Glossary

"Co-marketing" (or collaborative marketing) is a strategy in which two or more brands, usually not in direct competition but with a similar target audience, join forces to promote a common product, service, or initiative. It is a strategic partnership where the costs, effort, and, above all, the results (like leads, visibility, and sales) are shared.

"Co-branding" is a marketing strategy that involves the creation of a <b>new product</b> or service born from the formal collaboration between two or more distinct brands. This new hybrid product physically bears the branding of all partners (for example, on the packaging or the product itself) and is marketed jointly, combining the strength and value (brand equity) of both.

CMS is the acronym for Content Management System. It is a software platform that allows you to create, modify, organise, and publish digital content (such as text, images, videos, and articles) on a website without needing programming skills (like HTML, CSS, or JavaScript). In practice, it separates content management (the backend) from its graphical presentation (the frontend), providing an intuitive user interface, similar to a text editor, for data entry.

A "Cluster" is a homogeneous group of elements (like customers, users, or data) that have been aggregated because they share similar characteristics. In marketing, the term almost always refers to "Cluster Analysis", a statistical technique used to identify and divide a large audience into distinct segments, which are internally homogeneous but externally heterogeneous.

Cloud Computing is a model for delivering computing services—such as servers, storage, databases, software, networks, and artificial intelligence—over the Internet ("the cloud"). Instead of owning, buying, and managing their own physical infrastructure (hardware and software) on-premises, companies and users can "rent" these resources on-demand from a cloud service provider.

Cloaking is a Black Hat SEO technique, meaning it is a deceptive practice banned by search engine guidelines. It consists of programming a website to show different content or URLs to search engine spiders (like Googlebot) than it shows to human visitors.

"Client Software" (or client-side software) is any programme, application, or interface that the end-user interacts with directly on their device (the client hardware). In the client-server architecture, it is the component responsible for sending requests to a remote server and for processing, formatting, and presenting the responses received from it to the user.

"Client Hardware" is the set of physical devices that an end-user utilises to access services, resources, or data provided by a central server. In the client-server computing architecture, the client hardware is the machine that sends the request (for example a PC, laptop, smartphone, or tablet) as opposed to the "server hardware", which is the machine that provides the response.

"Clickbait" is a derogatory term describing web content, more specifically a headline, preview, or thumbnail image, created specifically to attract the maximum possible number of clicks. This is achieved by exploiting the reader's curiosity through sensationalist, exaggerated, or mysterious titles, or by omitting crucial information. The primary objective is to generate traffic and advertising revenue, often at the expense of the content's quality and truthfulness.

The "Click-Through Rate" (CTR) is a percentage metric that measures the effectiveness of an online advert or a link. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks an advert receives by the total number of times the advert was displayed (impressions), and multiplying the result by 100. In short, it shows how many people, among those who saw a piece of content, actually clicked on it.

A "Click Farm" is an organised operation, often located in countries with a low cost of labour, where a large number of people are paid to manually click on specific links, adverts (like pay-per-click banners), or to fraudulently generate social interactions (likes, followers, comments, views). These activities are designed to artificially inflate the popularity or performance metrics of content, a profile, or a campaign.

"Click and Mortar" is a business model that strategically integrates an online presence (the "Click", i.e., e-commerce or website) with a physical one (the "Mortar", i.e., the traditional bricks-and-mortar shop). Unlike a purely online (pure player) or purely physical (brick and mortar) business, this approach aims to create a seamless and unified customer experience between the two channels.

"Click and Collect" is a hybrid service model that merges e-commerce with the physical shop. It allows customers to buy or reserve a product online via a website or app (the "Click"), and then collect it in person from a pre-determined physical point of sale (the "Collect"), rather than receiving it via home delivery.

A Claim is a short, striking, and memorable phrase, specifically created to accompany and summarise the central message of a single advertising campaign or to highlight a specific product benefit. It functions as a concise brand promise that communicates the advantage, emotion, and competitive differentiation that the product offers to the consumer. It is temporary by nature and tied to the promotional objective of the moment.

A Civic App is a software application, often for smartphones, that falls within the broader Civic Tech sector. It is designed to facilitate and improve interaction, communication, and participation between citizens and the Public Administration (PA). Instead of being a passive tool for information only, a civic app allows the user to contribute actively, by sending reports, participating in consultations, or accessing public services directly.