MxMIndia

Category: SPECIALS

  • It is in the interest of the customer as well as the provider to engage at an one on one so called below the line level to improve the experience of the product, says Sevantika Bhandari, Senior VP and Head Marketing, DHFL in this edition of 'BTL Baatein' series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Sevantika Bhandari, DHFL… Powered by VISCOMM

    A veteran marketer with expertise in the financial domain, Sevantika Bhandari, Senior VP and Head Marketing, DHFL has over 14 years of experience in Brand Management, Product Strategy, International Marketing, Online Marketing and Customer Relationship Management. A bachelor in Economics Honours, Bhandari holds a Post Graduate Degree in Management from MDI.We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to her on Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

    How important is BTL activity to your overall marketing plan? And overall in the housing finance sector?

    It is extremely important. Actually, both ATL and BTL go hand in hand. And, one is not important at the cost of the other. Having said that, engaging with the customer one on one can be clubbed in the larger segment of BTL as well, although one on one can be done digitally. It is extremely important, specifically, for financial services and more important for housing finance and home loan, simply because these products or these services are perceived to be extremely complex by the customer. Hence, a face to face interaction always demystifies and simplifies the offering for the customer. It is in the interest of the customer as well as the provider to engage at an one on one so called below the line level to improve the experience of the product.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    As a housing finance company, DHFL undertakes the entire gamut of marketing activities. Some more than the other depending on the time of the year and some more than the other depending on the budgets available. But we interact with consumer wherever he is. We interact with the consumer inside his house by the way of our advertising, through digital, television and radio. As soon as he steps out we interact with him on transit medium with hoarding, press and newspapers. When he walks towards a large shopping area or a congregation of people, we engage with him on the ground with our people available in some form or the other undertaking the BTL activity. We engage with him on his mobile. We engage with him at a point of sale of his home with large building projects. So, the idea which is true for all marketers and true for DHFL as well is to engage with the customer wherever he or she is.  We also map all our activities according to that journey.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    It is a combination actually. Whenever we start a plan, we never set out to say that this is who we will do it with. We always go with the agency, individual or entity, who will be able to perform best for the organisation and the customer.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    Both serve a very different and unique purpose. And, I would recommend, while we all fall in to the trap of evaluating them individually, I think any organisation needs to have a joint strategy and your BTL becomes more effective if your ATL has worked. To give you an example, ATL drives large awareness, I am making generic statements but we use ATL to drive total awareness. The minute your consumers know more about you, your BTL will become more effective. So, while BTL may be more measurable and trackable in a business sense of the word, to get more output, it has to be a joint strategy, where both ATL and BTL do the work for you.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    It is all about sales and salience but it is first about salience and sales always follow. If you do not have salience, chances are you may not get sales led through consumer pull and word of mouth. So, everything we measure, of course you have measures now, newer age measures specifically in the advent of digital media, which is engagement, eyeballs etc.my fundamental belief is, it is also sales and salience. Newer measuring tools and newer media lead to more metrics but they do dovetail in to salience and sales.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    Everything is contextual to the brand and its place in the consumer’s life space. If a brand has an over matching place in a large gamut of consumers, chances are that the brand will benefit more from above the line. If a brand is a localised brand occupying a very specific space in the minds of the consumers, chances are BTL and/or digital is the way to go. So, it is all contextual and there is no one size fits all answer which can be given. It is the job of the marketer to understand the consumer and fit a strategy which is in line with the consumer and the brand objectives.

     

  • BTL is extremely important and today everybody wants to demonstrate more in to experiential marketing thing, says Sarthak Seth, Head – Brand & Marketing Communications, Panasonic India Pvt Ltd in this edition of 'BTL Baatein' series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Sarthak Seth, Panasonic India… Powered by VISCOMM

    With over 14 years of experience, Sarthak Seth specialises in brand strategy, creation and developing markets, consumer insights, visibility strategies and has been instrumental in conceiving, designing and implementing product and marketing initiatives for global brands such as Panasonic, LG Electronics, Indian Hotels Co Ltd in India and South Asian markets. Currently, he is the Head for Brand and Marketing Communications at Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd.We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to him Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

    How important is BTL activity to your overall marketing plan?

