System and methods for delivering targeted marketing offers to consumers via a distributed architecture system

Abstract

A system and methods for delivering targeted marketing offers to consumers during a session with an online (web-based) Internet portal, particularly suitable for online banking portals of financial institutions. An offer management system receives information corresponding to an advertising campaign of an advertiser corresponding to terms of a targeted marketing offer to be provided to a consumer accessing the online portal, and provides advertising campaign data corresponding to the targeted marketing offer and to an offer-triggering event to an offer placement system. An offer placement system receives the advertising campaign data, determines the occurrence of the offer-triggering event by a consumer during an online session with the online portal, and delivers information corresponding to the targeted marketing offer to the consumer. In response to the offer-triggering event, such as display of a list of transactions, the predetermined targeted marketing offer is delivered to the consumer during the online session.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A targeted marketing system operative to deliver a targeted marketing offer to a consumer of a financial institution via an online portal associated with a financial institution computer system, the online portal operative to provide a display of a consumer's financial transactions during a viewing session, comprising:
 an offer management system operative for receiving input from an advertiser defining an offer qualifying transaction corresponding to a targeted marketing offer to be provided to a consumer of the financial institution in response to the identification of at least one financial transaction by the consumer corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction, and for delivering campaign data corresponding to the targeted marketing offer and to the offer qualifying transaction as an output to an offer placement system;   an offer placement system coupled for secure communication with the financial institution computer system to receive and store the campaign data from the offer management system, the offer placement computer system:
 identifying the at least one financial transaction corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction from information received from the financial institution computer system representing financial transactions of the consumer displayed on an electronic display within the online portal; and 
 in response to identifying the at least one financial transaction corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction, retrieving the targeted marketing offer from a database operatively connected to the offer placement computer system, and providing the targeted marketing offer and predetermined placement information for placing the targeted marketing offer within the display of the financial transactions to the financial institution computer system; and 
   whereby, in response to receiving the targeted marketing offer, the financial institution computer system modifies the electronic display by inserting the targeted marketing offer into the display of the financial transactions within the online portal according to the predetermined placement information.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one financial transaction is reflected in transaction data maintained by the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the campaign data includes information corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction, and wherein the offer placement system is operative to compare the offer qualifying transaction information in the campaign data to transaction data of the financial institution corresponding to transactions conducted by the consumer to identify a particular offer qualifying transaction conducted by the consumer. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the offer placement system is operative to display the targeted marketing offer to the consumer in association with the display of information corresponding to the particular offer qualifying transaction provided by the online portal. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the delivery of the targeted marketing offer information to the consumer comprises the display of predetermined offer display information in association with the display of information corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the predetermined offer display information comprises one or more of the following data items: offer text information, offer image information, reward amount, reward type, date(s) of offer. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the predetermined offer display information is displayed adjacent to information of the offer qualifying transaction. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the predetermined offer display information is displayed immediately below the offer qualifying transaction on a list of the consumer's transactions. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the predetermined offer display information is displayed in a field in nearby proximity to the offer qualifying transaction on a list of the consumer's transactions. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one financial transaction is a group of transactions conducted by the consumer that collectively satisfy predetermined criteria defined by the advertiser for delivery of the targeted marketing offer to the consumer. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer placement system is physically co-located with the financial institution computer system associated with the financial institution and utilizes network security protections of the financial institution, and receives de-identified transaction data from a transaction system associated with the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer placement system is one of a plurality of offer placement systems coupled for secure communication with the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer placement system determines the predetermined placement information pursuant to the campaign data received from the offer management system. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-implemented method for delivering a targeted marketing offer to a consumer of a financial institution via an online portal associated with a financial institution computer system, the online portal operative to provide a display of a consumer's financial transactions during a viewing session, comprising the steps of:
 receiving, at an offer management computer system, input from an advertiser defining an offer qualifying transaction corresponding to a targeted marketing offer to be provided to a consumer of the financial institution in response to the identification of at least one financial transaction by the consumer corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction;   generating, at the offer management computer system, campaign data corresponding to the targeted marketing offer and to the offer qualifying transaction;   the offer management computer system providing the campaign data to an offer placement computer system operatively connected to the offer management computer system and coupled for secure communication with the financial institution computer system for use in connection with operations of the online portal of the financial institution;   identifying, by the offer placement computer system, the at least one financial transaction corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction from information received by the offer placement computer system from the financial institution computer system, the information from the financial institution computer system representing financial transactions of the consumer displayed on an electronic display with the online portal; and   in response to identifying the at least one financial transaction corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction, retrieving the targeted marketing offer from a database operatively connected to the offer placement computer system, and providing the targeted marketing offer and predetermined placement information for placing the targeted marketing offer within the display of the financial transactions to the financial institution computer system; and   whereby, in response to receiving the targeted marketing offer, the financial institution computer system modifies the electronic display by inserting the targeted marketing offer into the display of the financial transactions within the online portal according to the predetermined placement information.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one financial transaction is reflected in transaction data maintained by the financial institution. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the campaign data includes information corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction, and further comprising the step of comparing the offer qualifying transaction information in the campaign data to transaction data of the financial institution corresponding to transactions conducted by the consumer to identify a particular offer qualifying transaction conducted by the consumer. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising the step of displaying the targeted marketing offer to the consumer in association with the display of information corresponding to the particular offer qualifying transaction provided by the online portal. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the display of selected targeted marketing offer information comprises the display of predetermined offer display information in association with the display of information corresponding to the offer qualifying transaction. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the predetermined offer display information comprises one or more of the following data items: offer text information, offer image information, reward amount, reward type, date(s) of offer. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the predetermined offer display information is displayed adjacent to information of the offer qualifying transaction. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the predetermined offer display information is displayed immediately below the offer qualifying transaction on a list of the consumer's transactions. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the predetermined offer display information is displayed in a field in nearby proximity to the offer qualifying transaction on a list of the consumer's transactions. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one financial transaction is a group of transactions conducted by the consumer that collectively satisfy predetermined criteria defined by the advertiser for delivery of information corresponding to the targeted marketing offer to the consumer. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the offer placement system is physically co-located with the financial institution computer system associated with the financial institution and utilizes network security protections of the financial institution, and receives de-identified transaction data from a transaction system associated with the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the offer placement system is one of a plurality of offer placement systems coupled for secure communication with the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the offer placement system determines the predetermined placement information pursuant to the campaign data received from the offer management system.