Advertising - a paid form of non-personal messages communicated through various media and designed to influence the purchasing behavior and/or thought patterns of the audience.

Affiliated Retailer - an independent retailer who affiliates with other independent retailers under a common trade name or group name for merchandising purposes.

Aided Recall - a research technique used to test audience memory retention of names or advertising.

Alternative Media - advertising media that does not fit into what are considered standard categories of broadcast, print, transit, and outdoor - Example: business publications, trade journals.

Art Director - the individual who supervises a staff of artists and is responsible for the artistic development of all graphic design initiatives.

Attitude Study - a research study to assess the effectiveness of advertising or to determine consumer evaluations of a brand.

Awareness - the first stage in the process of learning about a new product, service, idea or brand.

AIDA - awareness, interest, desire and action model of consumer behavior that traces the sequence of cognitive events leading to a purchase.
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Believability - a term for the effectiveness of advertising copy and imagery.

Brand - identifying mark, symbol, words, or combination of each that separates one company or product from another.  Brand has come to be a comprehensive term that includes consumer attitudes towards a company or product, as well as a behavioral compass through which employees govern their conduct.

Brand Architecture - the relationship and hierarchy of a product brand to its corporate parent brand that is expressed in its visual identity.

Brand Preference - the degree to which consumers repeatedly purchase one brand over others.
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Campaign - a series of related advertising, communications, or promotions with a common theme or visual elements and common objectives, where each succeeding element in the campaign adds to the effectiveness of the preceding ones.

Consumer - the ultimate user of a product or service.  The consumer is not always the purchaser of a product.

Consumer Profile - an outline of significant demographic and psychographic details about the user of a product.  Knowledge of consumer profiles is very important to determine the appropriate creative approach for advertising, merchandising and promotion.

Consumer Research - surveys conducted through various techniques that reveal information important to the development of communications and advertising.

Control - in general the process and protocols of a company to assure conformity and quality of communications and advertising.

Copy Platform - a plan for use by copywriters that defines the basic theme of communications and advertising to ensure appropriate messages are conveyed.

Corporate Advertising - advertising whose purpose is to promote the image of the corporation to improve its reputation and by inference all the products and services it sells.

Creative Strategy - an explanation of how a message will meet advertising objectives.
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Design - the creation of advertising or other communications pieces where all elements are to work cohesively to build a brand.

Desktop Publishing - the use of special programs running on personal computers to design and print documents.  Managing cavalier desktop publishing has become a challenge to consistent brand-building efforts.

Dual Brand Loyalty - the tendency of a consumer to purchase either of two brands without exhibiting consistent preference. A perceived innovation or improvement in image of one brand can have a strong impact in order to create single brand loyalty.
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Emotional Appeal - copy and imagery designed to stimulate one’s emotions, rather than one’s sense of practicality.
 
Gestalt Theory - a psychological point of view that says it is necessary to consider the whole of something, since the whole has meaning apart from individual elements.  The implication is that a change in product attributes or imagery expressed in its communications or advertising may profoundly impact a brand either positively or negatively, depending upon the change.
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Image Advertising - advertising directed at the creation of a specific image for a company, product or brand as distinguished from advertising directed at just product attributes.

Indifference Barrier - a phenomenon that arises where purchases are made primarily to save time and money without regard to any compulsion about the product.  Companies constantly battle to neutralize the indifference barrier by building brand loyalty.

Informed Choice - a purchase decision made after acquiring information about a product.  A brand is often called a "short cut" to decision-making, because of the imagery inherent in a strong brand, which results in an informed choice.

Integrated Marketing - coordination between a variety of communications and advertising to ensure the messages and imagery are consistently received by the greatest possible number of people across multiple venues.
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Marketing - an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Motivation Theory - a psychological discipline that attempts to describe why consumers behave as they do solely in terms of internal needs that drive behavior.  Motivation theory as it applies to brand loyalty would suggest for example that a consumer who purchases Shaw flooring does so not just because she wants a new look, but because she wants the best for her family.
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National Brand - a brand name used by a manufacturer whenever the company represents it is the manufacturer of any product sold.

Niche Brand - a brand devoted to a small segment of a market instead of the whole market.

Non-price Branding - an approach whereby imagery and other factors are maximized over price to create a distinctive quality advantage.
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Positioning - a strategy that attempts to control the perception of a product or service relative to competition.  Positioning is best achieved through integrated marketing, whereby all consumer venues are presented with the same message and imagery.
Private Label - a brand sponsored by a wholesaler, retailer, dealer, or merchandiser, as distinguished from a brand bearing the name of a manufacturer.

Psychographic Segmentation - a strategy whereby the intended audience for a given product is divided according to social class, lifestyle, or personality.  Companies use brands to match products to these consumer traits.
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Sub-brand - a product or service that clarifies and explains the difference between other products from a single manufacturer or parent brand.
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Tagline - a phrase used repeatedly in communications and advertising that, through repetition, eventually comes to identify the brand.

Target Market - a group of consumers for whom an organization crates and maintains a product mix and branding that specifically fits the market’s needs and preferences.

Trademark ^TM - A legal term meaning the same as brand. A trademark identifies one seller’s product and thus differentiates it from products of other sellers. A trademark also aids in promotion and helps protect the seller from imitations. A trademark may be eligible for registration, as it is in the United States through the Patent and Trademark Office of the Department of Commerce. If registered, the trademark obtains additional protection, mainly exclusive use, but special efforts are necessary to keep the registration and the exclusive use.
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Unaided Recall - a research technique used to test the effectiveness of communications and advertising to learn whether respondents are familiar with a particular brand.
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