Ambient Ambushes

Renovation of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate began in November, but the ugly scaffolding that usually surrounds such a building site is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the city’s 18th century landmark has been swathed in a series of gigantic posters promoting Deutsche Telekom. The wrapping of construction scaffolding in mammoth ad posters is just one example of “ambient media,” a fast-growing marketing genre that’s finding new places to advertise in the Old World.

Sarah Hayes, ambient manager at Blade, a London company that buys outdoor space, defines ambient media as “nontraditional, out-of-home” advertising with a gotcha! factor. Adds Samantha Yates, director of Amber Media, a British agency that specializes in the form: “Good ambient is making people think, ‘Oh, that was clever.'” And if the stunt happens to result in a few admiring headlines, so much the better.

Ambient’s parameters are limited only by the boundaries of imagination. The common denominator is slapping ads in unexpected places: gas-pump nozzles, supermarket floors, shopping carts, the sides of trucks — even inside golf holes. And technology is giving marketers even more opportunities: interactive TV screens in the backs of taxis, moving 3-D images that can be printed on posters and postcards, machines that produce 3-D holographs of products and logos that seemingly morph into one another and hover in space. Sometimes the forms mix. London agency The Media Vehicle uses 3-D effects to produce cart-stopping grocery-floor ads — like an image of an oversized can of Guinness stout seemingly bursting through the floor.

Ambient’s growth has taken off as “advertisers became increasingly aware that their big media budgets were not working,” says Jessica Hatfield, The Media Vehicle’s ceo. Observes Cabvision’s Jon Marquis, who puts interactive TVs in cabs: “Advertisers see ambient as a way to cut through the clutter while doing something creative. It works because people appreciate the novelty factor and ingenuity.”

There is statistical and anecdotal evidence that ambient media do work. Hatfield’s research shows that supermarket floor ads can increase a product’s in-store sales an average of 15.5%. Van den Bergh Foods reports that gas-pump nozzle ads for its Peperami snack sticks boost in-store sales by 22.5%. “Pump nozzles are a good way of promoting Peperami as an on-the-move snack,” says a Van den Bergh spokesman, adding that 80% of its customers are males 34 and younger. Ambient ads often “reach a specific audience when they’re most receptive,” notes Hayes.

The phenomenon is strongest in Britain. Blade estimates 2000 spending at $120 million, up from a mere $24 million in 1996, and predicts sales will rise by 30% this year. Elsewhere in Europe, Global outdoor specialist Poster Publicity pegs the total value of the German and French markets at $178.5 million and growing. The Media Vehicle last year opened an office in the Netherlands. And Megaposter, the German company that draped the Brandenburg Gate in advertising, recently began operations in seven other countries as part of a pan-European push. Markets are emerging in Eastern Europe as well. Hungarian mobile operator Pannon wrapped its logo around commuter trains and taxis — a classic ambient approach in Western markets but a first in Hungary.

The youthful appeal of off-kilter, ambush ads has spread to blue-chip, adult brands like Mercedes-Benz, British Airways and Nortel Networks. That’s because ambient can hit exclusive audiences in places conventional media can’t. But ambient practitioners need to be careful not to put the wrong product or service in the wrong place. A booze ad on a gasoline nozzle could send the wrong message, and a supermarket floor is probably not the place to advertise luxury jewelry. The genre’s growing popularity also risks subjecting consumers to ad fatigue. Admits Nigel Conway, a director at MediaVest, a media buying agency: “It would be disappointing if you saw ambient ads every time you turned a corner.” Conway thinks the industry has exercised restraint so far.

Still, as ads begin to appear above (and sometimes inside) urinals — increasingly popular locations — it may be time to ask: Is no place sacred from the steady stream of marketing?