Final project report summer training
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This document summarizes an internship project analyzing the effectiveness of various promotional activities used by broadband operators. It begins with an introduction and acknowledgements. The abstract then outlines that the project will analyze the effectiveness of Above The Line (ATL) versus Below The Line (BTL) promotional activities through surveys in Delhi. It provides definitions of key terms. The document structure is then outlined in the table of contents. It will analyze demographics, findings, effectiveness of different promotions, and test the hypothesis that BTL activities are more effective than ATL activities.
Final project report summer training
- 1. Summer Internship Project A study to analyze the effectiveness of various promotional activities practiced by Broadband operators TATA COM M UNIC ATION Submitted by: Anirudh Bhandegaonkar Roll No. C-08-09 PGDBA – 2008 - 2010 2nd Semester Submitted to: Graduate School of Business & Administration, Greater Noida
- 2. 2|Page Mr. T. N. Srivastava (Head, Placement Cell) GSBA, Greater Noida
- 3. 3|Page 1. Acknowledgements This Project would not have come to fruition without the help, wittingly or unwittingly, of a great many people too numerous to mention. This section provides a platform to recognize and acknowledge those fortunate enough to spring to mind. My Industry Mentor, Mr. Mayur Agarkar should be commended for the guidance, support, and wealth of ideas he provided in order to see this work completed. I would like to express my gratitude to my Faculty Mentor, Mrs. Rati Sharma who is more than a mentor to me. His whole hearted support kept me upbeat in the toughest times during the project. This project was a team effort and I am proud to be a part of such a great team. I am deeply indebted to them for their contribution with brilliant ideas and hard work. The credit of the successful completion of the project goes to my team. Thanks a lot to all the unnamed people who kindly responded to the Questionnaire, especially my friends at GSBA & Amity. Finally, my family for providing help, advice, and motivation when it was required. Anirudh Bhandegaonkar C 08-09 PGDBA (2008 – 10) 2nd Semester
- 4. 4|Page 2. Abstract In India, in the past 4-5 years, growth in the number of Internet connections has been phenomenal primarily driven by the broadband connections. Broadband is defined as any speed above 256 kbps. With the advent of several broadband service providers the competition has only got tougher and more intense. To increase their market, these operators use various promotional activities. These activities can broadly be classified under two categories. 1) ATL (Above the line) or Mass Promotional Activities. e.g. Ads on TV or internet, print media, Banners etc. 2) BTL (Below the line) or personalized/Direct marketing. e.g. Tele-calling, promotion via mailing etc. Companies pour in millions of dollars to promote their brand, create brand awareness and market their services to boost their sales and grab higher market share. So it makes every business sense to know the effectiveness of different media and invest in those which have high effectiveness. The objective of our study was to analyze the effectiveness of these promotional activities used by the broadband service provides in Delhi/NCR. To achieve the target we first divided the work area into regions according to convenience. The next big objective was to device a questionnaire. Basically three forms of sampling techniques were used, convenience, snow-ball and internet sampling. Valuable information and views of broadband users received via Questionnaires were used to reach to the conclusion of the research. The study found out that BTL activity i.e. the direct marketing (Tele-calling etc) were much more effective than ATL activities i.e. mass marketing, much against the conventional belief. The two major contributors in this victory of BTL over ATL were campaigning and tele-calling. This may be due to the highly personalized and live nature of these forms of promotion. They are able to influence the human mind because here humans interact with humans either directly or over the phone. Although what lead to BTL’s success is a topic of further research.
