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.
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.