    BTL is extremely important and today everybody wants to demonstrate more in to experiential marketing thing. It plays a really important role because if you want to connect with the consumer, who actually wants to have a touch and feel of the product.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    From a BTL perspective there are two-three things. One is, within the shop what exactly are you doing. So, if you see how the consumer journey today is, we start the journey from ATL which includes the release of your television campaign, it is more from the perspective of creating awareness. Now, a consumer might see you on television or newspaper and come in to the shop. But what message has been delivered to him is very important. From the perspective of what you see at the shop, all your POPs (point of purchase), POSs (point of sale), cut outs etc. So, we normally do all such things. Then another thing is in the zone of activations. Now the activations also fall in to the BTL activity itself. When you speak from activation per say, it is more about the experiential feel of the product to the consumer, so that you create various touch points where the consumer actually comes in and touches and feels your product. We do a lot of activations around mall. Today it is more about how you reach out to the end consumer. It is just that wherever you have consumer footprint, you just reach out to the consumer.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    It totally depends on the product category. It is more to do with what are the numbers that you are looking at or what is your revenue for a certain category because if you really want to do your television commercials and everything, which is more of ATL then obviously it is like you really have to have a decent turnover because you generate your marketing budgets from that perspective. There might be smaller categories where you will see only 100% BTL has been done. So, it totally depends upon the product category you are talking about. Also, another thing is that if I look at broader prospect, I would say if a brand is in a decent stage in terms of awareness and everything, then the brands tend to shift towards BTL.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    BTL is a specialised thing… your advertising agencies are not specialised in terms of activations. But when you say creative, the creative in terms of what POPs have to be designed or what sort of creative that should be made by your creative agencies but in terms of putting it over, implementing it in the shop floor, executing it-all these are done through BTL agencies.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    Today in marketing everything is about numbers. So, you need to look at ROI (Return on Investment). ATL is more about building your awareness because on ATL we normally do not do much of tactical. Especially in television there is barely anything tactical which is done. The second tactical mode I would say is print ads, wherein you release your offers and all. But again in BTL front if your there with the end consumer and at the mall you are offering certain things, so you know how faster the conversions are happening.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    One of the things is the footfalls you have been able to generate, when you look from a BTL perspective. Here it is more of the activations that you are actually speaking. The number of people it is touching upon is number one. Another is how much conversions you are driving from there because from BTL perspective I would say that we are more in to being practical so we cannot just say with BTL we are trying to create awareness. Awareness can be a subset but at the end of the day it is more about can I have something which is more result oriented or result driven things.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this? Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    You just cannot do away with the ATL. But it totally depends on the product category you are dealing with. Marketing is always a function of what your budget has been generated. So, it has to be a mix of ATL and BTL. But again when you are doing an ATL campaign, you need to know that it has to be a sustained enough campaign. So, it cannot be that today I release an ad on television and tomorrow I am out of it, it just cannot happen. Every medium has its own role to play in to it. Like television is more about building awareness, position of the brand and print is more from a tactical perspective and also about what offers you are actually giving. BTL is reaching out to the end consumers in terms of identifying that these are my niche consumers, it is like you are directly reaching to the potential customers over there. ATL is more like you are reaching to the masses. Today when we are talking about geo targeting, digital media for example, even those sorts of geo targeting you are doing through BTL.

     

    Coming on to brands doing a mix of BTL along with outdoors and digital, I would say it is a good mix. If you see outdoors will help you in creating awareness and increasing your visibility. Again, in outdoors you should know that any campaign which you are stretching beyond a period 21 to 25 days, actually the creative becomes a blind spot. So, if you are changing your creative, you can stretch it to two-three months also. Rising cost of media on one side, we are looking at it from the perspective of television or newspaper for that matter but their effectiveness is much broader. Outdoor, you need to be city and area specific. Digital is not at all a cheap medium. A lot of people make this assumption that digital is very cheap. The number of impressions you are required to put on to digital medium in terms of gaining frequencies, it is not very simple. It can be a decent mix but have to know where you want to target.

     

  • BTL activations helps in delivering on last-mile conversions and creates greater engagement with the target consumer, says SagarBoke, ‎Head, Marketing, Tata Chemicals Ltd (Consumer Products Business), Tata Chemicals Ltd in this edition of 'BTL Baatein', powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Sagar Boke, Tata Chemicals Ltd… Powered by VISCOMM

    Sagar Boke has around 15 years of experience in FMCG Marketing & Sales. He has been a part of many business turnaround stories like the launch of Dalda into edible oils.  Prior to this, Boke was the Marketing Head of Bunge India Pvt Ltd. He brings to the table a vast experience of over a decade in the field of brands and marketing. He was the Category Head for Skin and Fragrance at CavinKare and the Deputy General Manager, Marketing, Hair Colours, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. He played an instrumental part in building brands such as Godrej No 1 soap, Godrej Nupur and Fairever Fairness Cream. We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM withAnuka Roy speaking to him…

     

    How important is BTL in the FMCG space? Specifically, how important is BTL to Tata Chemicals’ overall marketing plan?

    The importance of BTL varies depending on the industry, target audience, the product and the life cycle of the product. In an FMCG market, BTL is a low-cost and high impact method of reaching out to target audience in a predefined manner. Not only does it engage consumers but also enables product trials and brand experiences thereby increasing brand recall and visibility. BTL activities are also an effective way to educate existing and first time users with the help of personal engagement.

     

    The emerging Indian economy has also enabled consumers to spread beyond metros, tier I, II and III cities, which broadens the playing field for BTL activities. BTL-related activities at Tata Chemicals have played a major role in our communications mix.

     

    Are there any specific products at Tata Chemicals that you use BTL for?

    The Tata Chemicals Consumer Products Business is categorised as its Living Essentials portfolio and bifurcated into Tata Salt, Tata Sampann and Tata Swach. Tata Sampann houses products such as unpolished dals, low oil absorb besan and spices. We use BTL activations as required for the products as mentioned above.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    The Consumer Products Business at Tata Chemicals caters daily, essential household products. We implement various BTL activations as the occasion desires basis the product and target market.

     

    Recently, Tata Salt was seen at the holy Simhasth Kumbh Mela 2016 with its creative campaign titled ‘Shubh Bhojan ka Shudh Aarambh’. Tata Salt conceputalised to re-instate the long lost tradition of having a pinch of salt before a meal as salt is believed to be auspicious, life-giving and life-preserving. Salt is also considered divine in Hindu culture and a gift of salt is considered to be a potent symbol of good luck. While one consumes salt in their daily diet, many have forgotten its importance and significance with time. In order to re-introduce this ancient belief, Tata Salt distributed one lakh branded thalis to 15 akharas in order to serve food to devotees visiting the Kumbh Mela. The plates had been designed with a special section for salt, where the auspicious bhojan can commence with a pinch of Tata Salt, thus bringing salt’s age-old glory to the masses. This innovation was supported by a larger initiative wherein 35 tonnes of Tata Salt was distributed to the akharas to be used in preparation of the auspicious meals. Spread over a period of four weeks, the campaign plans to reach approximately 50 lakh pilgrims.