- 5. 5|Page Hence, through the research, null hypothesis was rejected and replaced with “BTL activities are more effective than ATL activities.” 3. Table of Contents 1. Acknowledgement 2. Abstract 3. Table of contents 3.1. List of charts 3.2. List of tables 4. List of appendices 5. Abbreviation and definition 6. Introduction 7. Literature review 7.1. ATL & BTL: Promotional tools 7.2. Broadband operators in India 8. Problem definition 9. Approach to problem 10. Research aim 11. Research hypothesis 12. Research design 13. Data analysis 14. Results and findings
- 6. 6|Page 14.1. Demographics 14.1.1. Age 14.1.2. Gender 14.1.3. Region 14.1.4. Family income 14.2. General findings 14.2.1. Monthly bill 14.2.2. Broadband service provider of the users 14.2.3. Purpose of the internet 14.2.4. Source of information about the service provider 14.2.5. Most crucial deciding factor 14.2.6. Brand recall standing (absolute) 14.2.7. Brand recall ranking 14.3. Analysis of effectiveness and hypothesis testing 14.3.1. Analysis of effectiveness of various promotional methods 14.3.2. Analysis of effectiveness of ATL & BTL for diff. brands 14.3.3. Analysis of effectiveness of ATL & BTL ‘in toto’ 14.3.4. Hypothesis testing 15. Conclusions 15.1. Research conclusion 15.2. Recommendations or Suggestions 15.3. Limitations 16. Appendices
- 8. 8|Page 4. List of Appendices Appendix 1: Link to questionnaire Appendix 2: Z test, to test the significance of the results for effectiveness of ATL & BTL 5. Abbreviations and Definitions: ATL: Above the line Above the line(ATL) is a type of advertising through media such as TV, cinema, radio, print, banners and search engines to promote brands BTL: Below the line BTL is a type of promotional activity which is targeted to a specific person or group of people very similar in their characteristics. Tele-calling, launching a campaign, erecting canopies, mailing, in-house promotions etc. come under BTL. MTNL: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, broadband operators in Delhi. NCR: National Capital Region ROI: Return on Investment
- 9. 9|Page 6. Introduction: It’s said that the greatest invention of the millennium is Internet. It’s because of the extent to which it has made an impact in our lives. Since its inception, Internet has come a long way and the technology behind it is constantly improving at a very rapid pace. The latest technology i.e. Broadband give great surfing as well as downloading speed to the users which is why it has seen a boom in demand in the past 4-5 rears. This has also brought in new players leading tough competition. Everyone is trying to dominate by promoting its brand and product through TV, print, launching campaigns, sending mailers and news-letters etc. methods to promote are many but due to budgetary constraints, search of most effective method of promotion is on, big time. Promotion is classified under two categories ATL and BTL and marketers are quite curious to know which one has the last laugh, ATL or BTL. This research is an attempt to unravel this suspense and come up with findings which not only satiate this curiosity but also provides results that are commercially viable and help our organization to gain significant market share thru application of those results in its marketing strategy. The report also tries to analyze the strength of association b/w Market share and ATL/BTL activities. Few other parameters are also touched. The research is broken into 5 main sections. Research design, demographics, general findings, analysis of effectiveness & hypothesis testing and results & recommendation.
- 10. 10 | P a g e 7. Literature Review 7.1. ATL & BTL : Promotional tools Promotion can be loosely be classified as "above the line"(ATL) or "below the line"(BTL). The term "below the line" (BTL) promotion or communications, refers to forms of non- media communication, even non-media advertising. Below the line promotions, such as Tele-calling, direct mailing, canopies, launching campaigns etc are becoming increasingly important within the communications mix of many companies, not only those involved in FMCG products, but also for industrial goods and telecommunication. “Above the line” (ATL) is a type of advertising through media such as TV, cinema, radio, print, banners and search engines to promote brands. Major uses include television and radio advertising, web and Internet banner ads. This type of communication is conventional in nature and is considered impersonal to customers. It differs from Below the line advertising, which believes in unconventional brand-building strategies, such as direct mail and printed media (and usually involves no motion graphics). The term comes from accountancy and involves the way in which Procter and Gamble, one of the world’s biggest advertising clients, was charged for its media in the 1950s and 1960s. Advertising agencies made so much commission from booking media for clients that the creative generation and actual production costs of making TV ads was free – hence above the line. Everything else they paid for was therefore below the line. Since then, models have changed and clients are no longer charged for their media in that way. Used loosely, ‘above the line’ means mass media. However the media landscape has shifted so dramatically that advertisers have reconsidered the definitions of mass media. What needs consideration is the definition of "What does the line divide? For some retail giants the definition of the line is "their floor space" where they convert footfall to purchase. Loosely put, everything done prior to a customer's actual entry into a retail outlet is ATL for some retailers, as they define shop-floor activities as the true BTL set of activities which decide on which brand sells eventually. 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. 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
