Ambient Advertising and its role in the digital world

A popular idea in the advertising world is the notion of a fully integrated marketing campaign (IMC). The essential idea behind this is that no communication should exist on its own. That is to say that an advertisement should not only appear on television or in a newspaper but it should be communicated over several different mediums. This is the best way to generate maximum exposure for a campaign and hopefully generate more sales. 


More and More are we seeing traditional forms of media interacting online and other non-traditional mediums. We will now explore how an non traditional ambient campaign can be its most effective when it interacts with an social media campaign and user generated content.  


Firstly, let us understand what ambient advertising is, ambient advertising is a relatively new form of advertising that uses non-traditional means to communicate a brand, product or even an idea. 


Ambient advertising is often mistakenly referred to as guerilla marketing or ambush marketing, this is a misconception, as one of the key differences is the lack of human interaction.  Wehleit (2003), a marketing academic highlights this notion  claiming that,  “ambient advertising exists in non-traditional media formats without direct interaction.” 


Ambient advertising interacts with the external environment that is not used for advertising in a traditional sense.  for example, coaster, petrol pumps, even the back seats of taxi's can become avenues for brands to communicate with the public. However, if this form of advertising becomes mainstream it loses its ability to be strictly classified as 'ambient'. 




Below is an example of how the 'Quit' foundations highlights its message of smoking causes blindness. 

As we know a major part of using digital media involves the use of social media and user generated content. 

The connection between social media and ambient advertising is highly relevant as the success or failure of an ambient campaign can be determined by measuring the digital success of the advertisement in terms of online 'Buzz.'   

If the ambient campaign is highly creative users are likely to either video, or photograph the advertisement and share it on  social media networks or even write a blog about it. This enables the advertisement to reach far more people, as the advertisement is viewed not only by people passing in the street but potentially an entire world. 

Whilst to some extent companies are able to post pictures of their campaign on the internet, like any other form of advertising it is its most effective when it is striking and highly creative. 

For more information on ambient advertising please feel free to read Jono and my blog on ambient advertising @ ambientjn.blogspot.com

Twitter's finally introducing advertisements

For quite a while the internet and social media world has debated and contemplated how Twitter will start making money.

Ideas such as Free-mium  service (having some features free and others that you have to pay for, similar to the way Linkedin works.)

The other idea was advertising. Twitter has chosen this path.

Brand United has just announced that "Promoted Tweets" can be purchased from Twitter highlighting that brands like "Sky, Sony and Vodafone are in negotiations to become the first brands to use Twitter's ad platform when it launches in the UK next year. " (Brand Republic September 28)

Whilst for many this has been a long time coming it remains yet to be seen, how users with interact with the promoted tweets and just how effective they will be.

I personally think this yet one more advertising gimmick that we get lost in the now deafening sound advertising online is making...

Will Twitter succeed in this venture...is 'Promoted Tweets'  the best way to go about doing it?--let me know your thoughts

Twibbons get commercial

Twibbons: One of the latest crazes on Facebook and Twitter allow users to attach a ribbon onto their profile pictures.

Often they support a cause, a sporting team, political party or ones denomination.

Sutter Home an America wine company have tried to capitalise on this idea by introducing their own special breast cancer 'twibbon'. Saying for every person who uses the 'Twibbon' they will donate 1$ to the breast cancer foundation. 

The Twibbon looks like this 

Taken from Sutter Home micro site: sutterhomeforhope.com

This is clearly a branding exercise as they are trying to get their image out there as much as possible. Its also interesting who would use this product as many of the users who would be attracted to Facebook fashions are likely to be over a younger demographic and the wine product would not be relevant. 

Nonetheless, it is a good example of how they are partnering themselves with a charity in order to create positive brand associations.


I added the 'Twibbon' to my twitter account just to see how it works and it automatically creates a Tweet to spread the word.

For more information please see http://www.sutterhomeforhope.com/

As always let me know what you think. 

Coca Cola's latest viral advertisment

This is the UK version

Coca Cola is know for its great viral advertisements over the years. The latest the happiness machine is no difference. I think this is one of the most creative viral advertisements out there. It clearly reinforces Coca-Cola's positive image and reinforces coca-cola's previous TVC campaigns. 


