WO2001043032A1

WO2001043032A1 - Chip card advertising

Info

Publication number: WO2001043032A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/033461
Authority: WO
Inventors: David H. Freeman; Gary A. Freeman
Original assignee: Viztec, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-12-09
Filing date: 2000-12-11
Publication date: 2001-06-14
Also published as: AU1957701A

Abstract

A method of advertising that include downloading (23) advertising to a chip card (100) carried by a card user, storing the advertising on the chip card (100), and presenting (102) the advertising stored on the chip card (100).

Description

Chip Card Advertising

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to advertising using chip cards.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Co-pending United States Patent Application Serial Number 09/061,879, filed April 17, 1998, entitled "CHIP CARD SYSTEM", describes delivery of "advertisement information" to chip cards. "Advertisement information" includes two distinct elements: (1) advertising, and (2) sales promotions. Advertising is widely recognized as a communication, usually by an identified sponsor, of a persuasive message about products, ideas, and/or services to an audience. Advertisers commonly seek to enhance components of their "brand", which include awareness, image, positioning, preference, and loyalty. Advertisers generally try to increase sales of the advertised product or service (or improve the acceptance of an idea or concept conveyed by the advertising) by persuading the audience to choose their brand.

Many successful advertising campaigns employ a memorable slogan or catch phrase that is utilized as the advertising's persuasive element. The slogan or catch phrase is often used over long periods of time to enhance the various components of the advertiser's "brand". In some cases the slogan or catch phrase is used over decades, an example of which is DeBeer' s™ "Diamonds are Forever"™ slogan. This slogan successfully associates diamonds with enduring romance in a consumer's mind. Nike's™ "Just Do It"™, Avis'™ "We Try Harder"™, and

Wheaties'™ "Breakfast of Champions"™ are other well-known examples of persuasive advertising slogans that have formed the basis for highly successful advertising campaigns. Many successful advertising campaigns also use memorable images or icons to help make their advertisements persuasive and compelling. Examples of persuasive images or icons include the familiar Nike™ "swoosh"™ mark, the Eveready™ Energizer Bunny™, and Kellogg ' s™ Tony the Tiger™.

Persuasive appeal to the audience's emotions and feelings is an element frequently found in advertising. Examples of these emotions and feelings can include, among many others, one's sense of romance, fun, adventure, style, accomplishment, desire, humor, confidence, nostalgia, curiosity, and determination. Miller Lite's™ "Taste's great, less filling"™ series of advertisements appealed to one' s sense of humor and successfully persuaded consumers to purchase more Miller Lite™ beer. Another famous example is the U.S. Army's™ long running "Be all that you can be"™ advertising campaign, which appealed to one's sense of determination and adventure to persuade more individuals to join the Army. Advertisers often use a variety of media to deliver advertising messages to an audience. Many successful advertising campaigns have reached consumers through different mass media such as radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and outdoor (e.g. billboards). However, these media have limited capabilities when it comes to delivering advertising to individuals on a one- to-one basis. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of advertising media, including the Internet. Additionally, there are now many advertising vehicles within each type of advertising medium. For example, the advertising medium of television now includes the different vehicles of broadcast, cable, and satellite television, among others. The new forms of advertising media have fragmented the audience and forced advertisers to use more types of media to reach their audience, often at an increased cost to the advertiser. The other component of "advertisement information" is sales promotions Sales promotions are typically short- term incentives designed to prompt immediate action on the part of the consumer to purchase a service or product. Examples of sales promotions include rebates, samples, contests, and discount coupons. Sales promotions generally entail a person receiving something that has some monetary value such as a coupon or free product sample. Sales promotions can also involve a person merely hoping to receive something of economic value, such as contest winnings.

Advertising and sales promotions are frequently used together as part of a complete marketing program for a product or service because of the distinct advantages offered by each. For example, the makers of Wonder Bread™ might utilize a coupon sales promotion in an attempt to quickly attract customers who typically purchase other breads. At the same time, the makers of Wonder Bread™ might use an advertising campaign that seeks to build their "brand" by repeatedly using a persuasive slogan such as "Wonder helps build bodies 12 ways"™, which may help create brand loyalty by appealing to the consumer' s desire to become strong and healthy by eating Wonder Bread™. The co-pending "Chip Card System" described a system for using chip cards for advertising. Chip cards (sometimes referred to as "smart cards") are typically wallet-size and contain one or more chips with microprocessing and/or memory capabilities. This allows for the storage and/or processing of data on the card itself.

