Ambient advertising

Ambient, which means the surrounding area or environment.

Ambient Media started to appear in British media jargon around 1999, but now seems to be firmly established as a standard term within the advertising industry. It is the name given to a new breed of out-of-home products and services determined by some as Non-Traditional or Alternative Media.

Advantages:

1. Interesting; It's totally different from traditional media, since it's no longer just stick on a pieces of paper only, instead, this kind of advertising appears in our daily life! They might appears on the handles of supermarket trolleys, the cistern of public toilet, and even on the straw for you to suck!
2. Awareness; It's quite difficult for people to ignore those abnormal things surrounding them, which it's the main successful point of ambient advertising. When people walk along the street, once they discover some special advertising, they will memorize it immediately and have deep impression, which helps raise the product/services awareness.
3. Specific; Most ambient advertising provide fist experiences to consumers, for example like guerrilla strategy which are unexpected and unconventional establish a relationship with the customer. In order to build trust and support, it focus on understanding the customer's needs, and providing a product that delivers the promised benefits.
4. Low budget; Instead of money, the primary investments of this strategy should be time, energy, and imagination. Therefore the ideas and ways to purchase are more important.

Disadvantages:

1. Too exaggerated; The consumer may think the advertisement may not exactly reflecting it's product/ services features.
2. Block the public area; Sometimes, creative cost area. The sticker/stuff of ambient advertising will block the public area as to purchase their effects of campaign. Some people may feel uncomfortable or disgusting surrounding by those advertising, it makes backfire which are not expected.