waterfall strategy

Advanced 📣 Marketing / Advertising

Definition

An ad buying method where inventory is offered sequentially to buyers in descending priority order until someone bites. Like a retail clearance rack that goes through progressively less desirable shoppers.

Example Usage

Our premium inventory goes through waterfall strategy—first to direct deals, then PMPs, and finally whatever's left hits the open exchange.

Origin

Adapted from software development methodology; entered programmatic advertising vocabulary circa 2010

Fun Fact

Header bidding technology emerged specifically to disrupt waterfall strategies, allowing simultaneous bidding and better yields.

Source: Programmatic advertising terminology

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ascription

In data analytics and sociology, the act of assigning credit, blame, or characteristics to a person or thing based on analysis rather than self-identification. Marketers use this to decide who deserves credit for a conversion, while sociologists use it to study how society boxes people into categories they didn't choose. Both involve making assumptions that may or may not reflect reality.

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user-generated content

Content created by customers rather than brands, including reviews, photos, and testimonials. The marketing equivalent of getting the audience to write your material while you take credit and occasionally moderate death threats.

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