We are currently living in times of information overload, in which the quantity and diversification of available information can lead to confusion and even anxiety[1]. With the current prevalence and the so-called penetration of information-communication channels, several thousand propagation communiqués are able to reach an average recipient in a single day, and the recipient is unable to notice all of them. N. Hatalska indicates that an average recipient is able to direct their attention on maximum of 250 advertisements, and is only to remember up to about 50[2]. Naturally, this is the reason why a modern marketing company should understand that on the current market – regardless of the marketing objectives of their campaigns (raising sales, raising awareness of the brand…) – it is imperative to capture the divergent attention of the consumer (even if only on the sight-hearing level without participation of consciousness – as presented by the experts on neuromarketing[3]).
It is necessary to keep the recipient’s attention on such a level that they under the influence of the communiqué realized an activity – responded to the call to action. This task is extremely difficult, because most advertisements are published in media that are considered to be sources of entertainment by their viewers, sources of information vastly different from the contents of advertisement communiqués. Comparing levels of engagement when watching television – it would be too optimistic to expect the same kind of focus when the recipients are watching a film and when they are watching advertisement, that disturbs the film broadcast, and at the same time, this context also creates the cross-propagation problem. Repeating the message in several media brought more positive cognitive responses, improved the attitude towards the brand and helped raise the intent to buy the product more than just repeating the message in just one of the media[4].
Continually along with development of marketing and with growth of propagation communiqués, two defined groups were established among the viewers: ad avoiders and ad fatigues[5], who even try to avoid the advertisement based on location-based mobile advertising (LBA).[6] The first group consists of people who aimingly avoid advertisements, as they feel fatigued and discouraged by them. During advertisement broadcasts, they behave in a way that helps them avoid the advertisements’ influences. According to research from a university in South California, 90-95% use the time dedicated to advertisements for other activities. In Sweden, it is 84% of viewers, in Singapore, it is 69%, and in Japan, it is 66% of viewers.[7] The other group (as we mentioned in Wojciechowski, 2016[8]) – ad fatigue – does not aimingly avoid advertisement communiqués, but since it is also fatigued by the sheer quantity of information it is exposed to, the group does not pay as much attention to the content as the creators would expect. A study realized M. S. Grayson a K. Isaac[9] followed 400 participants who took part in 20 common tactics used in television and digital advertisement. Thirteen of these investigated tactics were decrypted, which was surprising even for the marketers themselves. That is why creators of advertisement today have to face the difficulty of having a more educated audience with a significant measure of awareness, an audience that trusts brands and institutions way less than the previous generations. This new audience is also able to select from a wide range of newspapers, magazines, television channels, and radio broadcast, while the perpetual growth of internet use also creates a context that is rarely comparable to the contexts of previous generations.
Research shows that a majority of consumers are overfed with advertisements. D. Burstein (2017)[10] published a research 2016 in which he lists the rankings of advertisements that respondents did not like. From all of the mentioned, the printed advertisement received the highest measure of unpopularity (9,01), followed by television advertisement (8,92), email advertisement (8,62),
and outdoors advertisement (billboards, transparents, posters) (8,35) – in outdoors advertisement, ambient advertisement was probably not included, as there is no mention of the ambient in the paper, and so we do not have its scores.
Since 1993, the Czech Marketing Association has been conducting surveys along with other subjects (in 2017, it was the Faculty of Business Administration at University of Economics and Business in Prague, POPAI CE, the Czech Association for Branded Products, and AČRA-MK). In recent years, research has been realized by the PPM Factum Research Agency (see Správa Češi a reklama, 2017)[11]. According to their findings, TV advertisement is the most unpopular (according to 64-82% of respondents), similarly to the results of D. Burstein (2017). The second most unpopular was internet advertisement (60%), printed advertisement (58%), and then posters and billboards (48%). The Czech authors did not include ambient advertisement in their research.
A similar longitudinal research from the Slovak Republic is not known, but research of oversaturation is available, realized by P. Krnáčová a S. Benkőová (2016)[12]. In their research, YouTube advertisement was the most annoying to viewers 73% of respondents), followed by television spots (50%), advertisement in mobile applications (49%), printed advertisement (45%), and similarly to the previous research activities, this one also did not include ambient advertisement.