     

    Another activation was for Tata Sampann low oil absorb besan, titled ‘Ab Khao Befiqr’, where we tied up with Top 104 Vada pav stall in Mumbai. Mumbaikars love vada pav which is considered an unhealthy snack.  With this activation we wanted to encourage consumers to eat their favourite snacks and indulge without guilt. Tata Sampann Besan aborbs lesser oil as compared to the ordinary Besan and the tie-up enabled the consumers to witness this for themselves. We reached out to around 5 lakh consumers with this activity.

     

    Similarly, last year, during Ganesh Chaturthi we offered Lord Ganesha the World’s Biggest Ladoo at Andhericha Raja Ganesh Pandal. Weighing approximately 8645 kg, the Maha Ladoo was prepared using 4250 kg of sugar, 4000 kg of Tata I-Shakti  low oil absorb besan, 3000 kg of ghee, 35 kg of cardamom and measured approximately 6 feet in height. The Maha Ladoo caught the wonder and marvel of the devotees and helped generate a lot of eyeballs for the brand.

     

    Tata Salt Plus, our iron fortified iodised salt, was launched with the aim to make India anaemia-free. Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA) impacts large parts of the population, with many people unaware that they might be iron deficient. Tata Salt Plus partnered with 2000 retailers across the 19 cities in the country through its campaign ’12 kanaara’ in order to generate awareness around the same. Being key influencers for consumers, retailers are instrumental in consumer education and awareness generation. Under the programme, retailers took a pledge and declared themselves partners in the drive to eliminate IDA from the country. Tata Salt Plus educated them about IDA and methods to counter it, in order to equip them to educate consumers in turn.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/ media agency?

    We believe that specialist agencies add a lot of value when it comes to BTL activities. The existing creative/media agencies are involved in the ideation stages in some instances.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2C, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    Depending upon the geographical location and our target market we define our ATL and BTL strategy. While ATL helps us to reach out to larger target audience, BTL activations helps in delivering on the last-mile conversions and creates greater engagement with the target consumer.  With increasing clutter in the market, it has become all the more essential to use activation which helps in reaching out to specific target audience and thus becomes a measurable activity. It not only helps in more product trial but also gives us an opportunity to take consumer feedback and suggestions and thus gives insights on our return on investment.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    We look at the lead indicators like Brand Health scores (viz Awareness, Consideration, Intention-to-purchase etc) and the lag Indicators like sales. We also look at qualitative indicators like the buzz and word-of-mouth created by the campaign.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this? Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    For an FMCG product targeted at the masses, doing a launch only with BTL is a sub-optimal solution. BTL would not be able to create the desired awareness. However, if one is launching a niche product in a limited geography, BTL is a more efficient solution. Having said that, I don’t think that BTL will entirely manage on its own. Both of these play complementary roles to each other.

     

  • ATL helps drive reach and salience on one hand while consumer engagement efforts require a good mix of ATL and BTL, says Shweta Shrivastava, Marketing Head, London Dairy in this edition of 'BTL Baatein' series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Shweta Shrivastava, London Dairy… Powered by VISCOMM

    Shweta Shrivastava is the Marketing Head of London Dairy, premium branded ice cream segment in India. She has close to 15 years of experience in the FMCG sector across marketing, insights, marketing strategy, brand management and communication development.Prior to joining London Dairy, Shrivastava has worked with Cadbury India and Marico Industries Limited in various strategic roles.We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to her on Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     


    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    In today’s media and communication scenario, the line between ATL and BTL communications has blurred. Traditionally, communication media meant TV, print and everything else. The new age marketing is about integrated marketing encompassing all media to garner effective reach and salience on one hand while driving engagement on another, which requires a good mix of ATL and BTL.

     

    Being a premium brand, for London Dairy BTL is essentially led by experiential marketing that gives the consumer a “London Dairy experience” which works best for the brand.

     

    Our Ice cream month campaign with the London Dairy Squad is proof of the same as it engaged young working professionals at their place of work and gave them the Ice cream experience around the theme of Ice Cream Day.

     

    London Dairy had also organised Ice cream festivals across key modern trade chains like Godrej Nature’s Basket and Hypercity to create a theme at point of buying and get consumers excited and gratified.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    London Dairy follows a mix of presence in high profile events to drive brand connect, and trial generation and buzz creation activities at point of buying.

     

    London Dairy was the indulgence partner at Sulafest 2016 wherein we set up an indulgence zone where our chefs doled out special ice cream creations to consumers giving them a unique product and brand experience. The activities at zone of Indulgence had visitors performing off-beat activities in front of a cheering audience. To top it all, the London Dairy Throne of Indulgence at the zone had consumers queuing up to pose in their own regal fashion atop the throne.

     

    This experience was replicated at the Times Holi Fest this year where London Dairy was the presenting partner. This platform was also leveraged to launch the London Dairy summer digital film #SummerOfIndulgence. The activity not only engaged consumers on ground with scrumptious ice cream but drove significant chatter around the summer film launch.

     

    Our #SummerOfIndulgence campaign was also activated at the point of buying with Ice Cream Festivals across key retail channels like Godrej Nature’s Basket and Hypercity. Be it a sundae challenge for kids or ice cream eating competitions or exciting consumer offers for ice cream enthusiasts, the festivals drove trial and brand buzz amongst the catchments.

