INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade

potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product
or service. Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of
those products and services through the creation and reinforcement of "brand
image" and "brand loyalty". For these purposes, advertisements sometimes embed
their persuasive message with factual information. Every major medium is used to
deliver these messages, including television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers,
video games, the Internet and billboards. Advertising is often placed by an
advertising agency on behalf of a company or other organization
Advertisements are seen on the seats of shopping carts, on the walls of an airport
walkway, on the sides of buses and are heard in telephone hold messages and in-
store public address systems. Advertisements are often placed anywhere an
audience can easily or frequently access visual, audio and printed information
Organizations that frequently spend large sums of money on advertising that sells
what is not, strictly speaking, a product or service include political parties, interest
groups, religious organizations, and military recruiters. Non-profit organizations are
not typical advertising clients, and may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as
public service announcements
Advertising spending has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2006, spending
on advertising has been estimated at $155 billion in the United States and $385
billion worldwide and the latter to exceed $500 billion by 2010.
While advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth, it is not without
social costs. Unsolicited Commercial Email and other forms of spam have become so
prevalent as to have become a major nuisance to users of these services, as well as
being a financial burden on internet service providers. Advertising is increasingly
invading public spaces, such as schools, which some critics argue is a form of child
exploitation.

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Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters. Commercial
messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii
and ancient Arabia. Lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient
Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is
another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in
many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The tradition of wall painting can be
traced back to Indian rock-art paintings that date back to 4000 BCE. Still though back
in the old days of castles and peasants when small townships and cities were just
beginning to grow throughout Europe. Few if any of the townships peoples could
read and so signs on the street that should say cobbler or miller, or tailor, or smithy
had no words the signage was the shape of a boot, a suit, a hat, a clock, a diamond, a
horse shoe, a candle or even a bag of flour. Fruits and vegetables were sold in the
city square from the backs of carts and wagons and their proprietors used street
callers to announce out loud where they were set up so regular bartering customers
could find the way to their always different location in the square and though
without a clear and concise definition of such, advertising was born utilizing India’s:
Language, Marketing Communication, and Consumerism. Even today street callers
(town criers) work the congested street fairs all over the world and today we still
refer to its simplicity as "getting the word out". As education became an apparent
need and reading as well printing developed, and in the 15th and 16th century,
advertising expanded to include handbills. In the 17th century advertisements
started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print
advertisements were used mainly to promote: books and newspapers, which
became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and medicines,
which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged Europe. However, false
advertising and so-called "quack" advertisements became a problem, which ushered
in the regulation of advertising content. As the economy expanded during the 19th
century, advertising grew alongside. In the United States, the success of this
advertising format eventually led to the growth of mail-order advertising.

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In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse is the first to include paid advertising in its
pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its
profitability. The formula is soon copied by all titles. Around 1840, Volney Palmer
established a predecessor to advertising agencies in Boston Around the same time,
in France, Charles-Louis Havas extended the services of his news agency; Havas to
include advertisement brokerage, making it the first French group to organize. At
first, agencies were brokers for advertisement space in newspapers. N. W. Ayer &
Son was the first full-service agency to assume responsibility for advertising content.
N.W. Ayer opened in 1869, and was located in Philadelphia.
At the turn of the century, there were few career choices for women in business;
however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of
the purchasing done in their household, advertisers and agencies recognized the
value of women's insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American
advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product.
Although tame by today's standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the
message "The skin you love to touch"
In the early 1920s the first radio stations were established by radio equipment
manufacturers and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to
consumers. As time passed, many non-profit organizations followed suit in setting
up their own radio stations, and included: schools, clubs and civic groups. When the
practice of sponsoring programs was popularized, each individual radio program
was usually sponsored by a single business in exchange for a brief mention of the
business' name at the beginning and end of the sponsored shows. However, radio
station owners soon realized they could earn more money by selling sponsorship
rights in small time allocations to multiple businesses throughout their radio
station's broadcasts, rather than selling the sponsorship rights to single businesses
per show. This practice was carried over to television in the late 1940s and early
1950s. A fierce battle was fought between those seeking to commercialize the radio
and people who argued that the radio spectrum should be considered a part of the
commons – to be used only non-commercially and for the public good. The United

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Kingdom pursued a public funding model for the BBC, originally a private company
but incorporated as a public body by Royal Charter in 1927. In Canada, advocates
like Graham Spry were likewise able to persuade the federal government to adopt a
public funding model. However, in the United States, the capitalist model prevailed
with the passage of the 1934 Communications Act which created the Federal
Communications Commission. To placate the socialists, the U.S. Congress did
require commercial broadcasters to operate in the "public interest, convenience, and
necessity" Nevertheless, public radio does exist in the United States of America. In
the early 1950s, the Dumont television network began the modern trend of selling
advertisement time to multiple sponsors. Previously, Dumont had trouble finding
sponsors for many of their programs and compensated by selling smaller blocks of
advertising time to several businesses. This eventually became the norm for the
commercial television industry in the United States. However, it was still a common
practice to have single sponsor shows, such as the U.S. Steel Hour. In some instances
the sponsors exercised great control over the content of the show - up to and
including having one's advertising agency actually writing the show. The single
sponsor model is much less prevalent now, a notable exception being the Hallmark
Hall of Fame.
The 1960s saw advertising transform into a modern approach in which creativity
was allowed to shine, producing unexpected messages that made advertisements
more tempting to consumers' eyes. The Volkswagen ad campaign—featuring such
headlines as "Think Small" and "Lemon" (which were used to describe the
appearance of the car)—ushered in the era of modern advertising by promoting a
"position" or "unique selling proposition" designed to associate each brand with a
specific idea in the reader or viewer's mind. This period of American advertising is
called the Creative Revolution and its poster boy was Bill Bern Bach who helped
create the revolutionary Volkswagen ads among others. Some of the most creative
and long-standing American advertising dates to this incredibly creative period.
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television and
particularly MTV. Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV ushered in a new

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type of advertising: the consumer tunes in for the advertising message, rather than it
being a by-product or afterthought. As cable and satellite television became
increasingly prevalent, specialty channels emerged, including channels entirely
devoted to advertising, such as QVC, Home Shopping Network, and Shop TV.
Marketing through the Internet opened new frontiers for advertisers and
contributed to the "dot-com" boom of the 1990s. Entire corporations operated solely
on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free Internet access. At
the turn of the 21st century, a number of websites including the search engine
Goggle, started a change in online advertising by emphasizing contextually relevant,
unobtrusive ads intended to help, rather than inundate, users. This has led to a
plethora of similar efforts and an increasing trend of interactive advertising.
The share of advertising spending relative to GDP has changed little across large
changes in media. For example, in the U.S. in 1925, the main advertising media were
newspapers, magazines, signs on streetcars, and outdoor posters. Advertising
spending as a share of GDP was about 2.9 percent. By 1998, television and radio had
become major advertising media. Nonetheless, advertising spending as a share of
GDP was slightly lower—about 2.4 percent.
A recent advertising innovation is "guerrilla promotions", which involve unusual
approaches such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such
as cars that are covered with brand messages, and interactive advertising where the
viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message. This reflects an
increasing trend of interactive and "embedded" ads, such as via product placement,
having consumers vote through text messages, and various innovations utilizing
social networking sites (e.g. My Space).

Mobile Billboard Advertising

Mobile Billboards are flat-panel campaign units in which their sole purpose is to
carry advertisements along dedicated routes selected by clients prior to the start of a
campaign. Mobile Billboard companies do not typically carry third-party cargo or

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freight. Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan areas
throughout the world, including:
 Target advertising
 One day, and long term campaigns
 Convention
 Sporting events
 Store openings or other similar promotional events
 Big advertisements from smaller companies]Public service advertising
The same advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods and services
can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial
issues, such as AIDS, political ideology, energy conservation, religious recruitment,
and deforestation.
Advertising, in its non-commercial guise, is a powerful educational tool capable of
reaching and motivating large audiences. "Advertising justifies its existence when
used in the public interest - it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for
commercial purposes." - Attributed to Howard Gossage by David Ogilvy
Public service advertising, non-commercial advertising, public interest advertising,
cause marketing, and social marketing are different terms for (or aspects of) the use
of sophisticated advertising and marketing communications techniques (generally
associated with commercial enterprise) on behalf of non-commercial, public interest
issues and initiatives.
In the United States, the granting of television and radio licenses by the FCC is
contingent upon the station broadcasting a certain amount of public service
advertising. To meet these requirements, many broadcast stations in America air the
bulk of their required Public Service Announcements during the late night or early
morning when the smallest percentage of viewers are watching, leaving more day
and prime time commercial slots available for high-paying advertisers.

