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Abstract
The annals of Marketing Management have witnessed a tug of war between advertising and
sales promotion since inception. But in the early phase of twenty first century this war has
taken a new avatar in form of Above - The- Line and Below - The- Line activities, widening
both scope and intensity of this war. Above-the-line propagated traditional marketing
channels that strive to reach a mass audience with messages that reinforce a brand
communicate general product information or inspire an emotional response. “Below-the-line”
initiatives, by comparison, acts like traditional direct marketing efforts – they aspire to
establish targeted relationships between marketers and individual consumers, and offer
comparable ease in measurability. With increase fragmentations and demographic along with
the increased pressure to increase effectiveness of marketing communication soon BTL
activities started substituting ATL activities and there has been a steady growth in BTL
expenditure in this century . With its unique ability to personalize and customize
communication this form of communication is slowly replacing the mass media advertising.
This paper attempts to highlight these trends and also comment about the existing channels
that BTL activities employ. In order to substantiate the claims, a case study has been
specifically designed in order to show the relevance of BTL activities in this fragmenting
world.

Research Objective: To investigate the relevance of Below -The- Line activities to current
marketing communication practices.

Research Design: Analysis of secondary literature and industry documents

Research Methodology: This paper has been written by analyzing the secondary literature
and other industrials documents .Data came from primary and secondary document sites on
the World Wide Web arising from the reduction in the advertising expenses. Documents from
the marketing journals commenting on the obsolescence of mass media advertising in the
context of fragmented media, fragmented audience and slowly decreasing retention levels. In
addition to this white paper on Vertical Market Trends in Direct Mail and the Impact on
Production Service Providers, based on dozens of interviews with executives at large
companies engaging in direct mail marketing—including agencies, printers and other
industry experts— examines 7 key trends, and focuses particularly on market conditions for
direct mail printers and letter shop firms.
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Introduction of the Topic

There are two kinds of marketing strategies that can be used to promote any product: "above-
the-line" (ATL, essentially advertising in the mass media) and "below-the-line" (BTL). These
category names reflect the business practices of advertising agencies. Agencies generally
make commission on placement of advertisements in newspapers, magazines and cinema,
and on television, radio and billboards, a fee that appears "above the line" on their bill.
Traditionally, other forms of promotion—events, direct marketing, email promotions, text
message promotions, premiums, price reductions, public relations activities, sponsorship,
trade shows, exhibitions, sales literature and catalogues—were charged at a fixed fee and thus
appeared "below the line
Above-the-line propagated traditional marketing channels that strive to reach a mass audience
with messages that reinforce a brand communicate general product information or inspire an
emotional response. “Below-the-line” initiatives, by comparison, acts like traditional direct
marketing efforts – they aspire to establish targeted relationships between marketers and
individual consumers, and offer comparable ease in measurability. Traditionally ATL and
BTL strategies have been considered distinct, and BTL the poor cousin. BTL activities were
generally used to complement the main mass media marketing activities and usually a
fraction of marketing resources were allocated for these activities. BTL activities first shot
into prominence when ATL activities for products which have unwholesome demand were
proscribed by the Socio-legal restrictions. Even though BTL activities started off to fill in for
ATL activities, increasingly, BTL strategies are now recognized as economical, unique, and
personal ways to achieve "cut-through" in the supersaturated advertising environment.

Figure 1.1 Channels of BTL and ATL activities

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Above-the-Line Media Below-the-Line Media

Are targeted to individual consumers,
1. Are tailored to reach a mass audience based on their expressed needs and
preferences
2. Establish brand identity or reinforce Issue a “call-to-action,” inspiring specific
emotional concepts surrounding a customer activity or tailored messages
product or brand about a product or brand
3. May or may not drive customer
Drive individual responses
response
Are highly measurable, allowing
4. Are difficult – if not impossible – to marketers insight into their return-on-
measure with any accuracy investment, as well as those tactics that
are (and are not) working
Establish one-to-one relationships
5. Cater to the mass market
between consumers and marketers
Figure 1.2 Differences s in BTL and ATL activities

Evolution of below -the- line activities

In a market rapidly adapting to changes in technology, available information and heightened
consumer demand, traditional, brand-oriented advertising is no longer the primary driver of
customer behavior. Whether it’s reflected in dwindling print newspaper circulation or the
stagnant market for network television commercials, significant evidence suggests that the
marketing landscape has fundamentally shifted – from an “above-the-line” focus on reaching
a broad population with emotionally-oriented appeals, to a “below-the- line” approach that
stresses targeted, customer-centric communications, measurable results and concrete return-
on-investment.