     

    The most recent of the brand’s activities was the London Dairy squad which broke into offices across Mumbai and Delhi surprising young working professionals on a regular working day and indulging them in the ice cream month.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    As mentioned earlier, ATL helps drive reach and salience on one hand while consumer engagement efforts require a good mix of ATL and BTL. Hence, the ATL investments for London Dairy are significantly higher, but BTL is deemed equally important.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    The execution of BTL activities is led by a mix of both existing agencies as well as specialised BTL agencies, depending upon the nature of the activity. Given the thrust on experiential marketing for London Dairy, the execution quality and attention to detail has to be impeccable.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2C, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    If you are talking about only trial generation activities in BTL, then the gains are immediate but short lived. Brand-building is key to long-term viability of any business. Thus, a correct mix of ATL and BTL is of paramount importance.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    The key attributes that denote the success of a BTL activity are:

    First, the quality of experience the consumers get during the activity since this is the foundation upon which everything else stands. Secondly, the quality of chatter and word of mouth generated around theactivity on various media, since this is what gives a positive brand buzz. Finally, the quantum of buzz generated by the activity and an essence of virality in it is what makes the activity truly successful as this is what gives the geographically constrained activity an unmitigated reach.

     

    There are many organizations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    The best way to make a campaign successful is to integrate it across platforms. While BTL has its merits, it would be unrealistic to expect brands to be built purely on BTL. For creating buzz around an activity or campaign, BTL must be augmented by sufficient ATL.  The good news is depending upon the brand target group; marketers today have the choice of advertising in new age media, some of which are really cost effective and measurable.

     

    With new age media giving considerable reach and engagement, it is important for brands to study the media ethnography of its target consumers and accordingly devise an effective media plan to reach them across multiple media.

     

  • Channel and hence, channel visibility being critical part of this category, BTL becomes critical, says Amit Kumar Gope, Group Head Marketing, CenturyPlyin this edition of 'BTL Baatein' series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Amit Kumar Gope, CenturyPly… Powered by VISCOMM

    Amit Kumar Gope, is a postgraduate from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar and has had a multi-faceted marketing career covering various industries.Having started with concept selling with timeshares in 1993, he has spent professional time with ABP, Airtel, Vodafone and Uninor. He moved in as the Group Marketing Head of CenturyPly in 2013.We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to him on Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    BTL forms a very important part of the marketing mix of CenturyPly. Channel and hence, channel visibilitybeing critical part of this category, BTL becomes critical. Also, trade and influencer meets form an integral part of the plan, making BTL that much more critical.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    A. Out of Shop Visibility

    B. In Shop Visibility

    i. Posters / Danglers / Streamers

    ii. Shop – in – shop

    iii. Sample display

    iv. Promoters

    C. Trade meets

    D. Influencer meets

    E. POP / POS like stationery / T-shirts / pens etc.

    F. Roadshows

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    I cannot share figures but ATL: 60% and BTL: 40%

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    It depends on the activity. Mostly it is outsourced to BTL agencies in terms of execution. Communication and creatives are managed thru respective agencies

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    There are no definitive answers for that. ATL is a brand builder. So, even a B2B gets to know of the brand and its imagery from ATL. Direct contact is for sales, B2B usually is not subject to BTL advertising or marketing but pure sales contacts. Marketing cannot be, by definition, divided into water tight compartments. B2B for instance is exposed to a lot of digital marketing. Hence, one cannot quite fix “sureshot” solutions to conversion.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    It is nothing beyond that.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    Yes, absolutely and very much. Market launches, product launches, engagement are purely BTL and / or BTL plus digital activities. Most leading or large brands keep doing large amounts of BTL activities that are exclusive and agnostic of their ATL campaigns.

     

  • In BTL, the qualitative feedback is very important, says Bharat Kharbanda, Assistant Vice President and Marketing Head for Fans and Home Comfort Business, Usha International Ltd in this edition of 'BTL Baatein', the series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Bharat Kharbanda, Usha International… Powered by VISCOMM

    Bharat Kharbanda has 17 years of work experience in FMCG, Telecom, IT hardware (PC, Printers & Consumables) and the small domestic appliances industry. He has worked with Hewlett Packard, Shell, Tata Pennzoil and Usha. Currently, he heads marketing for electrical fans and home comfort (air cooler, room heaters and water heaters) business for Usha International Limited.His experience includes marketing, sales and distribution management, product category management, operations and people management. We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to him on Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    BTL becomes a very important component of the overall marketing plan. Although at Usha, we have been running 360-degree campaigns and in that BTL component is very important. If you look at the making of the product which we are selling, I take care of fans and home comfort business – air cooler, water heater etc. These product categories unfortunately do not enjoy that kind of involvement with the consumer directly. And, if you look at the nature of the market, these are being retailed. Electrical shops might be selling fans, heaters, similarly there are destination markets. The stores at the destination markets are much cluttered and in the nature of these retail stores, the point of sell, visibility etc. is very important. So, keeping that in mind BTL becomes almost imperative. Most of the time I have observed, these basically comes from the feedback which I normally take during my interaction with the retailers, sometimes what happens is a consumer changes his brand on the basis of the interaction that takes place at the point of sale. From that perspective, I would say, BTL probably is the most important part in the overall 360 degree campaign but not as a standalone.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    We do multiple activities. If you have to bucket all the activities, there are certain activities linked to channels, there are certain activities in terms of experience and then there are certain activities which are more meet-and-greet. Now, in terms of the channel activities we do both. If there is a new product launch happening, then we do the main product launch at the retail outlet. We identify top retail outlets and then we take our products and unveil it through that channel partner, create some excitement- these are some channel engagement activity. We do a lot of in=store branding and display activities. If you look at all the leading players be it Usha Crompton or Orion, unless you showcase the range, the colours which are available, it becomes very difficult for a consumer to really select. If you really want to showcase you need to be a little different, whether in terms of the showcase or colours or a particular design. We do demo fan installations, meet and greet activities also. Usha has engaged with a lot of big events like IPL with Mumbai Indians. We keep organising meet-and-greets wherein you call certain top players from Mumbai Indians and we call certain top dealers also and provide them a platform wherein they can ask questions to their favourite cricketer, interact with them, click photos etc. We also do experiential activities where we give opportunities to our consumer to experience our product. By which I mean, participating in certain carnival, certain exhibition where you showcase product, then you provide an opportunity for the consumer to engage.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    In terms of percentage, I think BTL would form a good 30-35% of my overall spends on marketing.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    It is a mix of both. Creative agencies are basically involved to create the creative that we want in terms of branding that we want in a particular platform. But in terms of execution there are dedicated BTL agencies which are expert in that. But all the creative support in the branding is provided by the creative agency.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    There are no clear answers to this. For a product category like fan and air cooler etc. the job of the ATL is actually to bring in footfall. But in retail shops it might go in the favour of my brand or go in the favour of someone else’s brand. But BTL ensures that whatever you have communicated through your ATL or you are promising to deliver, at the Point of Sale you have to live up to that. These are two complementary activities.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    Sales are the indicator of success or failure. In BTL, the qualitative feedback is very important. Typically, in BTL you are creating a point of visibility and engagement. So, how a channel is seeing you as a brand, basically what kind of store space they are giving to you. It is a good indicator of how your BTL has been. I might produce a costly display fan but is he allocating space to the retail shop or not, that is an indicator. So, qualitative feedback and engagement with the retailer is a strong indicator of how a BTL activity has fared.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    My point of view here is BTL on its own may not hold well across the board. You cannot have a blanket ‘yes’ for that. But there are certain categories, I am not talking about my own product category but certain industries like automobile lubricant or tyre industry, they would largely bank on BTL because the role of the influencers are very important in such product categories. Wherever the role of influencers is very important, there, BTL might be preferred over ATL. But in our industry, I do not see BTL replacing ATL. BTL has to compliment ATL. When we do product launches, we ensure that there is pull being generated through ATL and that is supportive at the retail outlet through BTL.