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Public service advertising reached its height during World Wars I and II under the
direction of several governments. Now in days, people average around 500
advertisements a day, found one researcher

Types of advertising
Media
Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards, street
furniture components, printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and television
ads, web banners, mobile telephone screens, shopping carts, web popup, skywriting,
bus stop benches, human directional, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of
buses or airplanes ("logo jets"), in-flight advertisements on seatback tray tables or
overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical
stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers,
stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles, the opening section of
streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event tickets and supermarket
receipts. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a
medium is advertising.
Another way to measure advertising effectiveness is known as ad tracking. This
advertising research methodology measures shifts in target market perceptions
about the brand and product or service. These shifts in perception are plotted
against the consumers’ levels of exposure to the company’s advertisements and
promotions. The purpose of Ad Tracking is generally to provide a measure of the
combined effect of the media weight or spending level, the effectiveness of the
media buy or targeting, and the quality of the advertising executions or creative. Ad
Tracking Article

Covert advertising
Covert advertising is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and
media. For example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a
definite brand, as in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character John

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Anderton owns a phone with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his
watch engraved with the Bulgaria logo. Another example of advertising in film is in
I, Robot, where main character played by Will Smith mentions his Converse shoes
several times, calling them "classics," because the film is set far in the future. I, Robot
and Space balls also showcase futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos
clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles. Cadillac chose to advertise in the
movie The Matrix Reloaded, which as a result contained many scenes in which
Cadillac cars were used. Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford,
Vaio, BMW and Aston-Martin cars are featured in recent James Bond films, most
notably Casino Royale.

Television commercials
The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market
advertising format, as is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for
commercial airtime during popular TV events. The annual Super Bowl football
game in the United States is known as the most prominent advertising event on
television. The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has
reached $2.7 million (as of 2007).
The majority of television commercials features a song or jingle that listeners soon
relate to the product. See Music in advertising.
Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming
through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops
or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast
audience. More controversially, virtual billboards may be inserted into the
background where none existing in real-life. Virtual product placement is also
possible.

Infomercials
There are two types of infomercials, described as long form and short form. Long
form infomercials have a time length of 30 minutes. Short form infomercials are 30

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seconds to 2 minutes long. Infomercials are also known as direct response television
(DRTV) commercials.
The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the
consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the
advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and
often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials
from consumers and industry professionals.
Some well known companies in the infomercial business are Script to Screen,
Hawthorne Direct, International Shopping Network and Guthy-Renker.

Newer media and advertising approaches

Increasingly, other media are overtaking television because of a shift towards
consumer's usage of the internet as well as devices such as TiVo.
Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Prices of Web-based
advertising space are dependent on the "relevance" of the surrounding web content
and the traffic that the website receives.
E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail
advertising is known as "spam".
Some companies have proposed to place messages or corporate logos on the side of
booster rockets and the International Space Station. Controversy exists on the
effectiveness of subliminal advertising (see mind control), and the pervasiveness of
mass messages (see propaganda).
Unpaid advertising (also called word of mouth advertising), can provide good
exposure at minimal cost. Personal recommendations ("bring a friend", "sell it"),
spreading buzz, or achieving the feat of equating a brand with a common noun (in
the United States, "Xerox" = "photocopier", "Kleenex" = tissue, "Vaseline" =
petroleum jelly, "Hoover" = vacuum cleaner, and "Band-Aid" = adhesive bandage)
— these are the pinnacles of any advertising campaign. However, some companies
oppose the use of their brand name to label an object. Equating a brand with a

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common noun also risks turning that brand into a generalized trademark - turning it
into a generic term which means that its legal protection as a trademark is lost.
As the mobile phone became a new mass media in 1998 when the first paid
downloadable content appeared on mobile phones in Finland, it was only a matter
of time until mobile advertising followed, also first launched in Finland in 2000. By
2007 the value of mobile advertising had reached 2.2 billion dollars and providers
such as Ad mob delivered billions of mobile ads.
More advanced mobile ads include banner ads, coupons, MMS picture and video
messages, advergames and various engagement marketing campaigns. A particular
feature driving mobile ads is the 2D Barcode, which replaces the need to do any
typing of web addresses, and uses the camera feature of modern phones to gain
immediate access to web content. 83 percent of Japanese mobile phone users already
are active users of 2D barcodes.
A new form of advertising that is growing rapidly is Social network advertising. It is
Online Advertising with a focus on social networking sites. This is a relatively
immature market, but it has shown a lot of promise as advertisers are able to take
advantage of the demographic information the user has provided to the social
networking site.
From time to time, The CW airs short programming breaks called "Content Wraps,"
to advertise one company's product during an entire commercial break. The CW
pioneered "content wraps" and some products featured were Herbal Essences, Crest,
Guitar Hero 2, Cover Girl, and recently Toyota.

Effect on memories and behavior

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half." -
popular quote generally attributed to either John Wanamaker or William Lever; also
one of the Wrigley people from the gum company.”
The impact of advertising has been a matter of considerable debate and many
different claims have been made in different contexts. During debates about the

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banning of cigarette advertising, a common claim from cigarette manufacturers was
that cigarette advertising does not encourage people to smoke who would not
otherwise. The (eventually successful) opponents of advertising, on the other hand,
claim that advertising does in fact increase consumption.
According to many sources, the past experience and state of mind of the person
subjected to advertising may determine the impact that advertising has. Children
under the age of four may be unable to distinguish advertising from other television
programs, while the ability to determine the truthfulness of the message may not be
developed until the age of 8.
Over the past fifteen years a whole science of marketing analytics and marketing
effectiveness has been developed to determine the impact of marketing actions on
consumers, sales, profit and market share. Marketing Mix Modeling, direct response
measurement and other techniques are included in this science.

Public perception of the medium

As advertising and marketing efforts become increasingly ubiquitous in modern
Western societies, the industry has come under criticism of groups such as Adjusters
via culture jamming which criticizes the media and consumerism using advertising's
own techniques. The industry is accused of being one of the engines powering a
convoluted economic mass production system which promotes consumption.
Recognizing the social impact of advertising, Mediawatch-uk, a British special
interest group, works to educate consumers about how they can register their
concerns with advertisers and regulators. It has developed educational materials for
use in schools.
Public interest groups are increasingly suggesting that access to the mental space
targeted by advertisers should be taxed in that at the present moment that space is
being freely taken advantage of by advertisers with no compensation paid to the
members of the public who are thus being intruded upon. This kind of tax would be

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a Pigovian tax in that it would act to reduce what is now increasingly seen as a
public nuisance. Efforts to that end are gathering more momentum, with Arkansas
and Maine considering bills to implement such taxation. Florida enacted such a tax
in 1987 but was forced to repeal it after six months, as a result of a concerted effort
by national commercial interests, which withdrew planned conventions, causing
major losses to the tourism industry, and canceled advertising, causing a loss of 12
million dollars to the broadcast industry alone.

Regulation
In the US many communities believe that many forms of outdoor advertising blight
the public realm. As long ago as the 1960s in the US there were attempts to ban
billboard advertising in the open countryside. Cities such as São Paulo have
introduced an outright ban with the UK capital also having specific legislation to
control unlawful displays.
There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the
content and the influence of advertising. Some examples are: the ban on television
tobacco advertising imposed in many countries, and the total ban of advertising to
children under twelve imposed by the Swedish government in 1991. Though that
regulation continues in effect for broadcasts originating within the country, it has
been weakened by the European Court of Justice, which had found that Sweden was
obliged to accept foreign programming, including those from neighboring countries
or via satellite.
In Europe and elsewhere, there is a vigorous debate on whether (or how much)
advertising to children should be regulated. This debate was exacerbated by a report
released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in February 2004 which suggested that
food advertising targeting children was an important factor in the epidemic of
childhood obesity in the United States of America.
In many countries - namely New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and many
European countries - the advertising industry operates a system of self-regulation.

