Based on the assumption that recipients as potential consumers direct their attention at elements in the environments that they had ignored until recently, companies place their advertisements where the recipients would not expect them and in forms the recipients would not have predicted. That is why this type of advertisement is placed at toilets, on eggs, on the thighs or foreheads of people. Ambient marketing considers every public space a potential carrier, useful for presentation. Adequately prepared ambient media have the potential to be exceptionally effective. For example, advertisements placed in toilet stalls differ from traditional ads. These exposed advertisements are impossible to ignore with regard to the situation, in which the advertisement is witnessed. It also works because it is placed in the viewpoint of the recipients with enough time for the recipient to process it. Besides, advertisements placed like this ensures a certain level of exclusivity – it is witnessed without being disturbed by other ads or stimulus. Ambient media have the potential to be successful, but adhere to a set of basic principles (Hatalska, 2008)^[1].

The first basic principle is to place the advertisement close to the client, making it present in the clients’ lived environments. The company realizing such marketing steps must therefore carefully select places or points of concentration of the targeted groups, which also leads to better understanding of the target groups. The objective is to mediate the communiqué at every adequate premise, where the potential client might find themselves: in a park, on a square, in school, at a bus stop, in cinema, in sports centers, in cultural institutions.

The second principle is to integrate an original idea. In the case of the ambient media, the most important is the integral connection between the topic of the communiqué and its placement. A relevant example of such an implementation was realized by the DDB Malaysia agency, which implemented a campaign connected to global warming. The visualization created for the Regional Environmental Awareness was placed directly on the swimming pool tiles (see Picture 18). The recipient swimming in the pool might have felt like they were watching a sunken contemporary city, on top of which there was a short textual message: „Don’t let this be our future. Save our rainforest, stop global warming.”

The third principle is also of high importance – to reach the consumer in with a selected adequate timing. The ideal moment works with a certain level of passivity, targeting the moment during which the recipient is not disturbed by other stimuli that could distort their attention, for example when the recipient is traveling by a tram or just relaxing on the beach. For these reasons, ambient marketing uses the outdoors forms that are perpetually integrated with the surrounding space. There is a high probability that a recipient will notice the ambient marketing form – for example, when they are waiting at a mass transit stop, when they are sitting in a traffic jam in huge agglomerations et cetera.

The final, fourth principle is calling for an emotional response. The communiqué or its message should induce a smile, be innovative and/or controversial. Spectacular, extravagant and interesting advertisement forms are easier to notice, but also more memorable. A fitting example would be the tunnel advertisement that was used for the first time in 2001 Atlanta by the Submedia World agency. It was an animation spanning over 15 to 20 seconds, which thanks to the movement of the subway train created an illusion of animation. Ambient media offer a chance to be publicly exposed and stand out from the background. They are also able to reach the potential client in a fashion that is more precise and effective. Ambient, however, requires a high measure of creativity and often serves the pioneer for new trends. At the same time, it is an advertisement form that should be able to only serve for a short time – this is usually connected to the repetition of ambient advertisement by other companies who adapt the used methods for their own campaigns (for example realizations on elevator doors, see Pictures 19 and 20).

When ambient advertisement becomes a trend-setter and the realization is imitated, even commonly used, it becomes a part of the standard – thus blending with usual, everyday forms of advertisement. In so doing ambient forms might transform into normal, traditional forms of marketing communication.

^[1]         HATALSKA, N. (2008) Nie tylko wielka piątka, czyli ambient media i marketing szeptany jako alternatywne formy komunikacji?