Above The Line (ATL) and Below The Line (BTL) advertising are two terms which have been discussed for a long time. People may be confused. They may want to ask “What is Promotion?”
The terms “Above The Line” and “Below The Line” came into vogue in 1954 when Proctor and Gamble paid their advertising agencies different rates, separating paid advertising developed by advertising agencies from the agencies who took on the other sales promotional activities.
What are ATL and BTL activities? Above The Line advertising is in many cases when mass media, television and radio, print as well as internet are used. This is communication that is targeted to the wider audience, the mass market. and is not specific to individual consumers. ATL advertising tries to reach out to the mass as the consumer audience, may be many different targets. BTL advertising is more one to one, and involves the development and distribution of flyers, direct mail, pamphlets, handbills, stickers, collateral, brochures. It may also involve product demos and product samplings.
BTL promotion also includes direct mail campaigns, PR and sales promotions, handled by agencies or by the company itself.
Some people may consider ATL and BTL as older in an era which uses the internet. The web or the internet changed everything in Marketing, Promotion and in Advertising. Digital media has more or less broken these boundaries of ATL versus BTL as digital communication can address both at the same time.
Promotion in the Nine P’s is the communication element includes personal and non-personal communication activities. Activities that communicate the merits of the product or services include Selling/Sales Force, Advertising, Sales Promotion, Collateral Materials, Direct Marketing (also referred to as Action or Direct Response Advertising), Interactive/Internet/Web, Digital Media, Social Media , Events and Experiences, and Public Relations.
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I am a senior Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) or the 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing.
The Nine P's/9P's help identify marketing problems in a number of areas and help develop marketing’s objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. The Nine P's are insightful. In Marketing. the "Customer," or potential customers are king, but are missing in the 4P's. There needs to be more focus on the "Customer," or "People." "People," market segments utilizing demographics, geographics, psychographics , behavioral characteristics and technographics are a vital component of the 9P's.
I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.
In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
- People (Segmentation and Targeting)
- Product
- Place (Distribution)
- Price
- Planning
- Promotion
- Partners
- Presentation
- Passion
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