Advertising

digital proof

A prepress proof that uses inkjet technology and offers accuracy, lower cost, and speed. Also called an Iris.

brainstorming

A process in which two or more people get together to generate new ideas; often a source of sudden inspiration.

Ayer

No. 1 See poster-style format.

cover paper

Paper used on soft book covers, direct-mail pieces, and brochure covers that are thicker, tougher, and more durable than text paper.

audiovisual materials

Slides, films, filmstrips, and videocassettes that may be used for training, sales, or public relations activities.

broadcast

TV Television sent over airwaves as opposed to over cables.

cable

TV Television signals carried to households by cable and paid by subscription.

drive times

Radio use Monday through Friday at 6-10 a.m. and 3-7 p.m.

controlled circulation

A free publication mailed to a select list of individuals the publisher feels are in a unique position to influence the purchase of advertised products.

creative pyramid

A five-step model to help the creative team convert advertising strategy and the big idea into the actual physical ad or commercial. The five elements are: attention, interest, credibility, desire, and action.

color key

A color proof that is a less-expensive form of the Chromalin, with thicker plastic sheets that can be lifted up.

cost per thousand (CPM)

A common term describing the cost of reaching 1,000 people in a medium's audience. It is used by media planners to compare the cost of various media vehicles.

crisis management

A company's plan for handling news and public relations during crises.

casting brief

A detailed, written description of the characters' personalities to serve as guides in casting sessions when actors audition for the roles.

comprehensive layout

A facsimile of a finished ad with copy set in type and pasted into position along with proposed illustrations. The "comp" is prepared so the advertiser can gauge the effect of the final ad.

camera-ready art

A finished ad that is ready for the printer's camera to shoot—to make negatives or plates—according to the publication's specifications.

community involvement

A local public relations activity in which companies sponsor or participate in a local activity or supply a location for an event.

daypart mix

A media scheduling strategy based on the TV usage levels reported by the rating services.

character-count method

A method of copy casting in which an actual count is made of the number of characters in the copy.

cinematographer

A motion picture photographer.

ambush marketing

A promotional strategy utilized by nonsponsors to capitalize on the popularity or prestige of an event or property by giving the false impression that they are sponsors, such as by buying up all the billboard space around are an athletic stadium. Often employed by the competitors of the property's official sponsor.

blueline

A proof created by shining light through the negatives and exposing a light-sensitive paper that turns from white to blue; it helps reveal scratches and flaws in the negatives.

closing date

A publication's final deadline for supplying printing material for an advertisement.

average quarter-hour audience (AQH persons)

A radio term referring to the average number of people who are listening to a specific station for at least 5 minutes during a 15- minute period of any given daypart.

Artist role

A role in the creative process that experiments and plays with a variety of approaches, looking for an original idea.

animatic

A rough television commercial produced by photographing storyboard sketches on a film strip or video with the audio portion synchronized on tape. It is used primarily for testing purposes.

affidavit of performance

A signed and notarized form sent by a television station to an advertiser or agency indicating what spots ran and when. It is the station's legal proof that the advertiser got what was paid for.

cost per rating point (CPP)

A simple computation used by media buyers to determine which broadcast programs are the most efficient in relation to the target audience. The CPP is determined by dividing the cost of the show by the show's expected rating against the target audience.

contract rate

A special rate for newspaper advertising usually offered to local advertisers who sign an annual contract for frequent or bulk-space purchases.

display type

A style of typeface used in advertising that is larger and heavier than normal text type. Display type is often used in headlines, subheads, logos, and addresses, and for emphasis.

demonstration

A type of TV commercial in which the product is shown in use.

dialogue/monologue copy

A type of body copy in which the characters illustrated in the advertisement do the selling in their own words either through a quasi-testimonial technique or through a comic strip panel.

command headline

A type of headline that orders the reader to do something.

creative brief

A written statement that serves as the creative team's guide for writing and producing an ad. It describes the most important issues that should be considered in the development of the ad (the who, why, what, where, and when), including a definition and description of the target audience; the rational and emotional appeals to be used; the product features that will satisfy the customer's needs; the style, approach, or tone that will be used in the copy; and, generally, what the copy will say.

corporate identity advertising

Advertising a corporation creates to familiarize the public with its name, logos, trademarks, or corporate signatures, especially after any of these elements are changed.

device copy

Advertising copy that relies on wordplay, humor, poetry, rhymes, great exaggeration, gags, and other tricks or gimmicks.

cover position

Advertising space on the front inside, back inside, and back cover pages of a publication which is usually sold at a premium price.

advocacy advertising

Advertising used to communicate an organization's views on issues that affect society or business.

art director

Along with graphic designers and production artists, determines how the ad's verbal and visual symbols will fit together.

advertorial

An ad that is half advertising, half editorial, aimed at swaying public opinion rather than selling products.

advertising message

An element of the creative mix comprising what the company plans to say in its advertisements and how it plans to say it—verbally or nonverbally.

communications media

An element of the creative mix, comprising the various methods or vehicles that will be used to transmit the advertiser's message.

Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC)

An organization supported by advertising agencies, advertisers, and publishers that verifies circulation and other marketing data on newspapers and magazines for the benefit of its members.

digital media

Channels of communication that join the logic of multimedia formats with the electronic system capabilities and controls of modern telephone, television, and computer technologies.

bleeds

Colors, type, or visuals that run all the way to the edge of the page.

color separations

Four separate continuous-tone negatives produced by photographing artwork through color filters that eliminate all the colors but one. The negatives are used to make four printing plates—one each for yellow, magenta, cyan, and black—for reproducing the color artwork.

creative director

Heads a creative team of agency copywriters and artists that is assigned to a client's business; is ultimately responsible for the creative product—the form the final ad takes.

boldface

Heavier type.

control room

In a recording studio, the place where the producer, director, and sound engineer sit, monitoring and controlling all the sounds generated in the sound studio.

audio console

In a sound studio control room, the board that channels sound to the appropriate recording devices and that blends both live and prerecorded sounds for immediate or delayed broadcast.

consumer magazines

Information- or entertainment-oriented periodicals directed toward people who buy products for their own consumption.

creativity

Involves combining two or more previously unconnected objects or ideas into something new.

