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.