Outdoor Advertising Glossary Terms To Know
A
Account: A term commonly used within the advertising business to refer to the corporate entity employing an advertising agency.
Account Coordinator: The advertising agency employee responsible for much of the day-to-day business of servicing an account.
Account Executive (A/E): The agency employee is responsible for a client’s marketing and administrative efforts.
Advertiser: Organization or person who pays for the production, execution, and placement of an advertisement.
Advertising: Making known; calling public attention to a product, service, or company by means of paid announcements so as to affect perception or arouse consumer desire to make a purchase or take a particular action.
Advertising Structure: Physical structures built by an outdoor advertising organization to display advertising. The message may be applied to the structure in several different ways. Structures are built to carry standard size advertising material.
A view Guide: A device used to evaluate design copy readability in a studio prior to full-scale reproduction for out-of-home media placement.
Agency: A company in the business of creating advertisements, packaging, and names for products and services, as well as providing marketing and merchandising advice and general business and promotional counsel to its clients.
Agency Commission: Sum of money paid to advertise or media placement agency by outdoor contractors for placing business
Airport Advertising: A variety of advertising displays are available at airports, ranging from wall-mounted dioramas (backlit wall posters) to freestanding islands or specially built exhibits.
Alternative Outdoor Media: Out-of-home media that is used to create customized advertising programs that generally target specific consumer audiences. Alternative outdoor media includes, but is not limited to ambient media like stadium/arena/speedway signage, airborne/airship displays, marine vessel displays, beach panels, ski resort panels, golf course panels, rest area panels, bicycle racks, gas pumps, parking meters, and postcards.
Angled: Out-of-Home advertising structures are built for maximum visibility to vehicles approaching them. They are classified as angled when one end is set back more than 6′ from the other end of the structure as measured along the line of travel.
Animation: Involves special treatment such as moving components, flashing lights, etc. Used to gain added attention and awareness. The animation is more commonly used on rotary, permanent, or spectacular type bulletins (laws permitting).
Approach: The distance measured along the line of travel from the point where the out of home unit first becomes visible to the point where copy is no longer readable (having passed out of sight).
Apron: A narrow substrate attached below the display surface of a bulletin structure that is used to cover necessary construction support beams.
Arterials: Are major connecting roads within cities or between towns.
Audience Delivery: The size of an audience exposed to out of home advertising usually measured over one or more weeks. Audience delivery can be represented using several expressions, including a GRP level, ratings, or gross impressions.
Audience: The total number of people who have the opportunity to read an advertising message.
Availability (Avail): The available media space for sale at any given time. Common to all media.
Average Daily Traffic Count: The outdoor audience is measured by the number of vehicles passing a specific site multiplied by estimated average vehicle occupancy. Traffic counts are available from State Road or Transport authorities and estimates of vehicle occupancy for different types of roads are also available from the same source. All counts provided from this information should be for one-way viewing. Such traffic counts do not include the pedestrian audiences that may be significant when sites are within a CBD or at a retail shopping location.
Awareness: A measurement of the percentage of viewers remembering an outdoor design in a test market.
B
Backlight Units (Backlit): Advertising structures that house illumination in a box to throw light through translucent advertising printed on vinyl for higher visibility and extended night viewing.
Back-to-Back Sign: An off-premise sign consisting of two displays facing in opposite directions with not more than two faces per sign facing.
Banners: Banners can be stretched out on exterior or interior walls or hung from ceilings. This product is also a great advertisement at a bargain price.
Bar Coding: Similar to the Universal Products Code (UPC) systems in retail stores. This system allows for scanning to track dates, times, locations posted, etc.
Beach Advertising: Advertising panels affixed to lifeguard towers or other structures located at or near a beach.
Bicycle Rack Panel: Advertising attached to public bicycle racks that are commonly found on college campuses or in civic center areas.
Bidding: Means the industry practice of negotiating contracts with qualified advertising services suppliers for particular work/service orders, usually considering price quotations vis-à-vis supplier competence.
Billboard: A billboard essentially means a sign, structure or surface, or combination thereof that identifies or communicates a commercial or noncommercial message related to an activity conducted, a service rendered, or a commodity.
Blank-Out: To cover all or a portion of a poster design.
Bleed Through: A term used when referring to painted bulletins where paint from a previous design has worked through to the surface of the new design.
Bleed: When an element, usually an illustration or screened area, prints to the edge of the paper or sign.
Bleed-Face Bulletin: A painted display development which, through the elimination of the customary molding, permits painting of the copy to the extreme edge, thus providing greater copy area and more flexible and economical use of cut-outs for three-dimensional effects.
Blimp: Light-than-air vessels ranging to hundreds of feet in length which carry specially constructed advertising displays; scheduled to fly over major sporting and other events for massive exposure. Smaller, tethered, and unmanned blimps are also used for promotional purposes at point-of-sale, civic center, etc.
Blister: Separation of paint from the surface to which it has been applied to form paint blisters.
Blocked Panel: An Out of Home advertising structure whose view has been obstructed on a more or less permanent basis.
Boards: A colloquial term for poster panels and painted bulletins originating during the period when theatrical and circus posters were displayed on board fences.
Booked: A term meaning acceptance of a contract for outdoor advertising space by a plant operator. In this sense, a showing has been “booked” when it is scheduled to appear for a definite period.
Brand Activation: Often done by street teams who are smart, enthusiastic ambassadors who build excitement at the street level for any brand. They are trained and briefed before each assignment to get consumers interested in any product or service in no time!
Brand Awareness: The act of creating public awareness of a specific brand in order to maximize its recognition.
Brand Name: A name selected by the advertiser to identify a product to the consumer, and to set apart from all other products. Several product variations may exist within a designated brand.
Brand Recall: Brand Recall is the extent to which a brand name is recalled as a member of a brand, product, or service class.
Broadcast: To make something known widely; disseminate something.
