Various analysis predict that atypical forms of propagation will be a huge part of the near future, as projects using ambient media strategies are noting increasing financial revenue^[1]. Despite the stagnation the advertisement market went through, in 2001, ambient marketing rose by 23%^[2]. Starting in 1996, when the ambient marketing approach became the topic of marketing research for the first time, this sphere has been getting much attention and it is predicted that this tendency will hold in the foreseeable future (Parikh, 2017)^[3], along with the implementations of the newest digital technologies (Hagan, 2017)^[4]. The newest research is not available yet, but we can conclude that the connection of marketing and the surrounding outside world will be present in the future as well – especially when we consider emerging new technologies that use augmented reality, virtual reality, various implemented bio-sensors and other tools connected to the future of media. (Lugmayr, Serral, Scherp a Mustaquim, 2013^[5]). We can follow this trend as interest in new possibilities in ambient marketing is still growing, with both the clients and marketing agencies being the interested parties.

Advertisement agencies are forced to include new marketing forms that also utilize modern technologies in their portfolios. This presents a wide field for experiments that have already been explored by both the creators and their clients. When a decision to opt for an innovative approach to marketing is reached, three effects can follow:

• The innovative campaign can result in a failure – for example when it fails to reach the target group.
• The innovative campaign can reach a level of effectiveness comparable to classical approaches.
• The innovative campaign will yield a significant success and prove to be a discovery of great value.

Of all of the innovative techniques, it is the ambient that has the best chance to reach the third result. That is the reason why there has been a steady increase in its utilization. Continually, the number of companies opting for ambient strategy has been rising and there is no prediction for the near future implying this trend should change, even though this approach is connected to a measure of worry associated with risks ambient techniques inherently contain.

Such doubts about ambient’s usefulness might stem from differences between generations, but also from the utilization of technology. Despite these problems, however, ambient has been more successful in reaching consumers than any other form of propagation – and not because it would be universally better, but because it is able to pique the viewer’s interest.

Another fundamental strong trait of ambient is its ability to avoid spending resources on recipients that would not react to the message. At the same time, it works with a high probability that the advertisement will get noticed, while the classical forms of marketing are actively avoided. It is impossible for a client to remain indifferent towards the ambient marketing form, as it induces emotional responses, unlike the traditionally constructed communiqués. In doing so it reaches subconsciousness and more effectively influences its recipients.

Ambient media will be more often utilized by entrepreneurs. This statement is further strengthened by the decreasing effectiveness of traditional advertisement. On the other hand, it is questionable whether such a tool, that is becoming steadily more popular, would still be categorized as ambient.

Considering the high levels of creativity and innovation of ambient marketing, it is common for classical media to also notice the ambient activities. Thanks to this, ambient advertisement is realized twice – by the non-standard activities, and by
the following publicity in classical media, which however does not have any financial costs. A useful example is the campaign of Saatchi & Saatchi from 1997, during which the Delta Air Lines built a live billboard on Times Square in New York. The billboard was a part of the Concorde airplane, including living passengers and staff. This realization was a favorite topic of American media for some time. It is in human nature to be interested in watching other people. Another example would be from the Red Square in Moscow, where there used to be an apartment in which six people lived – passersby could watch them continually through a one-way mirror.

A research conducted in association with Millward Brown from 2009 points at the significance of the new propagation form and unconventional approaches. The new prediction of the Millward Brown company from 2018 especially mentions inclusion of the newest digital and technological elements into marketing, for example the voice-controlled marketing or storytelling via personalized identification, geolocation and passive measuring.

Despite all the positives of ambient marketing, it will never supersede the standard tools of propagation communication. For various reasons, not all subjects will want to utilize ambient advertisement communication. The non-standard communication activities cannot be realized without considering the reality, thus without having a thorough understanding of the target group.

Ambient can also have another future. Many ideas connected to understanding of ambient marketing actually do not prove useful. It is possible to discover that an ambient marketing conception was so original and innovative that it cannot be used again, thus becoming absolutely unique. Another situation that might occur is that a campaign for product X will never be compatible with campaigns for product Y, even if they are from the same market segment.

Differences can be caused by little variations: a symbol, a gesture or the unique play outs of association. When these things happen, ambient itself comes the full circle, effectively strengthening the original source of traditional techniques
and tools of advertisement.

Ambient marketing can be an ideal occasional answer to the gaps of classical marketing tools with an actual inclusion of the newest technologies and communication channels. As it has become clear, effects of the ambient are best visible in symbiosis with the standard advertisement tools. K Wehleit^[6] suggests the same.

In Germany, in cooperation with the German Ambient Media Association, the Media e. V, and in cooperation with a producer of the premium foods segment, an experimental research was realized. On hand, classical media were used, but in some parts of Germany, non-standard forms of marketing added to the mix – for example free-postcards, indoors marketing and street furniture^[7], that Walheit did not concretize in their report. Data gathered from 2003 Germany show that connecting ambient media with the standard tools of communication reached a higher following for the campaign – 52% of respondents stated they have seen the marketing campaign in areas where the classical approach was combined with the ambient forms. On the contrary, only 18% respondents stated they have seen the campaign in areas, where only the classical marketing tools were used. Unconventional advertisement also reached better rankings for the product and the subject itself (it was liked better).