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Advertisers, advertising agencies and the media agree on a code of advertising
standards that they attempt to uphold. The general aim of such codes is to ensure
that any advertising is 'legal, decent, honest and truthful'. Some self-regulatory
organizations are funded by the industry, but remain independent, with the intent
of upholding the standards or codes (like the Advertising Standards Authority in
the UK).
In the UK most forms of outdoor advertising such as the display of billboards is
regulated by the UK Town and County Planning system. Currently the display of an
advertisement without consent from the Planning Authority is a criminal offense
liable to a fine of £2500 per offence. All of the major outdoor billboard companies in
the UK have convictions of this nature.
Naturally, many advertisers view governmental regulation or even self-regulation
as intrusion of their freedom of speech or a necessary evil. Therefore, they employ a
wide-variety of linguistic devices to bypass regulatory laws (e.g. printing English
words in bold and French translations in fine print to deal with the Article 12 of the
1994 Toubon Law limiting the use of English in French advertising); see Bhatia and
Ritchie 2006:542. The advertisement of controversial products such as cigarettes and
condoms is subject to government regulation in many countries. For instance, the
tobacco industry is required by law in most countries to display warnings
cautioning consumers about the health

Future
Global advertising
Advertising has gone through five major stages of development: domestic, export,
international, multi-national, and global. For global advertisers, there are four,
potentially competing, business objectives that must be balanced when developing
worldwide advertising: building a brand while speaking with one voice, developing
economies of scale in the creative process, maximizing local effectiveness of ads, and
increasing the company’s speed of implementation. Born from the evolutionary

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stages of global marketing are the three primary and fundamentally different
approaches to the development of global advertising executions: exporting
executions, producing local executions, and importing ideas that travel. (Global
marketing Management, 2004, pg 13-18)
Advertising research is the key to determining the success of an ad in any country or
region. The ability to identify which elements and/or moments of an ad that
contributes to its success is how economies of scale are maximized. Once one knows
what works in an ad, that idea or ideas can be imported by any other market.
Market research measures, such as Flow of Attention, Flow of Emotion and
branding moments provide insight into what is working in an ad in any country or
region because the measures are based on the visual, not verbal, elements of the ad
With the dawn of the Internet came many new advertising opportunities. Popup,
Flash, banner, advergaming, and email advertisements (the last often being a form
of spam) are now commonplace.
The ability to record shows on DVRs (such as TiVo) allows users to record the
programs for later viewing, enabling them to fast forward through commercials.
Additionally, as more seasons of pre-recorded “Boxed Sets” are offered for sale of
Television show series; fewer people watch the shows on TV. However, the fact that
these sets are sold, means the company will receive additional profits from the sales
of these sets. To counter this effect, many advertisers have opted for product
placement on TV shows like Survivor.
Particularly since the rise of "entertaining" advertising, some people may like an
advertisement enough to wish to watch it later or show a friend. In general, the
advertising community has not yet made this easy, although some have used the
Internet to widely distribute their ads to anyone willing to see or hear them.
Another significant trend regarding future of advertising is the growing importance
of niche or targeted ads. Also brought about by the Internet and the theory of The
Long Tail, advertisers will have an increasing ability to reach specific audiences. In
the past, the most efficient way to deliver a message was to blanket the largest mass

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market audience possible. However, usage tracking, customer profiles and the
growing popularity of niche content brought about by everything from blogs to
social networking sites, provide advertisers with audiences that are smaller but
much better defined, leading to ads that are more relevant to viewers and more
effective for companies' marketing products. Among others, Comcast Spotlight is
one such advertiser employing this method in their video on demand menus. These
advertisements are targeted to a specific group and can be viewed by anyone
wishing to find out more about a particular business or practice at any time, right
from their home. This causes the viewer to become proactive and actually choose
what advertisements they want to view.
In freelance advertising, companies hold public competitions to create ads for their
product, the best one of which is chosen for widespread distribution with a prize
given to the winner(s). During the 2007 Super Bowl, PepsiCo held such a contest for
the creation of a 30-second television ad for the Doritos brand of chips, offering a
cash prize to the winner. Chevrolet held a similar competition for their Tahoe line of
SUVs. This type of advertising, however, is still in its infancy. It may ultimately
decrease the importance of advertising agencies by creating a niche for independent
freelancers
Embedded advertising or in-film ad placements are happening on a larger scale now
than ever before. Films like Krrish had over a dozen placements including Lay’s,
Bourn vita, Samsung, Faber Castell and Hero Honda.

INTRODUCTION TO BTL ADVERTISING

Below the line sales promotions are short-term incentives, largely aimed at
consumers. With the increasing pressure on the marketing team to achieve
communication objectives more efficiently in a limited budget, there has been a need
to find out more effective and cost efficient ways to communicate with the target
markets. This has led to a shift from the regular media based advertising.
A definition of below-the-line sales promotion given by Gaurav Singh:

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An immediate or delayed incentive to purchase, expressed in cash or in kind, and
having only a short term or temporary duration
—Singh Gaurav
Below the Line uses less conventional methods than the usual specific channels of
advertising to promote products, services, etc. than Above the Line strategies. These
may include activities such as direct mail, public relations and sales promotions for
which a fee is agreed upon and charged up front. Below the line advertising
typically focuses on direct means of communication, most commonly direct mail
and e-mail, often using highly targeted lists of names to maximize response rates.
Another interesting and very effective BTL is Ssop Intercept. Trained sales
personnel, often girls, are deployed at Retail Stores, near the shelves of targeted
products category. These girls convince customers visiting these shelves about the
better aspects of their brand compared with others. This is ideal for new launches as
it generates trials, which if successful result in repeat sales. In addition, according to
Kunal Bhardwaj, above the line is much more effective when the target group is
very large and difficult to define. But, if the target group is limited and specific, it is
always advisable to use below the line promotions for efficiency and cost-
effectiveness.
Say, for example, if a manufacturer of pen is going to promote its product, it may
take the ATL route, but if a company manufactures computer UPS, it will certainly
take the BTL route, as the target group is very limited and specific.
More recently, agencies and clients have switched to an 'Integrated Communication
Approach.' BTL is a common technique used for "touch and feel" products
(consumer items where the customer will rely on immediate information rather than
previously researched items). BTL techniques ensure recall of the brand while at the
same time highlighting the features of the product.
Some of the ways by which companies do BTL (below the line) promotions are by
exhibitions, sponsorship activities, public relations and sales promotions like giving

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freebies with goods, trade discounts given to dealers and customers, reduced price
offers on products, giving coupons which can be redeemed later etc.

Methods of below the line sales promotion

1. Price promotions
Price promotions are also commonly known as" price discounting". These can
be done in two ways:
o A discount to the normal selling price of a product, or
o More of the product at the normal price
Price promotions however can also have a negative effect by spoiling the
brand reputation or just a temporary sales boost (during the discounts)
followed by a lull when the discount would be called off.
2. Coupons
3. Gift with purchase
4. Competitions and prizes
This is an important tool to increase brand awareness amongst the target
consumer. It can be used to boost up sales for temporary period and ensure
usage amongst first time users.
5. Money refunds
A customer receives a money refund after submitting a proof of purchase to
the manufacturer. Customers often view these schemes with some suspicion –
particularly if the method of obtaining a refund looks unusual or onerous.
6. Frequent user/loyalty incentives
7. Point-of-sale displays
Shopping habits are changing for the people living in metropolitan cities.
People prefer big retail outlets like Big Bazaar to local kirana stores. Most of
the decisions of buying are taken by the virtue of point-of-sale displays in
these retail outlets. In these times of high inflation and more and more
channel surfing, BTL are proving to be a very cost effective tool. As Tariq
Ikram, a distributor of FMCG products in Karachi, Pakistan observes," the

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 effect of BTL is immediate and objective, one can know within days about the
effective utilization or not of money. We have seen great success in BTL
activities done by Continental Biscuits and Agro Foods in Pakistan.

