Glossary

Here you will find the description of some words and phrases that pertain to the concepts in
this course, as well as words and phrases used in the videos and readings. If you want to add
another word or expression that we missed, please suggest it in the forums. If you need to
find a description of a brand used in the videos and readings, see the Brand Descriptions
page.

A
Ad blocking or ad filtering is a type of software (or less commonly, a computer hardware
device) that can remove or alter advertising content from a webpage, website, or a mobile
app. Ad blockers are available for a range of computer platforms, including desktop and
laptop computers, tablet computers, and smartphones. A variety of methods have been used
for blocking advertisements. The benefits of this software are wide-ranging and the use of ad
blocking software is increasing. However, many media owners (publishers) rely on
advertising to fund the free content that they provide to users. Some have taken counter-
measures against users who block ads on the sites they visit, for example Forbes.

A demand-side platform (DSP) is a system that allows buyers of digital advertising

inventory to manage multiple ad exchange and data exchange accounts through one interface.
Real-time bidding for displaying online advertising takes place within the ad exchanges, and
by utilizing a DSP, marketers can manage their bids for the banners and the pricing for the
data that they are layering on to target their audiences. Much like Paid Search, using DSPs
allows users to optimize based on set Key Performance Indicators such as effective Cost per
Click (eCPC), and effective Cost per Action (eCPA).

Ad exchange is a technology platform that facilitates the buying and selling of media
advertising inventory from multiple ad networks. Prices for the inventory are determined
through bidding. The approach is technology-driven as opposed to the historical approach of
negotiating price on media inventory.

Ad network or advertising network, is a company that connects advertisers to web sites that
want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is aggregation of ad space
supply from publishers and matching it with advertiser demand.

AdTech or advertising technology, is a term for using technology and software to buy digital
ads.

Advertising inventory or media inventory, is the space available to advertisers on

newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms in the media, advertising, and marketing
industries.

A supply-side platform or sell-side platform (SSP) is a technology platform to enable web

publishers to manage their advertising space inventory, fill it with ads, and receive revenue.
Many of the larger web publishers of the world use a supply-side platform to automate and
optimize the selling of their online media space.
Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world
environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as
sound, video, graphics, or GPS data.

Automation or automatic control, is the use of various control systems for operating
equipment, such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens,
switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other
applications and vehicles with minimal or reduced human intervention.

B
Bing Ads (formerly Microsoft adCenter and MSN adCenter) is a service that provides pay
per click advertising on both the Bing and Yahoo! search engines. As of June 2015, Bing Ads
had 33% market share in the United States.

Branding is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a

company or products from competitors, aiming to create a lasting impression in the minds of
customers.

Buzz or marketing buzz—a term used in viral marketing—is the interaction of consumers
and users of a product or service which amplifies or alters the original marketing message.
This emotion, energy, excitement, or anticipation about a product or service can be positive
or negative.

C
Clutter (Advertising or Marketing Clutter) refers to the large volume of advertising
messages that the average consumer is exposed to on a daily basis. This phenomenon results
from a marketplace that is overcrowded with products leading to huge competition for
customers.

Communication channel refers either to a physical transmission medium such as a wire, or

to a logical connection over a multiplexed medium, such as a radio channel in
telecommunications and computer networking.

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that

occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices.

Consumer insight or customer insight is an interpretation of trends in human behaviors

which aims to increase effectiveness of a product or service for the consumer, as well as
increase sales for mutual benefit.

Content Marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing

content for a targeted audience online.

Cost per click (CPC) or Pay per click, is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic
to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a website owner or a network
of websites) when the ad is clicked.
Cost per impression (CPI) or "cost per thousand impressions" (CPM), is a term used in
traditional advertising media selection, as well as online advertising and marketing related to
web traffic.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is an approach to managing a company's

interaction with current and potential customers. It uses data analysis about customers' history
with a company to improve business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on
customer retention and ultimately driving sales growth.

D
Data-driven marketing also known as digital marketing, is an umbrella term for the
marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also
including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium.

Direct Marketing is a form of advertising which allows businesses to communicate directly

to customers through a variety of media, including cell phone text messaging, email,
websites, online adverts, database marketing, promotional letters, etc.

E
F
5W Model of Communication is a communication model, also known as Lasswell’s model
of communication; it describes an act of communication, who, says what, in which channel,
to whom, with what effect.

4P Strategy the marketing mix, also known as the four Ps, is a foundation concept in
marketing. Four Ps are the marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing
objectives in the target market. The marketing mix refers to four broad levels of marketing
decision, including product, price, promotion, and place.

G
Google AdWords is an online advertising service, developed by Google, where advertisers
pay to display brief advertising copy to web users. Google AdWords' system is based partly
on cookies and partly on keywords determined by advertisers. Google uses these
characteristics to place advertising copy on pages where they think it might be relevant.
Advertisers pay when users divert their browsing to click on the advertising copy. Partner
websites receive a portion of the generated income.

H
Holographic display is a type of display that utilizes light diffraction to create a virtual
three-dimensional image of an object. Holographic displays are unique from other forms of
3D imaging in that they do not require the aid of any special glasses or external equipment
for a viewer to see the image.
HTTP Cookie also called web cookie, Internet cookie, browser cookie, or simply cookie, is a
small piece of data sent from a website and stored on the user's computer by the user's web
browser while the user is browsing.

