System and method to promote the consumption of products within an establishment

Abstract

A system and method to promote the consumption of one or more sponsored products or brands of products within an establishment. The system provides and integrated system to track the consumption of sponsored products, control the various entertainment devices in the establishment, and to interact with customers. The system promotes the consumption of one or more sponsored products by rewarding the consumption of sponsored products with prizes, gifts, and opportunities to participate in games of chance.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Application No. 60 / 713,077 filed Sep. 1, 2005 and incorporates by reference the '077 application as if it were fully printed herein. This application also claims priority from U.S. Application No. 60 / 648,217 filed Jan. 28, 2005 and incorporates by reference the '217 application as if it were fully printed herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a system and method to promote the consumption of one or more sponsored products or brands of products within an establishment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method to promote the consumption of one or more sponsored products by rewarding the consumption with prizes, gifts, and opportunities to participate in games of chance. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] It is well known to promote the sale and consumption of products via printed or broadcast advertisements; for example, printed advertisements in newspapers, magazines and t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] In accordance with the invention, a system to promote the consumption of one or more sponsored products or brands of products within an establishment is provided which comprises at least one announcement device for communicating general information to customers within the establishment; a plurality of entertainment devices, for example, any electronic, electric, mechanical, or electromechanical device offered by an establishment to provide entertainment or environmental comfort to customers; at least one terminal for interacting with customers, the terminal comprising means for accepting input from a customer and means for presenting information to the customer; a billing module for controlling fees charged to the sponsor of the one or more products or brands of products; an advertisement module, in communicative contact with the billing module, for controlling the sequence, timing, and duration of advertisements displayed or announced on said announcement device; an accounting system, in communicative contact with the billing module, for documenting and tracking the p

Problems solved by technology

An inherent weakness of each of these methods of promotions is that, over a short period of time, the consumer may either forget to cut out the coupon from the newspaper or magazine, may misplace the coupon, or may simply forget to bring the coupon along to the next purchase opportunity.

This type of promotional game, while possibly increasing traffic in a particular establishment, does nothing to promote a particular product or brand of products because participation is not connected to the consumption of a product.

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