Lots of us have been educated with ATL (Above The Line) and BTL (Below The Line). So it’s no surprise we still have discussions using those terms: “What about the ATL campaign?” and “How does this work BTL?”.
Efficient but not in line with reality
In my view we have to stop to think that way. The consumer – just think about you yourself for a moment – and the consumer journey is way more complex. Using ATL and BTL used to be an efficient (and maybe not even effective) way to distinguish mass media and all the rest; a way where by the tv commercial was leading for all the other communication to create brand messaging consistency. And when campaigns do both, generically we use TTL (Through The Line). But all the above in fact it never reflected the real consumer journey.
The Never Ending Consumer Journey
The consumer journey in my view only can be called a journey if we consider it to be a never ending one. We could call it the continuous consumer journey. It’s a constant follow up and intertwining of (sub)conscious orientation, experience, consideration, occasional buying; after that reflecting, evaluating and continuing of the process. And to make it even more complex, the consumer will encounter multiple touch points on this journey: social, bannering, search, television, blogs, print, radio, outdoor, etc. Sometimes we love a brand so much that we become loyal to it or maybe advocate it ourselves, becoming part of the journey as a medium. But even then the journey never stops.
For marcom and media this means we need to stop thinking in ATL and BTL and even TTL.
I suggest from now on we only talk about CTL: Continuously Through the Line.
willext 