Recipients have a tendency to avoid advertisement, as shown by research by
P. S. Speck, M. T. Elliot (1997)[13]. This is most significant for television and printed magazine advertisement, slightly less for printed advertisement in journals, and least for advertisement in radio. This research also did not include ambient advertisement in its investigation.
As we mentioned in other parts of this publication, ambient advertisement becomes a part of the environment, it is integrated in the surroundings and brings new stimuli that can be surprising and interesting for the passersby.
According to the study of the Zenitrh company, the usage of the mobile internet service between the years 2010 and 2016 rose by 44% on average and in 2016, it presented 19% of all media consumption globally. The study also predicted that the global consumption of media presented by internet media would reach at least 26% until 2019[14]. This data was a predictor of further reduction in effectiveness of traditional propagation methods in near future via fragmentation of the media market. A target group of adequate size that is concentrated at a single available place is of great importance to a marketing company. Such homogenous groups sharing similar traits can be found for example on beaches during the summer or skiing in the mountains during the winter. These occurrences are predictable only at specific times, as potential consumers relax actively during these seasons instead of staying at home watching television. Despite this, television still holds the highest position in marketing spending.
A significant decrease in the consumers’ trust towards marketing communiqués has also been noted. According to research realized by the Nielsen[15] company, in 2013, the highest sales potential was proven for the buzz marketing approach on 56 selected marketing. More than 84% of respondents agreed that references of other consumers (including recommenders and influencers) are the strongest factors when making a decision before making a purchase (see
Mikuláš a Světlík, 2016)[16].
Ambient communication is a partially lasting solution, as after the realization of a promotion activity in the real-life environment, documentation of the occurrence remains. These activities aim to be so unique that the resonance left by them could be observable in reports in traditional media (most often television), but also on the internet or professional, interest-focused pages, and in newspapers. Reporters, bloggers or editors in professional magazines regularly mention successful ambient activities, as they are interesting cases, something unusual that is worthy of mention, and thus spontaneous dissemination occurs. A measure of eccentricity and provocativeness of realization is an important factor. At the same time, these traits are aimed at the recipients of the media reporting on the ambient activities. The potential new consumers are also targeted, as they are prone to sharing their feelings and experiences with others, thus spreading the word and recommending the brand presenting itself by such an activity.
All of these parties are unaware multipliers, authors and co-creators of the buzz marketing effect. New data shows (see the research by Zenith[17] and data on investments in digital advertising in Europe[18]) have perpetually been adapting to the changes, resulting in growing expenses for traditional forms of propagation, but also growth of pressure on companies to develop new, better and more creative techniques, methods, and channels for spreading the advertisement communiqués. The classical advertisement, as we have known it for decades, finds itself in a certain defensive stance, even though it still holds its established position, albeit retreating from dominance. Approach to the modern, current marketing communication therefore requires significant appropriations and modifications, with a special regard to the development of technology, and especially with the knowledge of the modern attitudes of recipients. Information sharing among recipients and potential clients, the word-of-mouth phenomenon, is not a new occurrence, it has been present since the first emergence of human speech. Dialogue itself is not an incidental activity, exchange of information is genetically coded in humanity, it is a supportive mechanism useful for orientation – especially important in the current information era, the era of limitless choices.
The recipients exchange information, talk in order to reduce the possible risks, costs or insecurities connected to a purchase. Interpersonal communication in forms of discussions about products often switch to other topics, disconnected from the content of advertisement – personal life, work life, the interesting, unexpected, surprising, shocking, fear-inducing, angering, joyful things in everyday life, these are all connectible to the products and services presented by marketing activities.
Buzz marketing is not new and its roots can be followed as far as into the 1940s. In practice, however, it has been professionally used only for a few decades. The important fact, that buzz marketing is different from traditional marketing, still stands. The main characteristics of buzz marketing lies in its impossibility to precisely plan and control the progress of campaigns, as it relies on potential, voluntary, spontaneous and independent exchanges between the potential and current consumers. The main task of the advertiser in buzz marketing is to stimulate the consumers to spontaneously talk about the product, and to make communication channels available in order to enable the consumers to share information and spread the word. The advertiser, as the initial source of the buzz, cannot afford to cultivate an opponent from the recipient – it is therefore imperative to realize such activities in an ethical fashion[19].
