Part of an advertiser's income that is allocated for advertising purposes for a specific period of time. The advertising appropriation is generally established after administrative costs, manufacturing costs, direct-selling costs, and acceptable levels of profits have been calculated. The amount of the allocation may be based on any of the following: (1) percentage of estimated sales, (2) task to be accomplished, (3) assessment of the number of units sold in the previous budget period, (4) competitors' expenditures, or (5) arbitrary decision. The allocation is applied to a program over a specific time period (3 months, 6 months, 12 months, or longer-term).
