Marketing Agency, Advertising Agency & Design Agency Glossary

Used by marketing services organisations, this is an effective way for marketing companies to classify customer accounts and target customers into three categories, A, B & C where A = most attractive accounts and C = least attractive accounts. An advertising agency will factor in ABC analysis during campaign development.

Marketing companies use these National Readership Survey terms to define reading demographic groups i.e. A = Upper middle class, higher managerial, administrative or professional. In the process of preparing promotional materials and advertising campaigns, the advertising agency will consider demographics prior to the commencement of the creative process.

A term used by marketing services companies or advertising agencies to denote a specific type of advertising used for mass advertising and mass marketing. TV, cinema, radio, press advertising, Internet advertising (banner advertising) etc. Above the line advertising is in advertising services term which originates from advertising agencies commission-based revenue i.e., if a commission is taken from placing an advert then this is considered to be above the line advertising. Originally advertising services were provided by advertising agencies on an above the line or below the line basis with many advertising agencies specialising in above the line advertising. This differs significantly from marketing services companies or marketing & advertising agencies who may specialise in below the line advertising. And advertising agency such as thinktank provide above the line advertising services and below the line advertising services.

Marketing services techniques such as accompanied shopping used by retail outlets during marketing consultancy or market research. Accompanied shopping is a specialised type of interview in which respondents are interviewed while they shop in a retail store. The interview technique combines questioning and observations. The results are generally fed into the advertising agency process for campaign creation.

Marketing services organisations, advertising agencies or design companies use account management services. Account management is the process by which an advertising agency or supplier manages the needs of clients.

The geodemographical process of dividing consumer behaviour into 36 different groups based on a residential address, age, occupation, income, marital status, car ownership status, type of travel to work etc. ACORN classification is an attempt to analyse consumer behaviour in great detail by marketing consultants and market researchers. ACORN and associated demographic or geodemographic models are important within the overall development of new campaigns by an advertising agency.

Marketing services companies, marketing and to select companies(and advertising agencies also)may use the term 'added value' to reference an increase in worth of a product or service as a result of a particular activity - in the context of product marketing or service marketing added value covers a wide possibility of product features or benefits, for example packaging.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ASDL is a term used by web design services organisations, web design companies or Internet service providers (ISPs). The A refers to the fact that line speeds up and down different. ASDL can also be called broadband. Terms like these are used as marketing terms also by advertising agency professionals responsible for promoting Internet services and their exact meaning can become blurred.

Advertising is a commonly used term for the placing of a persuasive announcements in audio, video, electronic, online or printed form with for the purposes of promotion of products or services. Advertising is often seen as a 'sexy form' of marketing promotion. Advertising agencies or full-service marketing services agencies like thinktank marketing develop advertising campaigns for clients.

An advertising agency is an organisation providing a range of services related to advertising (see marketing agency (also called marketing services agency) to compare and contrast the advertising agencies and marketing services) and design services. Generally the larger ones (found primarily in Manchester in the Northwest of England) will have marketing services expertise and may provide video or multimedia services- however this is often 'farmed out' to specialist video production companies or multimedia agencies. Very few marketing or marketing services companies or advertising agencies like thinktank have in-house marketing services together with advertising services and high-end video production facilities.

Advertising Value Equivalents is a PR term which aims to measure the value of the space in column inches secured by PR companies at full rate card value. AVE is a crude measure of value as PR can be far more valuable than advertising space or for less valuable depending on its power, relevance, position and effect. AVE comparisons may be contested by an advertising agency or considered less relevant depending on the circumstances.

Adware is a marketing services gimmick which is often a free software program which can be obtained by sites using heavy banner advertising or whether software itself contains a high number of adverts on usage. An online advertising agency may be involved in the process.

A form of marketing services or advertising used on the internet by an online advertising agency or other company. Companies that sell products or services online link to relevant sites. The advertising on the other or 'affiliate' sites is paid for according to results, hence the term affiliate marketing or affiliate marketing services programs.

A powerful method of increasing the value of a brand in marketing terms is the use of 'after sales service'. After sales services are those received after the original goods or services have been paid for. After sales service tables may be used by an advertising agency to promote the superiority of the brand for companies providing premier after sales services.

Used by marketing services companies or advertising agencies AIDA is one of a number of buying models used - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action: a model very useful in determining strategies for promotion by an advertising agency such as thinktank.

Used by a marketing services agency or advertising agency, the anchor effect or anchoring is a very powerful method of marketing promotion where consumers compare product prices against an established product, like the market leader. The bias created attracts consumers towards this price - the anchor effect.

Four box matrix used by marketing consultants, marketing services organisations, in-house marketing teams and advertising agencies when looking at taking existing products / services into new markets new products into existing markets.

Commonly large companies such as software houses are regularly in the press for breaching Antitrust laws that are laws found in the US, forbidding monopolies, unfair competition and restraints of trade. The laws also forbid lessening of competition by exclusive dealing and price discrimination.

A term used by marketing services organisations and advertising agencies. 'Asset-led marketing' uses product strengths such as the brand name or brand equity to launch new products or services more powerfully and/or at a higher price. With asset-led marketing, marketing consultants working in-house or at a marketing services agency or advertising agency communicate the power of the brand and its name in the market place alongside communicating customer needs.

A marketing technique used by some websites to make people feel like part of a community whilst giving them a particular positive identity. Avatars are animated multimedia charactors (or graphic design symbols, characters or cartoons) used to represent an individual in a game, chat room or website.

The average time (in days, months or years) a customer buys from a particular business. Marketing Consultants in marketing services companies use this information (especially relationship marketing experts as found at thinktank marketing) to improve company profitability and to feed into advertising agency campaigns.

The total amount of money spent during the average lifetime (see average customer lifetime) by a customer. Marketing services consultants in marketing companies or marketing agencies use average lifetime value to improve a company's overall profitability by maximising the average customer lifetime value. Average lifetime value of a customer may also influence advertising agency spend.

Marketing consultants and marketing services agencies will rarely recommend average-cost pricing. Basing product pricing by using a method of adding a fixed percentage onto the total cost of producing the product. This crude method of pricing is often used by companies with large volumes of products, or by companies who choose not to market their products or services using marketing services methodologies. An advertising agency will focus on shifting high volumes of products priced in this way and I.