Bulletin Structures: A type of outdoor advertising meant for long term use and works best where traffic is heavy and visibility is good. They carry printed or painted messages, are created in sections, and are brought to the site where they are assembled and hung on the billboard structure.
Bumper Sticker: An advertising strip attached to an automobile bumper.
Bus Bench Panel: Advertising attached to the backrest of a bus bench.
Bus Panel: Advertising panels attached to the exterior or interior of a public bus.
Bus Shelter Displays: Posters positioned as an integral part of a free-standing covered structure at a bus stop. Backlit or non-lit.
Bus Shelter Panel (Transit Shelter Panel): A standard backlit advertising panel that is an integral component in free-standing structures located at bus stops.
Business-to-Business (B-to-B): Communications or commerce between companies (as distinguished from dealings between a company and a consumer); frequently conducted through trade journals.
C
Calibration: Measuring and adjusting both line color and the intensity of individual pixels to ensure image consistency across the entire display.
Camera Ready Artwork: Camera-ready artwork is defined as a clean black & white original with a maximum image area of 8″ x 10″ in scale. Faxed artwork, business cards, and black and white photographs, printed items, and hand-drawn graphics are not considered camera ready.
Campaign: The total planned, coordinated sales effort on behalf of a specific client or product, often multimedia in nature and run over a period of time.
Campaign Delivery: The audience delivered by an out-of-home advertising schedule, expressed in impressions and/or gross rating points (GRPs). Reach & frequency can also be used. Campaign delivery is most valuable when expressed using the demographic target and market definition of the advertiser.
Campaign Period: The length of an out-of-home campaign is usually measured in days or weeks.
Campus Kiosks: Free-standing displays located on college campuses that often incorporate a campus directory.
Cancellable: A contract subject to cancellation on specified terms.
Cancellation Period: Specifically, the period of time during which a contract may be canceled. Usually 60-90 days prior to the end of any yearly period for painted displays.
Caps: Short for capitals. (Upper Case Letters)
Car Cards /Train Cards: Advertising displays of various sizes posted in buses, subways, and commuter trains.
Changeable Message Sign: A sign with the ability to change content by means of manual or remote input.
Channel Letters: Letters with recessed surfaces designed to accommodate neon tubing.
Checking: An actual physical inspection of poster showings and painted displays to make certain that contract specifications have been fulfilled.
Circulation: Circulation (potential viewers) is the foundation for determining the advertising value of outdoor sites. Outdoor circulation is based on traffic volume. There are three types of people in this volume: occupants of cars, pedestrians, and mass transit passengers. Generally, outdoor circulation figures will only reflect people in vehicles. Occupancy rates vary by State, by type of location and time of day.
Client: An organization that employs an advertising agency to create advertisements.
Cluster: A grouping of LEDs that act as a single pixel.
Clutter: When an advertisement is surrounded by other ads, thereby forcing it to compete for the viewers or the listener’s attention.
Coat-Out: To cover the copy of a painted bulletin with a coat of white or gray paint, preparatory to repainting with a new copy.
Collating: Arranging the individual sheets of posters into the order in which they will be posted on the panel.
Color Chart: A chart containing samples of the standard colors, available from paint manufacturers for use as a guide in a painting painted bulletins and walls.
Color Chips: Color samples painted on wood, plastic, or paper that are sent to plant operators to enable them to match colors for artwork in which colors other than standard have been used.
Color Separation: A traditional photographic process that uses four-film negatives to ultimately create a full-color printed product. Recent computer innovations have obviated the need for separated film negatives in certain applications.
Color Swatches: Same as color chips.
Combination Sign: Shall means any sign which combines the characteristics of two or more types of signs, including the roof projecting and ground projecting signs.
Commercial: An audio or video advertising announcement, usually presented on television, radio, or in a movie theater.
Commercial Signs: Usually located on commercial sites, these advertising structures appear on roofs, walls, monopoles, or other faces of business establishments or manufacturing plants for the purpose of identification or direction. They are not advertising media signs and members of the Association are not normally involved
Commuter Clock: Combination advertising display and time indicator located in subway stations or other transportation locations.
Competitive Plants: One or more Out of Home advertising plant operators offering products or services in the same market area.
Computer Printing / Painting: Method of applying design to flexible vinyl via computer technology; ensures faithful reproduction of full or partial size, full-color advertisements with quality assurance from copy to copy; reusable and resistant to fading, cracking, and weather.
Computerized Electronics: Computerized LED or other electronic displays on Out of Home advertising structures; enable a computer operator to change the advertising message electronically on a continual basis.
Conforming Sign: A sign or a billboard legally erected in accordance with federal, state, and local permit requirements and laws.
Controller: Computer or computer-type devices used to program and operate digital displays.
Construction Crew: Employees of an outdoor advertising plant who erect the poster panel and painted bulletin structures.
Continuity: The elimination of gaps in a media schedule by maximizing the duration of a campaign, ideally 52 weeks.
Contract Period: The period for which the outdoor media is sold. Typically, it is sold for 30-day periods.
Convenience Store Panel (C-Store Panel): Point-of-purchase units that are positioned at the entrance of convenience stores.
Copy: The complete advertising message to be displayed on the advertising structure.
Copywriter: A person is responsible for writing advertising copy and generating creative concepts, often in collaboration with an art director or creative director.
Corporate Identity: A company’s name, logo, typeface, colors, slogan, etc., are elements that help comprise its corporate identity. Motto Advertising has produced effective corporate identity packages for many new and long-established organizations.
Cost Per Thousand (CPM): The cost of reaching one thousand potential viewers of an outdoor advertising display. It is calculated by dividing the monthly cost by the monthly circulation in thousands.
Coverage: The number of percent of families or individuals in a market who are reached by outdoor advertising.
Creative: Advertising message design produced for out of home advertising.
Credit: The allowance made by a plant operator to an advertiser for a loss of service. This takes the form of extended service, extra service, or a cash refund.
