Broadcast Scheduling for Mobile Advertising

TLDR

Mobile advertising campaigns often feature limited‑time offers, but the firm struggled to schedule which ads to send to which customers at which times within limited broadcast slots to maximize response and revenue. The study presents a broadcast scheduling system for a precision marketing firm that delivers location‑sensitive, permission‑based SMS advertisements. The system uses integer programming implemented in Microsoft Excel to assign SMS ads to customers shopping in two London shopping centres. Implementation reduced scheduling time and increased both customer response rates and retailer revenues.

Abstract

We describe a broadcast scheduling system developed for a precision marketing firm specialized in location-sensitive permission-based mobile advertising using SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging. Text messages containing advertisements were sent to registered customers when they were shopping in one of two shopping centers in the vicinity of London. The ads typically contained a limited-time promotional offer. The company's problem was deciding which ads to send out to which customers at what particular time, given a limited capacity of broadcast time slots, while maximizing customer response and revenues from retailers paying for each ad broadcast. We solved the problem using integer programming with an interface in Microsoft Excel. The system significantly reduced the time required to schedule the broadcasts, and resulted both in increased customer response and revenues.