Part 2: Above-The-Line Marketing (ATL) Explained

November 18, 2021
Posted in Weekly Posts
November 18, 2021 Seema Nasreddin

Hello everyone! We’re back with the second part of our 3-part-series!

Last time we talked to you guys about Below-The-Line marketing; how it works, and why its an efficient marketing tool. Today we’ll be looking into Above-The-Line marketing, and the different ways this marketing tool can help your brand grow.

So, what is Above-The-Line (ATL) marketing? ATL is when a brand uses mass media to market to a wide (or wider) audience. This is the opposite of BTL, as these campaigns tend to be largely untargeted and undertaken at a general level. So rather than having specific ads that are targeted at an already consuming audience, this is meant to broaden the horizon of your brand. Meaning to reach more people and to establish your brand, along with a clear image. Even though this is a good way to promote your brand, it’s difficult to keep track of the impact it has on audiences and the return on investment. The main purpose of ATL is to make potential customers aware of your brand, and to increase your visibility, not to see a precise conversion of sales rate.

Then how are you meant to measure your success? Well, there are different ways to do this.

  1. Reach: How may screens/radios it was played on
  2. Frequency: How many times has it been played
  3. Gross Rating Points: How much impact and exposure it has received

Even though these three ways are a good form of measurement, it’s still difficult to measure clear results (i.e., how many people have bought your brands new product since the commercial has been on television/radio). But this isn’t about seeing how many people purchase your product, it’s about how many people you can reach with your commercial. Another issue people encounter with ATL is that It may be irrelevant to some audience members, but there is definitely a huge potential of new customers who are willing to purchase your product. The best way to ensure that this is a relevant commercial is to do research on different ways to impact an audience. Here are examples of brands using commercials that have practically nothing to do with their brand, but yet are able to tie it back in.

  1. The Dunk | State Farm® Commercial (featuring Chris Paul) – This ad was featured during the NBA. State Farm is an insurance company that regularly features their ads during the NBA games. Chris Paul is a famous basketball player who is usually a part of the commercials. “Jake from State Farm” is a character that has been involved in these commercials since 2011. Here we can see a clever and fun way to promote insurance. The tagline is “Like a Good Neighbour, State Farm is There.” State Farm has always used clever advertisements that involve celebrities, and using the same character “Jake”, it makes it feel more familiar to audience members.
  2. Metro by T-Mobile “Big 5G Upgrade: Unlimited for $25 Per Month, Free Galaxy 5G” – This ad was featured on the radio nationwide in the USA. T-Mobile is a phone company that has been established for many years. This commercial was a clear way to tell their audience about their brand new 5G upgrade. The catchy music that they used in the background was a way to keep the audiences’ attention on the ad, as it’s really easy to change a radio station because of ads.
  3. Kit-Kat Lockdown Ad – We all know that Kit-Kat’s famous slogan “Have a Break, Have a Kit-Kat” is a very relevant saying. They’ve been using is for the last 10+ years. During the pandemic, a lot of people were having struggles from differentiating between working from home and relaxing at home because everyone was always home. In this ad, Sam Hennig teamed with One Minute Briefs and used a calendar of Zoom calls, and in between a block of time are two bars of Kit-Kit, playing on their slogan without having to actually write it.

As you can see these brands are already well established, but not everyone watching these commercials may think its relevant, which is why they make it more relatable to the audience, rather than more relatable to their brand. But even if ads don’t feel relevant to their brands, they still find a way to bring it back to their brands. This is how a lot of big brands keep their audiences’ minds on them, by repeating their commercials on radio and television. But be careful, these commercials tend to cost upwards of hundreds and thousands of birr, so make sure that the commercials that you’re putting out are hits.

Thank you guys for reading! Catch us again in two weeks for the final part of our three-part series where we talk about Through-The-Line marketing.