Examples of BTL promotion

Most of the big brands are following the suit of BTL promotion because of rising
prices of media based promotion, advertising clutter and increased impulse
purchasing.
Most of the educational institutes like career forum, career launcher, Time and PT
are holding informative workshops and free tests for students which give a direct
interaction of these institutes with the target customer and hence a suitable platform
to sell themselves.
 Ring tones and music videos on cell phones are helping the entertainment
industry to promote for a music video or a movie for dirt-cheap rate as
compared to media promotion.
 Various companies sponsor sport events to promote their brand, but
nowadays media companies like Hindustan Times are holding weekly events
through out the country in which companies can put up their stalls, display
banners and posters and arrange for some fun activities. These events give
the companies a platform at very low price to promote their brand and
increase visibility among target consumer. These companies also give
discount coupons to winners in the games, which in turn boost the sales of
the products and ensure that first time users try these products as well.
 Pepsi organized an inter school cricket event for 425 schools across 14 cities
which did wonders for the company by promoting the brand amongst the
right target customer for almost no cost.
 Most of the pharmacy companies do BTL promotion by getting shelf space
through doctors to display their products or by giving away free calcium
tablets again through doctors, knowing that for a patient a personal advise

18
 from a doctor would hold more value as compared to a commercial
advertisement.
 Another interesting BTL promotion was by NIKE. An athlete dressed up in
Nike sportswear could be seen jogging on an elevated treadmill for the whole
day on National Highway 8, Delhi.
 Tata Shaktee is a strong rural brand from Tata Steel, for roofing products, has
BTL activity in the form of Haat participation. By having a stall at Haat, Tata
Shaktee engages potential consumers in interactive games around
differentiating attributes of the product. Also, discount coupons are given for
interested buyers, with details of nearby retailers.
 BTL promotions are gaining popularity among all big companies nowadays
considering their effectiveness because of the "individual customer
promotion" at a price, which is much lesser than the normal media
promotions.

Some examples of below the line advertising are

DIFFERNCE BETWEEN BTL, ATL, TTL

19
What's the difference between above, below and through-the-line ?

Agencies traditionally were either Above-The-Line (ATL) or below the-line print

based direct mail, point of purchase, leaflets, etc. However this is 50 years out of
date and the more accurate definition is by marketing definitions.

All agencies are concerned with building brands but for an ATL agency it's their
main focus. Their advertising (Brand Marketing) seeks to change minds and create a
unique image for the brand. Traditionally they use TV, posters and press to do this.
However, with the movement of more clients’ budgets to below-the-line they have
to be more flexible.

Below-the-line agencies practice Direct Marketing the promotional marketing.

Because brands are important almost all of their activity is also building the brand.
Many clients are now putting their money below-the-line as it is closer to the sale
and is more accountable. This has forced BTL agencies to be more TTL and many are
now doing the client's ATL work as well.

Direct marketing isn’t just about big telephone numbers or direct mail, it also uses.
TV, press, telephone, internet and more recently posters. It’s actually far more
complicated than most people think with many different disciplines. They key
factor about direct is that it seeks to talk directly with you (hence the direct) and
aims to set up a dialogue. Whereas above-the-line advertising seeks to tell you
about the brand and change your view of it, direct seeks to build a relationship
between you and the brand, and get you to change your behaviour. In simple terms,
atl talks at you, BTL talks to you.

Promotional marketing uses all the media available as well as point of purchase and
on-pack. It seems to level sales though incentives like compensations or offers. Go

20
in to any supermarket and you’ll find a large percentage of goods have some
promotion. Below -the-line agencies are also doing more Field Marketing-using
people (out in the field) to sell, direct sample, demonstrate product- the
Marlborough girls are famous. Closely linked is Event Marketing-many of the drink
companies have abandoned TV for this as it allows people to have a greater
experience of a brand-some people now call this Experiential Marketing.
Sponsorship is another important area as this associates brands with powerful
events like the Olympics.

As more and more of client money is going into direct promotional field event
experiential on-line and sponsorship, it's forcing the industry to expand at a
vigorous rate (ATL has been shrinking for many years) so job opportunities, salaries,
job security and promotions are much better. Written by Chris Arnold (Integrated
Creative Director -Saatchi & Saathi).
Having seen the definition of a guru, let's simplify the definitions:

All the advertising that we see can be divided into two categories.

 "Above the line" advertising

 "Below the line" advertising.

Generally ""Above the Line" (ATL" refers to mass media, such as advertising on
television newspapers and magazines, radio and so on.

Below the line (BTL) refers to all the advertising that is no generally measurable,
and includes activities such as banners, posters, invitation cards ,hoardings, road
shows, events, launches product demonstration and the like.

21
However, the definitions often blur, and what is today below the line becomes
above the line tomorrow.

Another definition (and a practical one) could go along these lines, above the line
advertising is all the work done by an advertising agency, and below the line is all
that is work done by direct marketing companies, event management companies,
promotion agencies, et cetera.

This definition, while being probably the most practical, will also be the most
confusing. That's simply because the advertising agencies change their own service
mix, and may start executing work and activities that they were not willing to
earlier. Effectively, they change the definition of a BTL activity to an ATL activity by
agreeing to undertake it.

Broadly, BTL activities can be broken up into two different areas.

1. Non-mass media activities.

2. Unconventional media.

The problem is, what is currently non-mass media may, soon in the future, become
mass media. On the same lines, what is currently "unconventional" may become
conventional Considering this, the line that divides ATL from BTL "moves" . What
is BTL today may become ATL tomorrow.

Let us take an example.

The Internet

22
When the internet was first heard of no advertising agency wanted to touch it.
Across the world, "Specialist" internet companies advised brand managers on how
to advertise on he NET how best to take advantage of the NET. These consultants
were expensive, and would work in tandem with advertising agencies to integrate
an advertising campaign.

Over a period of time, advertising agencies themselves started hiring employees

with internet experience and knowledge, and began offering internet creative and
medical planning services as part of their normal basket of deliverables.

The "Specialist" internet companies started disappearing often absorbed or bought

over by traditional advertising agencies and marketing consultancies.

When does BTL become ATL.

Fundamentally, BTL becomes ATL when a mix of two things happen.

a) The use of this media becomes more "mass"

b) When domain knowledge goes up.

To elaborate, let’s go back to the Internet. When it first began, it was "Super-niche"
medium. Few across the world had connections. Those who did had slow
connections, and the net surfing habit was restricted to a few minutes a day, it was
expensive, time consuming and inefficient for advertising agencies to expend
energies on this medium, and so it was left to Internet Specialists?”

However, when the Internet usage exploded, markets now had access to millions of
prospective consumers through this new medium, and obviously wanted to find

23
ways and means to talk to them. Budgets would now include a percentage for
communication on the Internet, and advertising agencies sat up and took notice.

Ignoring the Net would mean ignoring that slice of the advertising pie, something
no advertising agency would afford to do. The solution? Simple. Learn every thing
that you can on the new medium, and take as large a share of this spend as you can.

The second factor is that the Internet was no longer "Specialist" in information terms.
More and more people now knew how it worked, more and more graphic designers
learnt how to use the medium, and so son. The knowledge on this new medium
had gone up exponentially, and all advertising agencies now had some resources in
house. The moment they had these resources, Internet advertising, for this agency,
went Above the Line.

A lot of such shifts are forced by the clients. By and large, clients would like to
restrict the number of entries that they worked with. For them, the ideal situation
would be to brief the agency and get ALL their solutions from this one source.
Clients put pressure on the agency to acquire knowledge on the Internet, often
forcing the shift.

The Die Hard BTL Activities.

However, despite mass usage and despite increase in domain knowledge, some
activities remain strictly under the rule of BTL companies. The More important ones
are given below.

 Road shows

24
 Promotions
 Launches
 Events
 Demonstrations
 Window Displays, Retail merchandising.

These activities remain below the line largely because of the skills sets required
for them. Thy are more in the specialist areas, and unless agencies can find
activities for these specialists continuously, it would not be cost efficient.

For example, let us take a good set designer working for an advertising agency. If
he can command a salary of Rs.2,00,000 per month, and the agency needs to
design two sets each month, the cost of design for each set works out to
Rs.1,00,000 |

But for an event management company, which needs 25 designs per month, the
cost per design would be Rs.8, 000 only

Similar would be the case with sound engineers, light engineers, production
engineers, etc. they would prove very expensive unless there is continuous work
for them, and this is most unlikely in an advertising agency.

However, if the agency is large enough, and has a "breadth" of brands to work on
it would become feasible for them to get into these areas full time.

An example would be O & M.