We believe that the metaphorical “line” separating marketing philosophies (often quoted, but
never precisely defined) is reflected in three key qualities that separate today’s emerging
promotional methods from the top-down advertising monologue of the past. Acting in
concert, they embody the universal elements of successful below-the-line marketing efforts:
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• Perception – The extent to which a consumer feels that he or she is engaged as an

active participant in a marketing dialogue, rather than a target of an aggressive direct
sales or branding effort
• Interaction – The extent to which consumers are empowered to respond to marketing
communications via preferred channels that are both convenient and accessible
• Measurability – The extent to which a marketer can track the results of an individual
initiative, determine commensurate return-on-investment and adjust future campaigns
to provide for an enhanced chance of success

Figure 1.3 Framework of BTL activities

The paper, based on exhaustive secondary explores the key factors that are leading
sophisticated marketers in all vertical segments to move dollars away from “above- the- line”
(ATL) and toward direct, measurable “below-the-line” (BTL) marketing tactics.
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Channels of BTL activities

Database marketing: It involves use of proprietary database of consumer records which can
enhance prospect or customer data sources with unprecedented demographic, lifestyle and
transactional data. It can be utilized for tuning marketing offers targeted at new prospects --
and provide their current customers with products that more closely match purchasing
preferences and habits.
Database marketing services include:
1. Data Enhancement/Append: Appending of desired information, including:
• Contact information (email, telephone, and postal addresses)
• Demographic information (age, gender, marital status, children, ethnicity)
• Lifestyle information (income level, home ownership, interests, and hobbies)
2. Data Quality and Maintenance: Performing full data cleaning to achieve the highest
quality
• Duplicates are identified and removed
• Postal address standardization
• Invalid records, such as "do-not-call" or "do-not-mail" are removed ensuring
compliance with anti-spam regulations

3. Database Modeling: Custom querying and modeling for complex marketing strategies
that require comprehensive analysis and targeting.
4. Database Management: Database collection and maintenance to more complex
database management.
Mail marketing: It involves creation of compelling branded Mail/email templates and
campaign messages, and also our data driven services to develop precise targeting to reach
the highest number of quality prospects
Email marketing services include:
1. Access to responsive online consumers: Targeting the message to proprietary opt in
consumer databases, which offers over unique consumer email addresses through:
• Carefully selected consumer profiles that fit their audience
• Predefined niche audience segments
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2. Response analysis: On-going reporting and analysis to help clients assess results and
make adjustments if needed.
• Full campaign stats – Mails/emails sent, delivered, opens and click rates
• Responder snapshots of demographic, geographic and lifestyle information

Interactive services: By designing online campaigns that generate valuable and conversions
by the use of Web Properties, Affiliate Network and Search Engine Marketing

Affinity marketing: Enhancing brand value and gaining new customers by affinity programs
like collaborations with

• Veteran's Organizations
• Sportsmen's Organizations
• Conservation and Wildlife Advocacy Organizations
• Seniors Advocacy Organizations
• Political Organizations
• Religious Organizations
• Youth Activity Organizations
• Ethnic Group Advocacy Organizations
• Cause Based Organizations

Direct Response Print: It’s most common form today is infomercials. It is achieved by
eliciting a direct response via television presentations. Viewers respond via telephone or
internet, credit card in hand.
Other media, such as magazines, newspapers, radio, and e-mail can be used to elicit the
response, but they tend to achieve lower response rates than television.

Event Marketing: It involves a strategic-based face-to-face contact designed to impact a

brand's perception among its constituents. It is set of promotional activities involving an
event such as a sporting or social event, designed to bring a product to the attention of the
public
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Promotional Marketing: It is a non-personal promotional effort that is designed to have an

immediate impact on sales. Sales promotion is media and non-media marketing
communications employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand,
stimulate market demand or improve product availability.

Examples include:
• Coupons
• Discounts and sales
• Contests
• Point of purchase displays
• Rebates
• Free samples (in the case of food items)
• Gifts and incentive items
• Free travel, such as free flights
Sales promotions can be directed at the customer, sales staff, or distribution channel members
(such as retailers). Sales promotions targeted at the consumer are called consumer sales
promotions. Sales promotions targeted at retailers and wholesale are called trade sales
promotions.

