Ambient media chasing its tail

Far from growing exponentially as predicted (So good you don’t notice it, MW July 25), ambient media will increasingly become perceived as intrusive, or even wasteful, spam unless it is designed to fit into consumer lifestyles and add value to them.

There are some great examples of this being done, but increasingly such media executions will only be engaged in if they deliver some value in addition to the “sell”.

From our consumer research into this area, it appears that the ambient media industry has created its own vicious circle. The more “unusual” or “salient” the executions are, the harder subsequent executions have to work to achieve cut-through. Consumers, in particular the young, have started to demand that brands deliver ever more exciting ideas. This is costly in terms of development time and money, without necessarily providing understanding or the ability to measure the positive and negative impacts on the brand of such advertising.

Nick Jankel-Elliott

Director of strategy and planning

Happy Dog Group

London NW1