A fantastic advertisement.  


This is the original happiness machine video that aired during the super-bowl 

Let me know what you think- 

Social media gives voice to protesters

Whilst, this is an old new story I feel its message is still very much so relevant.

Recently I posted about hate groups on the internet, and how the internet gives voice to many that are not deserving of one. I feel it is appropriate to follow it up with a discussion on how the internet is giving a voice to those that do not have one.




June 2009 was the month of the Iranian elections, an election that many believed to be corrupted by the current Ahmadinejad government. As a result violent protests occurred and any one that opposed the government was arrested.

Enter Social media networks: To get heard and to highlight their cause to the rest of the world the protesters moved from the streets to the computers and Twitter and Facebook became news portals to the rest of the world.

News sites around the world set up webpages highlighting the protesters Tweets and forwarding their message to the world.

For more articles please see:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31409312/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

http://mashable.com/2009/06/14/new-media-iran/

Hate Promotion on the internet

The French Revolution and the enlightenment created ideas of Liberty, Freedom and Justice for all. Democratic governments are giving people a voice to be heard.


However, the internet is giving a voice to those that should not have one!

This Wednesday is the Jewish new yeah (רוש השנה) (Rosh Hashanah) so I thought about talking about the most loved talked about Jewish topic-anti-Semitism!


As many of you know I am Jewish, and as a Jew I pay attention to anti-semitism on the internet.

As you can imagine I am outraged with the ability that groups once condemned by society, ostracised with their extreme views, are finding a voice to network and more importantly are able to promote themselves and their message to the wider population.

A recent Facebook event "Kill a Jew Day" was able to exist for enough time to create a serious impact, and whilst Facebook did do the right thing and remove the event, the haters achieved their  goal of getting the publicity they desired.

Whilst, there has been a group created on Facebook to speak out against the disgusting event,  a simple search on Google reveals thousands of websites, blogs, and commentary, and whilst many speak out against such hate others promote the hate message.

The Jerusalem Post is just one place to read the full the story.

For the majority of people social media networks are a great place to stay in touch with the long lost relative, or that friend you met on a camp, or holiday, or even work colleges, many contacts that in a world without the internet would not exist.

So apart from wanting to highlight this issue, I wanted to ask a few questions as well.

Most agree that the internet is a great place to promote anything, whether it be a business, an event, or even an individual websites such as Google, Youtube, Ebay, Linkedin, Facebook, or just a website.

However, with the freedom of information comes this danger of hate groups, and while society and technology races forward we a left with a feeling that society is going just as quickly in the wrong direction to the dark ages.

Facebook to its credit quickly removed the event, however, anti-Semitic website such as Jewwatch are free* to spread their message, in fact Google in the past has been criticized that with a search of the word Jew prominent anti-Semitic websites rank highly on an organic search so much so that google was forced to defend itself.

However, Google has taken steps to remove this problem however, due to the rate such websites are created it is still possible for them to get through.

The problem is not just limited to the Jewish people in fact most minorities face this problem.

Racism is a fact of life, whilst, it is illegal in many countries including Australia, under the Racial Discrimination Act. It still very much so exists. The internet is probably the best medium for  racist messages to spread...and I can't see a way to really stop it other than vigilantes  and watch dog groups surfing the net and flagging the offending sites.

Is this the only solution of can you think of others?

Ping: music's latest social media network

If Ping takes off MySpace is dead writes technology news website Mashable, and BBC Technology and hosts of others.

Ping is apart of the latest version of Itunes which when downloaded allows for users to follow their friends find out what they are listing to and find out what their favourite artists are up to. Jobs describes is "Facebook meets twitter meets Itunes"

This new social media platform is just one more step Apple is taking to become the technological leader of the modern era.

If Steve Jobs' Tweet is proved right some of the major players have a lot to look out for.

ceoSteveJobs 

  

"I want to put a Ping in the universe."

Do you think that Ping will bring about the end of MySpace?