25
 The agency handles brands from the following categories:
1. Soap
2. Toothpaste
3. Mobile Phone service
4. Televisions
5. Paints
6. Adhesives
7. Alcohol
8. Banks
9. Cars
10. Two wheelers
11. Photographic Film
12. Chocolates
13. Automotive Batteries
14. Construction
15. Lubricants.

The above is just a representative list. The agency handles numerous other
The above is just a representative list. The agency handles numerous other
categories as well; almost all the brands handled by O&M are leaders in the
category , and are national in seals and distribution terms.
But do they have enough brands which need BTL?

They believe that they do, and they have divisions to handle direct marketing rural
marketing, outdoor, events and so on Each of these divisions has a specialist head
and hires specialist employees, But will this prove efficient for O & M and will
they be able to offer cost effective solutions for their clients.

26
I did, and all these visions strive at O& M. Let’s understand why.

When is BTL required most?

The more mass distributed the product, the more mass media or ATL will prove
efficient. Therefore, daily use products such as toothpaste and soap, which are used
by everybody - will use mass media especially TV and radio.

The less the efficiency in mass media, the more the product will use BTL. There are
other categories as well and we list these below.

1. Where mass media is inefficient

2. Where the product is in the "Low involvement" category
3. Where the law does not allow mass media
4. Where the target is an extraordinarily homogenous group
5. Where the target is available easily in groups and clusters
6. Where "See-touch-feel" will add a marketing edge.

Let us take each one of these situations, and understand them better.

1. Where mass media is inefficient.

27
If a company is selling a watch that is retailed at a price of Rs.1, 00,000 lakh, what
media does one use to target the prospective customers?

Television reaches millions of viewers, while the universe of prospective customers

would be a few thousand in each city. If this product were advertised on TV, it
would obviously result in a lot of wastage of the advertising budget.

Magazines too, would be inefficient, as they would reach lakhs instead of the
thousands that you wanted.
The watch pictured below costs almost $ 100.0000. Would you advertise it in a
mainline daily newspaper?
Finally, all mass media would prove inefficient. The most practical solution would
be to create events that would interest their target audience. And this is what O &
M did for clients such as the World Gold Council.
2. Where the product is in the "Low involvement" category?
Low involvement categories are why we buy the product, often regularly without
knowing the brand or bothering about it. Do you know the name of the battery in
your two-wheeler or car? Or the brand of tyre? Or the brand of Lubricant ?
More importantly, there is no "Badge” value in most of these products, consumers
cannot "show-off" the brand as one can with a car, a fridge, a T-Shirt, a watch.

That, then, is the challenge is marketing -to raise the consumer’s involvement. The
need to tell the consumer that it is important to buy these categories, too, by brand.
Too be able to do that, they need to educate the consumer, they need to make the
category so important that you are aware of the product, of what it does.
Finally, they need to get the consumer to say "I want Castrol" not "Check my oil and
fill it up" And O & M does it for Castrol, for Amaron batteries, and so on. A Castrol
cap is pictured below, it sells for $20. Consumers in America feel close enough to
the brand to want to pay to advertise it.

28
 3. Whether the law does not allow mass media?

The most common of these are alcohol, tobacco and prescription medicines. In most
countries, these categories are not allowed to be advertised in the mass media and
turn to BTL for solutions.
For alcohol and for cigarettes, the agency creates events that portray the desired
image of the brand and force sampling of the product. The Objective is to get
consumers to "experience" the brand, and get closer to it. Eventually, the company
hopes the consumer will become a habitual user of the brand.
O & M launched Foster’s beer in India and handles a clutch of alcohol brands. And
BTL played a large part of the communication.

Foster’s invests heavily in Formula I, and creates a number of promotions around it .

Prescription Medicines:-

In the area of prescription of medicines, the primary target is the medical

community, and agencies create communication directed a Doctors. The objective is
to get doctors closer to your brand, and therefore prescribe it, choosing from among
a number of similar products.

For this area of activity, O & M has a full fledged "health" strategic business unit
handling a number of health products.
4. Where the target is an extraordinary homogenous group?
The finest example of this in the Indian context is the truck driver community. If
you tried to reach them through mass media, which language do you use? Which
medium do you use?

But where does one catch them? Not above the line; only below the line.

29
 Truck drivers can be found in clearly homogenous groups at the following
locations.

 Dhabas
 Truck Exchanges
 Highways
 Fuel stations.

And that is where O & M catches these truck drivers, through their event and
rural divisions
5. Where the target is available easily in groups and clusters?

Take the case of aerated drinks. If they want to target only teenagers and young
adults, any use of mass media would result in wastage, It is for this reason that they
target schools and colleges, and create events and activities at such venues itself.

A number of such activities, including sponsorships of college festivals and the like,
have no ATL component in the plan. O & M handles a number of soft drink brands
for which they create communication at colleges and schools.

6. Where "See-touch-Feel" will add a marketing edge?

These are products where product awareness is inadequate, normally these would
be almost "Investments" Examples would be cars and consumer durables, where the
consumer cannot afford to make a mistake.
You are made aware of a new car through mass media, but the final decision to buy
the car is based on your "Driving" experience, and your " seeing, feeling, touching "
the car.

30
The marketing of a car would follow this progression.

1. Information through advertising in mass media : ATL

2. Launches events and PR : BTL
3. Test drive events and PR : BTL.

So when O & M launched the Tata Safari, their mainline agency created the mass
media campaign, Ogilvy PR handled the public relations, Ogilvy Live took care of
the launch and test drive events.

The examples given above will show that all these activities can be done by an
Agency if it has the breadth and depth of clients. For smaller agencies, they will use
stand alone, specialist PR, event management and promotional companies.

What forms integrated marketing?

When a communication task requires that the consumer needs to be "caught" at

different times of day and through different media, an integrated marketing plan is
created. As consumers, we see a number of them. To help you understand better, let
us use an illustration.
As Bacardi is an alcohol brand, it is not allowed to advertise through the mass
media. To take advantage of the mass media, Bacardi created genuine "Surrogates”
that could be advertised. These include their CDs and cassette tapes. The brand also

31
needs to portray their image, to do sampling and to keep their consumers loyal.
This is achieved through the following.

- CDs and cassettes, advertised through mass media.

- Bacardi Blast parties, which are events for brand building and
sampling
- PR, which leverages the Bacardi parties
- Merchandise, where the Bacardi logo is clearly visible, at places of
consumption branding through signage.
This marketing mix would require both ATL and BTL skills. Bacardi
works with a number of entities including advertising agencies, event
management companies, PR companies and music channels and music
publishing companies to achieve their objectives.

Case Study
Bacardi & Friends
Bacardi is a leading international white spirit. The product competes with other
white spirits, and also with beer, as it is targeted at the young adult.

The product is more expensive than others in the category and therefore the
marketing is a challenge.

Bacardi advertises on television through a surrogate. The Commercial portrays

"Bacardi" values of good music, sun, sand and surf......and beautiful people. The
general take out is that of a great breach party. Obviously, consumption of a
colorless drink is part of the commercial.

32
The Task

Having done the ATL part, Bacardi needs to do the following:

1. Demonstrate the Bacardi experience on ground.

2. Encourage sampling
3. Build relationship with consumers.

NOTE: - Bacardi also wants to ensure that the people they communicate with are
inclined to drink alcohol and would end up as unofficial ambassadors for the brand.
Problem 1: How do you ensure that all those invited to an event are likely to be
drinkers?
Solution: Get a database of drinkers,! Is there a more imaginative solution? There is,
and it is described further down.

Problem 2: If you are inviting consumers at random, how do you know that they
will "gel" together?

The solution :

To solve problem one, Bacardi took into account the fact that they already had some
kind of database. Not exhaustive, but fairly useful. What if they invited all on their
database, and asked each guest to bring along five friends?

33
Bacardi's database was consumers who had tried the brand earlier, or had attended
earlier Bacardi events. It was completely reasonable to assume that friends of their
invitees were likely to be "people like them ". In other words, drinkers as well.

Bacardi rolled out a new property called " Bacardi & Friends" ,where each invitee
was given the "honor" of bringing along another five friends.

In order to ensure that these possibly unconnected consumers would "gel” Bacardi
created a variant of the party: they announced B & F Advertising parties, TV parties
and so on. This ensured that all the guests at their party had something in common
other than alcohol, and therefore were likely to enjoy each other’s company.
Major BTL activities :

For a better understanding of BTL communication, here are a few examples that you
have encountered in your normal life that you will be liable to relate to and learn
from.