Current Scenario in the field of BTL activities

Despite general growth in advertising and marketing services expenditures -- as well as a

one-year spike in broadcast television spending brought on by the quadrennial Olympics/
U.S. presidential election cycle – market spending data suggest that above- the-line marketing
is not fairing well compared to the industry at large. In 2006, ATL spending (encompassing
such channels as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and yellow pages) is expected to
grow 5.6 percent, a full 1.7 percent behind the industry as a whole. By 2007, that difference
will become more pronounced, as ATL spending growth is projected at just 4.6 percent for
the year, compared to an equivalent 7.3 percent industry growth. According to e-Marketer,
spending on online advertisements – a unique medium that offers reach and brand exposure
along with the one-to-one benefits of BTL marketing – will reach $12.9 billion in
2005, representing an increase of more than 34 percent from 2004 spending. By 2009, annual
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online expenditures should hit $22.3 billion, reflecting an average annual growth of nearly 21
percent since 2002.Gains are being realized among virtually all media that provide the BTL
advantages of perception, interaction and measurability. Whether in direct mail
(projected growth 7.5 percent in 2005, according to the Winterberry Group), promotions (3.7
percent, according to PROMO Magazine) or e-mail marketing (31 percent, according to
Jupiter Research), recent spending and marketer commentary indicate a real and growing
preference for tactics based on established data and quantifiable results. The world’s largest
marketing service providers, likewise, are adapting to the business imperative of one-to-one
communications. In doing so, they appear finally poised to transition out of the mass
advertising-centric focus that has for so long defined their business. WPP Group, for example
– one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing services holding companies, with
annual revenues of approximately $10 billion – recently announced that“media investment
management continues to show the strongest growth of all our communications services
sectors, along with [below- the-line] direct, Internet and interactive and healthcare
communications.”

Figure 1.4 Growth in expenditure of BTL and ATL activities

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Figure 1.5 Composition of BTL and ATL activities

Figure 1.6 US Marketing Spending, 2001- 2007

Expenditure estimates say a lot about where sophisticated marketers are focusing their
efforts, but they don’t address the more fundamental question of why. Why, after so many
years of success with above-the-line methods, are marketers finally changing their
approach to reaching customers and fostering profitable relationships? And why do
customers appear so willing to accept this new communications philosophy? The
following seven trends explore the factors, both external and internal, that are contributing to
this emerging marketing emphasis. Specifically, it identifies seven key trends that are directly
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impacting the allocation of marketing budgets for both ATL and BTL campaigns. They
include:
1. Changing consumer demographics decrease the influence of traditional mass media
(i.e. ”one-size-fits-all”) marketing messages
2. Growing consumer sophistication heightens the demand for channel-agnostic
communications
3. Widespread marketing “clutter” diminishes the impact of commercial messages that
don’t address specific and individually relevant consumer needs
4. Enhanced information availability empowers both marketers and consumers with
insight that allows for precise customer targeting and intelligent purchase decisions
5. Heightened client pressure to deliver quantifiable value by evaluation of ROI of the
marketing initiatives , forces marketing service providers – especially agencies – to
re-evaluate services platforms
6. Growing effectiveness of “multi channel” campaigns (those that cross multiple media)
reinforces demand for tactics that establish one-to-one relationships between
marketers and consumers
7. Rapid technological advances allow for consumer/marketer interactions that are
frequent, easier and more relevant than previously possible

Trends Impacting BTL Marketing Budgets

1.) Changing consumer demographics decrease the influence of traditional mass- media
(i.e. "one-size-fits-all”) marketing messages.
Understanding the conventions of culture as well as the individual cultural differences and
similarities of target locales empowers marketing professionals to realize that one universal
message—whether verbal or visual, can never reach a global audience. One global culture
comprised of people with identical values does not exist—not even within the confines of our
own country as the recent elections illustrate. Differences in learning and thinking patterns
influence the way people process information, as demonstrated in their innate responses to
marketing communications. Audiences differ in the way they perceive and value concepts of
time, space, money, relationships, power, risk, and even the protocols of gender roles. It is
important to note that when attempting to customize communications with cultural
differences in mind, it is just as important to recognize the cultural similarities. As much as
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localization vendors like to overemphasize "extreme customization", cultural similarities do