Cross-Read: An advertising display that is visible across traffic lanes on the opposite side of the roadway.
Cut-Outs: Letters, packages, figures, or mechanical devices that are attached to the face of a painted bulletin to provide a three-dimensional effect. May also be called Embellishments.
D
Daily Estimated Circulation (DEC): The number of people who will see your board per day as verified by the Traffic Audit Bureau. Also called Daily Impressions, bring the estimated number of persons passing an outdoor location on an average day.
Daily Impressions: Also called DEC. The estimated number of persons passing an outdoor location on an average day.
Day-Glow: A trade name for certain inks or lacquers that become fluorescent when activated by the ultraviolet rays of sunlight or special illumination.
Deck Panels: Panels built one above the other
Demographic Profile: Audience breakdowns based on various characteristics such as age, sex, income, education, etc.
Demographics: The vital statistics of a population group or a derived sample, such as age, sex, education, ethnic heritage, education, income, housing, etc.
Description of Location: Method of accurately describing the location of each poster panel and painted display in a plant. The description indicates the name of the street, road or highway, the address, the side of the street or highway, the direction of facing, and in the case of a highway, the distance from a given point.
Design Description: The caption of the poster or print copy, a description of the pictorial portion, or a number used to identify a particular poster or print design.
Digital Media/Digital Out-of-Home Media (DOOH): Is a form of out-of-home advertising in which content and messages are displayed on an electronic screen, or digital sign, can be changed without modification to the physical sign, typically with the goal of delivering targeted messages to specific locations at specific times. Digital signs may be scrolling message boards, LCD or plasma display panels, electronic billboards, projection screens, or other emerging display types like Organic LED screens (OLEDs) that can be controlled electronically using a computer or other device, allowing individuals or groups to remotely change and control their content (usually via the Internet).
Direct Mail: Mail, usually consisting of advertising matter, appeals for donations, or the like, sent simultaneously to large numbers of possible individual customers or contributors.
Direct Marketing: Marketing via leaflets, brochures, letters, catalogs, or print ads mailed or distributed directly to current and potential consumers. The direct marketing industry has grown enormously as a result of increasingly specialized mailing lists.
Direction (Facing): The direction an Out of Home panel faces.
Directional Sign: A sign erected for the convenience of the public such as for directing traffic movement or identifying public facilities but containing no advertising. An advertising sign whose purpose it is to direct the public to the advertiser’s premises.
Discount: Reduction in quoted base space rates usually earned by contract continuity.
Display Ad: An illustrated advertisement.
Display Period: The exposure time during which the individual advertising message is on display. Poster display periods vary depending upon individual advertiser needs and copy change periods dictated by the campaigns.
Display Surface: Shall means the entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of a sign and in no case passing through or between any adjacent of the same. However, such perimeter shall not include any structural elements lying outside the limits of such signs and not forming an integral part of the display.
Distribution: The location of the individual advertising poster sites within a market relative to exposure potential.
Double Decker: One panel built directly above another.
Doubled Faced Sign: An advertising structure with two adjacent faces oriented in the same direction and not more than 10 feet apart at the nearest point between the two faces.
Drive Time: The hours when most commuters are in their cars.
Dwell Time: The interval of time when a consumer is in close proximity to an OOH ad.
Dye Transfer: An opaque color print made from artwork or color film; permits a wide range of color correction during the laboratory process or a match to the color of the original. The process is suitable for reproducing color print in any quantity.
E
Effective Circulation: The estimate of the audience has an opportunity to see an outdoor poster. i.e. occupants of westbound vehicles for an east-facing poster.
Efficiency: The degree of value delivered to an audience relative to its space cost; usually expressed as either CPM (Cost per thousand) or CPP (Cost per gross rating point).
Electrical Sign: Shall means any sign which has characters, letters, figures, design, faces, backgrounds, or outline illuminated by incandescent or fluorescent lams or luminous tubes.
Electronic Message Sign or Center: An electrically activated changeable sign whose variable message capability can be electronically programmed.
Embellishment: Any added feature to an outdoor structure such as cutouts, neon or plastic letters, 3-dimensional objects, extensions, etc.
EMC: Electronic Message Centre that can be remotely programmed to display a message using a personal computer and modem.
End Panel: The advertising structure which is closest to the approaching line of traffic when more than one structure is built in the same facing.
Expected Lifetime: Anticipated length of use for an LED. The expected lifetime of an LED is measured at the point when the sign has degraded to 50 percent of its original intensity. LEDs have a typical expected life of 50,000 to 100,000 hours (as specified by the manufacturer).
Exposure: Represents the opportunity for a message to be seen and read.
Expressway: Limited access roadway with speed limits ranging from 80Km/h to 115Km/h parking prohibited.
Extended Services: A method of adjusting a loss of service by exposing the advertiser’s message to the public beyond the period specified in the contract.
Extention: The protrusion of cut-out design beyond the rectangular border of the painted bulletin. Also may be referred to as Top Out.
Extra Service: A method of adjusting loss of service by posting additional panels beyond the number specified in the contract, or in case of a painted display, painting and servicing a mutually acceptable substitute location.
Eye Catchers (Reflective Disks): Metallic disks attached to the surface of an outdoor structure that shimmers in the sunlight.
Eye-Level Advertising: Advertisements posted at eye level so that the consumer’s glance falls at them by default without having to crane their necks.
F
Face: The surface of an outdoor advertising structure on which the design is posted or painted. Usually made of galvanized metal sheets, masonite, or plastic. A unit may have more than one face.
Facing: Specifies the direction the poster may be seen to traffic flow. For example, a south-facing panel can be seen only by northbound traffic and vice-versa.
Faded: Loss of color brilliance in poster and paint designs.
Fibre Optic Display: Innovative use of electronic light transmitting fibers to create changeable copy displays.
