Marketers use BTL promotions for maximum bang

Sumedha Srivastav - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
More companies are coming up with below-the-line (BTL) promotions to get maximum bang from the marketing spend. Such promos include discounts, gift coupons and certificates, competitions, loyalty plans and point-of-sale displays.

Several FMCG and consumer electronics companies are rethinking on their marketing strategies. Marketers are moving from traditional advertising to a mix of above-the-line and BTL initiatives to connect better with the consumer. Though television is a staple in media plans, radio promotions, OOH, digital media and BTL is becoming increasingly important.

Coca Cola concluded one such pitch for Fanta in Tamil Nadu called 'Bunk with Genelia'. "It allows us to connect with the target audience and they deliver instant results. We wanted to connect with the youth as our brand promotes the spirit of fun and excitement." says Deepak Kaul, region vice-president (south), Coca Cola India.

Philips Electronics is setting up exclusive experience zones in multi-brand retail chains like Croma, eZone and Viveks across segments like health, home cinema and personal grooming.

On the other hand, Canon India is planning spending close to 70 per cent of its marketing spend (Rs 50 crore) on such promos this year. Canon, which launched a slew of digital camera and camcorders last week, is conducting a series of consumer-connect initiatives under a new 'I can with Canon' campaign.

"We would like our marketing spends to be more direct so that the customer ends up buying our products, the focus is shifted on BTL promotional campaigns this year for us." says Kensaku Konishi, president and CEO, Canon India.

CK Ranganathan, chairman and managing director, CavinKare, said, "Instead of going on an advertising overdrive to promote our products, we decided to tap the BTL activity platform to reach out to customers. Such activities will account for around 50 per cent of our total marketing spend (Rs 130 crore) this year."

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has launched their on-ground initiative, Hyundai Utsav, which provides information on its small cars, Santro and i10, along with the opportunity to test drive these cars in rural markets. While the activity is focused on small cars, consumers can also seek information on any vehicle in the Hyundai stable.

Arvind Saxena, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, HMIL, says, "Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have a huge agricultural base and are highly prosperous areas. We thought that though it would not be possible to set dealership in these areas; yet, we could provide a touch and feel of the product through a BTL activity."

The 42-day initiative sees the company going to 50 venues in the two states, starting April 18. Through the initiative, Hyundai targets prosperous farmers, money lenders, the business community, private companies, government employees, and doctors and lawyers across all non- dealership towns.

In the recent time, BTL marketing has caught the attention of marketers for its visible impact and cost effectiveness. BTL marketing witnessed good growth from 2006 up to the last quarter of 2008.

Explaining the trend shift to BTL, Ambika Sharma, national head, Jagran Solutions, says, "As marketers are concentrating on getting a better ROI and consumer connect, funds allocated towards activations by most leading brands has increased substantially."

As far as budgets go, the average ratio of television versus other media, including BTL, is 70:30. However, this depends on the product category. Categories such as telecom, for instance, allot as much as 50 per cent to BTL. With the focus shifting away from television, BTL agencies expect that in 2009, this ratio will inch towards the midpoint.

Ambica also says media fragmentation onto various personal devices has not only helped BTL agencies to get more accurate results, but also to ensure that brands have more touch points with customers.

"The spends are focused on direct to consumer contact via experiential marketing which enables a concentrated effort on consumer acquisition and retention. The next two fiscals will see activations as an increasingly large slice of the marketing pie." Ambika says.

Devika Sharma, vice-president, client servicing, Candid Marketing, says that brand activation budgets have seen very strong growth trends over the past few years, which reflect in the tremendous growth of this industry.

Marketers are also apprehensive of the global economic recession. They are being asked to justify ad spends for every penny spent on advertising. In a way, BTL emerges as just the right approach at this time.

"In recessionary times, clients are looking to invest in activation programs which reflect directly in their top-line. This mirrors international trends during a recession, where the BTL share of the marketing budget grows in proportion to the ATL share." Devika says.

For the year ahead, one of the key expectations is the emergence of strategic agencies for brand activation. Another expectation is the growing importance of customer retention programmes in an environment where customer preferences change easily.

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