To date, chip cards have been not been widely adopted in the United States, largely because: (1) chip cards cost significantly more to manufacture than magnetic stripe cards; (2) there is a lack of chip card reading/writing equipment infrastructure to support the use of chip cards across a variety of media; and (3) there has been no clear advantage to card issuers, consumers, or merchants prompting a switch over to chip cards. While chip cards have achieved some success in closed systems (i.e., a contained environment where there is usually a single card issuer who also acts as the sole service provider) , several open-system stored value (electronic cash or "e-cash") programs have failed largely because of the reasons listed above. In short, card issuers and merchants have not been presented with a clear cost justification for issuing chip cards and installing chip card equipment, respectively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general, in one aspect, the invention features a method of advertising that includes downloading advertising to a chip card carried by a card user, storing the advertising on the chip, and presenting the advertising stored on the chip card to the card user. Embodiments may include one or more of the following features. Presenting may be done by the chip card (e.g., playing a sound or displaying an image or video sequence) or by a presentation device that processes signals received from the chip card, such as a personal computer monitor, a portable chip card reader, a handheld device, a home or business telephone, a pay telephone, a vending machine, a cellular phone, a pager, a mass transportation payment station, a television, or an automatic teller machine (ATM) .

The advertising may include slogans, icons, jingles, voice-overs, etc. The advertising may include information directing the chip card to present the advertising at a particular interval or some maximum number of times. Advantages

Embodiments of the invention may offer one or more of the following advantages. Using chip cards to store and present advertising provides advertisers with a powerful new medium for enhancing the various components of the advertiser's "brand". The advertising can alter long-term consumer purchasing behavior and patterns. The portability of the chip cards and the ability to alter their memory provides advertisers with a changeable advertising medium that can include narrowly targeted advertising a card owner views many times in the course of a day.

Just as advertising makes other media such as television, radio, and magazines more affordable to consumers, storing advertising on chip cards can generate advertising revenue for both the card issuers and those handling the transactions (such as bricks and mortar merchants, Internet merchants, ATM operators, pay telephone companies, and vending machine operators) . This additional revenue could help speed the deployment of chip cards and chip card equipment by justifying their costs to card issuers and anyone handling chip card transactions. Thus, the present invention of transmitting advertising to chip cards can increase the penetration of chip card equipment into a variety of locations and devices. These devices include ATM's, credit and debit card processing equipment at the point of sale, vending machines, home and business telephones, pay telephones, cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), pagers, personal computers, mass transit payment stations, televisions, and other devices .

Once chip card equipment becomes more prevalent, the stored-value functionality on a chip card could become a very effective and widely used payment mechanism as consumers would know that their "stored value" on the chip card is as good as cash anywhere they go. A government could issue stored-value cards with advertising, as an alternative to paper currency and coins. The government could benefit substantially by receiving advertising revenue from the chip cards as well as by decreasing the costs associated with the handling, issuing, and printing of currency (or minting coins) .

The current invention provides a new, more permanent advertising medium which stays with the advertising audience for longer periods of time, thus providing greater exposure to the advertising message. Unlike Internet ads which people can make disappear with the click of a mouse button; ads printed on ATM, cash register, or other receipts which typically are thrown away or filed in due course; and video ads at various transaction location such as cash registers and ATM's, which are only in view for a short time and disappear once the consumer leaves the transaction location; advertising downloaded by a chip card can be repeatedly presented to a chip card owner and follow the owner where he or she goes. The chip card system of the current invention also provides a new advertising medium that allows personalized advertising to be transmitted to people at multiple locations. Additionally, the system provides a new advertising medium which allows highly targeted, one-to- one communication with the advertising audience.

The chip card system also provides a new mass medium for advertising to a large and extremely diverse audience. That is, advertising may be transmitted to almost anyone who uses a suitably programmed credit card, debit card, ATM card, phone card, or any other transaction or data card.

The chip card system can provide a new advertising medium which allows advertisers to track advertising effectiveness all the way to the point of purchase of the advertised product. This can reduce wasted advertising expenditures as advertisers identify consumers who respond to the advertising.

