Set up in 2011, Faaso’s fashions itself as a food technology enterprise. A well-funded firm, Faaso’s has employed technology to efficiently manage the food-on-demand business. Thanks to excellent funding, it has expanded rapidly and added on some high profile ATL to its promotional arsenal.
A computer science graduate from Mumbai University, Revant Bhate, co-founder and head of marketing, has worked with Yes Bank and Elara Capital after a PGDM at IIM Kozhikode. Â In the process of building the business, he oversees marketing and finance at the firm.
In this edition of BTL Baatein, Revant Bhate talks of how BTL marketing makes it easier and faster to get feedback from customers and addressing them quick.
What is the importance of BTL in the space that Faasos operates in?
At Faasos, we believe that we are in the business of experiential marketing. While ATL helps us create brand visibility, BTL provides us with ‘touch points’ to engage with our consumer and create an impact which will help us influence their attitude towards the brand.
The position that we create through our ATL campaigns is then hammered in the minds of the consumers through a well integrated BTL piece.
Thus, BTL is focused approach strategically driven towards generating results where we engage with a selective target group thus intending to build a long lasting relationship.
What are the specific products or services for which BTL activations are used?
Faasos as a brand has always been using BTL to engage with our consumers. We have only recently introduced ATL as a part our media mix. Thus, BTL has always been the first means of communicating with our consumers.
We are currently operational in 11 cities and as a conscious brand decision; we have introduced ourselves in all these cities through BTL activities only. Thus, BTL runs across our portfolio of products.
And how important is BTL activity to your overall marketing plan?
I think listening to customers and addressing them is a way of life, BTL marketing makes it easier and faster as there is a scope for instant feedback. Nearly 40% of our marketing budgets is allocated to BTL campaigns thus making it a very crucial part.
Did you reduce/increase the BTL activity after your recent aggressive mass media blitz?
As mentioned earlier, we have recently entered into the ATL space. However, our BTL spends have remained stable without alterations.
Can you give a broad idea of your spends pie of ATL v/s BTL?
Approximately 40% of our spends are targeted towards BTL campaigns.
Do you prefer to do this through BTL agencies directly or via your existing creative/media agency?
While we work with creative agencies for creative development, the execution is taken care of inhouse.
In terms of generating results especially from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sure shot avenue than ATL?
Faasos as a brand has been using only been using BTL so far and it has worked successfully for us. However, we have now started integrating the ATL campaigns with the BTL ones to create more effective messaging across all products.
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?
While we would love to have a concrete mechanism to calculate the ROI in order to measure the success of the campaign; we realize that it may not be 100% practical. We consider factors such as footfalls and leads generated as the two most important parameters to measure the success for the campaign.
Also, we use different coupon codes in each of our campaigns to track the kind of momentum we gain through a particular activity. This more or less gives us an idea about the effectiveness of the campaign.
There are many organisations who 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?”
All forms of engagement and experience have a defined role to play in creating and nurturing a brand. Both ATL and BTL marketing strategies need to co-exist in today’s environment. As a brand, your media mix should be determined by the objective you are trying to achieve through any particular activity.
Having said that, BTL is gaining a lot of momentum and a lot of brands are focusing on BTL to introduce and build themselves in the market place. Â Faasos is one such example.
