How ambient advertising is uniquely placed to make audiences think

Abstract

The current body of research has identified that ambient advertising has increased in use, providing advantages for both commercial marketing (Taylor, Franke and Bang, 2006), for campaigning for the social good (Hanson, interview, 15 March 2019) and for activism (Biraghi, Gambetti and Graffigna, 2015; Hanson, 2019; Nelson and Sutherland, interview, 22 February 2019). Yet, there is little empirical evidence about why audiences engage with ambient advertising and if it encourages a longer and deeper consideration of the meaning of the advert. This study compares what academics and advertising industry creatives think about engagement with participants in-field with two media interventions. The aim of this study is to assess whether audiences are prepared to engage with low-cost ambient advertising away from point-of-sale. If so, then ambient advertising can be a useful, tactical and immediate response for smaller organisations and social activists seeking to do good.