The chip card system can provide a new advertising medium which creates a common platform for receiving advertising. Thus, the present invention provides a way to consolidate the fragmentation of advertising media, because advertisers using the present invention can reach a card user in multiple locations, even as the card user moves from one chip card reading/writing device (such as a pay telephone) to another type of chip card reading/writing device (such as a personal computer) .

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments and from the claims.

Brief Description of the Drawings FIGs. 1A-1D are diagrams of chip cards presenting advertising.

FIGS. 2A-2F are diagrams illustrating advertising that has been transmitted to a chip card.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a chip card presenting advertising and a sales promotion.

FIGs. 4-12 are diagrams illustrating advertising presented on various chip card reading devices. FIG. 13 is a diagram of information stored in chip card memory.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a chip card, a chip card reader, and connected equipment.

FIG. 15A-15D are flowcharts of advertising transmission to chip cards.

FIG. 16A and 16B are diagrams of embodiments of a system for transmitting advertising to chip cards. Description of the Preferred Embodiments Compelling and persuasive advertising slogans and images can be part of advertising transmitted to a chip card for presentation to a card user. For example, chip cards with a display and/or speaker, such as the flexible chip card described in pending U.S. Application 09/040,517 entitled "Chip Card", can be programmed to present advertising that is similar to magazine ads, Internet banner ads, highway billboards, or radio and television commercials. That is, the chip cards can present high-impact slogans and catch phrases, images, icons, sounds, and/or video sequences designed to positively impact a consumer's opinions about the advertiser's "brand", and ultimately, the consumer's purchasing behavior with respect to that "brand".

Advertising presented by the chip card can borrow extensively from advertising techniques used by other media. For example, an effective highway billboard typically has few words and includes a strong visual element to attract the attention of passing motorists. Similar to a billboard, a static image on a chip card can quickly convey a persuasive message about a product or service at a glance and can serve as a very effective form of advertising, particularly if the traditional guidelines for successful highway billboards are followed (e.g., short "headline" copy combined with a simple, but memorable visual) . FIG. 1A shows a chip card 10 presenting persuasive "headline" copy and a strong visual element (e.g., a distinctive logo). Techniques such as scrolling and panning can "virtually" enrich the information presented by the card display. The advertising can be seen by the card user each time a transaction is consummated, for example, when the cardholder uses the card for a purchase, ATM transaction, phone call, or other chip card transaction, or any time the card user opens her wallet for any purpose.

While chip cards may borrow heavily from advertising techniques of other media, advertising on chip cards can offer advantages over other media. For example, highway billboards are typically visible to passing motorists for a few seconds. Chip card advertising, however, may be presented each time the consumer handles a card. Additionally, while a highway billboard is generally not considered to be a highly targeted advertising method since the message is seen by nearly all passersby, advertising transmitted to a chip card can be selected to narrowly target cardholders having particular characteristics.

Different devices may access information stored on the chip card to bring a potential consumer "in the door." For example, Figure IB illustrates advertising that has been transmitted to a chip card 10 and is being presented to the card user on the chip card display. The card user can respond by calling the toll free number, going to the Internet URL shown on the display, or inserting the chip card into a chip card reader to automate the process. For example, the chip card could be inserted into a pay telephone which would automatically dial the toll free number shown on the display. Similarly, the chip card could be placed into a chip card reading device with the capability of Internet access and be automatically taken to a particular web site (e.g., www .book-superstores . com) . As shown in FIGs. 1A and IB, different chip cards may have different sized displays and arrangement of card elements. FIG. 1C shows a credit chip card that conforms to current ISO standards that require the embossed cardholder name and card number to be located in a specific area on the credit card. As shown, the card display presents an advertising slogan, logo, and Internet address.

As chip cards become more popular, they may ultimately replace cash to some degree. FIG. ID shows a stored value card embodiment that could be issued by the Federal Reserve in lieu of currency and coins. The advertising on the card consists of a slogan, a graphical image, and an Internet address.

In addition to static images, a chip card can present sophisticated multimedia presentations. For example, FIGs. 2A-2F show selected images and corresponding sounds from an advertising commercial that has been transmitted to a chip card 10. As shown, the advertising can feature video, text, and/or audio that enhance the appeal of a product or brand to a consumer. The advertising may describe a product or service, illustrate a use or benefit, or use other persuasive techniques such as product comparisons, demonstrations, vignettes, and testimonials. The advertising can feature zoom-ins, split-screens, morphs, "wipes", and other techniques familiar to video editors.