     

  • BTL plays a pivotal role in our marketing mix, says a spokesperson from Videocon d2h in this edition of the 'BTL Baatein' series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: BTL plays a pivotal role in Videocon d2h’s marketing mix… Powered by VISCOMM

    Videocon d2h is leading DTH service provider which offers over 570 channels and services. It has a pan-India sales and distribution channel, an established service orientation and a track record of introducing technologically innovative product and service offerings. Videocon d2h has over 300 own service centres spread across 7500 top towns in India to attend and resolve the service issues within 4-6 hrs.We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to a spokesperson from the organisation about Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    We are an entertainment eco system player, hence experiential marketing is very critical in converting at the point of sale, that is, the retail outlets. Consequently, BTL plays a pivotal role in our marketing mix. Most retail outlets stock other brands of DTH as well. Starting from reminder at the point of decision making, that is, the retail counter to the utility of the demo set running Videocon d2h channels is essential to win marketshare. The BTL offers targeted consumer connects because it can be tailored to micro geographies. This is what makes BTL programmes very attractive for us. This is especially true as the current phase of digitisation of TV is DAS IV areas i.e., very small towns and the villages.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    There are four types of BTL activities we focus on:

    1. Permanent visibility – on shop and in shop permanent merchandising elements – Lit and non-lit dealer boards, lollipops, lit and non-lit both, brand walls within the shop, glass panel branded one way vision films , and some amount of shutter painting in interior pockets

     

    2. Medium-term outdoor presence linked to market needs

    a. Wall paintings (last year, we did 6.5 Mn sqft) that last roughly 4-6 months

    b. Hoardings (1-23 months) linked to festival linked buying spurts in specific markets

     

    3. Tactical paper-based POS – posters, leaflets, flanges, package stickers

     

    4. On-ground experiential programmes

    a. Exhibitions and Haat/mela activity – caters to deep rural markets and allows direct consumer experience leading to conversion into purchase. There are by our estimate more than 6000 rural haats/melas of various kinds that have sizeable congregations. And rural being the core focus of the DTH market, haats and melas offer a naturally available channel. We also do targeted van activity to supplement the haat/mela programmes.

    b. Consumer connect and activation programmes linked to long-term brand properties like Mumbai Indians, IIFA and the recent in film branding of the Salman Khan block buster – Sultan

     

    The list is endless; there are various innovative ways to reach out to our audience through BTL. We keep experimenting with different ways apart from the list as given above.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    We spend a massive proportion of our budget in BTL, roughly 45% of the budget. Our focus in BTL has been threefold:

    > First is to ensure coverage using data to segment retailers into various importance buckets

    > Second is to ensure outlet dominance and brand cut through

    > Finally, to reinforce the brand DNA of innovation through attractive unique marquee elements

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    We have a well-oiled process where the state-level marketing coordinates with the sales and distribution team to ensure seamless implementation of the BTL programmes.  For specific, specialised BTL programmes, we do use external agencies. For example, for the on-ground programme we did with the movie Sultan, we had briefed the BTL activation arm of our agency Lintas, who did the conceptualisation, the creative, developed IT backbone and did the on-ground implementation. We are open to external agencies if they provide their expertise in specific fields.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    BTL allows direct consumer connect with the brand. There are still certain segments of customers who are as yet unfamiliar with the category, where this direct connect becomes very useful. If one were to measure cost per activation, BTL always turns out to be a very cost channel. However, the benefits of the experiential element and the last point reminder effect more than outweigh the investments we make in BTL programmes.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    We evaluate BTL through some time tested metrics:

    :: Exhibitions, haats/melas are measured by two metrics – first the advertising benefit based on the audience reached using footfall data and second by the activations we generated through the presence in the event.