We are able to conclude that during promotion of a subject, it is optimal to connect various forms of promotion. Ambient marketing has become one of the most important forms of unconventional and alternative forms of advertisement. The result of inclusion of ambient media in traditional communication is the growth of awareness about the campaign itself, but ambient media also serve as strategic tools in time of marketing communication.

^[1]      PQ Media LLC. Available at: <http://www.pqmedia.com/execsummary/DOOH09-Executive-Summary.pdf>
^[2]      Marketing Charts. Available at: <http://www.marketingcharts.com/traditional/alternative-out-of-home-media-spending-soars-27-301/>
^[3]      PARIKH, D. (2017) Available at: <https://www.allaboutoutdoor.com/special-feature-detail.php?category=1&mid=110>
^[4]      New IFTF Report Forecasts a World of Ambient Communications (2017). Available at: <http://www.iftf.org/future-now/article-detail/new-institute-for-the-future-report-forecasts-a-world-of-ambient-communications/>
^[5]      LUGMAYR, A., SERRAL, E., SCHERP, A., MUSTAQUIM, M. (2013) Ambient media today and tomorrow.
^[6]       WEHLEIT, K. (2003).Ambient Media: the Key to Target Group Communication. Available at: <http://www.docshut.com/kmyqvi/ambient-media-the-key-to-target-group-communication.html>
^[7]       Street furniture is a summary term for all objects installed in the streets and on roads – benches, blocking columns, mailboxes, telephone booths, lamps, traffic lights and signs, transit stops, fountains, statues… All of these offer a potentially interesting placement for marketing communiqués.

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?

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.

In its essence, guerilla marketing builds on the unconventional for propagation of products, services and ideas, and as such still considered a non-standard form, despite the fact that many companies and organizations have begun using related marketing techniques. Time offset between individual projects and realizations might cause a loss of the surprising element, making the realizations seem standard and usual in their communication forms. The condition for low-cost realizations remains. Guerilla marketing uses atypical techniques, for example pretended vandalism in graffiti and writing on walls and sidewalks. It also uses original, unusually-looking posters (and/or overcharges their quantity in the so-called wild posting approach), but can also use small stickers with pictures or logos (or even just QR codes), to be placed in mass transit vehicles (subways, trains, buses…) or in entrances to buildings, on traffic signs, at crosswalks, and/or at other places typical for being crowded by a high number of potential recipients. It is a form of propagation that cannot be avoided even by the strongest opponent of advertisement. According to M. Szyszka^[1], this form of advertisement could reach anyone anywhere, but, naturally, with a regard to the selected target group.

Most often, this approach is used for social issues^[2], but also for cultural institutions^[3], as they are typical  for their low financial costs, which is a desirable trait for many smaller institutions and organizations. At the same time, this approach to marketing does not insist on a high number of people included in its preparation.

Guerilla marketing is used to promote (or stigmatize) specific figures and life-styles. For this reason, it has been especially efficient for mediating specific attitudes or life-styles, and products connected to them, to people that could be considered resistant towards traditional forms of marketing – for example the youth.

The most spectacular realizations of guerilla marketing connect marketing activities in the offline world with the online world. In the real world, it is most commonly portrayed as street art or as an intervention, aimed at changing elements in the public spaces, making them an atypical form of advertisement and propagation. One of the noteworthy artistic examples of this initiative would be by a diverse-artistic group named Ztohoven, who besides other types of art realizes media objects, performances and advertisements. Some of the group’s activities have traits typical for the köpenickiade.^[4] In 2012, the group published actual telephone numbers of the Czech parliament’s representatives, senators, members of the executives and of the president at-the-time, Václav Klaus. Another one of their medially significant activities was an activity, during which their removed the Czech presidential banner from the Prague Castle, replacing it with a piece of over-sized male underwear (male underwear).

From the marketing communication field, the campaign produced by the IKEA company could serve as an example. The company temporarily changed a bus stop, making it resemble a cozy homey room with a bed, curtains, and armchairs (installation at the Paris’ subway system). More couches placed at various locations of the Paris’ subway system, imitation of a restaurant grill, where visitors could order coffee and a breakfast menu ( Caribou Coffee), or the interactive installation of audio-emitting elements (Interactive installation, Volkswagen) are only a few examples of the modern marketing approaches, that at one hand capture the attention by their innovative form and actively include the bystanders, but on the other hand, influences the recipients without their approval or knowledge even.

As was mentioned before, this form of marketing is often used for propagation of various social actions, for example before elections (the astroturfing marketing approach being one of the possible forms), various events underlining issues of health and healthy life-styles, environmental threats or issues with social injustice.

