloud storage, providing data synchronization between the user's computer with cloud storage and the assembly module and generating a demo panel, - a demo panel in the form of a web page with the ability to sort options, - a software connection module that provides configuration and management of the connection of downloading advertising materials to external advertising systems, - the output unit of the created advertising material provides the system with ready-made copies of advertising materials for unloading at each advertising site, taking into account its technical requirements, in this case, the assembly module is interconnected with cloud storage, which in turn is interconnected with the network client module and connected with the software connection module. 2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the assembly module is configured to customize. 3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the demonstration panel has a permanent address. 4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the advertising materials prepared for unloading through the output unit of the created advertising material are a managed set or prepared templates with the possibility of filling in real time. 5. A method for the automated production of digital advertising materials using the specified system, including the preparatory stage of developing the initial digital layout and creating technical specifications with the specified parameters of the advertising material, characterized in that they fill out or modify the media plan table for assembly under the technical specifications, and the table options for the assembly with the provided content, synchronize the data received in the cloud storage with the network client module, and launch the assembly module of advertising materials for automatic generation of batch copies in the cloud storage, save the results with the possibility of coordination via remote access to the demo panel, carry out packaging and transfer of finished advertising materials on advertising platforms.

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