When designing an ambient advertisement, it is necessary to always account for the possibility of a certain risk, that the whole campaign will evolve unpredictably. The reason for development of these non-standard forms of propagation communication are in big parth the consumers themselves – in this, they are called the prosumers. The term prosumers[20] is a result of convergence of the words producer and consumer, and it describes the segment of the market shared by the professional and the consumer, but also the proactive consumers themselves.
The prosumer shares their information and experiences with other consumers, for example via blogs, vlogs or via other media, but can also keep knowledge to themselves. The transformation of consumers into prosumers certainly has certainly played a part in the perpetual change of the classical advertisement’s position, retreating into a defensive. The conception first emerged in 1972 in the Take Today: The Executive as Dropout[21] publication, in which M. McLuhan and B. Nevitt suggested that with development of new electrical technologies, a consumer might more often also pose as a producer. In 1980, the term prosumer was established by Alvin Toffler along with the prediction of end for the passive character of consumption, typical for consumers.
For companies to be able to continually increase their revenues, it has been necessary to spread the word of their very existence. Companies had to present new ideas, taking a step back from the mass product, increasing the measure of customization addressed for the customers. The basic factor that enables such communication is access to new technologies along with acceptance of the new target group. Consumption acquired a new interactive character, as the prosumer is an active consumer, that collects, hoards and archives information about the topics they are interested in. Prosumers expect to have influence on the product they are selecting and expect interactive character of consumption[22], via which they would further enhance their knowledge about the product, while actively participating on the products evolution, as well as being a person that shares information about the product (or idea).
In connection to these principles, many companies are moving from informational contents of communiqués towards the more attractive forms. Increasingly often, there have been media campaigns focused on the image of the brand, often with a reminding intent. The consumer was a viewer. The prosumer is a partner.[23]
Communication with prosumers resembles a dialogue. A consumer was satisfied with an informative communiqué. On the other hand, the prosumer sees the importance of high-quality communication, which they often consider to be another form of interactive entertainment. Ambient marketing is such a form of communication with both the potential and the current client, that meets the expectations of the modern consumers who demand attractive, unusual communication that is free of templates, but even more importantly, also seems intelligent and innovative.
Regardless of which explanation of the term we accept, all of them naturally point at the activity of the consumer. That is we cannot exclude the Generation C, disconnected from the manitels of age, which was established as a term by the Nielsen company, the global leader in the field of survey, and is derived from the first letter of words like connected, communicating, content-centric, computerized, community-oriented, clicking[24] There is, however, a significant change in the behavior of the consumer. The consumer ceases to be passive and inactive. They take control and become a producer of sorts. That is the reason why it is not exceptional that when such a consumer wants to gather information, they consider more than the company itself decided to present[25]. The aforementioned of the active consumer was registered sometime around the year 2000, when the first point of the 95 from The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual[26] states that the market is a conversation. The manifest[27] was written in 1999 by R. Levine, Ch. Locke, D. Searls, and
D. Weinberger. Currently, consumers have a higher measure of control, it is them who decide how a brand could be perceived, they also decide the measure of success.
The aim of every company should be to be noticed among the thousands of communiqués consumers encounter daily. A higher measure of success is reached if we focus on target groups and speak to them about their specific problems.[28] The human brain works as a filter and it filters information, which is out of the field of our perception. There are too many communiqués and the brain filters those it deems irrelevant, or irrelevant at the moment, but it keeps those it deems relevant. At the same time, if a communiqué creates an emotional response, it has a chance to reach the subconsciousness, as capturing attention is from a huge part built on emotions. Emotions are automatized processes and according to the theories of the American psychologists P. Ekman and W. V. Friesena[29], there are six basic emotions that were identified in 1972 based on a study of the Fori isolated tribe in Papua New Guinea. Based on these sex emotions, in 1980, R. Plutchik[30] built his circular diagram of emotions presenting the eight basic emotions and the eight derived emotions, of which every one consisted of two basic emotions.