exist, and are deeply imbedded in the core values of your products and service offerings.
This trend is highlighted in a multicultural market like United States, where in 1990; ethnic
minorities commanded $647.4 billion in annual consumer spending, or about 15.6 percent of
total expenditures. By 2001 that proportion had shot up to nearly 19 percent – some $1.3
trillion, according to American Multi channel Marketing. Clearly, the influence of
multicultural Americans, with their widely disparate preferences, customs and even
languages, is growing along with their representation in the general population.
Today, approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population is of African, Asian or Hispanic
descent. But by and large, above-the-line marketing messages are still crafted for
consumption by the larger population – ignoring the cultural sensibilities of many and
threatening to reawaken the kind of cross-cultural snafus now immortalized in business
legend. Escalating life expectancy and the coming-of-age of the Baby Boom generation are
heightening the impact of older Americans, as well. Just like multicultural consumers, this
unique sub-population will require targeted, relevant marketing communications in the
years ahead.
2. Growing consumer sophistication heightens the demand for channel-agnostic
communications.
Advances in marketing and communications haven’t just served to benefit marketers –
consumers, too, have learned to exploit technology, information and available media channels
for their benefit. Among other capabilities, the sophisticated modern consumer is adept at:
• Using the Internet to compare product prices
• Screening out unwanted outbound telemarketing calls (or telemarketing calls altogether –
through participation on the National Do-Not-Call list)
• Skipping past television commercials – the lifeblood of above-the-line marketing – with
TiVo and other digital video recording technologies
• Bypassing traditional print advertisements through online newspaper subscriptions
and opt-in “headlines” e-mails that provide a selected snapshot of relevant news with only a
fraction of the advertising interference.
Collectively, these practices speak to the active participation of consumers in the marketing
process, a phenomenon made possible by the same innovations that many marketers expected
would cement their authority in customers’ daily lives. They demand marketing responses
that are concise, relevant and universal across all media – so that consumers who choose to
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interact via multiple channels (say, researching available products online and then completing
the purchase in-store) are exposed to a consistent fundamental buying experience.
3. Widespread marketing “clutter” diminishes the impact of commercial messages that
don’t address specific and individually relevant consumer needs.
Rapid advances in the quality of available marketing media have had at least one deleterious
effect: a saturated media consumption landscape, plus a resultant consumer backlash against
advertising messages that are perceived as intrusive or otherwise irrelevant.
Sophisticated consumers – like the TiVo users referenced earlier, who tune out commercial
advertisements in a move to do away with the clutter .Forrester and the Cable television
Advertising Bureau note that in 2004, 11 billion U.S. DVR users skipped between 68 and
78 percent of commercial advertisements, effectively accounting for approximately $2-3
billion in wasted advertising spending. Emerging media such as cable-on-demand and
podcasted television shows (Available for download to portable video player just minutes
after running on broadcast networks) likewise have the potential to further marginalize ATL
media that speak to the general population, rather than individual preferences.

4. Enhanced information availability empowers both marketers and consumers with

insight that allows for precise customer targeting and intelligent purchase decisions.
Significant advances in database marketing, analytics and customer relationship management
(CRM) platforms have spawned an informational avalanche, allowing marketers the
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opportunity to build a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the customer and their