    :: Normal on shop / in shop elements –while we do not do a ROI measure of this, the investment in each retail outlet is a function of its importance bucket which by definition is ROI oriented.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    The use of a particular marketing mix should be entirely linked to the objective and ambition of the product/brand. For example, in our industry,. if an operator feels the biggest market for a new hardware variant like an external recorder (basically a feature that allows an external memory to be connected to the set-top box for recording) is the existing HD set-top box base, they can completely eliminate ATL and BTL and work only on subscriber-based marketing programmes to realise the sales targets. However, if a product like 4K Set-Top Box is being launched, a small focused ATL campaign supported by massive BTL in select high end consumer electronics retail outlets would be more suited. A one formula fits all would not be the right approach.

     

    In our view therefore, it’s the size and location of the market which determines what approach we should take.

     

  • About 30-40 per cent of spends are towards BTL, says Yogesh Shinde, VP Marketing, Wagh Bakri Tea in this edition of the ‘BTL Baatein’ series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Yogesh Shinde, Wagh Bakri Tea… Powered by VISCOMM

    Yogesh Shinde is currently Vice President Marketing, Wagh Bakri Tea. An marketing and communications specialist, he was earlier associated with Saatchi & Saatchi, Mumbai, Triton Communications and R K Swamy BBDO. We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy engaging him him on Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    Now a days it really depends on how you treat your marketing mix. Today, we need to look at nothing but a 360-degree view in terms of how you reach your consumers, and of how you remind consumers of your presence and product offering.  BTL is quite important to our overall marketing plan although we use a mix of ATL and BTL activities as we are launching our tea lounges, it is important for us to create location awareness apart from our own offering to the Indian consumer. So it is an important element for us.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    We have a very strong loyalty programme that has been on for the last many years and has given us good dividend. We have Wagh Bakri lounges and they are very unique and are a social place now. All our lounges are operated by the company its self and the lounge is very unique as, besides the numerous teas, we also serve snacks and savouries which enhance the overall experience. These Lounges also get us a lot of direct consumer feedback.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    Putting together, about 30-40 per cent of our spending is towards BTL.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    We use specialist agencies for BTLas these are activities-driven.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    Both ATL and BTL have different and specific roles to play. The customers are exposed to a variety of mediums and the shift in brand can happen during any stage in the buying cycle. Therefore, we use both ATL and BTL together to ensure recall, awareness, affinity and experience. In case of our B2B business where all the classes are our audience, we use only BTL strategy.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    There is a lot of volume-value generation as a result of a BTL campaign. We are also able to track other variables like consumers engaged, consumers converted and referrals generated. We also connect our campaigns with digital and social media platforms to ensure that the consumers can connect back to us when they want.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    ATL and BTL complement each other. ATL drives awareness and consideration while BTL takes up the task for conversations. I think for certain objectives and activities, you can survive only on BTL, but as a brand I don’t think one survives on any one particular activity. One won’t be able to get the desired results until the entire circle is completed. There is a different view for brands catering to fragmented markets. To reach the niche and premium segments, BTL works the best with least spillover and media wastages.

     

  • Both ATL and BTL co-exist together with specific roles. Yes, it is an important leg of our brand planning says Malay Dikshit, Chief Communications Officer, Tata Sky in this edition of 'BTL Baatein' series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Malay Dikshit, Tata Sky… Powered by VISCOMM

    Malay Dikshit is the Chief Communications Officer of Tata Sky Ltd. His role comprises being responsible for developing marketing and communication strategies traditional and new age mediums. He brings with him over 15 years of experience spanning across divisions like marketing, sales and operations. We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to him Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    It is an essential and it is not just important. Both ATL and BTL co-exist together with specific roles. Yes, it is an important leg of our brand planning.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    We go to about 12,000 villages below 5,000 population towns to start with. There are many things we do but essentially we want to give a simple message to the consumer who has not seen DTH, to say that Tata Sky in particular takes your family entertainment to a different level. A simple message which says ‘TV banega super TV’ meaning you will get much more value out of your TV, is the message we give. It is a campaign in our BTL activations. We go to villages either in the form of vans, going to about 8,000 villages, displaying our content through huge TV screens, through mailers, showing the depth and quality of content that we have. We got some good results and we extended it to urban areas, seven or eight towns we have targeted right now. People who do not have a DTH connection at home and how can Tata Sky bring a lot of value to the household. So, that is the broad kind of activities that we do.

     

    In terms of BTL, there is usually associated with just going on the field and announcing but taking some learnings from our digital marketing where we see influencer marketing in a very evolved stage. We have an influencer marketing programme even in the rural areas. Our people go there, they talk to a school, take a session with children which introduces Active Education for you, there is Vedic Mathematics, there is English that you can learn, there is classroom tutorial that fits the sixth, seventh or eighth standard syllabus seesions you can have on TV, you use the school Principal as the influencer there or the school teacher. Then you go to a housewife of a particular mohalla and talk to her about cooking, influence her so that she spreads the message that you can learn cooking. We talk to Pandits in the village about Active Darshan or Active Devotion; they become influencer in the town. So, there is an influencer model also in place.

     

    Even our campaign extensions are in the BTL area. Once we ran a Kangana and Dhanushko missed call campaign, it got included in the same activation infrastructure we had. We keep on refreshing our messages also for our BTL activations.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    More important than spends is where do our acquisitions come from and I am very pleased that at least 50% plus of our new acquisitions come from rural areas. That is the sign of our BTL activations working.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/ media agency?