Advertisers may find it beneficial to have a sales promotion transmitted to a chip card along with advertising. FIG. 3 shows a chip card 10 presenting advertising consisting of a slogan and company logo, along with a sales promotion consisting of an offer of a free product. The advertising and sales promotion could have been downloaded while the cardholder visited the bookstore's Internet web site making an online purchase. As part of the purchase transaction, the advertising was downloaded to the chip card, along with a sales promotion offering a free cappuccino if the cardholder visits the merchant's local bricks and mortar store. This can promote cross-shopping between a merchant' s Internet shopping web site and the same merchant's bricks and mortar stores, and therefore enhance brand loyalty to the merchant . FIGs. 2A-2F and FIG 3 show advertising on a chip card having a display. However, a chip card does not require a display t D present advertising to the cardholder. Instead, a speaker located on the chip card can play advertising ir the forms of words and/or sounds similar to radio commercials. For example, the card may play recordings of announcer, a jingle, or distinctive music such as the copyrighted "Intel Inside" notes featured in Intel™ commercials.

The chip card may not directly present the advertising, but can instead use an external device such as a PC monitor 74 to present the advertising to a consumer as shown in FIG. 4. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5, a chip card 10 may fit within a portable chip card reader 15 that offers a display element and/or speaker. The advertising may also be presented by other devices such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) (FIG. 6), a pager (FIG. 7), a cellular phone (FIG. 8), a personal or business phone (FIG. 9), automatic teller bank machine (ATM) (FIG. 10), a payphone (FIG. 11), an MP-3 or other similar music player, a television, or vending machine (FIG. 12) .

In greater detail, FIG. 4 shows advertising that was stored on a chip card and is being presented on a PC monitor. The advertising may have been downloaded to the chip card at the merchant's local bricks and mortar store when a purchase was made. The download may also include a $20 coupon as an incentive (a sales promotion) to get the cardholder to visit the merchant's online shopping venue.

The advertising includes a URL so that the cardholder can go directly to the merchant's web site by clicking on the button at the bottom.

FIG. 5 shows a portable chip card reader and/or holder with a phone chip card inserted into the reader. Advertising has been downloaded to the phone card during a telephone call the cardholder made using a pay phone. The advertising shows the store' s closest location to the pay phone . FIG. 6 shows an Internet capable PDA presenting advertising that has been downloaded to a chip card. The advertising includes a URL. The cardholder can touch the screen on the "Shop Now and Save" image and be linked to the merchant's online shopping venue.

FIG. 7 shows a pager presenting advertising that has been downloaded to the chip card via the pager. This chip card could later be inserted into a device such as a PC so that the cardholder can automatically connect to a web site associated with the advertising presented on the pager display.

FIG. 9 shows a home or business telephone presenting advertising that has been transmitted to the chip card during a phone call. The display also shows a sales promotion for a free catalog which the cardholder can order by using the toll-free number that has also been transmitted to the chip card.

FIG. 10 shows an ATM presenting advertising which has been downloaded by the card during the current ATM transaction. The advertising shows the location of the merchant's store closest to the ATM. The ATM also presents a sales promotion for a free product if the cardholder comes to the store's grand opening. The cardholder would present the chip card at the store on the date specified to redeem the offer.

FIG. 11 shows an Internet capable pay telephone presenting advertising which was downloaded at the merchant's bricks and mortar store, along with a sales promotion offering $20 off the price of some item if the cardholder shops at the merchant's online store. A URL has also been transmitted so that the cardholder can press a button and be automatically taken to the online store.

FIG. 12 shows a vending machine presenting advertising transmitted to the chip card during the vending purchase.

Advertising can be transmitted to a chip card via a system described in the co-pending "CHIP CARD SYSTEM" application. Referring to FIG. 13, information stored in chip card memory 16 can include card identification 28, usage history information 30, advertising 32, and applications 33. Card identification 28 data may include a card serial number and potentially demographic or biographic data describing the card owner (e.g., age, gender, etc.). Usage history 30 may include data describing prior uses of the card such as the location, time, and nature of such uses (e.g., March 17 12:00 $1.00/vending machine/Main Street).