transaction history. By maximizing the complex array of available information, leading-edge
marketers are reaching prospects with offers targeted to their expressed (or expected) wants
and desires – and driving significantly enhanced response rates and lifetime customer value.
Not to be outdone, consumers are arming themselves with an array of enhanced informational
tools to make smarter buying decisions. Web sites reinforce the movement to obtain
information and apply it through stricter scrutiny of the available market.
5. Heightened client pressure to deliver quantifiable value forces marketing service
providers – especially agencies – to re-evaluate services platforms.
Among traditional advertising agencies, average client tenure now stands at less than18
months per account. In a timeframe shorter than many ad campaigns themselves, marketers
are increasingly deciding that these trusted strategic advisers – once thought of as the
standard-bearers of marketing strategy, conception and delivery – can easily be replaced by
others whose strategic, creative and, most notably, financial objectives better align with their
own.
While shoddy creative work is often cited as the reason, more often, the actual fuel for this
rapid agency turnover is a lack of concrete delivery. In the face of alternative below-the-line
media that offer the benefits of personalization and measurable return-on-investment, the vast
investment required to sustain solo ATL campaigns (as well as the agencies from which they
originate) is increasingly seen as excessive in the eyes of bottom-line focused executives.
Some agencies have responded in force – by shifting their efforts from above- to below-the-
line media. In addition to the WPP example cited earlier, three major agencies, including
Publicis USA, Ogilvy & Mather and Foote, Cone & Belding, have each taken recent steps to
diminish the traditional barriers between ATL and BTL advertising. In some cases,
executives have been tasked with cross-channel campaign development; in others, entire
below-the-line business units have been elevated to serve the strategic role once held by their
advertising colleagues
Merrill Lynch recently announced that the industry as a whole has finally reached “neutral”
status in its reliance of ATL advertising for marketing purposes – indicating that the two core
marketing approaches now stand on equal footing, complementing each other -- and
depending on each other – to fuel successful integrated marketing campaigns.
6. Growing effectiveness of “multichannel” campaigns (those that cross multiple media)
reinforces demand for tactics that establish one-to-one relationships between marketers
and consumers.
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Given the proper tools, consumers prefer to engage with marketers through a combination of
available media (including retail stores, the Internet, catalogs, direct mail and direct response
television) thus relegating single-channel categorizations such as” catalog buyer” and “online
shopper” to the business archive. But these customers offer more than just a challenge to
marketing strategists – they also offer greater profit potential. According to the Internet
Advertising Bureau, well-executed multichannel marketing campaigns generate a sales lift
ranging from 7 to 34 percent. Viewed from another perspective, that spells trouble for single-
channel marketers (such as those hoping that traditional television advertisements will fuel
visits to retail stores).
The real demand for marketers is to exploit the channels at their disposal to craft appropriate,
uniform offers for the same customer groups, no matter their chosen interaction point.
Increasingly, savvy marketers are waking up to this essential need; according to the Direct
Marketing Association, approximately 42 percent of marketers now sell via two primary
channels, while another 40 percent sell via three. Marketers likewise are increasingly
searching for service providers whose capabilities span more than one or two media –
providing both potential cost advantages and a uniform platform from which to launch
cohesive, integrated campaigns.
7. Rapid technological advances allow for consumer/marketer interactions that are
more frequent, easier and more relevant than previously possible.
Long ago cited as the most significant factor inhibiting the growth of BTL marketing, the
recent proliferation of appropriate, cost-effective technologies – for both marketers and
consumers – has finally reached the critical mass necessary to fuel campaigns that cross
multiple media and stand out from the mass-oriented messages proffered by traditional
advertising.
The scope of technological advance spans all media, but perhaps the most significant advance
involves the widespread adoption of high-speed, broadband Internet connections –
allowing consumers to surf the Internet effortlessly and manage rich, HTML-coded e-mail
and online messages that inspire click-through and greater response. More than 43 percent of
U.S. households now connect to the Internet through a broadband connection, according to
Jupiter Research, and approximately 80 percent will be on broadband by 2010.
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Limitations of the Research

This paper has not taken into account the considerations that how BTL activities should be
customized and designed with respect to various industries and segments. It also fails to
account for the relevance of a BTL activity to multicultural society. It also fails to consider
the linguistic considerations of the people while customizing these activities.

Gap Analysis
This research moves out of the world of Advertising and sales promotion and set up a new
standard in the field of marketing communication. Though the existing literature talks about
individual channels like direct mailing and event promotion in detail, there is no research
pertaining to relevance of all the BTL activities. The existing research highlights the new and
modern techniques of marketing communications but it fails to consider it a front end force
and it always complements the BTL activities with ATL activities. This paper attempt to defy
this convection and shots BTL activities into the prominence just like ATL shot into
prominence a century ago

In Summary
With an increasingly complex array of promotional options at their fingertips,
marketers continue to search for solutions that deliver the essential concepts of perception,
interaction and measurability offered by the below-the-line marketing approach. Caught
between the contrasting needs to grow profitability and meet the demands of a sophisticated
customer corps, this dual imperative has resulted in a significant shift in marketing emphasis
– away from mass-oriented media and toward direct, targeted and return-on-investment-
oriented channels including direct mail, direct response broadcast/print, e-mail, event
marketing, online advertising, insert media, promotions and search engine marketing.
To marketers, the go-forward challenge is to identify the appropriate media mix for their
business, encompassing both above-the-line (for branding and identity) and below-the-line
(for customer acquisition, retention and loyalty development) methods. Service providers that
successfully intertwine these multiple channels stand to meet those needs more effectively
than providers still mired in a siloed, single- channel approach.