I
ICTs Information and communication technology, is an extended term for information
technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of
telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary
enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to
access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Internet of Things (IoT) is the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles (also referred
to as "connected devices" and "smart devices"), buildings, and other items embedded with
electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which enable these objects
to collect and exchange data.

J
K
L
Legacy media or Old media, are the mass media institutions that predominated prior to the
Information Age, particularly print media, film studios, music studios, advertising agencies,
radio broadcasting, and television.

Location-based advertising is a new form of advertising that integrates mobile advertising

with location-based services. The technology is used to pinpoint consumer‘s location and
provide location-specific advertisements on their mobile devices.

M
Marketing communications uses different marketing channels and tools in combination.
Marketing communication channels focus on any way a business communicates a message to
its desired market, or the market in general.

MarketingTech or marketing technology, is a technologically-based tool or platform used in

marketing.

Marketing Strategy has a fundamental goal of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable
competitive advantage. Marketing strategy includes all basic, short-term, and long-term
activities in the field of marketing that contribute to goals of the company and its marketing
objectives.

Media (communication) tools used to store and deliver information or data.

Mixed Reality (MR) sometimes referred to as hybrid reality, is the merging of real and
virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital
objects co-exist and interact in real time.

Mobile Marketing is a multi-channel online marketing technique focused on reaching a

specific audience on their smart phone, tablets, or any other related devices through websites,
E mail, SMS and MMS, social media or mobile applications.

Multichannel marketing is the blending of different distribution and promotional channels

for the purpose of Marketing. Distribution channels range from a retail storefront, a website,
or a mail-order catalogue.

N
Native Advertising is a type of advertising, mostly online, that matches the form and
function of the platform upon which it appears.

O
Online display advertising is advertising on websites. It includes many different formats
and contains items such as text, images, flash, video, and audio. The main purpose of display
advertising is to deliver general advertisements and brand messages to site visitors.

Online publishing or digital publishing, or electronic publishing, includes the digital

publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and
catalogues.

Out of Home Advertising is also known as OOH advertising, advertising that reaches the
consumers while they are outside their homes.

P
Page rank (PR) is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search
engine results. PageRank was named after Larry Page, one of the founders of Google.
PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages.

Paid to click is an online business model that draws online traffic from people aiming to earn
money from home. PTC websites act as middlemen between advertisers and consumers; the
advertiser pays for displaying ads on the PTC website, and a part of this payment goes to the
viewer when he views the advertisement.

Programmatic advertising is guided by artificial intelligence and pre-set consumer

parameters, through programmatic advertising, buying and selling will be transformed into an
automated process.

Q
R
Real-time bidding (RTB) is a means by which advertising inventory is bought and sold on a
per-impression basis, via programmatic instantaneous auction, similar to financial markets.
With real-time bidding, advertising buyers bid on an impression and, if the bid is won, the
buyer’s ad is instantly displayed on the publisher’s site. Real-time bidding lets advertisers
manage and optimize ads from multiple ad-networks by granting the user access to a
multitude of different networks, allowing them to create and launch advertising campaigns,
prioritize networks, and allocate percentages of unsold inventory, known as backfill.

S
Search engine (Web search engine) is a software system that is designed to search for
information on the World Wide Web.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a
web page in a web search engine's unpaid results—often referred to as "natural," "organic,"
or "earned" results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and
more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from
the search engine's users, these visitors can then be converted into customers.

Search engine results page (SERP) is the page displayed by a search engine in response to a
query by a searcher. The main component of the SERP is the listing of results that are
returned by the search engine in response to a keyword query, although the page may also
contain other results such as advertisements.

Search keywords or keyword research is a practice search engine optimization (SEO)

professionals use to find and research alternative search terms that people enter into search
engines while looking for a similar subject. Search engine optimization professionals research
additional keywords, which they use to achieve better rankings in search engines.

Social capital is a form of economic and cultural capital in which social networks are central,
transactions are marked by reciprocity, trust, and cooperation, and market agents produce
goods and services not mainly for themselves, but for a common good.

Social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or
organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors.

T
Technological affordance is used to refer to new technologies and what tasks users can
possibly perform with technologies at their disposal.

The characteristics of the Target is another term for the characteristics of target audience or
potential customers.

The publisher-advertising business model offers media content as a product to the media
audience in exchange for direct payment or their attention.
Two-step flow of communication model says that most people form their opinions under
the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media.

U
Ubiquitous computing is a concept in software engineering and computer science where
computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing,
ubiquitous computing can occur using any device, in any location, and in any format.

V
Virtual Reality is a computer technology that uses Virtual reality headsets, sometimes in
combination with physical spaces or multi-projected environments, to generate realistic
images, sounds and other sensations that simulates a user's physical presence in a virtual or
imaginary environment.

W
Web 1.0 is a retronym referring to the first stage of the World Wide Web's evolution.
According to Cormode, G. and Krishnamurthy, B. (2008) "content creators were few in Web
1.0 with the vast majority of users simply acting as consumers of content.” Personal web
pages were common, consisting mainly of static pages hosted on ISP-run web servers, or on
free web hosting services such as GeoCities.

Web 2.0 describes World Wide Web websites that emphasize user-generated content,
usability (ease of use, even by non-experts), and interoperability (this means that a website
can work well with other products, systems and devices) for end users. The term was
popularized by Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty at the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 Conference
in late 2004, though it was coined by Darcy DiNucci in 1999.

Word of mouth or viva voice, is the passing of information from person to person by oral
communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is
a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others a story
about a real event or something made up.

X
Y
Z