A

AAAA: American Association of Advertising Agencies. An association whose members are ad agencies.
ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation): A company that audits the circulation of print publications, to insure that reported circulation figures are accurate.
ANA : Association of National Advertisers. An association whose members are advertisers, i.e., companies that advertise their products or services.
Accordion insert : An ad inserted in a magazine, folded with an accordion-style fold.
Adjacencies: Time periods immediately before and after a television program, normally used as a commercial break between programs.
Adnorm: A measure of readership averages for print publications over a two-year period, used as a baseline for comparing specific ads to an average.
Advertising elasticity: The relationship between a change in advertising budget and the resulting change in product sales.
Advertising page exposure: A measure of the opportunity for readers to see a particular print advertisement, whether or not that actually look at the ad.
Advertorial: An advertisement that has the appearance of a news article or editorial, in a print publication.
Agate line: A measure of newspaper advertising space, one column wide and 1/14th inch deep.
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 some measure of the campaign's success.
Answer print: The final edited version (print) of a television commercial, for approval by the client. It may still need color correction, etc.
Avails: Advertising time on radio or television that is available for purchase, at a specific time.

B

Bleed: Allowing a picture or ad to extend beyond the normal margin of a printed page, to the edge of the page.
Blow-in card: An advertisement, subscription request, or other printed card "blown" into a print publication rather than bound into it.
Blueline: A blue line drawn on a mechanical to indicate where a page will be cut. Is most commonly referred to as the proof sent by a printer before production begins.
Boutique: An agency that provides a limited service, such as one that does creative work but does not provide media planning, research, etc. Usually, this refers to a relatively small company.
BDI (Brand development index): A comparison of the percent of a brand's sales in a market to the percent of the national population in that same market.
Bulldog edition: An edition of a print publication that is available earlier than other editions. Usually, this is the early edition of a large circulation newspaper.
Buried position: Placing an ad between other ads in a print publication, so that readers are less likely to see it.

C

CDI (Category development index): A comparison of the percent of sales of a product category in a market, to the percent of population in that market.
Column inch: A common unit of measure by newspapers, whereby ad space is purchased by the width, in columns, and the depth, in inches. For example, an ad that is three standard columns wide and 5 inches tall (or deep) would be 15 column inches.
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.
CPP (Cost per rating point): The cost, per 1 percent of a specified audience, of buying advertising space in a given media vehicle.
CPM (Cost per thousand): The cost, per 1000 people reached, of buying advertising space in a given media vehicle.
Cumes: An abbreviation for net cumulative audience. Refers to the number of unduplicated people or homes in a broadcast program's audience within a specified time period. This term is used by A.C. Nielsen. It also is used by many advertising practitioners to refer to the unduplicated audience of a print vehicle, or an entire media schedule.

D-E

Daypart: Broadcast media divide the day into several standard time periods, each of which is called a "daypart." Cost of purchasing advertising time on a vehicle varies by the daypart selected.
Depth interview: A method of research, whereby a trained interviewer meets with consumers individually and asks a series of questions designed to detect attitudes and thoughts that might be missed when using other methods.
Earned rate: A discounted media rate, based on volume or frequency of media placement.
Eye tracking: A research method that determines what part of an advertisement consumers look at, by tracking the pattern of their eye movements.

F-G

Franchised position: An ad position in a periodic publication (e.g., back cover) to which an advertiser is given a permanent or long-term right of use.
FSI (Free-standing insert) : An advertisement or group of ads inserted - but not bound - in a print publication, on pages that contain only the ads and are separate from any editorial or entertainment matter.
Frequency: (1) Number of times an average person or home is exposed to a media vehicle (or group of vehicles), within a given time period. (2) The position of a television or radio station's broadcast signal within the electromagnetic spectrum.
Full position: An ad that is surrounded by reading matter in a newspaper, making it more likely consumers will read the ad. This is a highly desirable location for an ad.
Galvanometer test: A research method that measures physiological changes in consumers when asked a question or shown some stimulus material (such as an ad).
Gatefold: Double or triple-size pages, generally in magazines, that fold out into a large advertisement.
GRP (Gross rating points): Reach times average frequency. This is a measure of the advertising weight delivered by a vehicle or vehicles within a given time period.
Gutter: The inside margins of two pages that face each other in a print publication.

H

Hierarchy-of-Effects theory: A series of steps by which consumers receive and use information in reaching decisions about what actions they will take (e.g., whether or not to buy a product). Often attributed to Maslow’s Hierarchy-of-Needs theory.

M-N

Macromarketing: A type of marketing in which a company adapts itself to uncontrollable factors within the industry such as government regulated mandates.
Media dominance theory: Technique of scheduling media that involves buying a large amount of space in one medium, and shifting to another medium after achieving optimum coverage and frequency.
Micromarketing: The activities a firm practices in order to react controllably to external forces such as setting objectives and selecting target markets.
Milline rate: Used to determine the cost effectiveness of advertising in a newspaper; reached by multiplying the cost per agate line by one million, then dividing by the circulation. Also referred to as Milline.
NAICS (North American Classification System): A North American system for classifying businesses in a numeric hierarchy. It has replaced SIC (Standard Industrial Classified System).
Narrowcasting: Using a broadcast medium to appeal to audiences with special interests. For example, the "All Knitting Station" would be a narrowcast, because it appeals to an audience with a specific interest.
Net cost: The costs associated with services rendered by an advertising agency excluding the agency commission.

O-P

Overrun: Additional numbers of a print vehicle that are produced in excess of those needed for distribution. Overruns may take place to meet unexpected needs or demands.
PMS (Pantone Matching System): A system that precisely characterizes a color, so that a color can be matched, even by different printers. By knowing the Pantone color specifications, a printer does not even need to see a sample of the color in order to match it.
Pass-along readers: A reader which becomes familiar with a publication without the purchase of a publication. These readers are taken into account when calculating the total number of readers of a publication.
Per inquiry: An agreement between a media representative and an advertiser in which all advertising fees are paid based on a percentage of all money received from an advertiser's sales or inquires.
Puffery: A legal exaggeration of praise lavished on a product that stops just short of deception.
Pulsing: The use of advertising in regular intervals, as opposed to seasonal patterns.

R-S

Remnant Space: Discounted magazine space which is sold to help fill regional editions of the publication.
Rip-o-matic: A very rough rendition of a proposed commercial, composed of images and sounds borrowed (ripped-off) from other commercials or broadcast materials.
ROP (Run-of-press): A newspaper publisher's option to place an ad anywhere in the publication that they choose, as opposed to preferred position. Also referred to as Run-of paper.
ROS (Run-of-schedule): A station's option to place a commercial in any time slot that they choose.
Rushes: Rough, unedited prints of a commercial to be used for editing purposes. Also referred to as dallies.
Semiotics: Refers to theories regarding symbolism and how people glean meaning from words, sounds, and pictures. Sometimes used in researching names for various products and services.
Split run: Two or more different forms of an advertisement which are ran simultaneously in different copies of the same publication, used to test the effectiveness of one advertisement over another to appeal to regional or other specific markets.
SAU (Standard Advertising Unit): A set of uniform advertising procedures developed by the American Newspaper Publishers Association.
SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service): A commercial firm that publishes reference volumes that include up-to-date information on rates, requirements, closing dates, and other information necessary for ad placement in the media.



T-U

Tear sheets: A page cut from a magazine or newspaper that is sent to the advertiser as proof of the ad insertion. Also used to check color reproduction of advertisements.
Up-front buys: The purchasing of both broadcast and print early in the buying season.

For a complete Advertising and Marketing Glossary, please visit
http://advertising.utexas.edu/research/terms/