In search engine advertising (SEA) market, where competition among retailers is intense and multifaceted, channel coordination between retailers and manufacturers emerges as a critical factor, which significantly influences the effectiveness of advertising strategies. This research attempts to provide managerial guidelines for cooperative advertising in the SEA context by modeling two cooperative advertising decision scenarios. Scenario I defines a simple cooperative channel consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer. In Scenario II, we consider a more general setting where there is an independent retailer who competes with the Manufacturer-Retailer alliance in Scenario I. We propose a novel cooperative advertising optimization model, wherein a manufacturer can advertise product directly through SEA campaigns and indirectly by subsidizing its retailer. To highlight the distinctive features of SEA, our model incorporates dynamic quality scores and focuses on a finite time horizon. In each scenario, we provide a feasible equilibrium solution of optimal policies for all members. Subsequently, we conduct numerical experiments to perform sensitivity analysis for both the quality score and gross margin. Additionally, we explore the impact of the initial market share of the competing retailer in Scenario II. Finally, we investigate how retail competition affects the cooperative alliance's optimal strategy and channel performance. Our identified properties derived from the equilibrium and numerical analyses offer crucial insights for participants engaged in cooperative advertising within the SEA market.

翻译：在搜索引擎广告（SEA）市场中，零售商之间的竞争激烈且多维，零售商与制造商之间的渠道协调成为关键因素，显著影响广告策略的有效性。本研究通过建模两种合作广告决策情景，试图为SEA背景下的合作广告提供管理指导。情景I定义了一个由单一制造商和单一零售商组成的简单合作渠道。在情景II中，我们考虑了一个更一般的设定，即存在一个独立零售商，与情景I中的制造商-零售商联盟进行竞争。我们提出了一种新颖的合作广告优化模型，其中制造商既可以直接通过SEA广告活动宣传产品，也可以通过补贴其零售商进行间接宣传。为突出SEA的独有特征，我们的模型引入了动态质量得分，并聚焦于有限时间范围。在每种情景下，我们为所有成员提供了最优策略的可行均衡解。随后，我们进行了数值实验，对质量得分和毛利率进行了敏感性分析。此外，我们探讨了情景II中竞争零售商初始市场份额的影响。最后，我们研究了零售竞争如何影响合作联盟的最优策略及渠道绩效。我们从均衡分析和数值分析中得出的性质，为参与SEA市场合作广告的各方提供了关键见解。