Road Shows:

When music channels like MTV or channel (V) wants to get closer to the consumer,
they travel to the consumer. The Problem with a television channel is that it cannot
quite build a relationship with the consumer, as there are no "real contact points.

The solution, for them, is to create an on ground product that can travel. A concert
tour with a number of major artistes is the solution for them, and each of you would
have attended a few.

On Ground Promos

34
When you go to your nearby Supermarket or mall, there are always a few temporary
stalls that are doing some form of promotion or the other. These will include.
1. Sampling.
2. Product demonstrations
3. Special price offers.

Sampling is normally used when a new product is being launches, and will support
the mass media. You are made aware of the product through ads in the press and
on TV, so you, as a consumer, do not mind sampling the product, once you sample
the product, if it meets with your expectations, you are ripe for conversion to the
brand.

Product demonstrations used if the product category is relatively new or there is a

"Revolutionary" change in your product over the category itself.

Relatively new product could be the microwave oven Lots of consumers, through
aware of the product, have no clue how it works or the advantages of the product. A
demo will address these issues effectively.

Ariel used demos effectively when they launched, as there was a revolutionary
change in the detergents category. They had to SHOW people how it worked not
just TELL them.

The most common of the on ground promos are Special price offers with or without
free gifts, you are exposed to these promos all the time. When the promo is
available only on the shelf, inertia may prevent you from going for the offer. But
when there is a special counter, with attendants dressed in branded clothing, the
inertia decreases and the propensity to buy increases.

35
EXHIBITIONS AND TRADE SHOWS:
Exhibitions and trade shows are used to bring down the cost of BTL. When you
read above Exhibitions for say Sanitary fittings what the organizers are doing is the
following

1. Artificially carting a homogenous group of vendors a category

2. Artificially carting a homogenous group of consumers in the category

What in effect an exhibition does is to reduce the wastage of media it is reasonable

to assume that a person attending an exhibition on sanitary fittings is indeed
interested in buying sanitary fitting. So participants in the exhibition are not wasting
money or time talking to a consumer who currently has no interest sanitary fitting.

You do have cases of people who have nothing better to do with their liver than to
attend all exhibitions this can be interpreted as waste. To solve this problem most
exhibitions of stature have restructed business hours where the entry is by
preregistration or payment both certifying internet to buy.

The following chart will give you an idea of how homogenous groups of vendors
and buyers are being assembled in china.

CHINA SOURCING FAIRS

Electronics & Components

12-14 Apr 2004 Shanghai china Register now book a hotel
11-13 Oct 2004 Shanghai China
Gifts & Home products

36
 20-22 Apr. 2004 Shanghai China Register now book a hotel
25-27 Oct 2004 , Shanghai China
DIY & HOME IMPROVEMNT
20-22 Apr. 2004 Shanghai China Register now book a hotel
25-27 Oct 2004 , Shanghai China

Theatre as an event

Let us first understand why theatre is considered an event for you to understand
better let us pose another question : why were consumers in Mumbai willing to pay
Rs. 15,000 each to see Michael Jackson perform at Andheri sports complex when
they could have bought CD and DVD of all his life work fraction of that sum ?

The answer life a simple sentence They did not go to see Michael Jackson alone.
They went to see an act a performance.

Consumers wanted to see Michael Jackson the human being perform, to see that it
was really him and not an actor, to see stunts they saw on video were actually
possible and then appreciate all aspects of the show.

The same is true of theatre. Theatre involves live performance with no retakes
Audiences want to see this art perfection. As consumers, all of us know that in a
single scene in a film, there might be one hundred takes. But in theatre, one has to
get it right the first time, each time.

37
This is true not only for the actors, but for the sound technicians, the light engineers
the set designers and so on. Each show of the play is no different from any event,
and

The Business of Theatres

Unlike films, where once the production is complete it can be shown any number of
times at a marginal cost, theatre is much like an event.

The cast has to be physically present each time there is a show, as do the technicians,
the sets and props will have a finite life, and will have to be replaced periodically.
and as witha traveling music performance, theatre, when it travels, has all the
attendant issue of logistics management.

Theatre therefore becomes much more expensive than, say, a film, from the
consumer's point. The viewership by its very nature can only be niche. A film can
be shown at thousands of theatres across the world simultaneously, but a play with
a particular cast can be shown only at one place at one time.

To bring down the cost to the consumer, theatre looks to corporate sponsorship.
Why do corporates sponsor theatre ?

Agency:

 Background /Overview :

38
What's the big picture? Going on the market? Anything happening with the client
side we should know about? Can you summarize the entire brief into one sentence,
"Who are we talking to, and what do we want to say?

 What is the objective, the purpose of the ad?

A concise statement of the effect the ad should have on consumers. Typically
expressed as an action. And frequently focused either on what you want them to
think, to feel, or to do.

 What do we want to say ?

What's the single most important thing we can say to achieve the objective? This
should be a simple sentence (or sentences) expressing a specific idea (or ideas)
Avoid generalities becuase they result in ambiguous communications.

 What are the supporting rational and emotional arsons to

believe”?

List the rational and emotional reasons to for the target market to believe what we
want them to believe, and do what we want them to do. Include all the major copy
points, in order of relative importance to the consumer. In other words, "
What else can we say to achieve the objective?
Let's take an example to understand the business sense it makes to sponsors.

When Orange in Mumbai sponsored the Prithvi theatre festival some years ago, they
took a considered decision. The following benefits accrued to Orange:

39
 1. Prithvi is arguably the most prestigious theatre body in the country.
Orange got a positive rub off by the association.
2. Orange got a number of passes free to the events, and were able to
distribute them as invitations to their high net worth users.
3. Orange got the benefit of all PR related to the event.
4. Orange was seen by the consumers as a corporate body that was
contributing to the growth of culture.

For an intangible such as a mobile phone service, Orange finds it exceedingly

difficult to build relationship with their consumers. By playing host to users by way
of the Prithvi Festival, Orange was able to open an interactive route to their
subscribers. Given below is an extract from the Orange website on their association
with Prithvi.

Prithvi Theatre- An Introduction.

Right from the time of its conception, way back in 1978, Prithvi has been committed
to the development of theatre in India. The 200-seat theatre was initially built to
develop a professional (primary Hindi) theatre. Over the years, however, Prithvi
has evolved into a multi-faceted centre for theatre activities. Currently, Prithvi
Theatre hosts over 400 performances a year, by over 40 groups.

Prithvi Festivals

The Prithvi Theatre Festivals began in 1983, the brainchild of Jennifer Kapoor, in
celebration of the Prithvi Theatre's 5th Anniversary, These five years had proved
that Prithvi Theatre had cultivated a discerning t theatre audience and initiated a
theatre movement.

40
Over the years, Orange has partnered Prithvi in bringing some of the best and most
interesting of Indian and world theatre to Mumbai.

An annual event since 1983, there have been many a milestone in the history of the
Prithvi festival. Some of the notable ones, include the Contemporary World Theatre
in 1995, International Children's GRIPS" Festivals in 1996. Theatre of Europe in 1998
and International Puppetry Festival in 2001 among others. In all, the Prithvi Theatre
has played host to 17 Festivals till date, 8 of which have been international and two
have been children’s Theatre Festivals.

In more recent times, the Prithvi Theatre Festival has reached out to audiences
outside Mumbai as well, touring its 1995 and 1997 festivals to New Delhi, and its
2000 festival to Pune.

41
INTRODUCTION TO SPONSORSHIP SALE
Summary:

We have understood by now what Below the Line advertising and marketing is all
about and have gone through examples of below the line communication. To round
off this learning, let us understand how a brief for below the line communication
would be written.

Writing a below the line brief.

All briefs needs to have some basic details, whether the task is below the line or
above the line. These will include.

 The brand

 The Target Audience

 The objective

 The budget

 The campaign period

 The geographic target.

For the Bacardi and Friends example given earlier, the brief could have been
something along the following lines.

Brand: Bacardi
Objective: To increase brand salience, to ensure sampling
Budget :Rs.5 Lakhs
Campaign period: Last weekof October

42
Geographic Target: South Mumbai.

Task: Create an event which will reinforce the Bacardi image, and reach as many
new consumers as possible, Strategy should ensure that every few non-drinkers
attend the event. Event should have adequate values for PR.