    It is difficult to isolate either or. Everybody has got to work in alignment because there is a brand message, there a brand priority that we need to relay to the rest of the world. The most important thing is you need to offer to the consumer, there has to be uniformity in the messaging irrespective of the medium we are using, whether it is BTL or ATL. Usually, we tie them up together- the BTL and ATL agency- and both of them together come up with ideas.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    ATL plays a very specific role of driving consideration. BTL comes in to the loop when the person has got inquisitive; there is a demand, a pull towards the brand, it is the BTL activation which converts to buy a product. For example, if we even consider the rural activation programme that we are doing – TV banega super TV – the consumer gets to see our advertisement, he gets to see our message and here comes an activation team and starts convincing him to buy a conversion action, that is when the magic works. Both of them have to work in tandem and it is not one or the other.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    One is top to bottom consideration, how are they doing. Actual conversions: how are they moving and as I said share of acquisition. So, of my acquisitions in a month or a year coming from a particular geography is an indicator of the entire marketing mix. It is not just BTL which works; it is both of them together that work. It depends on where you want to focus as geography – a region or a particular consumer type- that decides how you want to lay out advertising and sales promotion plans. All of that put together works for us.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    It is a mixture of consideration and conversion. So, many times BTL on its own if it tries to do becomes sub-optimal. Both of them have to co-exist. There has to be a consideration message and conversion message. Sometimes just an outdoor and a digital blitz might do the consideration job and BTL does the conversion job. It depends on who the consumer is, what the particular company is targeting and what it is not. For us, we have a huge range of consumers, right from people who are digital natives to people who have not seen DTH in their house at all. Different kinds of messages work, different kinds of marketing plans work there. When that happens it needs to be a mix of ATL as well as BTL.

     

  • Historically, the BTL part of our business has been an extremely important part, whether it is at Point of Sale or Point of Consumption, or whether it is displays, shop frontage, all consumer activations and promotions, sponsorships, events, associations etc. are very critical to our business, says Samar Singh Sheikhawat, Senior Vice President – Marketing, United Breweries Limited in this edition of 'BTL Baatein' series that is powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: Samar Singh Sheikhawat, United Breweries Ltd… Powered by VISCOMM

    A veteran in building brands, Samar Singh Sheikhawat joined United Breweries Limited, as Senior Vice President – Marketing in November 2009. A post graduate in MBA – Marketing and Finance from Symbiosis, Pune, Sheikhawatstarted his career with Cadbury’s India Ltd in 1989. He is currently theSenior Vice President – Marketing of United Breweries Limited. We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Anuka Roy speaking to him Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    It is extremely important. We function in a media dark environment. So, historically, the BTL part of our business has been an extremely important part, whether it is at Point of Sale or Point of Consumption, or whether it is displays, shop frontage, all consumer activations and promotions, sponsorships, events, associations etc. are very critical to our business.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    We do everything under the sun from sponsorship to promotions to road shows to events- music, sports, food festivals, fashion gigs, display in stores, posters, danglers, streamers, digital intervention, activations on ground. I mean everything that is possible to be done is literally done in the alcohol business because you technically are not allowed to advertise. Things have changed a lot in the last few years but so far it was that way.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    It typically would be 60% of our total spends will be ATL now and about 40% is BTL. BTL, there is a lower percentage in other consumer product companies.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    We use both. We use agency that specialises in BTL work and we use our ATL agencies also. But largely it is working with agency that specialises in BTL work. A lot of BTL is also executed by our own sales teams but at the end of the day we end up using agency that specialises in this business.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    I do not think you can compare the two. It is like cricket, you need both batsmen and bowlers. You cannot have a team of 11 batsmen or 11 bowlers. So, they need to work in conjunction with each other. First of all, you need to have distribution of the brands, you have to have cold stock available, you have to be visible etc. So, those three basic things have to happen. Thereafter, you need ATL to bring consumer pull in to the stores and you need BTL to give them an added incentive once they are there. Sometimes BTL can also play the role of ATL, if it’s associational and desirable property. The two play a complimentary role to each other.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    Depending on the campaign there are several ways of looking at it. Whether it is number of consumer contacts, strike rates or conversions, then you look at how that outlet or that brand or that market how it is doing during the BTL activation period and how it does after the activation period. So, typically if it is executed well, it will do well during the BTL period but we also hope that after the activity is over, it settles at a level higher than the level at which you started. Otherwise, it is not a permanent change.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    Most companies across the world, actually, cannot afford ATL costs. You look at smaller businesses SMEs, startup businesses, local businesses etc. most of them do what traditionally is known as BTL. The number of organisations and brands that are sold only on BTL anywhere in the world is always larger than the number of brands that actually get on to ATL. So, if I run a neighbourhood grocery delivery business, how will I make sure that people know about me? May be in every bill I will have rubber stamp with my phone number, may be I would give a leaflet with every delivery bag that goes. So, the number of people who use BTL in our country is- I am not talking about volume of business and the amount of money that is spent, obviously a far more popular way of communicating to consumers than ATL. ATL requires certain size, a certain funding and also it requires a certain economic threshold to be effective. If I have one crore for instance, it will be suboptimal to put it up to television. Whereas, one crore on BTL could make a big difference depending on what I want to achieve.