Advertising 32 may include graphics, video, and/or sounds. Graphics and video can use a variety of data formats including MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) , JPEG (Joint Picture Experts Group) , and/or GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) . The advertising 32 may also include text. Both a chip card with a display and a portable chip card reader can access and present the advertising 32.

Instead of directly encoding graphic or sound data for the advertising, the advertising 32 may include a link to network address such as a URL (Universal Resource Locator) or other reference identifying a set of data or instructions for presenting the advertising. The advertising may also include a thumbnail of the advertising, for example, for selection for a card user viewing the thumbnail.

Storing references such as URLs enables a chip card owner to insert a chip card 10 into a chip card reader connected to a networked device and automatically be transferred to a web-site that presents an advertising for a particular good or service. Such a scheme conserves chip card memory. For example, information stored on the card may be "www. viztec. com/ads . cgi?Ad=MrWhipple-Charmin.mpg &CustomerId=764&DistributionPoint=ABC Grocery Store" instead of a large MPEG file. The HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) request may include parameters that enable the site to collect information about the consumer.

The card may store information for more than one advertising presentation. The integrated circuit 16 may rotate the advertising 32a-32n the chip card presents (e.g., displays or plays on the speaker) at fixed intervals or based on events (e.g., usage, time, date, or the happening of special events such as holidays and birthdays) . Alternately, a card owner may manipulate card controls to replay stored advertising, for example, to see a "repeat" of a particular commercial. The ability to replay advertising can foster competition among producers to make presentations consumers repeatedly view. The advertising can be tailored, for example, by inserting the name of the chip card owner into the advertising.

Additionally, the advertising may be altered in different ways each time it is presented. For example, advertising may feature a sunny day the first time presented and falling snow the second time. Further, an advertiser can specify how many times and how frequently the advertising should be presented to the card user.

Referring to FIG. 14, a chip card reader 34 can transmit advertising to the chip card 10 via a communication path 23 that includes chip card contacts or wireless communication. Transmission may occur during other chip card reader 34 uses (e.g., during a chip card paid phone call) . The chip card reader 34 may be a stand-alone chip card reader, a computer peripheral, or a portable chip card reader. The chip card reader 34 may include software 38 and a database of advertising 36. The chip card reader 34 not only sends advertising to the chip card 10, but may also store data describing the chip card transaction including which advertising the chip card reader 34 downloaded to the chip card 10. Subsequent analysis of collected information can enable businesses to track the effectiveness of their advertising efforts. The software 38 may seloct information for one or more presentations from the database 36 for transmission to the chip card.

The advertising transmitted to the chip card may be narrowly distributed to consumers based on their characteristics such as income, location, occupation, zip- code, and other demographic and psychographic criteria. Because advertising may potentially be displayed each time the chip card is handled, a chip card system using the present invention can achieve the long sought after goal of repeatedly presenting highly targeted persuasive advertising to selected consumers. Marketers can determine the effectiveness of their efforts by tracking the advertising distributed to particular cardholders and the goods or services these cardholders purchase.

In a batch system, information describing chip card transactions may be periodically transferred to a host computer for analysis and storage. Such transfer may occur over a temporary modem connection or a visit by a service person. At the same time, new presentations or software 38 may be uploaded to the chip card reader 34.

Preferably, the chip card reader 34 connects to a host computer 42 via a network 40. In a network configuration, the host computer 42 may include software 46 that accesses a database of advertising 44.

Potentially, the host computer 44 stores a more extensive database of advertising and offers more sophisticated analysis software 46.

Referring to FIGS. 15A-15D, a chip card reader may transmit advertising to a chip card with varying degrees of sophistication. As shown in FIG. 15A, a chip card reader may simply send 48 the same advertising to each chip card the reader encounters. For example, a store may transmit the same advertising to each wireless chip card that passes through a store entrance.

FIG. 15B shows a slightly more sophisticated method of transmitting advertising. In FIG. 15B, the chip card reader selects advertising for transmission based on factors 50 such as the time, amount, or type of transaction. For example, someone purchasing cereal in the morning may receive advertising for milk (e.g., a picture of a milk-mustached lip and the slogan "Got Milk"™) .

FIG. 15C shows a method of transmitting advertising with even greater sensitivity to a particular customer. In FIG. 15C, the chip card reader retrieves information 52 from the chip card. The chip card reader can use this retrieved information (e.g., demographic data, usage history, or card serial number) to select appropriate advertising for transmission. For example, if the card chip reader determines, either by retrieving usage history information from the card or using a retrieved card serial number to find such information in its own database, that a customer buys ice cream weekly, the chip card reader 34 may transmit to the chip card 10 advertising for a particular brand of ice cream.