Finished Art: Art that is complete in all respects; a true prototype of the anticipated reproduction; camera-ready.
Finishing: The method used to hem the edges of posters and bulletins. Finishing can include welded pockets or other operational techniques for hanging substrates onto billboard units.
Flagging: A tear that causes poster paper to hang loosely from a bulletin or poster panel face.
Flash Approach: A space position value factor. Specifically applied to a panel that is visible for less than 40 feet to pedestrian traffic, less than 75 feet to travel moving at less than 30 miles per hour.
Flasher: An automatic switch used on illuminated displays to turn lights on and off at predetermined intervals.
Fleet Displays: Ad displays affixed to the sides of the commercial trucks and trailers operating in metropolitan areas and over the road.
Flexible Face (Vinyl): A substrate on which an advertising message is rendered by either computer production or hand painting.
Flight: The length of an advertising campaign, sometimes divided into distinct segments over the course of weeks.
Flood Lighting: Lighting outdoor advertising displays by means of very powerful illumination which is directed on to the display from any convenient location.
Fluorescent Links: Inks that fluoresce when activated by the ultraviolet rays of sunlight on the near-ultraviolet rays of blacklight.
Fluorescent Paint: Paint which fluoresces and produces colors that may differ under the near-ultraviolet rays blacklight from their appearance under incandescent light or daylight.
Fluorescent Tubing: Luminous tubing with a fluorescent powder applied to the inner walls.
Focus Group: A group of potential consumers used in a market research effort, which is usually designed to determine the likely effectiveness of a product or advertising strategy.
Frequency: The number of times an average individual has the opportunity to be exposed to an advertising message during a defined period of time. Frequency in outdoor usually refers to the calendar month since this time period coincides with standard contract practices.
Fully-Wrapped Bus: Specially commissioned transit display in which the entire bus vehicle is covered with the advertising design, including windows, through which passengers have visibility due to special vinyl material.
G
Geo-Demographic Mapping: The method of identifying specific audience segments on a map, as they relate to out of home locations, both geographically and demographically.
Global Positioning System (GPS): A location system using latitude and longitude to pinpoint exact geographic locations.
Golf Course Displays: A variety of advertising formats available at the golf course and practice range complexes.
Greek: The gibberish or nonsense text placed in a “dummy” to signify where the copy will eventually be.
Gross Impressions: Gross Impressions refer to the total number of impression opportunities registered against the target audience in a Showing.
Gross Rating Point (GRP): GRP’s represent the number of impression opportunities delivered by a media schedule (without regard to audience duplication) expressed as a percent of the population of a specific market. Reach x Frequency = GRP.
Ground Bulletin: A painted bulletin built on the ground as opposed to one built on a rooftop or a wall.
H
Half-Tone: An image formed by printing close-set dots of varying sizes on paper or other “hard” media.
Head-On: A poster panel or painted bulletin located so that it directly faces approaching traffic.
High Build: An outdoor display built on high uprights to overcome an obstruction, such as an embankment or a building.
High Spot: A location showing extra heavy traffic.
Hook: A clever phrase or melody used to capture the consumer’s attention and help make the advertising message more memorable.
I
Identity: Visual Identity is the visible essence of a corporation, institution, or government agency. Identity, unified & controlled, can provide a positive association with an organization in the eyes of employees, customers, stockholders, and the public.
Illegal Sign: A sign that was erected or maintained in violation of the State law, these Rules, and Regulations, or local law or ordinance.
Illuminated: Outdoor structure with internal or external electrical equipment installed to expose the advertiser’s message to night-time circulation.
Impact: The degree of success of a campaign measured by the combined value of coverage and repetition. It is determined by the number of people exposed to the ad multiplied by the average number of times exposed during a predefined period.
Impression Opportunity: That opportunity provided by a poster panel or painted display unit to the passers-by either in a vehicle or foot to see or be exposed to the message displayed. In outdoor, the term “circulation” is often correctly used when “Impression Opportunity” is meant.
Impressions: This is a term used by the media to describe and quantify the number of individuals who have an “opportunity” to see an AD in a given amount of time.
Imprint: The identification of the operating media company on an advertising display.
Independent: An agency that functions alone, not controlled, or influenced by a larger corporation.
Indoor Advertising: Indoor advertising panels located in heavy pedestrian traffic areas, such as public restrooms and nightclubs.
Inflatables: Gas-filled, three-dimensional displays for use at point-of-sale or special events; usually taking the shape of a product, trademarked character.
Information Kiosk Panel: Advertising affixed to a free-standing kiosk that is typically located in civic centers or areas with heavy pedestrian traffic.
Inspection (Market Ride): The pre-buy evaluation and selection of out of home locations based on the physical viewing of specific structures in a market.
Intensity: Also called brightness. The LED industry measures display intensity in candelas per square meter, which is also referred to as nits.
In-Store Display: Indoor Advertising panels located in stores and other retail venues with heavy pedestrian traffic.
J
Junior Poster: A standardized poster format, typically measuring 6′ x 12′; formally known as an 8 Sheet.
L
Landscaped: A poster panel or painted bulletin location at which the plant operator has planted grass, shrubs, trees, etc. in order to improve the appearance of the location.
Lattice: A decorative network of wood or metal strips placed immediately below the bottom of some poster panels or painted bulletins.
Large Format Displays: Big, bold, and larger than life displays and signage that impact the viewer’s attention, by virtue of their size.
Layouts: A design for graphic advertising production, roughly depicting the look of the finished advertisement.
LCD: Liquid crystal display is a thin, flat display device made up of any number of color or monochrome pixels arrayed in front of a light source or reflector.used for displaying full motion graphics, static or video advertisements.
Lease: An agreement which permits an out of home media company to erect an off-premise advertising structure on a specific location, with approval by the landowner, for a specified period of time.
LED: Light Emitting Diode, an electronic device that channels light through tubes to create patterns that can produce changing video displays.
