Ambient marketing is an unconventional form of digital marketing. The main ingredients for a good result in this branch are creativity and the ability to amaze . Above all, it uses unusual means to convey advertising messages and arouse public interest. Learning the strategies related to this form of marketing can give you many ideas for alternative campaigns.
Walking through the streets of each city it can happen to come across perfect examples. Just pay attention to the details …
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What is Ambient Marketing
Ambient marketing arises from the functional combo between the advertising you want to do and the urban environment. Precisely because it exploits all the space that surrounds us, we talk about unconventional channels and unconventional marketing. The AMA was also involved in this branch , or rather the American Marketing Association
The definition provided by the AMA speaks of a complex form of marketing that uses environmental elements to convey messages and incentives towards a brand aimed at consumers. The elements referred to can be anything: the road surface, street lamps and in general any physical surface.
Difference Between Guerrilla and Ambient marketing
Since it mainly exploits the surprise effect on potential buyers by displaying surprise advertising, it is easy to confuse it with guerrilla marketing . The term guerrilla is used because it refers to the military action of the same name. The guerrilla is a surprise and sudden sortie, like the strategies of this form of advertising. They are unpredictable and have a short duration. The ads appear in the morning and have already been taken down in a few days.
Even if both ambient marketing and guerrilla marketing exploit the environment to their advantage, the former remains and is planned to fit perfectly. In fact, the campaign was created to be stable and give a new meaning to the elements of the space it uses. A symbiosis, not a quick and fleeting invasion as in the guerrilla warfare.
However, the guerrilla does not necessarily exploit only the environment, it is simply a resource like any other that it can make use of. Since it aims at low-cost means, urban space is more useful than others. Companies are looking for ways to reduce advertising costs and are resorting to them. For the environment, on the other hand, declining in space is the real basis.
Favorite places
For the ambient marketing campaign to be effective, it is necessary to plan well the site where to implement it. As always, the choice of seat also depends on the chosen target . In addition, the place needs to be heavily trafficked so that a large number of people see it. Frequent but also unusual places, such as toilets or petrol stations.
Furthermore, by nature, aesthetics are fundamental. This will push viewers to spread media on social media that resume the ad well by spreading it further. In this way, in fact , geographical boundaries are overcome and even those who have no way of passing by the chosen place will see the advertising.
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The background scenography is the key element. A famous bridge, a historic square … a monument. These are all strategic points for ambient marketing. By creating an evocative and synergistic optical effect, people will be pushed to be unconscious collaborators through their photos. From the unconventional channel we return to the official ones but in an informal way.
Ambient Marketing Examples
Moving on to the tangible aspects, it is better to see some iconic examples of this form of marketing. Here are a few:
- Audi Snowtagging Campaign . Taking advantage of a heavy snowfall and the accumulation of snow, the advertisement appeared on the white mantle that covered the outdoor vehicles. This form of ambient marketing took place in Canada, in Montreal .
- Fincantieri on the Milan stock exchange. The leading company in the naval sector decided to leave the sea to land with the bow of a ship at the financial headquarters in Milan. The false prow both stretched over the steps like a watershed between the people who were to enter.
- ESPNW , the sports fields of inequality. On the tennis and basketball courts, the colors of the two sexes, blue and pink, were rampant . Except that while the former covered most of the surface, pink was always relegated to a small part. One way to raise awareness among athletes to achieve equality in the workplace.
Genertel and Europ Assistance , the submarine off course. To present the new headquarters in Milan, the head of a submarine with a threatening appearance emerged from the asphalt. After all it was about insurance, why not put some (creative) anxiety with ambient marketing?
The spheres with the countdown for the Smart For Two model , in Milan, Rome and Naples. White and with black timer and blue LEDs have invaded the city. They were presented in fake craters in the asphalt, like falls from space. A peaceful invasion if nothing else.
Music boxes in Prague supermarkets. On the occasion of the Spring Music Festival the speakers were transformed into staves to compose melodies with the items just purchased. Combine vision and sound, why not?
Why is Ambient marketing effective?
Even if spread outside and therefore in the environment, classic billboards do not involve the public. It is a
passive perception, in a habitual and taken-for-granted context . Ambient marketing permeates space rather than carving out its own. Aim to get involved, with interactive elements such as reproductions or drawings that can be walked on. Some brands have even appeared printed above the pedestrian crossing.
The multisensory experience (being able to touch as well as see in many cases) is the real strength. Plus there is the feeling of control and
free choice compared to the bombardment of ads on the net. When you surf the Internet you are forced to view content while outdoors you are attracted to the ad, you choose to get closer.
Digital campaigns also arrive en masse and the average attention of the hypothetical consumer decreases in the face of so many different messages. Confusion also takes over and the advertising campaign fails. Ambient marketing, on the other hand, uses surprise to revive this attention and shake people out of the daily torpor.