People visibly react to things they know, they consider new or when they face a significant change in their lived environments. People have given much attention to topics that are scary or related to sexuality – basically, the shocking topics. Advertisements that contain disgusting imagery, sexual references, profanity and obscenity, religious taboos, vulgarity, breaches of ethics or moral decadence could be considered shocking[31]. This psycho-biological knowledge is successfully exploited by companies for design of campaigns. The aim is to capture attention of the target group, redirecting in on the product: an article, a service, an idea. Usually, these topics are related to pornography, fear, death or unusual violence. They depart from the prediction that what causes emotional reactions, that is memorable – and in that, reaching
the general objectives of advertisement.
[1] DAVIS, N. (2011). Information overload, reloaded.
[2] HATALSKA, N. (2008). Nie tylko wielka piątka, czyli ambient media i marketing szeptany jako alternatywne formy komunikacji?
[3] WOŹNIAK, J. (2012). Neuromarketing 2.0. Wygraj wojnę o umysł klienta.
[4] LIM, J. S., RI, S. Y., EGAN, B. D., BIOCCA, F. A. (2015). The cross-platform synergies of digital video advertising: Implications for cross-media campaigns in television, Internet and mobile TV Author links open overlay panel.
[5] BRACE, I. (2007). Ad rejecters as avoiders.
[6] SHIN, W., LIN, T. T-CH. (2016). Who avoids location-based advertising and why? Investigating the relationship between user perceptions and advertising avoidance.
[7] BENNETT, G. et al. (2007).Lifestyles of the Ad Averse.
[8] WOJCIECHOWSKI, L. (2016). Ambient marketing: + case studies in V4.
[9] ISAAC, M. S., GRAYSON, K. (2017). Beyond Skepticism: Can Accessing Persuasion Knowledge Bolster Credibility?
[10] BURSTEIN D. (2017). Advertising Chart: The types of ads consumers dislike the most (and the least).
[11] Správa – Češi a reklama (2017). Marketing science and Inspirations.
[12] KRNÁČOVÁ P., BENKŐOVÁ S. (2016). Spotrebiteľské správanie v kontexte online marketingu.
[13] SPECK, P. S., ELLIOTT, M. T. (1997). Predictors of Advertising Avoidance in Print and Broadcast Media.
[14] MEDIA CONSUMPTION FORECASTS 2016. Available at: <https://communicateonline.me/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Media-Consumption-Forecasts-2016.pdf>
[15] Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, Trust in Advertising, a global Nielsen consumer report (2013).
[16] MIKULÁŠ, P. a SVĚTLÍK, J. (2016). Execution of Advertising and Celebrity Endorsement.
[17] MEDIA CONSUMPTION FORECASTS 2016. Available at: <https://communicateonline.me/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Media-Consumption-Forecasts-2016.pdf>
[18] Dostupné na internete: <https://www.statista.com/topics/3801/advertising-industry-in-europe/>
[19] AY, C. PINAR, A. a SINAN, N. (2010).Guerrilla marketing communication tools and ethical problems in guerilla advertising.
[20] The term was used in the The Third Wave book by the futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1980.
[21] MCLUHAN, M., NEVITT B. (1972).Take today; the executive as dropout.
[22] A close relation to the web 2.0 structure has been noted. Connection, communication, content – centric, computer, community – orientation and click.
[23] The contemporary prosumers are not just people bestowed with new tasks, but also external employees of companies that help to create and produce the newest products and services.
[24] FRIEDRICH, R., et al. (2010) The Rise of Generation C Implications for the World of 2020. Booz & Company Inc. Available at: <http://www.booz.com/media/uploads/Rise_Of_Generation_C.pdf>
[25] LOCKE, C. et al. (2000) The Cluetrain Manifesto: the End of Business as Usual, Available at:: <http://www.cluetrain.com/book/index.html>
[26] ibid.
[27] Available at: <https://cluetrain.rovnou.cz/>
[28] ŠKUTKOVÁ, J. (2010) Znalosť ľudskej mysle pomôže marketingu k úspechu.
[29] EKMAN, P., FRIESEN, W. (2015) Emoce pod maskou.
[30] PLUTCHIK, R. (1980) Emotion: Theory, research, and experience.
[31] DAHL, D. W., FRANKENBERGER, K. D. a MANCHANDA, R. V. (2003).Does it Pay to Shock? Reactions to Shocking and Nonshocking Advertising Contents Among University Students.