CAS flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Share of voice (SOV)

A brand's advertising spend or impressions as a percentage of total category advertising. When SOV exceeds share of market, the brand typically gains market share over time.

Category entry points

The buying situations or needs that trigger consideration of a category. Brands grow by being mentally available across more entry points rather than owning a single attribute.

Double jeopardy law

Smaller brands have fewer buyers and slightly lower loyalty than larger brands. Because loyalty gains are limited, growth strategies usually prioritise increasing penetration.

Distinctive brand assets

Visual and verbal elements such as colour, logo, character, and tagline that uniquely identify a brand. They are measured for fame and uniqueness to confirm they trigger brand recall.

Single-minded proposition

The one core message a campaign communicates to the target audience. It anchors creative decisions and should be supported by reasons to believe and mandatories.

SMART objectives

Objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They must be defined before media selection so channel and creative choices can be evaluated against them.

Critical path

The sequence of dependent production tasks from brief to launch. Each approval gate adds buffer time, and delays on the critical path delay the whole campaign.

Trafficking instructions

The specifications sent to publishers: dimensions, file format, maximum file size, click-through URL, and tracking tags. Missing or incorrect specs are a leading cause of late launches.

Flighting patterns

Spend timing strategies: continuous (steady), pulsing (base plus bursts), and bursting (alternating on/off). Choice depends on purchase cycle, seasonality, and budget size.

Change control

A process for logging scope changes after sign-off, recording cost, time, and ownership impact before work proceeds. It protects budget and schedule from unmanaged drift.

Gross rating points (GRPs)

Reach percentage multiplied by average frequency. GRPs express total delivery against a target universe and are used to compare media weight across buys.

Effective frequency

The exposure level needed to achieve the communication goal. Effective reach is the percentage of the target reached at or above that frequency.

Cost per thousand (CPM)

Cost divided by impressions, multiplied by 1,000. It standardises media cost across vehicles with different audience sizes and is a core buying comparison metric.

Programmatic buying

Automated buying of digital inventory using real-time bidding and audience data. Private marketplace deals offer curated inventory with fixed or preferred pricing.

Frequency capping

A limit on exposures per user per period to reduce waste and ad fatigue. Caps should be set from effective-frequency evidence rather than habit.

Upfront versus scatter

Upfront buying locks inventory and price for a season in advance. Scatter buying purchases remaining inventory closer to air date, usually at variable or higher prices.

Message hierarchy

The ordered structure of an ad: brand, proposition, proof, and call to action. Each element earns space only if it supports the campaign objective.

Aspect-ratio variants

Different versions of a creative sized for broadcast (16:9), vertical social (9:16), and square (1:1) placements. Planning them at concept stage avoids costly re-cuts.

Copy testing

Pre-testing or post-testing of advertising to measure recall, persuasion, and brand linkage. Results inform whether an execution communicates the intended proposition.

Production contingency

A reserve line in the production budget, typically around 10 percent, covering unforeseen costs such as weather, overtime, or additional post-production.

Click-through rate (CTR)

Clicks divided by impressions. It measures initial engagement with a digital ad and is used with conversion rate to diagnose funnel performance.

Return on ad spend (ROAS)

Revenue divided by ad spend. It is a revenue ratio, not a profit measure, and excludes margin, fixed costs, and long-term brand effects.

Last-click attribution

A model that credits the final touchpoint before conversion. It is the default in many platforms and tends to overvalue channels near the point of purchase.

Viewability standard

Display: at least 50 percent of pixels visible for one second. Video: 50 percent of pixels for two continuous seconds, per MRC and IAB standards.

Incrementality

The lift in outcomes caused by advertising compared with a counterfactual. It is measured with holdout groups, geo experiments, or ghost bids rather than observed attribution alone.

Marketing mix modelling

A regression of sales on media and external factors over time. It captures long-term and offline effects but requires sufficient data history and careful model validation.

Multi-touch attribution

User-level credit assignment across multiple touchpoints before conversion. It is limited by identity fragmentation, walled gardens, and privacy restrictions on cross-site tracking.

Triangulation

Combining experiments, multi-touch attribution, and marketing mix modelling. Agreement across independent methods increases confidence in budget and channel decisions.

Return on investment (ROI)

Net profit from a campaign minus campaign cost, divided by campaign cost, expressed as a percentage. Unlike ROAS, it accounts for costs and margin.

Objective-and-task budgeting

Building a budget from the required reach, frequency, and activities needed to meet a defined objective. It links spend directly to expected communication outcomes.

Marginal ROI

The return from the next unit of spend. It declines as spend rises; the optimal budget is where marginal return equals the required hurdle rate.

Influencer disclosure

Clear, prominent identification of paid partnerships, such as an up-front #ad label. Disclosure must not be buried among hashtags or hidden in platform settings.