FIG. 15D shows a transmission method similar to that of FIG. 15C with the addition of a networked computer that may store advertising and selection software in addition to or in lieu of storing these elements in the chip card reader. A networked computer can both control the advertising dispensed by different card readers and efficiently collect chip card usage data.

The chip card reader may send retrieved chip card information over the network 56 for processing and receive advertising from the networked computer 58. Many permutations of this configuration are possible, both in the arrangement of the elements and in the information exchanged. For example, rather than sending advertising for each transaction, a computer may periodically download advertising to chip card readers en masse, then merely transmit advertising indices to the chip card reader, reducing the amount of information transmitted over the network.

Additionally, a chip card user may elect to block advertising, for example, by storing information on the card indicating the consumer is not interested in receiving advertising. Alternately, information about the chip card user may be stored and and used to prevent transmission of advertising to the chip card.

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate different embodiments that transmit advertising to chip card readers. In FIG. 16A, a chip card reader 34 connects to a host computer 42 via a communication path 23 than includes a communication link 40. In FIG. 16B, a chip card reader 34 attached to a computer connects to a host computer 42 via a communication path 23 that includes the Internet 40.

Other embodiments of the invention are within the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of advertising, comprising: downloading advertising to a chip card carried by a card user; storing the advertising on the chip card carried by the card user; and presenting the advertising stored on the chip card to the card user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the chip card comprises a chip card having a display, and wherein presenting comprises displaying the advertising on the chip card display.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting comprises displaying the advertising on a presentation device .

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the presentation device comprises at least one of the following: a personal computer monitor, a portable chip card reader, a handheld device, a home or business telephone, a pay telephone, a vending machine, a cellular phone, a pager, a mass transportation payment station, a television, and an automatic teller machine (ATM) .

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising comprises one or more slogans.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising comprises a static image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising comprises video data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the video data comprises an MPEG (Motion Pictures Experts Group) file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising information comprises sound data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sound data comprises one or more jingles.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the sound data comprises one or more speech recordings.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising comprises one or more commercials.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising comprises one or more references associated with advertising not stored on the chip card.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more references comprises one or more URLs (Universal Resource Locators).

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting one or more sales promotions to the chip card.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the sales promotion comprises a coupon.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the sales promotion comprises a rebate.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting advertising for downloading to the chip card.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein selecting comprises selecting based on characteristics of the card user.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the advertising comprises presenting the advertising to a card user multiple times.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to block the advertising.

22. A method of advertising, comprising: transmitting advertising to a chip card carried by a card user; storing the advertising on the chip card carried by the card user; and presenting the advertising stored on the chip card to the card user.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining whether to block the advertising.

24. A method of advertising, comprising: downloading advertising without downloading any sales promotions to a chip card carried by a card user; storing the advertising on the chip card carried by the card user; and presenting the advertising stored on the chip card to the card user.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the chip card comprises a chip card having a display, and wherein presenting comprises displaying the advertising on the chip card display.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein presenting comprises displaying the advertising on a presentation device.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the presentation device comprises at least one of the following: a personal computer monitor, a portable chip card reader, a handheld device, a home or business telephone, a pay telephone, a vending machine, a cellular phone, a pager, a mass transportation payment station, a television, and an automatic teller machine (ATM) .

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the advertising comprises a static image.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the advertising comprises video data.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the advertising information comprises sound data.

31. The method of claim 24, further comprising determining whether to block the advertising.

32. A method of advertising, comprising: downloading an advertising commercial to a chip card carried by a card user; storing the advertising commercial on the chip card carried by the card user; and presenting the advertising commercial stored on the chip card to the card user.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the advertising commercial comprises one or more jingles.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein the advertising commercial comprises one or more slogans.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising determining whether to block the advertising commercial.

36. A method of advertising using a chip card having a display, the method comprising: downloading advertising to a chip card carried by a card user, the chip card having a display, the advertising including data for a series of images that form a video; storing the downloaded advertising on the chip card carried by the card user; and displaying the download advertising stored on the chip card to the card user on the chip card display.