Ambient Media—Thinking Out Side Of The Box
First there were newspapers. Later followed radio, television and most recently, the Internet. But through increasingly prolific ambient media, the face of advertising is changing. Ambient media, often referred to as place-based media, centers on advertisers’ innovation. Instead of just adhering to traditional commercial endeavors, advertisers cleverly place ads in-or on consumers’ surroundings. Ambient advertising has become more and more widespread. In order to stand apart from the crowd, the ambient advertiser should remember one rule: creativity first.
In advertising, there is plenty of room for uniqueness; through the use of ambient media, even more creative heights can be reached. Here’s an unsinkable way to literally keep your ad afloat: Try an inflatable display system. The average inflatable display system resembles a billboard, except this ad calls water its home. By employing this ad tactic, the advertiser virtually eliminates competition. On an open lake, an inflatable display system will most likely be the only commercial eye-catcher for miles.
For moveable ads, a vehicle may just be your saving grace. Postavans and postatrailers consist of a triangular, two-sided, three-dimensional advertisement mounted atop a company van or trailer. Some would suggest this is merely a traditional mobile billboard, but the fact that these vans and trailers are owned by a business being used to take their message to the consumer every time they drive, leads other to say it is form of alternative non-traditional or even ambient media. These vehicles are usually decked out with a bright advertisement and catchy sayings; a postavan or postatrailer will provoke interest in restless drivers stalled at traffic lights. Because this form of ambient media advertising is mobile, a new range of consumers will be reached with practically every errand ran.
Newspaper advertisements may not pop off the page in black and white and radio reels might prompt the short attention-spanned consumer to turn the dial. Television commercials can be silenced with one deft click of the remote and speedy Internet pop-ups are virtually history before they’ve arrived. But a gas pump billboard is a clever means of ambient media that serves up handy 24-hour advertising at a venue frequented by many motorists. Because it takes the average motorist about three to five minutes to refuel, sustained viewing of the ad can thus be achieved. Make the captive consumer audience pay attention while they pay at the pump.
Ambient media presents itself in scores of forms. While taxi-tops and billboards are common in big cityscapes, many other alternative means of advertising exist abound. Overhead blimps and banners soar across shorelines, decals bedeck soda cups in theme parks and malls, airports and arenas are logo-laden with labels. One common theme with most successful ambient media advertisers is relevance. A mug of hot chocolate is more apt to inspire consumer desire when seen on the back of a ski-lift compartment during a chilly run rather than when read about in a magazine later that night in a toasty lodge. An inflatable display system by the coast depicting a local restaurant’s seafood specialty will evoke hunger more than said restaurant’s ad in a hotel guidebook. And movie theaters do it virtually all the time. Just imagine those enticing previews that boast succulent popcorn and saccharine sweets located just outside the door. Ambient media advertising works. And it works to a greater extent when some creativity is employed. Use ambient media advertising to draw consumers to your business’s inner circle. Just remember to think outside the box.
