Case rate
A method for setting advertising budgets (also known as 'per case allowance') according to which a fixed sum for advertising is arrived at based on a forecast of unit sales over the next year.
For an excellent account of other methods and other aspects of budget setting, see Simon Broadbent, The Advertising Budget, (Henley-on-Thames: NTC Publications Ltd., 1989).
Circulation
The circulation of a publication is the number of copies it sells or distributes within a fixed time period.
When assessing the circulation of a publication, media planners attach a value to whether copies of publications are free or paid for, or have a circulation which is a mix of free and paid for distribution.
They are also interested in whether the title's circulation has been audited by an industry body such as ABC or BPA International or by independent auditors. Depending on the sector, analysis of circulations may be broken down into a variety of complex sub-categories by the auditing company.
Bulk sales in national press are regarded currently as a particularly contentious issue.
Links:
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
Cluster analysis
A statistical technique that identifies groups of consumers whose characteristics are highly correlated within each cluster grouping and relatively uncorrelated between clusters.
Cluster analysis is typically applied to lifestyle characteristics to facilitate the development of a 'bespoke' profile of a marketplace which offers a more 'human' visualisation of consumer groupings than is available via standard industry market research surveys.
Links:
This commercial American site gives some further information -
Clustan.
Coffee time
Commercial airtime daypart, with slots scheduled for late morning, loosely defined as being from about 11.00am to noon.
Controlled circulation
The circulation of a publication that is sent free and addressed to specified individuals.
Links:
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
Conurbation
The Registrar General identifies eight major population centres as conurbations, namely Greater London (12.4% of GB population), West Midlands (inc. Birmingham, Dudley, Coventry, Walsall and Wolverhampton - 4.6% of GB), Greater Manchester (inc. Manchester, Wigan, Stockport, Bolton and Salford - 4.5% of GB), West Yorkshire (inc. Leeds, Bradford and Kirklees - 3.7% of GB), Central Clydeside (inc. Glasgow City and Motherwell - 2.8% of GB), Merseyside (inc. Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton - 2.5% of GB), South Yorkshire (inc. Sheffield and Doncaster - 2.3% of GB) and Tyne & Wear (inc. Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne - 2.0% of GB).
In total, the conurbations account for 34.8% of the population of Great Britain.
Links:
Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Conversion factor
A percentage applied to a number (eg an Adult TV rating to obtain a different number (eg a Women 15-34 rating).
Corporate campaign
A corporate advertising campaign addresses general company objectives and targets a broad audience, rather than focussing on specific sales or awareness requirements.
Its intention may be to correct a misapprehension about the company or to head off possible future problems by building positive attitudes; alternatively, it may seek to build knowledge about the range of products or services which the company offers or simply provide a backdrop against which other more specialised campaigns can operate.
Media selection tends to be horizontal.
Cost-per-thousand
Cost-per-thousand is a way in which cost-efficiency can be expressed. It is a measure of audience delivered per unit of cost (eg a TV spot costing £1000 seen by 100,000 housewives delivers a cost-per-thousand of £1000/100 = £10.00). It is typically used in inter- or intra-media comparisons of cost-efficiency (usually abbreviated to 'cpt' - 'cpm' in some countries).
Audiences may be general (eg 'All housewives') or highly specific (eg 'C1C2 males aged 15-44 who are regular readers of the Daily Telegraph').
Cost rank
A ranking of media according to an estimate or measurement of their comparative cost-efficiency, usually measured in terms of costs-per-thousand, in reaching a specific target audience.
Cost-effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness is a measure or expression of the extent to which some advertising activity has achieved its goals, per unit cost.
The measure may be absolute ('it cost this to achieve that') or relative ('it only cost this to achieve that, compared with this, using this other medium/method').
Cost-effectiveness should not be confused with cost-efficiency.
Cost-efficiency
Cost-efficiency is a comparative measure of audience delivered per unit of cost (eg a TV spot costing £1000 seen by 100,000 housewives delivers a cost-per-thousand of £1000/100 = £10.00). It is typically used in inter- or intra-media comparisons of costs-per-thousand (usually abbreviated to 'cpt' - 'cpm' in some countries).
Audiences may be general (eg 'All housewives') or highly specific (eg 'C1C2 males aged 15-44 who are regular readers of the Daily Telegraph').
Cover or Coverage
An ad. campaign's coverage level (also known as its 'reach') is an expression of the extent to which it is viewed or heard by the specified target audience.
The figure can be expressed in gross or net terms.
Gross coverage is the grand total of times the campaign is seen or heard, expressible either as impressions or as a percentage of the size of the target audience (in ratings),
eg
if the universe size is 10,000 Women and the number of times the campaign is seen/heard by that audience is 40,000, then the gross coverage level is 40,000 impressions or 400 Women ratings.
Net coverage is the number or percentage of the target audience who see or hear it,
eg
in the example above, if only 8,000 of the audience universe had actually registered the 40,000 impressions, net coverage would be 8,000 or 80%.