- 11. 11 | P a g e include activities such as direct mail, tele-calling, 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. 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 BTL promotions for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Say, for example, if a pen manufacturer 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. In a nutshell, while Above-the-Line promotions are tailored for a mass audience, BTL promotions are targeted at individuals according to their needs or preferences. While Above-the-Line promotions can establish brand identity, BTL can actually lead to a sale. Above-the-line promotions are also somewhat impossible to measure well, while BTL promotions are highly measurable, giving marketers valuable insights into their return-on- investment. According to EBS Worldwide, mainstream mass broadcast marketing is increasingly being viewed as uneconomical, in terms of Return on Investment, which is where BTL marketing fits in. 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. • 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 media companies like Hindustan Times are holding weekly events throughout the country in which companies can put up their stalls, display banners and posters and
- 12. 12 | P a g e 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. 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 less than the normal media promotions. 7.2. Broadband operators and their promotional activity Broadband operators are using both ATL and BTL for their brand Promotion which eventually aims for higher sales and larger market share. Major players in India such as Airtel, MTNL, BSNL, Reliance, Tata, Sify and few others are in a cut-throat competition with each other. Lately, broadband operators have realized the virtues of BTL and channelized their focus as well advertising dollars to the BTL promotional activities due to its low revenue requirements and high sales output. Moreover they can maintain precise information of their returns on investment which is very difficult in case of ATL. ATL has always been regarded as an easy tool to reach out to the masses instantly. Broadband companies thus use ATL and BTL activities in a mix which they try to homogenize according to their growth plan, revenue constraints, target area and management’s discretion. The present market leader Airtel is very good in using ATL (Mass promotion) and BTL (Direct marketing) in a very balanced way to optimize its expenditure and maximize the returns.It uses exhaustive ATL promotion to spread itself throughout the market. TV ads
- 13. 13 | P a g e have a major strategic importance in airtel’s quest to be a leader. Not only TV ads, Airtel is everywhere, newspapers, magazines, internet, banners, huge hoardings along roads and highways, you name it. At the same time they haven’t marginalized the virtues of BTL. Go to some residential apartments, colonies or blocks and you can certainly find few Airtel canopies, giving demos, handing out pamphlets and educating its prospective buyers. On the other hand, there is Sify, which hardly give any Ads in TV or print but still boasts of a significant market share. So which media works better is very company specific and depends on its marketing strategy and targets. 8. Problem Definition A broadband operator is just like any other company which a product or services to offer and it works for profit. To market a product, it has to be promoted and advertised to its target customers. Now there are many ways in which you promote a product, few are certainly better more effective than others. Promotional activities are broadly classified under ATL and BTL. Due to the inherent difference in their nature, they work differently and outshine one another depending on the industry and the target audience they are directed towards. Tata Communications is broadband service provider. To gain a higher market share, they want to promote their products / Services. Here lies the problem, what type of promotional activity one should use. Whether one should go with ATL or BTL? Which one has greater effectiveness, ATL or BTL ? If we could calculate the effectiveness of a particular media, the dilemma to choose between ATL and BTL can be solved. Now, how can we calculate effectiveness of a promotional activity? Conventional way of revenue generated per unit expenditure was not an option, as we didn’t have any date giving those figures. Nor did we have any sample data which gave the information about the revenue generated or sales figure before and after the application of a particular promotional tool. Hence, new avenues had to be searched and a totally different approach was developed to answer the question that which media is more effective.
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- 15. 15 | P a g e 9. Approach to the problem We basically had to answer the question that, “If a person had subscribed to a particular service provider which promotional activity influenced him to do that.” But this would not lave given us the effectiveness, as effectiveness is a ratio. But if we also get the number of people we got the information about the service provide through the same promotional activity, we can calculate effectiveness. So, Effectiveness = no. of people who chose a promotional activity as the crucial deciding factor for subscription no. of people who got the information about the operator thru that promotional activity To achieve this objective a questionnaire was devised, which explicitly asked these two very important questions, accessorized with demographic and other supporting questions. People who are already broadband users could have given the answer to the above two questions, so only those people constitute our sample. The collected data was later analyzed to get effectiveness of various media, which was tested for its significance via Z- test. 10.Research Aim To analyze the effectiveness of various promotional activities, which are broadly classified as ATL and BTL, carried out by the broadband operators. 11.Research Hypothesis Null Hypothesis, H0: “There is no significant difference between ATL and BTL activities”. So, an alternative hypothesis would be, H1: “There is significant difference between ATL and BTL activities”. 12.Research design Once, the approach to the problem was zeroed down, a questionnaire was designed to get the information from the respondents to calculate the effectiveness of ATL and BTL promotional activities. The target population was broadband users in Delhi/ NCR. We were a team of 5 and a target sample size of 250 was decided with 50 sample elements per member.