Lenticular Film: The lenticular film is the technology that makes the images change shape, move, and appear alive leave the audience startled. There are a number of graphic elements contained in the original image that are separated and put on different layers, to produce the illusion of depth in a 2-dimensional image.
Light Detector: Also called a light sensor. An electrical component used to detect the amount or level of ambient light surrounding a display. If dimming has been set to “AUTO,” the light detector or sensor adjusts the intensity of the LEDs.
Likelihood to See (LTS): The portion of the OTS (Opportunity to See) audience who are likely to see an ad. out-of-home is the first medium in the US to move from reporting OTS audiences (DECs) to LTS (Likely to See) audiences which can also be referred to as commercial audiences.
Linage: Total lines of advertising; for example, a three-column by ninety line advertisement has a total linage of 270 lines. A client’s linage in a specific publication may run to tens of thousands per month. By anticipating its clients’ linage requirements.
Line Of Travel: The centerline of that portion of the roadway reserved for traffic moving in any one direction.
Line of Sight: The simultaneous viewing of more than one copy area of one outdoor unit.
Lithography: Popular printing method for producing large quantities of posters in full color.
Load Factor: The average number of persons riding in each vehicle during brand activation.
Location List: A listing of all locations included in a specific outdoor program.
Location Map (Spotted Map): A map annotated with all the locations included as part of a specific out of home media program.
Logo: A recognizable graphic design element, representing an organization or product.
Luminous Tubing: Glass tubing filled with rage gas (neon or mercury – argon) which gives off colored light when an electrical charge is passed through the tube.
M
Magnetic Signs: These signs can be applied directly to the door of your car, van, or truck or on any metal surface.
Mall Displays: Backlit advertising structures located at strategic points in shopping malls; usually two or three-sides, often includes directory format.
Mandatory Copy: Copy that is required, by law, to appear on the advertising of certain products such as liquors or beer.
Mapping (Geo-Demographic Mapping): The method of identifying specific audience segments on a map, as they relate to out of home locations, both geographically and demographically.
Marine Vessel Display: A variety of advertising formats affixed to marine vessels.
Market: The defined area wherein a plant operates; can also refer to coverage (percentage of the population potentially exposed to the advertising). Out of Home media can also be sold in sub or niche markets (portions of larger metro areas).
Market Ride: The pre-buy evaluation and selection of out of home locations based on the physical viewing of specific structures in a market.
Market Place: Any sphere considered as a place where ideas, thoughts, artistic creations, etc., compete for recognition.
Marquee: Shall means a fixed shelter used only as a roof and extending over a building to which it is attached.
Marquee Sign: Shall means a sign which is attached to a marquee.
Mass Transit (Mass Transportation): Public conveyances such as buses, trains, subways, and other rapid transit commuter systems.
Mechanical Displays: Painted bulletins or displays on which animation or movement is achieved by the use of electrically powered devices.
Mechanicals: Photostatted elements of a design scaled in the desired position to illustrate the basic design concept.
Media: This means any mass communication vehicle used to convey an advertising message such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cinema, or outdoor signs.
Media Buying Service: Specialists in planning and buying out of home media and monitoring field operations for advertisers and agencies.
Media Mix: The combination of different media forms into a single advertising program to meet the overall objectives of a media plan. Out of home media can enhance the overall effectiveness of a media mix, particularly by increasing reach and frequency and by establishing brand continuity over time.
Medium: It is a means or instrument by which the message is conveyed to the target audience.
Message: The substance of an advertising communication usually transmitted by words, signals, or other means from one person, station, or group to another.
Message Duration: The interval of time when a digital OOH advertising message is viewed.
Mobile Billboard: A truck that is equipped with one or more standard poster panels that are intended for viewing while the vehicle is parked at a specified location or while driving along a designated route.
Mobile Panel: A trailer-mounted double-faced poster panel which is transported to a given location and usually employed for merchandising purposes at retail outlets.
Molding (Trim): The frame of metal, plastic, fiberglass, or wood surrounds the face of an advertising structure.
Monopole (Unipole): A structure fabricated on a single steel pole or column.
N
Net Reach: The total number of persons within the target audience exposed to an advertising schedule often expressed as a percentage.
Newspaper Insert: Something inserted or intended for insertion, as a picture or chart or a leaf of paper into a newspaper.
News Stand / Newsrack Panel: Advertising affixed to a newsstand or news rack structures.
Non-Illuminated Panel: Name given to a standard poster panel not equipped with illumination.
O
Obstruction: Anything that interferes with the visibility of the copy on poster panels or painted bulletins.
Off-Premise Sign: A sign that advertises products or services that are not sold, produced, manufactured, or furnished on the property where the sign is located. An outdoor display is an off-premise sign.
OLED: The organic light-emitting diode is a special type of light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive layer comprises a thin-film of certain organic compounds. The emissive electroluminescent layer can include a polymeric substance that allows the deposition of very suitable organic compounds, for example, in rows and columns on a flat carrier by using a simple “printing” method to create a matrix of pixels which can emit different color light. OLEDs lend themselves to the implementation of large areal light-emitting visuals.
On-Premise Sign: A sign that advertises products or services that are sold, produced, manufactured, or furnished on the property where the sign is located.
Open Space: Poster or painted display space not currently in use or under contract.
Opportunity to See (OTS): A basic measure of media exposure. OTS estimates are measures of media exposure and not advertising.
Out of Home Advertising: An inclusive term that refers to a wide array of advertising vehicles designed to reach the consumer outside the home, including outdoor, transit, bus shelters, bus benches, aerials, airports, in-flight, in-store, movies, college campus/high schools, hotels, shopping malls, sports facilities, stadiums, taxis, telephone kiosks, trucks, truck stops, and other specialized media.
Out of Home: All advertising that is specifically intended to reach consumers outside the home. Out of home includes, but is not limited to, outdoor media.
