Ambient Marketing

Ambient marketing refers to the technique of placing advertisements related to uncommon products and services in unexpected locations. Using this out-of-the-box marketing method, advertising agencies tend to surprise the target audience and get exposure to unique opportunities seeking consumer attention to promote their products even at locations where lead conversion is least expected.

This strategy aims to grab the attention and interest of potential and target customers with its creativity and motivate them to buy the product shown in the advertisement. It can either be executed on a standalone basis or in conjunction with any other traditional advertisement technique. Currently, only some niche advertising agencies use it to bypass the conventional forms of advertising.

• Ambient marketing is a marketing technique used in a natural day-to-day environment of people to create something surprising and easily noticeable to promote the goods and services of a brand.
• It aims to capture the public's attention, create brand awareness, inspire engagement, and increase sales. To make the ad campaign successful, it should include these features: innovation, ambiguity, engagement, and subtlety.
• The main advantage of the ambient ad is its ability to grab people’s attention at a low cost and its potential to get viral across social media.
• Guerilla marketing uses the environment to promote and sell products directly to customers, but ambient marketing uses the environment to interact with consumers on behalf of the products or brands.

Ambient marketing campaigns are an unconventional and non-standard marketing method having a surprise element included in it to make the advertisement or campaign leave a unique mark in the minds of the target audience. Such marketing methods help create product awareness and influence customers to buy it. This advertising approach uses the target audience's surroundings and environment to make a strong statement of utility and uniqueness in the public's minds.

These ads create a lot of hype across various media platforms, including the internet, print, and broadcast media, creating a lot of interest in the marketed product. For effective ambient marketing, the advertisement must possess the following features:

1. Innovative: The ad must be innovative enough to create curiosity and enthusiasm in the audience's minds, encouraging them to buy the product.
2. Ambiguity: It must effectively catch the attention of the audience unaware of the product or service. It should surprise them to such an extent that they instantly get convinced to buy the product.
3. Engaging: These ads should naturally engage with the audience, leaving a lasting impression of the product. It should build a natural relationship between the product and the audience, potentially converting them into customers.
4. Subtleness: The ads should be subtle so that the audience does not feel any pressure to interact. Moreover, it should help the consumer identify the ad with their environment, encouraging curiosity and interest in buying the product.

Let us look at the instances below to understand the ambient marketing meaning better:

Example #1

Suppose ABC, an ice cream company in California, wants to increase its sales during the upcoming art festival in the city. The marketing team, therefore, decides to launch an ambient marketing campaign to get customers’ attention and develop a foothold in the market. They turn the bench at the venue into an enormous ice cream sandwich and use it to captivate passersby. As a result, everyone who passes by the store is found stunned and ABC’s ice cream becomes the talk of the town.

Example #2

McDonald's used an ambient marketing strategy in the promotion of its product and brand in August 2010. During the Zurich Fest, Switzerland’s most prominent public festival, they executed a campaign titled MacFries Pedestrian Crossing to be noticed in the busy environment. As the official street markings were suspended during the festival, they creatively featured a drawing of a French fries packet on the road in front of its outlet as a zebra crossing. The art seemed to be an attempt to create an impression in public minds that its products were as safe as using a zebra crossing.

Let us discuss the advantages and disadvantages of ambient marketing using the table below:

When it comes to marketing, many types find relevance in the market. However, the two most common of them are ambient and guerilla marketing. let us check out some of the differences between the two in brief below:

This article has been a guide to what is Ambient Marketing. Here, we explain its examples, comparison with guerilla marketing, advantages, and disadvantages. You may also find some useful articles here -

• Service Marketing Mix
• 5 Ps Of Marketing
• Pull Marketing Strategy