Glossary
Ad Copy The printed text or spoken words in an advertisement.
Advertising Allowance: Money provided by a manufacturer to a distributor for the purpose of advertising a specific product or brand. See also, Cooperative advertising.
Advertising Budget: Money set aside by the advertiser to pay for advertising. There are a variety of methods for determining the most desirable size of an advertising budget.
Advertising Elasticity: The relationship between a change in advertising budget and the resulting change in product sales.
Advertising Plan: An outline of what goals an advertising campaign should achieve, how to accomplish those goals, and how to determine whether or not the campaign was successful in obtaining those goals.
Advertising Research: Research conducted to improve the efficacy of advertising. It may focus on a specific ad or campaign, or may be directed at a more general understanding of how advertising works or how consumers use the information in advertising. It can entail a variety of research approaches, including psychological, sociological, economic, and other perspectives.
Ad Specialty: A product imprinted with, or otherwise carrying, a logo or promotional message. Also called a promotional product.
Advertorial: An advertisement that has the appearance of a news article or editorial, in a print publication.
Agency Commission: The agency's fee for designing and placing advertisements. Historically, this was calculated as 15 percent of the amount spent to purchase space or time in the various media used for the advertising. In recent years the commission has, in many cases, become negotiable, and may even be based on performance of the campaign's success.
Anchor text: The clickable text of a link. Not to be confused with document anchors.
Banner Ad: A graphical web advertising unit, typically a large headline or title extending across the full page width often measuring 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall.
Brand: A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller.
Brand Identity: How you want the consumer to perceive your product or your brand. Companies try to bridge the gap between the brand image and the brand identity.
Brand Image: The perception of your product or your brand by the consumer.
Business-to-Business Advertising: Advertising directed to other businesses, rather than to consumers.
Caption: A caption can be an advertisement's headline or the text accompanying an illustration or photograph.
Car Card: An advertising poster placed on buses, subways, etc.
Card Rate: Media rates published by a broadcast station or print publication on a "rate card." Typically the highest rate charged by an advertising vehicle.
Circulation: Of a print publication, the average number of copies distributed. For outdoor advertising this refers to the total number of people who have an opportunity to observe a billboard or poster.
Copyright: The right of copyright gives protection to the originator of material to prevent use without express permission or acknowledgement of the originator.
Cost Efficiency: For a media schedule, refers to the relative balance of effectively meeting reach and frequency goals at the lowest price.
Cost Per Inquiry: The cost of getting one person to inquire about your product or service. This is a standard used in direct response advertising.
Creative Strategy: An outline of what message should be conveyed, to whom, and with what tone. This provides the guiding principles for copywriters and art directors who are assigned to develop the advertisement. Within the context of that assignment, any ad that is then created should conform to that strategy.
Deceptive Advertising: The FTC defines this as being a representation, omission, act or practice that is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances. To be regulated, however, a deceptive claim must also be material.
Demographics: Basic objective descriptive classifications of consumers, such as their age, sex, income, education, size of household, ownership of home, etc. This does not include classification by subjective attitudes or opinions of consumers.
Direct Mail: Marketing communications delivered directly to a prospective purchaser via the U.S. Postal Service or a private delivery company.
Direct Marketing: Sending a promotional message directly to consumers, rather than via a mass medium. Includes methods such as Direct Mail and Telemarketing.
Direct Response: Promotions that permit or request consumers to directly respond to the advertiser, by mail, telephone, e-mail, or some other means of communication. Some practitioners use this as a synonym for Direct Marketing.
Earned Rate: A discounted media rate, based on volume or frequency of media placement.
Exposure: Consumers who have seen or heard a media vehicle, whether or not they paid attention to it.
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