Requirements: Concept, all collaterals including posters, invitations, branding at

venue, merchandise, recommendation of venue, entertainment… all budgets to be
included in the presentation to client.

Understanding the client and decoding the client's brief.

A large part of our opinions is subjective, and that is why much though needs to go
into understanding what your client really wants before you write a brief to your
own team.
For example, the client might say, "I want a really classy party”

The problem is, what is classy to him might not be classy to you. Let's take a venue;
your idea of a classy venue could be a Five Star Hotel, while his might be a three star
hotel. Your idea of classy alcohol might be a premium Indian whiskey, while his
might be wine. Your idea of classy entertainment might be Hindustani, and his jazz.
So if you don’t quite understand what he wants, your "classy" party would:
- Be held at the Taj
- Serve Indian whiskey
- Have Hindustani classical music.
- When your client expected.
- A three star hotel
- With wine

43
 - And Jazz music.

As far as your team was concerned, they delivered a classy party, as far as your
client was concerned your brief was absolutely wrong.

To avoid situations such as this, a check list is given below.

1. Tighten the brief by asking questions. As the client when he says classy,
does he mean the Taj? This will help narrow his definition.
2. Lead him to give you the answers to your question. Ask him, foreign or
Indian entertainment?
3. Ask him names of a few "Special guests" that he might call. These names
will give you cues.

All these are required to be asked despite all the clues that we would get from
the brand itself. A Scotch Whiskey launch could never be held anywhere but at a
Five Star Hotel, the entertainment could never be classical Hindustani, and so on.

Remember, it is always safer to ask as many questions as possible before writing

the brief, otherwise you might end up writing multiple briefs for just the one
exercise.

THE BASIC CREATIVE BRIEF.

44
This is the brief you prepare for a new project from a client you know well and
have been working with for some time. A basic brief, typically looks more or less
like this:-

Basic Creative Brief.

Client/Client contact information:

Name, phone number and email address of the person or people on the client
side.
The “client" being whoever pays for or approves the work.

Project:

Example: "New campaign to introduce Ready credit for Citibank"

Prepared by :
Name of the person who assumed primary responsibility for writing the brief.

Approved by:

Client:

Agency:

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  Background / Overview :

What’s the big picker? What’s going on in the market? Anything happening with
the client side we should about? Can you summarize the entire brief into one
sentence, whom are we talking to, and what do we want to say?

 What is the objective, the purpose of the as?

As concise statement of the effect the ad should have on consumers typically
expressed as an action . and frequently focused either on what you want them to
think to feel , or to do.

What do we want to say?

What’s the single most important thing we can say to achieve the objective ? this
should be a simple sentence 9 or sentences ) expressing a specific idea ( or ideas )
Avoid generalities because they result in ambiguous communication .

What are the supporting ration and emotional reasons believer ?

List the rations and emotional ressons to for the targer market to believev what we
want them to belive , and do what we want them to to include all the major copy
points in order of relative importance to the consumer . In other word What else
can we say to achievev the objective ?

 The more precise and detailed the better . Go beyond age sex to include
demographic and psychographics, See include from consumer
involvement theory for well some insights .

 Any other impotant details ?

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 Here's where you put all other details such as information about the offer if is
a direct response ad. perhaps a descripition of the brand personality . And
any mandatory elements such as the client's logo address phone number and
so forth .

What do we need and when do we need it ?

write information about media , size and color. As well as deadlines for 1)
intial creative review of round sketch ideas , 2) review revised creative 3 )
final internal creative presentation , 40 client presentation 5) material
delivered to publication .

Client / account service checklist:

 Do we have all supporting information: previous ads brochures competitor

ads perhaps books or web sites for reference. This so we can present the
creative team a complete package of information.
 If this is a long format communication - a Web site, brochure, or video - do
we have an outline for the creative team that includes all the important copy
points, as well as an indication of visuals, and graphs
 Is it clear from the client what must be in the communication, and what might
be in the communication, and what might be in the communication? What is
the client mandatory and preferences.
 Take a hypothetical brand, and try and fill in the forms above, By the time
you finish filling them in, your creative or concept teams will be extremely
happy with you. More importantly, your client will be more than satisfied.
 Creating an Event.

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Often, the entire brief that you have for an event is the product, budget and date.
That's all the client will tell you.

It is then incumbent on you to make the event a success, despite the paucity of
information.
The client tells you he wants a great reception for his daughter’s wedding, and he
wants it done at below Rs.15 Lakhs.

You ask him the following.

_ How many guests? (This will help decide the venue)
- Would they be vegetarian or non-vegetarian? (This will help decided
venue, menu alcohol) How many vegetarian and how many non-
vegetarians?
- Ask him whether any VIPs or socialites would be attending? (This will
help with venue, food, alcohol and entertainment).

Understand the product category - in this case a wedding. Be sensitive to religious

and cultural affiliations and taboos. For example, if two jain families are the two
sides to the wedding,evensuggesting non-vegetarian fare would get your company
sacked.

Fundamentally:

- Understanding the product as best you can

Understanding the target audience
- Understanding the budget
- Understanding the objectives of the exercise.

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The better you understand each aof these,the more likely you are likely to succeed in
producing a great event.

In summation,two simple rules.

- Listen to every thing your client has to say

- Ask as many questions as you can about every single thing you don't
understand.

Creative Triggers.

The concept development or creative teams need a trigger to help generate ideas.
In evolved brands,these triggers are available and are defined.

For example, Mercedes Benz would suggest the following: German, precision,
engineering, western music, rich, metal and so son.

Levi's would suggest the following: Vibrant, irreverent, America, Music,

Attitude, etc.

The problems arise when there is a young brand which does not excite creative
ideas instantly. That is when you search for cues and provide the team withthese
cues.

For example, you need to launch a new hair oil,Look for product attributes that
will aid you. If the hair oil is based on natural products suchas herbs, "A back to
nature " event idea would work. If the product benefit, say, is anti-dandruff,
"Black" suggests itself as cue. What triggers do you get from the picture below ?

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Managing the costs of an event, and managing the event itself.

The event management industry allows itself infefficiencies that no other industriy
can., There is always a large amount under the head "Miscellaneous" , something
any goof manager will find unacceptable.

There is also the prevailing myth that events always have problems associated with
them and thing always go wrong, and that a good event manager "solves" problems
better.

The following is a simple exercise on controlling an event.

First one needs to open an Excel sheet, name it the event control sheet.

Event Control sheet.

Head of Expense Units Days Cost/Unit or days Total cost

Venue 3 100000 300000
Artists 3 50000 150000
Branding 10 10000 100000

The list will be filled up with the various heads of expense as the event willrequire,
and the last row will give you the total cost of the event. The sheet may now look
something like this"

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Event Control sheet.

Head of Expenses Units Days Cost/Unit or days Total cost

Venue 3 100000 300000
Artists3 50000 150000
Branding 10 10000 10000
Travel 5 3000 15000
Food 200 100 2000
Sound 1 100000 50000
Lights 1 50000 50000
Accomodation 10 3000 30000
TOTAL COST 765000+

A with most event today some of your of costs may get offset a service sponsor
and that need a to reflectin your so that you still have a clear idea of the total
profitability of the project add two more column to your excel sheet which will
look like one below

Event Control sheet

head of units days cost unit or total cost sponsored net cash
expenses days out
Venue 3 1000000 300000 0 300000
Artists 3 500000 150000 1500000 1500000
Branding 10 100000 1000000 0 100000
travel 5 3000 15000 150000 0
food 200 100 2000000 0 200000
Lights 1 500000 500000 0 500000
Accomodation 10 3000 300000 1500000 15000
Total cost 765000 30000 735000

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 What we have done up to now is to looks at sponsor at who offiser specift costs
we need to take revenume into account for the sake of this exrices we will take
sponoseship and titcketr sales as the sources revenue .

costs head units cost / total cost sponsored net cash

expenses days unit or out
units days days
venue 3 10000 3000000 0 3000000
artists 3 50000 15000 0 1500000
Branding 10 10000 100000 0 1000000
Travel 5 3000 15000 150000 0
Food 200 100 20000 0 20000
sound 1 100000 100000 0 100000
lights 1 50000 500000 0 5000000
Accmodation 10 30000 300000 300000 150000
Total cost 7650000 300000 735000
Revenues Title sponsor 200000
Associate sponsor 0
Associate 0
sponsor 2
Ticket sales 250000
Total 765000 225000 540000
Revenums

It is now clear that the project now needs another 5,40,0000 to break even as you
keep updating the excel sheet you will know much the gap is and will have to
strategize as to how to bridge it.

