BRAND ACTIVATION

Before understanding brand activation we need to have awareness of two terms:
1. Above the Line (atl) : This includes Advertising which is used to spread the awareness of a brand.
2. Below the line(btl):This includes Public Relations,events,brochures,roadshows,etc which are used to support the brand

A consumer might purchase a product after seeing its advertisement but only if the product is good he/she will repurchase it.For eg. Hyundau Santro excels in the segment of Wagon R,Spark because the product is good.Getting a celebrity to promote your produt will help only if your product is good.
Now you would ask that why did Hyundai need Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta to promote its Santr brand.We musr remember that Hyundau is a Korean company and Santro was its first offering.The only way for it to connect to Indians was through celebrities.However if you would have noticed, the other cars of Hyundau are not promoted by big celebrities.

BRAND ACTIVATION:
It means closely connecting to the customer through opinion leaders.It is used to increase the sale of the brand.For instance a doctor recommending medicines of a particular brand to patients,A heart surgeon suggesting use of Saffola to a customer and so on.Basically, a brand/company needs to talk to the customer in as many ways as possible.Hence, the brands are made more more active in the market and a positive reputation is built.

How does one do Brand Activation?
It could be done by giving better dealer margins as compared to competitors or through sales promotion at dealer level(like in Diwali we have Dhamaka offers by LG and so on).Another way is to give non monetary benefits to dealers like holidays or gifts.

I am exploring more on the topic and will update you all on more.....