| Term |
Definition |
|---|---|
Account |
The relationship between agency and client - an account may cover one campaign or many years of advertising, and may include all the products marketed by a client or just one |
Advertorial |
An paid-for advertisement which includes editorial content; normally identified in a print magazine with the word "Advertisement" printed as a head across the top of the page to distinguish it from genuine (in theory unbiased) editorial content |
Agency |
The organisation that takes care of advertising for clients. |
Anchorage |
The 'pinning down of meaning' that a caption provides when coupled with an ambiguous image - or vice versa |
Animatic |
A filmed storyboard, where stills or short extracts are put together as a rough edit to show the client prior to the filming and editing of a full quality (and therefore expensive) TVC |
Benefits |
The features of a product that are highlighted to customers in ads. There are only two real benefits: better and cheaper. An ad may highlight the supposed emotional benefits of owning a product (eg you'll be happier, more attractive) |
Billboard |
Space for outdoor advertising |
| See definition on main page | |
Brief |
The outline of a campaign's purpose given to the agency by the client. The brief is then developed further by the agency for internal use |
Campaign |
A time-limited set of ads - campaigns may run across different media, and for one month or ten years, but can be categorised together as they are the execution of a central idea |
Client |
The organisation who pays the agency |
Coverage |
calculated in percentages, the proportion of a target audience who has the opportunity to see an ad once |
Creative |
The creative ideas behind an ad, or the person/team who comes up with them |
Classified |
advertising which does not used pictures, and is generally not produced by an agency. A good example of how vendors can communicate directly with buyers |
Copy |
The text created for an ad |
Demographics |
Describing an audience by age, gender, ethnicity, location - ie the facts about them |
Focus
Groups |
Small, select groups representing a target audience who are paid to answer questions at the behest of a market research organisation |
Frequency |
The number of times an audience get the opportunity to see an ad |
Pitch |
The communication by the agency of a campaign strategy to the client |
Penetration |
The proportion of a potential market that is actually using a particular brand |
| The practice of paying for a branded product to be used by a character in a movie - eg James Bond driving a BMW Z3 | |
Product
Positioning |
Establishing the market niche of a product - which may not be as the brand leader - and advertising to the appropriate segment of the audience |
Propaganda |
The deliberate manipulation of information in order to achieve certain objectives - NB this is RARELY used in connection with modern advertising |
Psychographics |
Describing an audience by their shared psychological profile (likes, dislikes etc) |
Reach |
Similar to coverage |
Slogan |
Line of copy which encapsulates the campaign strategy |
Space |
The pages in a magazine or newspaper which can be sold (as double spreads, foldouts, full, half and quarter pages) to advertisers |
USP |
Unique Selling Proposition/point - a highlighted benefit of a product which makes it stand out from all rival brands. |