The Line
As mentioned above, the line was born out of an accounting definition in terms of above the line (capital expenditure) or below the line (current expenditure). Colloquially, ATL means mass media. However the media landscape has shifted so dramatically that advertisers have reconsidered their definition of mass media.
For some marketers the "line" divides the realm of "Awareness or Attention focused marketing" and that of "Interest + Desire focused marketing". Since audience numbers in the Interest and Desire phase of the AIDA sales model narrow down to a fraction of the Awareness audience, the line could be drawn right below the awareness set of activities.
It could also be argued this is a reverse definition, i.e. the Line came before the above definition did. The Line more likely refers to the profit line of the agency, with above the line activities being more profitable (or at least profitable) for advertising agencies, and below the line activities of little value to agencies since they didn't involve large budgets and hefty kickbacks from media buying houses.
Read more about this topic: Below The Line (advertising)
Famous quotes containing the word line:
“When all this is over, you know what I’m going to do? I’m gonna get married, gonna have about six kids. I’ll line ‘em up against the wall and tell them what it was like here in Burma. If they don’t cry, I’ll beat the hell out of ‘em.”
—Samuel Fuller, U.S. screenwriter, and Milton Sperling. Samuel Fuller. Barney, Merrill’s Marauders (1962)
“If surrealism ever comes to adopt a particular line of moral conduct, it has only to accept the discipline that Picasso has accepted and will continue to accept.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)