Out-of-Home Video Networks: Place-based video networks that offer editorial content and video advertising. They include in-store, health clubs, and other venues.
Out of Service: An advertising structure temporarily or permanently unavailable for use as part of an out-of-home program.
Outdoor Advertising: The term refers to many forms of media that carry advertising messages to consumer audiences outside the home. Outdoor products are divided among three primary categories, billboards, street furniture, and transit.
Outdoor Media: The term is primarily associated with billboards, street furniture, transit, and alternative media.
Outdoor Placement Specialists: Specialist in planning and buying out of home media and monitoring field operations for advertisers and agencies.
Out-of-Home Media: All forms of advertising that are placed outdoors to be viewed by consumers.
Overlap Posting: A period of time in which posters showing in a market are on display at the same time for the same account.
Overlay: A paper strip or price designation, such as a dealer imprint for a promotion, which is pasted on the face of an existing poster.
Override: The continuation of an out of home advertising program beyond a contracted period. An override is provided at no additional cost to an advertiser.
P
Package of Locations: All specific advertising panels included in an out of home media program.
Paint Out: To obliterate copy on a painted spectacular site in preparation for a change in design. Also called Coat out or Blank out.
Painted Bulletins: Outdoor advertising structures on which copy is painted directly on the sections.
Painted Wall: Advertising message (not a designation sign) painted directly on building surface for high impact visibility, often several stories high.
Painter: An artist employed by painted display plant operators to reproduce painted designs on their outdoor bulletins and walls.
Panel Numbers: Panels may be given numbers or other means of identification to aid employees in the posting or painting of the advertising structure. These same numbers serve to pinpoint panels being purchased by a buyer.
Panel Signs: These signs are usually located on an exterior wall of your business. They are normally large in size so that they can be viewed by passing traffic. These signs are commonly made of plywood and mounted directly to the exterior surface or mounted on posts.
Panels Per Facing (PPF): The number of panels – one, two, or more – on a given advertising structure that faces the same direction.
Peel: Paint pulling away from the face of the structure.
Penalty: The additional payment or short term charge required when a painted display contract is canceled prior to the expiration date of the contract.
Percent Composition: The percent of the total audience for a display or schedule that a brand target demographic group comprise (e.g. 65% of the total EOIs for Adults 18+ were Men 24-64).
Periods: The time for which the media is sold. Usually in multiple months.
Permanent: An outdoor display that remains at a specific location for an extended period of time, usually for a one year term.
Permanent Bulletin: A bulletin that remains permanently located at a specified site throughout the term of a contract, usually for long periods. A permanent bulletin program can build strong brand recognition in specific market areas.
Phone Kiosks: A structure that houses public telephones and offers advertising displays.
Photoliths: Photo-descriptive sheets that describe bulletin or wall display locations in relation to the market. Photolith sheets usually include a photograph of the display, a map showing the exact location, and information relative to the surrounding area.
Pitch: The presentation of an advertising message to a prospective or existing client.
Place-Based Media: Non-Standardized advertising that is strategically positioned to influence specific target audiences in locales where they are likely to congregate.
Plant Capacity: The total number of panels or signs of all types in a plant.
Plant Owner: An individual or company which owns poster panels and/or painted display structures.
Plant: All of the Outdoor advertising structures in a given city, town, or area operated by an Outdoor company or “plant operator”.
Plant-Operator: An individual or a company that operates and maintains poster panels and/or painted display structures.
Plexiglass Letters: Individual channeled letters containing incandescent or fluorescent lights and covered by a layer of plexiglass through which the illumination shows at night.
Point of Purchase Advertising (P-O-P): Signs, displays, and other techniques of attracting attention and promoting products at their location of sale.
Point of Sale: A check-out counter, check stand or check out where people place items they have chosen to purchase from a store, such as a supermarket or a department store. This is typically a long counter, which usually contains a moving belt or sometimes a rotating carousel, and a photocell to stop it when items reach the end. The cashier rings up each item on the cash register and obtains the total. The items are placed in bags and the customer can take them after paying.
Porta Panel: A mobile poster panel which may be wheeled to a given location. Frequently used for merchandising purposes at retail outlets.
Poster Panel: An outdoor advertising structure on which outdoor advertising posters are displayed.
Poster: This is a term used for advertising messages that are printed on paper and posted onto advertising structures.
Posterize: An illustration technique used primarily for silk screen in order to give a 4-color process appearance even though flat color patterns are used.
Posting Date: The date when a poster program is scheduled to commence.
Posting Instruction: Detailed information sent to the plant operator covering the display of a particular poster design. These instructions should include as much marketing information as possible so that the seller can choose the panels that have the greatest efficiency in reaching the advertiser’s target market.
Posting Leeway: The out-of-home company is allowed a grace period of five working days before or after the scheduled posting date. Allows the company to complete posting without penalty in the event of a delay caused by weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances.
Posting List (Location List): A list of all locations included in an out of home media program.
Posting Period: The length of time during which one-panel design is displayed, usually one month, and figured as 30 days for the purpose of costing and credits.
Post-Ride: An in-market field check of out of home locations after advertising copy is in place.
Pre-Pasting: A technique for applying the paste to the surface of posters in the plant rather than in the field.
Pre-Ride (Recci): Physical inspection of the site selected for the campaign. Pre-ride are generally conducted between client and media buying agency.
Product – Launch: Officially launching new products and services.
Projection Media: The projection of large-scale images, graphics, photographs, or logos onto buildings or other structures, for use in advertising campaigns, promotional advertising, and outdoor advertising is called projection media.
Promotion: A method of increasing sales of merchandise through advertising; any activity designed to enhance sales.
Proof of Performance: Certification that the advertising service has been delivered.
Propinquity: Nearness in time and space to a purchase decision.
Proposal: A quote that is provided to an advertiser by a media company, specifying service and cost provisions associated with an advertising program. Common to all media.
