Above the line sales promotion

ATL is a type of advertising through media such as television, cinema, radio, print, web banners and web
search engines to promote brands. This type of communication is conventional in nature and is
considered impersonal to customers. It differs from BTL advertising, which uses unconventional brand-
building strategies, such as direct mail and printed media (and usually involves no motion graphics). It is
much more effective when the target group is very large and difficult to define.

The term comes from top business managers[citation needed] and involves the way in which Procter & Gamble,
one of the world’s biggest advertising clients, was charged for its media in the 1950s and 1960s.
Advertising agencies made so much commission from booking media for clients that the creative
generation and actual production costs of making TV ads was free[citation needed] – hence above the line.
Everything else they paid for and was therefore below the line.[clarification needed] Since then, models have
changed and clients are no longer charged for their media in that way.[citation needed]

[edit]The line
Used loosely, ATL still means mass media. However the media landscape has shifted so dramatically that
advertisers have reconsidered the definitions of mass media.

For some marketers the "line" divides the realm of "Awareness or Attention focused marketing" and that
of "Interest + Desire focused marketing". Since audience numbers in the Interest and Desire phase of
the AIDA sales model narrow down to a fraction of the Awareness audience, the line could be drawn right
below the awareness set of activities.

Loosely put, everything done prior to a customer's actual entry into a retail outlet is ATL for these
retailers, as they define shop-floor activities as the true BTL set of activities which decide on which brand
sells eventually.

[edit]Below the line sales promotion

BTL sales promotion is an immediate or delayed incentive to purchase, expressed in cash or in kind, and
having short duration. It is efficient and cost-effective for targeting a limited and specific group. It uses
less conventional methods than the usual ATL channels of advertising, typically focusing on direct means
of communication, most commonly direct mail and e-mail, often using highly targeted lists of names to
maximize response rates. BTL services may include those for which a fee is agreed upon and charged up
front.

BTL is a common technique used for "touch and feel" products (consumer items where the customer will
rely on immediate information rather than previously researched items). BTL techniques ensures recall of
the brand while at the same time highlighting the features of the product.
Another BTL technique involves sales personnel deployed at retail stores near targeted products. This
technique may be used to generate trials of newly launched products.

ATL are conventional medium like TV, Print ads, Radio etc. These days we have seen a new
trend of companies not spending a lot on ATL as it is very expensive. Rather they are
investing on BTL - Below the line activities. These are like giving coupons, road shows, buzz
marketing etc. BTL are very cheap and cost affective and we will see in future a skewness
towards BTL as it is cost effective.

Let us see some innovative BTL activities for FMCG companies.

1. Road Shows/ Activities in Malls: As Pacific Mall is very near to my home in Kaushambi, i
frequently visit there to have a cup of coffee either Americano or Cappuccino. But what do i
observe there is these small FMCG players having there stalls in the nooks of the Mall. They
were:

a) ACT II Popcorns by ConAgra Foods Snack Foods Group: They organized different games
there to involve consumers in Pacific.
b) SHIEF Soap for Women: They also had several games like - hitting the dart on ordinary
soap (by this they send a message that Use Shief and not Ordinary Soap), throwing soaps in a
box 3 to 4 meters away.. These all games awarded all the ladies and girls with Wrapped Shief
Soaps. At the end they asked all the females to repeat their punchline of "Banaye Komal,
Rakhe Surakshit"

I must tell you one thing that, they got a fabulous response.

2. Screens outside the Malls: I have seen screen just outside the Metropolitan Mall in
Gurgaon. They have a series of advertisements on the screen. One has to pay for a month and
your ad will be for some seconds after every 5 to 10 mins. I saw an ad of Whirlpool with Kajol
and Ajay Devgan there. But i think this can work for FMCG products as well.

3. Retail Displays: You must have seen SugarFree packs in front of convenience stores. So the
consumer is forced to see this brand first and them EQUAL brand. This is my observation. This
is at a very low level. But now if you visit Big Bazaar, you will see brands of ITC like Aashirwas
Atta etc displayed at strategic locations which increase its brand value and finally sales in
long term.
I wrote an article "Marketing Analytic Techniques for FMCG Marketers" We will soon see
these techniques in India soon.

4. Trials in Malls: What do you see when you go out to buy vegetables in Malls? I was in PRG's
Spencer Hyper Mall to buy regular Tomatos and Patatoes. There this beautiful lady asked me
to try a cup of new flavour of Nestle Coffee. Its taste was worth buying, but as i was busy in
buying Onions i couldnt buy one pack for me. So experience Marketing is just not in Service
Industry but in FMCG as well.

[edit]Through the line

More recently, agencies and clients have switched to an "Integrated Communication Approach", or
"through the line" approach. TTL is a neologism describing an existing process, according to Altaf
Jasnaik, Corporate Communications and Branding Manager at Sharp Middle East & Africa[1]. In the TTL
approach, a mix of ATL and BTL are used to integrate a marketer's efforts and optimize returns from
these separate investments.

Recently[when?] the TTL approach has shifted its emphasis more towards BTL[2]. The idea remains to
optimize the return on marketing budget spent by focusing one's energy on winning smaller yet more
crucial BTL battles than ATL wars with well-funded competition. According to EBS Worldwide,[citation
needed]
mainstream mass broadcast marketing is increasingly being viewed as uneconomical, in terms of
return on investment, which is where BTL marketing fits in. a few examples could be - bus stand
hoardings, pamphlets,small informational sheets along with the newspaper.etc