As guerilla marketing relies on original and creative tools^[5], it captures attention even for the price of crossing controversies – approach labeled as the shockvertising marketing approach. The term shockvertising comes from a combination of the shock and advertisement words. It is a form of advertisement that uses topics that could be generally considered risky, shocking, inducing mixed feelings. The aim of this form is to redirect attention towards a product, usually as a part of short-term strategy. This approach is usually thematically connected with sex, pornography, violence, disgust, fear, and the option to cross over the line of what we generally consider to be in good taste. This form of advertisement is strong for its ability to upset, attract and shock.

The main task of a shocking advertisement is to disable the possibility for a viewer’s indifference through provocation and scandal. It is a short-term, but highly intense approach, even though it does not form a standard awareness about the product (its parameters, traits, uses…). The risk of this type of advertisement lies in its capacity to cross the line and potentially damage the reputation of the brand. What is provocative for some, may be inventive and attractive to others. At the same time, the primary objective of these unusual approaches is never to offend the viewer. By trying to appeal to viewers’ sense of humor, to attack sexual, religious or moral taboos, and by other approaches, the realizers of such advertisement risk offending some of the viewers, dissuading them from taking interest in the campaigns in the future. For most cases, the risks are included in the initial costs.

Creating a scandal is an effective way to gain publicity for a relatively low cost. Sometimes, only a few posters manage to get the results. If newspapers label the campaign scandalous and the campaign faces a sort of backlash from the public, a strong value in the publicity is earned for almost no costs. For comparison, a spot in a television broadcast would cost significantly more, if it was to gain similar attention. Advertisement specialists try to capture attention no matter what, but the results of their efforts wary tremendously as the audience is bombarded with standard phrases and unconventional ideas. The worst case scenario for an advertisement is when it leaves a viewer indifferent^[6].

In Barcelona, a group of activists once packaged themselves to look like meat produce available at grocery stores, labeling their own packages as human meat ( Spanish group of activists called the AnimaNaturalis posing in meat packages, Barcelona). A similar example was set by Amnesty International, which put an activist in a transparent traveling suitcase to raise awareness about the human trafficking issue (Amnesty International, the Munich airport). This shockvertising approach uses explicit imagery in public spaces to force a discussion about complicated social and ethical issues, for example the human rights, the animal rights, and many more.

For its inherent characteristics, guerilla marketing is often used in political marketing and can be used as an element of a wider marketing strategy. Among the commonly used elements of the guerilla marketing approach in political marketing, there are for example the approaches of word-of-mouth marketing, viral marketing, and ambient marketing. These elements are used to finalize the contours of wider campaigns. During the American presidential campaign in 2008
(Obama vs. McCain), imitations of dogs’ droppings were found on sidewalks to establish the connotation with McCains’ views on economic policies (McCain – Economic Policy).

If a guerilla campaign contains an element of civic engagement, its effectiveness increases. Elements of civic engagement and participation of recipients can be illustrated by the example of the political campaign before the American presidential election in 2012, during which a recipient could display their opinion by sticking their chewing gum onto a poster (US presidential election poster, 2012). Another strong visual example was set by the Amnesty International organization, who underlined the problem with the limited freedom of speech in Belarus as a result of dictatorship of the Belarusian president Lukashenko (Freedom of speech in Belarus).

^[1]     SZYSZKA, M. (2013). Kształtowanie wizerunku instytucji pomocy spolecznej w mediach.
^[2]     In a German cinema in Düsseldorf, there was an effort to offer mediated experiences about homeless people. The air-conditioning in the cinema was at 8°C to stimulate temperature on the streets, while a documentary about the homeless and their lives on the streets was playing. The viewers received blankets with QR codes on them, which served as gateways to donation websites, in order to address the issue. See more at: <http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/guerrilla-marketing/fiftyfiftys-frozen-cinema-simulates-being-homeless-in-guerrilla-campaign/>
^[3]      WALOTEK-ŚCIAŃSKA, K. (2015). Teatry publiczne w województwie śląskim a social media.
^[4]      The originally German term Köpenickiade was first used to label a scandal surrounding a fake military captain from the town of Köpenick.  The objective of the köpenickiade is to use satire against bureaucrats and elites. It usually aims to raise awareness about a certain social issue.
^[5]     FICHNOVÁ, K. (2013). Psychology of Creativity for Marketing Communication.
^[6] On of the best-known advertisers from this area is Olivero Toscani, who published his controversial advertisements in propagation of the Benetton brand from 1982 to 2000. Most of his campaigns were institutional – based on controversial photos that only contained Bennetton’s logo. For example, the United Colors of Benetton. One of the best-known campaigns included a photo by Therese Frafe, in which there was a dying man lying in bed, surrounded by his mourning family. The controversy was set around the photo’s semblance to pictures of piety. On other posters, there were references to racism, war, religion or even capital punishment.