Ambient Advertising – How can an advertisement stand out in the clutter? Everywhere seems to be crowded with the overload of advertisements to which we are being exposed to on a daily basis. A form of alternative advertising that has been widely used over the years in the advertising world is Ambient Advertising.
Now what is ambient advertising? Ambient advertising consists of placing advertisements on objects or in places that are unusual and unexpected. They are usually placed in public areas such as floors, sidewalks, mats, on the sand at the beach, malls, gyms, public restrooms, elevator walls, park benches, and even on fruits… So basically anywhere.
In order for it to be most effective, the placement of the advertisement should mimic the characteristics of the product. The atmosphere created should reflect those qualities. Ambient advertising is a very powerful advertising tool because it does not cost as much as conventional advertising. It is very inexpensive and can make large profit if done in a creative way. For instance, a successful campaign was created by JWT, United Kingdom for Polo Nestle in December 2009.
The UK was covered with a fresh layer of snow, so white and perfect that JWT advertising agency took advantage of it and mimicked the characteristics of the POLO mints. What do these mints do? They keep your mouth fresh and cool. Mint=Freshness=cool=Ice. So, the company created a Polo snow stamp, that when pressed on the fresh snow would create a clean clear replica of the Polo mint. People saw this stamp everywhere. The stamps cost the company very little and made a huge impact worth millions of dollars in exposure. And the campaign is still talked about to this day 13 years after, it is a timeless and creative advertisement.