Psychographics: Identification of personality characteristics and attitudes that affect a person’s lifestyle and purchasing behaviors. Psychographic data points include opinions, attitudes, and beliefs about various aspects relating to lifestyle and purchasing behavior.
Public Service Copy: Copy of civic or philanthropic nature displayed in the interests of community welfare.
Publicity: Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public’s perception of a subject. publicity is the management of product- or brand-related communications between the firm and the general public. It is primarily an informative activity (as opposed to a persuasive one), but its ultimate goal is to promote the client’s products, services, or brands.
Q
Quintile Mapping: A geographical map of a specific market indicating a certain consumer group broken out by quintiles. Each fifth of the population would be indicated by a different color or pattern.
R
Rail Advertising: Station or terminal advertising that is positioned in close proximity to train tracks.
Rate: The quoted or printed cost of out of home advertising usually stated for a total program GRP level on a per week or month basis.
Rating: A measure of the audience for a television or radio program used to establish advertising rates.
Reach: The number of people, as a percentage of the target population, are exposed to an advertising message.
Recall: The recognition of an out of home advertising message by an individual or audience, generally based on a verbal stimulus.
Reflective: Materials that glow or reflect incident rays of light, thereby becoming more visible in the night when light is projected onto its surface.
Reflective Disks (Eye Catchers): Metallic disks attached to the surface of an outdoor structure that sparkles or shimmer in the sunlight.
Refresh Rate: The number of times per second the screen is updated or “repainted.” Depending on the video standard, the actual image is changed only 30 times per second for NTSC signal or 25 times per second for PAL. However, most LED systems use pulse-width modulation to generate the color levels, ad if the image were only “painted” once, for every change, there would be a noticeable flicker on the display. A refresh rate of greater than 60 times per second will minimize the flicker. In general, LED displays should be refreshed at 120 times per second (120 Hz) or greater.
Regional Advertising: Advertising that reaches regional geographical segments within a given boundary.
Reposting Charge: An additional charge incurred for posting a change of design before the expiration of a display period.
Rest Area Advertising: Advertising located in or near highway rest areas and truck stops.
Return on Investment (ROI): The measurable revenue associated with a specific advertising program. Common to all media.
Ride: The physical inspection of the units that comprise an outdoor program in a market – either pre-buy or post-buy.
Right of Way: The area along a highway which is under control of a city, county or state, etc. Billboards are typically located on private land adjacent to the highway right of way. Bus shelters and other OOH media are generally placed on public rights of way.
Rotating /Rotary Bulletin: The movement of an advertiser’s message from one bulletin location to another within a market at stated intervals to achieve greater reach in the market.
Rotation: The process of moving the advertiser’s message from one location to another at stated intervals, to achieve a more balanced coverage of a market.
Run-On or Extras: Extra posters sent to plant operators to replace those that may be damaged during the display period. The number of posters printed for renewal purposes varies from 10% – 20% of the total order.
S
Samples: To take a sample of, especially to test or examine or to demonstrate in a small quantity, usually for free distribution.
Sandwich Board: Two hinged boards, adorned with advertising messages, that are placed at an advantageous location or hungover someone’s shoulders.
Satellite Lighting: Communication between an advertising display and an operator that can warn of problems, turn lights on and off, or in some cases change the copy.
Saturation: The color intensity of an image. A 100% saturated color does not contain any white; adding white reduces saturation. An image without any saturation is also referred to as a grayscale image.
Schedule: Advertising programming. Common to all media.
Scrape: To remove old or expired posters designs from the panel face to ensure a smooth posting surface.
Screen Printing: Method of printing for small to moderate quantity runs, which employs stencils rather than metal plates.
Scrollers: Innovative, backlit advertising display that enhances eye-catching moving images integrated into one box. The scroller quietly scrolls from top to bottom, and then bottom to top, stopping for a few seconds as each poster appears giving enough time for the viewer to see the message.
Sequence: A group of two or more frames that may consist of words, graphics, or animation that are grouped under one name. It may range in size from a few frames up to a hundred or more.
Shopping Mall Advertising: A standard backlit advertising structure located on shopping mall property with a size consistent to a bus shelter panel. Most mall advertising structures include a mall directory and multiple advertising panels.
Show Card Signs: These signs are used for trades show, dinner menus, directional signage, point of purchase specials, for all interior signage. These signs are a great advertisement at a great price. They come in a variety of sizes and are typically made of plastic or cardboard.
Showing: The percent of the population that will see your board every day.
Sidewalk or Sandwich Signs: These signs are made from plywood and are usually located next to the parking area in small shopping malls.
Sign: Any structure used to display information regarding a product or service. An outdoor unit is a sign.
Sign Structure: The assembled components which make up an outdoor advertising display, including but not limited to: uprights, supports, facings, and trim.
Single Sheet Poster: A poster constructed as a single and continuous substrate. Single sheet posters are typical to make from thermoplastic polymers. Single sheet posters can be recycled.
Signage: Graphic designs, as symbols, emblems, or words, used esp. for the identification or as a means of giving directions or warning.
Silk Screen: A method of printing used to produce outdoor posters in small quantities.
Skywriting: Writing across the sky through chemically produced smoke emitted from an airplane.
Snipe: An adhesive strip that is used to change a portion of the copy displayed on an outdoor unit.
Soft Target Advertising: It is non-invasive advertising. Those targeted are not forced to view an ad or in the alternative to switch channels or turn the page to avoid an ad as would be necessary with TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Trackside advertising is a good example of “soft target advertising” because it appears to be coincidental.
Solar-Powered Panels: The technology and equipment currently exist to illuminate panels with stored electricity generated by photo-electric cells, very much like the ones that power space satellites.
Space Extensions: Reproductions of that portion of graphic elements projecting beyond the normal limits of the painted bulletin to dramatize copy and advertising message.
Spot Advertising: Any advertising presented in selected locales rather than on a national level.