     

  • Experiential (BTL) always plays a very key role in any brand's marketing plan, says Lokesh Kataria, Head, Marketing Mattel Toys, India

    BTL Baatein: Lokesh Kataria, Mattel Toys… Powered by VISCOMM

    Experiential (BTL) always plays a very key role in any brand’s marketing plan, says Lokesh Kataria, Head, Marketing Mattel Toys, India. Mattel has a large portfolio of global consumer brands includes Barbie, American Girl, Fisher-Price, Thomas & Friends,  Hot Wheels, Scrabble, Uno and Pictionary among many others. in this edition of ‘BTL Baatein’ series that is powered by VISCOMM. Read Lokesh Kataria’s views on below-the-line marketing and promotions…

     

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    Experiential (BTL) always plays a very key role in any brand’s marketing plan. It’s no different for us. The category that we operate in is much better presented with experiential activities to our consumers and shoppers. Toys bring alive our childhood and are best of the friends to any kid. Seeing them live in action anywhere always puts across a smile to everyone’s face. This is the best any brand can ask for! So yes, Experiential plays a very important part of our plans across all categories we operate in.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

     

    The activities range from interactive demos in store to larger than life activations across mass convergence areas like Malls. There is a huge potential to extend the boundaries of experiential now given the Digital means of interaction with everyone out there with a smartphone.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    Experiential has been gathering steam and given the way traditional media consumption patter is changing, there is always more for experiential initiatives to play their part.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    Mostly, we work directly with the agencies who specialise in experiential and activations.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sure shot avenue than ATL?

    Both mass and experiential activities have got their own pros and cons. It largely depends on type of campaigns and expected results.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    Given the rise of digital and social media, a very good measure is to understand how much of your initiatives were liked and then shared on social media. A true experiential initiative has a huge potential to deliver you a “fan” rather than just a “consumer”. Fans are always loyal. Then there are other classical ways of brand dipstick and NPS measurements.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your views on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    We have seen brands do that in past and deliver success. However, this largely depends on the awareness level and acceptance a brand/product needs before it is called a success. In my view, it is always good to have a balanced approach depending upon the outcome a brand manager is expecting.

     

  • BTL has its own advantage even though reach is limited, says N V Chakravarthi, General Manager, Himalaya BabyCare in BTL Baatein… powered by VISCOMM

    BTL Baatein: N V Chakravarthi, Himalaya BabyCare … Powered by VISCOMM

    An MBA in marketing from Karnataka University and over nine years of experience in developing and executing marketing strategies For Himalaya Drug Company where he joined in 2007, N V Chakravarthi, General Manager, Himalaya BabyCare believes BTL has played a crucial part in getting Himalaya brand where it is today.

     

    We present to you the ‘BTL Baatein’ of the week which is powered by VISCOMM with Santosh Jangid speaking to him about Below The Line (BTL) advertising, the focus of the company and the balance between ATL (Above The Line) and BTL

     

    How important is BTL to your overall marketing plan?

    It is extremely important for us because of a very simple reason that we don’t do ATL activities. We promote the entire range through medical fraternity that is through doctors, nurses, general practitioners, paediatricians and gynaecologist. We are in the state of so-called ethical marketing and because there is no ATL activity for us, we are dependent on BTL very much.

     

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion?

    We do very regular doctors and parents engagement programmes where we call top notch doctors from the city and  we call both the parents, we also do a lot of awareness about health related issues and health related programs, we do nurses education related programmes where we educate them about breast feeding, massage, how to do diapering, what are diaper rashes related health concerns, we do a lot of activities keeping that in mind. We do lots of high visibility campaigns pan-India so if you notice our product’s visibility has improved in the last five to six years and that is because of BTL. We do direct to parents campaign where we distribute the sample, we distribute the information leaflets, we create a lot of buzz around point of purchase activity. We also have sales promoters in our division. The modern trade and stand alone are increasing in a very good number because we have sales promoters there who educate and clarify many things about point of sale and we initiate sample trials. So, these are few important things that we do in BTL – one is doctors-parents meet programmes, second is nurses education programme, third is high visibility campaigns, fourth is sales promoter programme and the fifth is point of sale point of purchase activity and lastly we do direct-to-parents activity.

     

    Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?

    We don’t have ATL budget at all because we have consciously not taken that route. So whatever we spend, we spend on BTL and the remaining strategies through medical fraternity, trial packs and bundle packs. So I can say that 90-95% of our spend is on BTL.

     

    Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?

    Right now our 70% work happens in house as we have our creative team and design team in house. We also have our registered vendors and so the rest 30% happens with people who help us at BTL activities. Right now we do not work with any creative agency.

     

    In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sure shot avenue than ATL?

    For us it has worked out well. All of us are aware that segment target group is very important to decide ATL or BTL. We have seen very measurable results in BTL. Both ATL and BTL are important based on the company’s needs. It comes down to the budget, target group, segmentation for the company. Specifically for our brand though BTL has worked great for us.

     

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    We first look at how the sale of the product is moving. For example, there is a particular modern trade or a supermarket where we do the activity. There we measure how the activity is happening, secondly, we take the customer’s feedback and we maintain the database so we come to know about their preferences and suggestions and customer feedback is a very good indicator. A very important attribute for us is word-of-mouth publicity which might be from doctors or parents. Lastly, we always complete the loop. Once we start the activity till the end how it works, what difficulties, impact and what response is given by the channel is also very important. It may be a hospital, a chemist, modern trade, doctor, nurses or shop keepers. These key channel partners give us the feedback that this is the result, this is where you can improve yourself and so on. So these are the measurable parameters for us.

     

    There are many organisations that often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this. Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    That is a very sensitive question because two-three parameters play a great role here. One is the company turnover and brand equity in the market and what I am expecting from the brand or what are my expectations for the next five to ten years, what budget do I have, what resources do I have and what target groups I am approaching. For mid-scale or small companies BTL is always preferable because they work with small challenges. BTL has its own advantage even though the reach is limited. It all depends once again on company, expectation, budget, segment and target group. For us, BTL worked out and if BTL is highly creative and reaching to masses effectively, if BTL is well-planned and organised and keeping expectation in mind it definitely works.