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 ehat we have created do far is firly effecient cost enitrol sheeyt buti become an
ecevt contral sheet to do so just two add two more columns

Event control sheet

You now have a document that can control on event of the person in charge is
absent for reason anyone else can take over just by accessing this excel sheet !

Selling Sponsorships

Having learnt how to create an cerate event and how to cost an event we need to
understand how to sell the event.

As with sales in any category each saleman has his own style of operation and
there is no clear bible . However having a structure makes the sales process easier .

The first step is to have a sound sponsorship offer document. The better the
document the more the chances that you will close a deal. Conversely the poorer the
document the less the chances that you will close a deal.

So let’s start off on writing a good sponsorship proposal structure of the document
1. Title of the event
2. Background of the organizes
3. Backround of the event
4. Types of sponsorships available
5. Details of benefits to various sponsors

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6. Commercial Details

We will not dwell on any to the point mentioned above except point 5 which is the
backbone of the proposal.

Let us take a hypothetical case where you are seeking sponsors for an evevnt at a
discotheque. The benefits to the sponsor could be as follows:

A. Title of the event

B. Branding
C. Passes to the event
D. Logo on advertising
E. Logos on merchandise
F. Mentions by DJ

The benefits to the sponsor could be spelt out in the proposal exactly as it is mention
above.

However such a proposal will fill to excite a prospective sponsor. Let us see how we
can take the same benefits and make exciting for a buyer While expanding each
benefit , we will explain to you what this does to the buyers mind.

A. Title of the event.

The sponsor be entitled to the event named afted a brand nominated by the
sponsor. The event will be referred to as “the XYZ Discotheque night “in all
communication. This will include all branding advertising merchandise and pop
if any all press releases shall carry details of XYZ.

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B. The sponsor shall receive branding on the following branch on stage branding
at the venue ( at last 6 unit ) branding at entrance .

What this does. The buyer keeps " seeing ' the branding in the various heads
described above. In his minds eys walks eys walks through the venue looking
at the branding He BEGINS IMAGINING WALKING AROUND WITH HIS
SUPPEIORS AND HIS COLLEAGUSE , IMPRESSING ALL .

C. Passes to the event

The sponsor shall receive a minimum of Rs, passes to the event What this does,
The buyer makes a quick mental check - list of the fifty people that he can invite
to the event. This will include superiors colleagues, suppliers and other
constitutes.
D. the Logo on advertising
The sponsor shall receiver logo on all advertisings related to the event including
all press advertisements all posters banners and hoarding

What this does the buys starts Visualizing the media as described above and is
more inclined to the event .
E. Logos on merchandise
The sponsor shall receiver logos on all merchandise produced for the event. A
minimum of 50 T shirts and 50 caps shall be given to the sponsor.
What this does, The buyer immediately pictures himself with a cap and a T shirt
and makes a quick mental list of that he will give away the merchandise to those
closer to the event .

A. Mentions by DJ

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The DJ at the will makes a minimum of ten mentions of the titles sponsor during
the course of the event. The timings of the mentions will be the prerogative of the
sponsor .
What this does. The buyer imagines the mentions made at the time that his super
are the venue and imagines their being impressed by him .

Overall the buyers in now largely inclined to buy the sponsorship, it is a question
of prize from a sales call, it is now a negotiation sessions negotiate well and you
should walk out of a satisfactory meeting .
For example the merchandise related to an event include cape pens, T shirs and
note pad, a lot of sales proposals would just mentions the word Merchandise
look at the inferences in impact between the two options below .

Options 1: Merchandise

Options 2 the sponsor logo will be carried on all merchandise produced for the
event The sponsor will be entitled to the following
Caps: 50
T-shirts: 50
Pen: 50
Note pads : 250
Even in option 1 the sponsor was receiving all that is mentioned in options the
difference is in option 2 you have made it abundantly clear .

Make all benefits clear , Do not presume that the buyer will understand , The
more he knows of the benefits ., the higher the price he will look at.

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 Sales and Negotiating tips

1 Make a list all the brands that would benefit from target audience at your
event and from general space that event occupies For example it would be
completed mismatch it you proposed a DJ Awards event for Horlicks .
2 Having made the list of prospects identify the decision makers and
influencers in these companies and try and fix appointments with them on
the phone .
3 If they ask you to mail or fax details try push for a face to face meeting , if
this does not find favor with client mail or fax details
4 Ask the client specifically whether you need to call him back or if would
call you
5 Follow the instruction he gives you if he has said he would call you back wait
till he fails to keep his commitment only then call him .
6 If you get meeting with the client make sure
a. You are dressed appropriately 9 by the standards of his company , not
yours
b. that you are at the meeting on time
c. That you have clear negotiating positing. BEFORE you enter the
meeting you should know how much you are willing to negotiate .

7. During the meeting if the clients does not say yes do NOT close the door of
the opportunity Do not say you need to know immediately and so on .

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GOLDEN RULES

Never event go the client unless you are convinced that there is a fit between the
event and his brand, This will ensure that he will always welcome your proposals
in the future .

If you believe that there was a fit invite him to the event despite his not buying this
will show what he has missed out on .

RIDERES
Especially when dealing with artists make sure that you are clear about the
commercial terms in addition to paying artists or performers their professions
charges , you will often up pay many for hotel rooms travel and local transport

Unless you are clear on these issues the costs for hotel rooms totally out of
control let remove the grey areas so you exactly how much you would be payment
and can have an accurate cost projection

1. Hotel rooms: have cleaity on the class of hotel and number of people who will
occupy the room. Have clarity on the use telephone e mail fax kindly room service.
Most artists will agree to a room an agreed upon plus a per Diem allowance. This is
a fixed fee per day a payable to the artist to cover all food telephone and laundry
expenses.

Normall pe dims Diems are paid in cash as soon as the artist checks in to the hotel

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2. Food as above dims is the rule

Remember whatever you to with the artist is what you should be hotel in writing
for example if you have agreed to per diems the hotel should be told in writing
that you will only pay for the room and the will be paid.

3. Local transport be clear as to what car the artist wants and for how many hours
other that for the event.

4. Travel is clear on the class of travel and on the number of people flying
with the artist.

Advertising
The basic truth is that event is a sub set of below the line marketing which itself is a
subset of the entire gamut of advertising and marketing

More importantly event is users of advertising and public reactions and an event
professional needs understand the subject to a large extent.

To make understanding easier let take a familiar event the Film Fare awards

The Awards ceremony is an event that all started as a logical emersion of the
magazine Film fare launched this event to recognize achievement in the industry
that was their very reason for existence.

But as discussed earlier in the subject of theory such a ground event is an extremely
costly exercise and sponsor are required here is where the first conflict of interest
arose.

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While Film fare as a magazine were that content with just their readers exposed to
the event sponsors were not a sponsor such as Manikchand wants as many
consumers as possible to be aware of their association with the product. This need
gave rise to the event appearing on television as well.

How then does the consumer know that the event will be on TV? On which channel
at what, time on what date. This need forces advertising in the press and on outdoor
informing consumers of the telecast details.

For example if there is an all India inter college western music contest , the following
suggestion should come to mind

A music channel
An FM station
A mobile service

And not necessarily

MTV
Radio City
BPL Mobile

Similarly you need not know the precise costs for media but you do need to know
approximate rate so you should be able to say a spor on that channel will cost 600-
800 per seconds and so on

You should also know basic terminology on all media a simple way is to study rate
cards before you go for a meeting and the media salesman himself for clarification .

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Some examples of sponsorship are

WEBLIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.wikiepedia.com

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2. www.google.com

3. www.bmscampus.com

4. www.agencyfags.com

5. www.EMDI.com

6. www.btlguru.com

7. “BELOW THE LINE ADVERTISING AND SPONSORSHIP

SALE” book by EMDI institute

8. HOW TO SELL YOUR PRODUCT a book by WILLIAM

JOSEPH

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