Spotted Map (Location Map): A map annotated with all the locations included as part of a specific out of home media program.
Stabile: Display that is suspended or that rises from a pedestal at different levels and planes, none of which move.
Stacked Panels (Decked Panels): Two advertising panels built vertically, one above the other, and facing the same direction.
Stadium Advertising: A variety of advertising formats available in the stadium, ranging from wall-mounted dioramas (backlit posters) to field-side panels.
Standees: A poster or placard that occupies a standing room usually having advertisements on both sides.
Static Slides: They are full-color advertisements without any animation or movement shown on screens for approximately 8-10 seconds each.
Station Advertising: Advertising panels located in subway or commuter rail stations or on transit platforms. Sizes vary.
Street Furniture: Advertising displays, many that provide a public amenity, positioned at proximity to pedestrians for eye-level viewing or at a curbside to impact vehicular traffic. Street furniture displays include but are not limited to: transit shelters, newsstands/news racks, kiosks, shopping mall panels, convenience store panels, and in-store signage.
Structure: A physical framework on which out of home advertising is affixed or positioned.
Subway Advertising: Advertising panels located in subway or commuter rail stations or on transit platforms. Sizes vary.
Subway Card: An advertising poster attached to the interior of a subway car.
T
Table Tents: Traditionally used for advertising in restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, a table tent is a folded piece of paper/ card kept on the table resembling an inverted ‘V’ or tent shape.
Target Audience: The desired group of prospective consumers who are most likely to consider the purchase of a particular product or service. Target audiences are often defined by specific demographic characteristics such as product consumption, purchase behavior, age, gender, or many different social classifications.
Taxi Display/Taxi Tops: Advertising structures affixed to taxicabs, either on the roof or boot area. Roof panels are called taxi-tops and are generally backlit.
Testimonial: A statement, often given by a celebrity, affirming the value of a product, event, or service. The authority, glamour, character, or special knowledge of a celebrity can reflect on the advertised product.
TouchPoint: A touchpoint is an ideal location to reach a concentrated target demographic and psychographic audience.
Trade Show: A convention at which advertising agencies or related companies show and compare products and ideas. Companies frequently underwrite elaborate displays, receptions, presentations, and giveaways for trade shows in their industry.
Traditional Media: Traditional out-of-home media includes billboards, street furniture, and transit categories of media.
Traffic Flow: A graphic presentation of the traffic volume upon any system of streets, arteries, or highways, an indication by the width of lines which vary with the amount of traffic carried.
Train Cards (Car Cards): Advertising displays of various sizes located inside buses, subway cars, and commuter trains.
Transit Advertising: Advertising displays affixed to moving vehicles or in the common areas of transit stations, terminals, and airports. Transit displays include but are not limited to: interior and exterior bus panels, subway and rail panels, airport panels, taxi panels, and truck side panels.
Traveling Displays: Posters used on the sides of buses, available in a variety of sizes.
Tri-Vision: It is a sign-board that displays three messages in the space of one. It is composed of a number of prisms lined-up among themselves in aluminum alloy, which, on turning, can compose three alternate images in the same space.
U
Ubiquity: Even saturation and distribution of a market without home advertising structures.
Unipole (Monopole): Advertising structures fabricated to support advertising panels on a single street pole or column.
V
Vegetation and Landscape Maintenance: Highway landscaping practices commonly employed by utility industries, roadside businesses located along the public right of ways and out of home advertising companies. The Out of Home Industry encourages vegetation and landscape maintenance in compliance with state and local laws and regulations.
Vehicle Lettering: We can custom design your company car, van or truck, and even your boat with either hand painting or vinyl lettering and graphics. It can be as simple as a company name on both doors or a complete design covering all doors and sides.
Video Billboards: Bulletins, posters, or wallscapes with screens that can beam full-color ads to motorists from sundown to midnight. Potentially, Out of Home advertising may even include holographic displays, laser lighting systems, and satellite transmissions to enable advertisers to produce virtually any effect they desire on their out of home displays, laws permitting.
Vinyl: A single-sheet substrate on which an advertising message is rendered by either computer production or hand painting. Vinyl is primarily used on the face of bulletins & Premiere products.
Vinyl Wraps: We can custom design your ad and print your design on large-format digital printing machines on seamless vinyl material. Can be used indoors and outdoors.
Visibility: Quality or fact or degree of being visible; perceptible by the eye or obvious to the eye.
W
Wraps: Advertisements wrapped on any plane surface like pillars, vehicles, or subways or wall murals.
Walking Inflatables: These are large human size air-filled balloons that resemble the brand logo, or mascot and are usually worn by a promoter. Products become alive with movement, instantly developing an approachable personality, and establishing a positive advertisement of both the corporate brand image and identity.
Wall Display: An advertising display that is placed on the surface of a building and displayed to consumers. Wall displays generally have a high impact due to their large size and customized creative which must fit the particular dimensions of each wall.
Wall Mural: An advertising display applied directly onto the exterior surface of a building. Wall murals are commonly painted directly onto a wall surface. However, a painted or printed vinyl substrate can also be applied to a wall surface, depending on the location.
Wallscape: Murals painted or attached directly onto the exterior surface of a building.
Wave Posting: The concentration of poster showings in a succession of areas within the market. Usually coincides with special promotions in the designated areas.
Window Lettering: Vinyl graphics and lettering can be applied directly to windows for economical and effective advertising. Pre-spaced lettering and graphics can be shipped directly to you with instructions on installation.
Word of Mouth: Word of mouth is a formalized marketing effort designed to stimulate the passing of information by verbal means, especially recommendations, but also general information, in an informal, person-to-person manner, rather than by mass media, advertising, organized publication, or traditional marketing. Word of mouth is typically considered a face-to-face spoke communication, although phone conversations, text messages sent via SMS, and web dialogue, such as online profile pages, blog posts, message board threads, instant messages, and emails are often now included in the definition of word of mouth.