CAS study guide
CAS · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Advertising Specialist (CAS) is a professional credential for practitioners who plan, buy, build, and measure advertising across traditional and digital channels. It suits media planners, account and campaign managers, digital marketers, creative producers, and in-house marketing leads who want a structured way to demonstrate breadth rather than depth in a single channel. The CAS study guide has 8 sections and about 2,477 words.
01Advertising Strategy and Planning
This domain tests whether you can turn a business problem into a defensible advertising strategy and a plan another team can execute. Expect questions on situation analysis, segmentation, positioning, objective setting, and the distinction between a marketing objective and an advertising objective.
326 words, about 2 min02Campaign Management
This domain tests delivery discipline from approval to post-campaign review: scope, roles, timelines, dependencies, quality assurance, pacing, change control, and close-out. Name one accountable owner.
323 words, about 2 min03Media Planning and Buying
This domain tests how well you translate strategy into reach, frequency, and cost-effective delivery across channels, and whether you can compare buys on equivalent terms. Impressions count exposures; reach counts unique people or households; frequency is impressions divided by reach.
314 words, about 2 min04Creative Development and Production
This domain tests briefing, idea development, production process, versioning, and clearance. Questions often ask what should have happened earlier in the process.
303 words, about 2 min05Digital Advertising and Analytics
This domain tests channel metrics, tracking architecture, and honest interpretation of platform-reported data. Map the funnel: impression, click, landing page, conversion.
284 words, about 1 min06Measurement, Attribution, and Performance Analysis
This domain tests causal reasoning: whether you can separate what the advertising caused from what would have happened anyway, and whether you know the limits of each method. Build a KPI hierarchy: business outcome, marketing KPI, channel diagnostics.
305 words, about 2 min07Budgeting, Pricing, and ROI
This domain tests budget-setting methods, unit economics, and the difference between revenue return and profit return. Budget methods include objective-and-task, percentage of sales, competitive parity, and share of voice.
299 words, about 1 min08Professional Ethics, Compliance, and Standards
This domain tests whether you can advertise truthfully, substantiate claims, disclose material connections, and respect privacy and vulnerable audiences. Claims must be truthful, not misleading, and substantiated before publication with competent and reliable evidence.
323 words, about 2 min