3-D ads

Magazine ads requiring the use of 3-D glasses.

custom magazines

Magazine-length ads that look like regular magazines but are created by advertisers. They are sold at newsstands and produced by the same companies that publish traditional magazines.

demographic editions

Magazines that reach readers who share a demographic trait, such as age, income level, or professional status.

barter syndication

Marketing of first-run television programs to local stations free or for a reduced rate because some of the ad space has been presold to national advertisers.

classified ads

Newspaper, magazine, and now Internet advertisements usually arranged under subheads that describe the class of goods or the need the ads seek to satisfy. Rates are based on the number of lines the ad occupies. Most employment, housing, and automotive advertising is in the form of classified advertising.

bulk discounts

Newspapers offer advertisers decreasing rates (calculated by multiplying the number of inches by the cost per inch) as they use more inches.

continuous tone

Normal photographic paper produces images in black and white with shades of gray in between.

daily newspapers

Often called dailies, these newspapers are published at least five times a week, in either morning or evening editions.

copywriters

People who create the words and concepts for ads and commercials.

color strip

Samples of eye shadow, blush, lipstick, and other makeup inserted into magazines.

analog proof

See Chromalin proof.

CYMK printing

See four-color process.

conceptualization

See visualization.

combination rates

Special newspaper advertising rates offered for placing a given ad in (1) morning and evening editions of the same newspaper; (2) two or more newspapers owned by the same publisher; or (3) two or more newspapers affiliated in a syndicate or newspaper group.

close

That part of an advertisement or commercial that asks customers to do something and tells them how to do it—the action step in the ad's copy.

art direction

The act or process of managing the visual presentation of an ad or commercial.

average quarter-hour rating

The average quarter-hour persons estimate expressed as a percentage of the estimated population.

column inch

The basic unit by which publishers bill for advertising. It is one vertical inch of a column. Until 1984, the column width in newspapers varied greatly. In 1984, the industry introduced the standard advertising unit (SAU) system, which standardized newspaper column width, page sizes, and ad sizes. Today, most newspapers—and virtually all dailies—have converted to the SAU system. A SAU column inch is 2 1/16 inches wide by 1 inch deep.

cover date

The date printed on the cover of a publication.

director

The director supervises preproduction, production, and postproduction of radio and television commercials.

audience composition

The distribution of an audience into demographic or other categories.

cume rating

The estimated number of cume persons expressed as a percentage of the total market population.

cume persons

The total number of different people listening to a radio station for at least one 15-minute segment over the course of a given week, day, or daypart.

answer print

The final print of a filmed commercial, along with all the required optical effects and titles, used for review and approval before duplicating.

base art

The first image on an artboard on which an overlay may be placed.

big idea

The flash of creative insight—the bold advertising initiative—that captures the essence of the strategy in an imaginative, involving way and brings the subject to life to make the reader stop, look, and listen.

designated market areas (DMAs)

The geographical areas in which TV stations attract most of their viewers.

business magazines

The largest category of magazines, they target business readers and include: trade publications for retailers, wholesalers, and other distributors; industrial magazines for businesspeople involved in manufacturing and services; and professional journals for lawyers, physicians, architects, and other professionals.

aperture

The opening in a camera that determines the amount of light that reaches the film or videotape. To a media planner it refers to the place and time that a target audience is ready to attend to an ad message.

average quarter-hour share

The radio station's audience (AQH persons) expressed as a percentage of the total radio listening audience in the area.

cooperative (co-op) advertising

The sharing of advertising costs by the manufacturer and the distributor or retailer. The manufacturer may repay 50 or 100 percent of the dealer's advertising costs or some other amount based on sales. See also horizontal cooperative advertising, vertical cooperative advertising.

audio

The sound portion of a commercial. Also, the right side of a script for a television commercial, indicating spoken copy, sound effects, and music.

creative process

The step-by-step procedure used to discover original ideas and reorganize existing concepts in new ways.

body copy

The text of an advertisement that tells the complete story and attempts to close the sale. It is a logical continuation of the headline and subheads and is usually set in a smaller type size than headlines or subheads.

animation

The use of cartoons, puppet characters, or demonstrations of inanimate characters come to life in television commercials; often used for communicating difficult messages or for reaching specialized markets, such as children.

art

The whole visual presentation of a commercial or advertisement—the body language of an ad. Art also refers to the style of photography or illustration employed, the way color is used, and the arrangement of elements in an ad so that they relate to one another in size and proportion.

circulation audit

Thorough analysis of circulation procedures, distribution outlets, and other distribution factors by a company such as the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).

copy cast

To forecast the total block of space the type in an ad will occupy in relation to the typeface's letter size and proportions.

benefit headline

Type of headline that makes a direct promise to the reader.

display advertising

Type of newspaper advertising that includes copy, illustrations or photographs, headlines, coupons, and other visual components.

design

Visual pattern or composition of artistic elements chosen and structured by the graphic artist.

donut

When writing a jingle, a hole left for spoken copy.

digital video effects (DVE)

unit In video, special-effects equipment for manipulating graphics on the screen to produce fades, wipes, zooms, rotations, and so on.