Indian economy has performed above expectations in the

past decade. Mass media advertising still holds an upper

edge over targeted advertising. However, there seems to

be an increasing preference towards ‘Below The Line’

promotions as against traditional mass media campaigns.

The paper gives an overview of different mediums of

advertising in the Indian context.

“INDIAN ADVERTISING INDUSTRY – AN OVERVIEW”

Safe Harbor: The views presented in the paper are individual views of consultants and need not necessarily represent industry views

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India is developing into an open-market

economy, yet traces of its past policies focusing

on self sufficiency remain. Economic

liberalization, including industrial deregulation,

privatization of state-owned enterprises, and

reduced controls on foreign trade and

investment, began in the early 1990s and has

served to accelerate the country's growth,

which has averaged more than 7% per year over

the last decade. In 2010, the Indian economy

rebounded robustly from the global financial

crisis - largely because of strong domestic

demand. Indian economy is expected to

perform well in near future.

Indian economy is growing and the

market is on an expansion mode. Businesses are

looking up to advertising as a tool to cash on

business opportunities. Growth in business has

led to a consequent growth in the advertising

industry. Indian advertising industry has

emerged as one of the major industries and has

broadened its horizons be it the creative aspect,

the capital employed or the number of

personnel involved. The industry today offers a

host of functions to its clients that include client

servicing, media planning, media buying,

creative conceptualization, pre and post

campaign analysis, market research, marketing

and branding.

Though loosely defined, a ‘line’ divides

the communication mediums into two

categories. ‘Above the Line’ promotion is done

for mass audience and it aims at establishing

brand identity or increase brand awareness.

This type of communication is conventional in

nature and is considered impersonal to

customers. The mediums considered under this

category include Television, Radio, Print Media

(newspapers and magazines), Cinema, Internet

and Out Of Home (OOH) advertising. Out Of

Home further encompasses street furniture,

transit advertising and hoardings. Currently, TV

and Print media occupy more than 80% of total

ATL advertising spends in India (Fig 1).

Fig 1: Above the Line advertising shares;

Base: ` 30,000 Crore; Source: Times Of India, Dec 2010

Indian Economy

Indian Advertising Industry

The Line

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‘Below the Line’ promotion refers to forms of

non-media communication or advertising. Such

promotions target specific individuals and

involve them. It focuses on direct means of

communication which are expected to induce

transactions or lead to increase in sales. BTL

promotions include activities such as direct

mails, exhibitions and events, sponsorship

activities, public relations and sales promotions

(Fig 2). Sales promotions are short-term

incentives, largely aimed at consumers. Such

sales promotions include Price Promotions,

Coupons, Gifts with Purchase, Competitions and

Prizes, Money Refunds and Loyalty Incentives.

Point Of Purchase displays also fall under this

category.

Broadly put, everything done prior to a

customer's actual entry into an outlet is ATL and

most of the activities performed inside the

store are BTL activities. With increasing

pressure on marketing teams to achieve

communication objectives more efficiently and

with a limited budget, there has been a need to

find out more effective and cost efficient ways

to communicate with the target consumers.

This has further led to increasing shift from the

regular media based advertising to target

advertising.

Trends in Above the Line promotions:

ATL campaigns cater to masses rather

than specific consumer segment. Stiff

competition and immense clutter in advertising

has led the brand managers to present the

ideas to the target group creatively and

effectively. Print and TV dominate this medium

of communication. Use of digital/internet

medium for promotions is still in nascent stages

in India but is expected to grow at a rate faster

than other promotions.

Internet advertising is a form of promotion that

uses Internet and World Wide Web for purpose

of delivering marketing messages to attract

customers. Examples include contextual ads on

search engine results pages, banner ads, rich

media advertisements, social network

advertising, interstitial ads, online classified

advertising, advertising networks and e-mail

marketing. Advertising through social networks

like facebook, orkut and many others have also

started gaining importance in India.

Increasing number of businesses are exploring

this avenue to market their products and

services more effectively. Internet advertising

is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR of above

30% for the next 3-4 years & its share in total

ATL pie is also expected to increase.

Trends in Below the Line promotions:

As already mentioned, BTL promotions

include events, exhibitions, sponsorships, public

relations and sales promotions. Point Of

Purchase products or displays are a part of sales

promotion. Few of the visible trends in BTL

promotions include:

Below the Line

Sales Promotions

Events, Exhibitions

SponsorshipsPublic

Relations

Direct Mails

Fig 2: Below the Line promotions; Base: ` 20,000 Crore; Source: Financial Express May 25, 2010

Emerging Trends

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- Creation of ‘experience zones’ for

increasing customer engagement is developing

slowly in India. ‘Product Sampling’ at specific

locations creates such zones and allows

consumers to relish the experience.

- Brand Mangers have started taking cues

from shopper insights to understand shopper

behavior and guide them to design and further

implement promotions and maximize their

Returns on Investment.

- Most of the buying decisions are taken

at the last 3 feet inside the outlet. Brand

managers have started insisting on creativity in

designing of POP products in order to

differentiate and increase brand’s visibility

amidst a number of competitive brands vying to

grab the share of space inside the outlet.

- Usage of Lenticular and Electro-

Luminescence technologies in Displays and VM

products in India to grab consumer attention is

still in budding stage.

- Metal, wood and plastics are still the

preferred material for production of POP

products. Usage of recyclable materials like

corrugated board for making POP displays is

not very high in India currently. It has started

gaining popularity these days.

In times to come, innovations in POP displays

might become more important in order to

differentiate from the clutter.

Integrated Communications Approach:

‘The Line’, as discussed earlier, is an

imaginary line used to demarcate mass

advertising from target advertising. Through

the Line (TTL) (or Integrated Communications

Approach) refers to an advertising strategy

involving both ATL and BTL promotions wherein

one form of advertising points the target group

to another form of advertising thereby crossing

the 'line'. Eg. a Big Bazaar’s print advertisement

stating 'Sabse Sasta Wednesday ' along with

store details is an ATL. This communication

might increase footfalls in stores. Once in the

store, the target customer is presented with BTL

promotional materials like pamphlets etc or BTL

campaigns like ‘Swayamvar’ to boost sales. By

doing so, efforts of brand managers are

integrated and returns can be optimized which

otherwise would have been separate

investments. The concept of integrated

communications is gaining importance in India.

Indian advertising industry has come

out of the impact of the slowdown and is doing

well. It is expected to do well in the next coming

years under given circumstances. In the ATL

category, TV and Print media shall continue to

dominate the share, while Internet advertising

is expected to grow at a pace faster than other

mediums. BTL promotions are gaining

importance in view of connecting with

consumers directly. Currently, share of ATL in

the total advertisement expenditure is higher

than BTL promotions in India. However,

industries are realizing the importance of

involving/engaging consumers to interact with

brands. Hence, there is a possibility that share

of spends on BTL promotions might increase in

future in India & drive more sales of

products/services.

Summary