COMMRC 1310: Advertising Strategy, Media Planning, and Situation Analysis

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering situation analysis, strategic copy approaches, media planning, social media management, and traditional media attributes for COMMRC 1310.

Situation Analysis

The opening section of a plans book, formatted as an outline of the company, consumer, market, product, and competition, that examines problems and opportunities from inside and outside perspectives to provide the foundation for strategy.

SWOT Analysis

A situation analysis framework evaluating internal strengths and weaknesses (marketing, financial, manufacturing, and organizational competencies) alongside external opportunities and threats.

Opportunities

Actual or potential situations in the market environment in which a firm can operate profitably.

Threats

Forces within the external environment that endanger or threaten a firm's profitable operations.

Trend Analysis

A company analysis method that investigates problems over time through extended questioning of the company line, using both internal and external data sources.

Market Analysis

The evaluation of where sales take place and where consumers live and buy, functioning to organize geographic data and assist media planners in allocating media dollars.

Competitive Analysis

The identification of consumer choices in purchasing, encompassing direct competitors within the same generic product category and indirect competitors in different generic categories.

Generic Claim

A product-oriented strategic approach that promotes the broader product category rather than emphasizing a specific individual brand.

Product Feature Strategy

A product-oriented strategic approach that highlights a specific attribute or characteristic of the product by appealing directly to reason.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

A product-oriented advertising strategy that promotes a functional benefit completely unique to the advertised brand.

Positioning

A strategic approach that establishes a distinct and desirable niche for a brand relative to competitors in the consumer's mind.

Brand Image Strategy

A consumer-oriented strategic approach aimed at creating and selling a distinct personality for the brand.

Lifestyle Strategy

A consumer-oriented strategic approach that connects the product with a particular way of living or consumer lifestyle.

Attitude Strategy

A consumer-oriented strategic approach that associates a product with a particular state of mind.

Laddering

An analytical technique used to trace the direct relationship connecting tangible, physical, or psychological product attributes to consumer values.

Means-End Theory

A framework stating that consumers purchase and use products (means) to achieve desired personal states or ends that are defined by their core values.

Consequence

In means-end theory, the element that bridges a product attribute to a consumer value by interpreting the functional or psychological effect of product use.

Role (AI Prompting)

The specific persona an AI is instructed to adopt, typically incorporating the key demographic and psychographic characteristics of a target consumer.

Task (AI Prompting)

The clearly defined action or inquiry assigned to an AI, such as analyzing consumer purchase motivations or exploring reactions to product features.

Output (AI Prompting)

The desired deliverable format or response requested from an AI, such as an evaluation of a selling argument or rough advertising ideas.

Context (AI Prompting)

The background information provided to an AI to inform its response, including brand history, consumer stage in the buying journey, and purchase drivers.

Media Planning

The process of determining how to deliver a selling argument efficiently and effectively by balancing quantitative cost efficiency with qualitative editorial environment.

Advertising Objective

A goal that defines 'what to say' by specifying what the audience should understand, believe, or feel about the advertised product.

Communication Objective

A goal that defines 'how to say it' by determining the most effective method and medium to convey the advertising objective.

Reach

A quantitative media objective measuring the total number of distinct individual people or households exposed to an advertising vehicle or message.

Frequency

A quantitative media objective measuring the number of times a target demographic or household is exposed to an advertising message within a given time period.

Media Mix

The distribution and weighting of an advertising budget across various media classes and vehicles, typically illustrated as a pie chart in a plans book.

Media Tactics

The execution phase of media strategy that specifies purchasing precise ad units (such as $15\text{ or }30\text{ seconds}$) on a specific vehicle within a defined time frame.

Flighting

A media timing pattern where advertising fluctuates significantly between periods, leaving certain intervals completely dormant with no advertising.

Pulsed Schedule

A media timing schedule that combines continuous advertising with intermittent bursts of increased activity, ensuring ads appear in every period without going dormant.

Interactive Copywriting

A copywriting approach advocated by Felton (2013) that emphasizes creating useful, 'cool things' rather than traditional ads, fitting messages to the medium, and aligning the brand with audience behavior and social responsibility.

Proactive Facebook Management

A social strategy outlined by Hyder (2016) focused on driving website traffic, maintaining regular posting schedules, monitoring inquiries, and quickly responding to user comments and shares.

Dayparts

Specific operational time segments across a $24\text{-hour}$ broadcast schedule (such as daytime, evening, and late evening) utilized by media buyers to segment and weight broadcast delivery.

Television (Media Class)

A broadcast medium combining sight and sound that allows complex messages to be delivered with high reach and high cost efficiency, despite short message duration ($5\text{--}30\text{ seconds}$) and high absolute cost.

Outdoor Advertising

A geographically selective medium that reaches on-the-go consumers near or at the point of purchase, offering broad reach and high exposure potential with fleeting delivery.