Ambient Media Dissertation

Ambient Media: A Study of Brand Class Suitability and the effect of Environment on Ambient Media Credibility

Charlie Philip Marples MAR07070172 BA (Hons) Advertising & Marketing The University of Lincoln Tutor: Alison Cheeseman March 24th 2011 Word Count: 11,178

Ambient Media: A Study of Brand Class Suitability and the effect of Environment on Ambient Media Credibility

Charlie Philip Marples

1|Page

Acknowledgments Firstly I would like to thank my tutor Alison Cheeseman for helping and encouraging me through the last three years, particularly these last few months. Thank you for always encouraging my creativity.

Secondly my two best friends Junior and Kylie who were always there to help me through these last few years when I started stressing out about my work, thanks for always keeping my head from exploding.

Lastly and most importantly I’d like to thank My Mum, Dad and Little Sister for always being my core support and helping whenever and wherever I needed it, I wouldn’t have made it to my Dissertation Submission without you three.

2|Page

Abstract This study’s aims were to investigate the concept of Ambient Media’s suitability to certain brand types and how the environment in which the Ambient Campaigns were placed had an effect on consumer perception of the brand advertised.

This was done via analysis of secondary sources in order to gain a perspective to how ambient media was perceived comparative to traditional media channels.

Primary research via the means of focus groups and questionnaires where then carried out to try to distinguish a brand type suitability alongside environmental effects on brand perception.

The findings of the study show that Ambient Media has suitability to intangible brand classes, over tangible, including classes such as Services and Events.

Environment was found to have an effect on brand perception via the means of value transference, with consumers showing more positive perceptions to campaigns in retail and leisure environments.

The cumulative conclusive results show that in order to maintain media channel credibility; Ambient Media is highly dependent on successful and strategic Media Planning activity, Targeting and Experiential management.

3|Page

Contents

1. Introduction

5

2. Literature Review

6-31

3. Methodologies

31- 35

4. Findings and Analysis

36 - 48

5. Conclusions

48 - 52

6. References

53 - 57

7. Bibliography

58 - 59

8. Appendices

4|Page

8.1 Appendix 1

60 - 63

8.2 Appendix 2

64 - 73

8.3 Appendix 3

74 - 79

8.4 Appendix 4

80

8.5 Appendix 5

81 - 83

8.6 Appendix 6 (EA2)

84 - 89

1. Introduction Ambient media has been a concept for just over a decade, regularly confused with both guerrilla advertising and experiential marketing. It is mostly recognised for its non- traditional format and experiential elements.

However relative to traditional media the concept is infantile and is yet to be concisely defined.

It is within this study that definition and investigation will take place in a hope to clarify and explore the ambiguous concept of Ambient Media

5|Page

2. Literature Review Ambient media became official media jargon in 1999, and over the past decade has still not been concretely defined, due to its vast similarities with outdoor media and guerrilla advertising. It is this cloudiness of judgement that has inevitably led to development and evolution of ambient media as a stand alone field. Fishwick (2007) summarises this in: “Ambient (Media) has evolved, and that has been led by the creative process.

It has undergone significant sustainable growth over this period”.

Fishwick’s statement suggests that the defining of ambient media to differentiate from guerrilla and outdoor, is the focus on innovation and creativity of the medium.

Green (2006) builds on Fishwick’s idea of sustainable growth. He states that ambient media is way too broad and diverse to simply be defined as a standalone umbrella term and it’s important to recognise its varied subdivisions, as each are of varying style and applicability. Greens indications are shown in the classifications given by the annual Concord Report (1998) see overleaf.

6|Page

Environment Retail

Location Shopping centres, car

Vehicle Trolleys, tickets, take

parks and fast food

away packaging, carrier

restaurants Cinemas, stadiums,

bags and floors.

Beer mats, wall and

pubs, clubs, gyms

floor washrooms,

Trains, trams, buses,

postcards Lorries, coaches,

cars, airports and

buses, cars, car park

transport stations

barriers and petrol

Aerial and mobile

pumps Balloons, sky writing,

media, educational

posters, video screens,

Community

institutions and libraries Playgrounds,

bookmarks and bins Sponsorship

0.3

Corporate

emergency services Council offices and

Payroll advertising

0.2

Leisure

Travel

Other

1998 Value (m) 24.4

14.6

9.0

9.5

company buildings

An example of this is Swiss International Airlines, who carried out a marketing campaign using cars decorated in snow and Swiss flags:

Although they used ambient media, they specifically, and sensibly, due to the function of the brand, used travel. This kind of information would have to have

7|Page

been specified in the creative brief for the campaign. Illustrating the enormity of the umbrella term ‘ambient media’.

Although this method of classification presented by Concord is direct and simple to understand, earlier theorists such as Lovelock (1983) suggest a more sophisticated approach is necessary with the need to categorise according to marketing characteristics. Shankar and Horton (1999) developed a classification matrix relating marketing objectives to proximity to point of sale, illustrating Lovelock’s theory, shown below: Objectives Strategic

Tactical

High Prox.

Toilet walls e.g. In pubs and

Low Prox.

Stunt ambient media for

restaurants for drink driving

publicity, airline banners,

campaigns Petrol pumps, toilet walls, in

skywriting, aeroplanes, station

store flooring, tickets, till rolls,

platforms, tickets, till rolls and betting slips.

credit card vouchers and shopping trolleys

However with Shankar and Horton’s matrix it is important to remember the importance of context. For example, they place toilet walls in pubs as high proximity for certain campaigns. This Spiderman example:

8|Page

Also in a pub toilet is far from the point of purchase i.e. a cinema, yet is still classed as effective. Showing there will always be outliers to any definition given.

Supportive of outliers to Shankar and Horton’s theory, Hans, Trijp et al (1996), say although proximity is influential, brand strategy has a higher influence on placement particularly in this Spiderman example where value salience is a key strategic objective.

Hans, Trijp et al (1996), state that salience objectives are split into four sections reliant on loyalty levels, as shown in their table below.

For example, in the context of a loyalty to the Spiderman brand/culture, the “Light Variety Seeking” would come into play as the salient attribute of the climbing ability of spider man is illustrated and evoked as a comical advantage in a bathroom setting been able to use the toilet in awkward and unusual places.

It is due to ambient media’s relative infancy that concrete definitions are not yet set. However from the definitions given above, it is evident that ambient media is widely differentiated and unique from traditional media channels.

According to Evans et al. (1996) traditional media are declining in effectiveness due to:

9|Page

“Fragmentation of markets, lack of accountability, increasing traditional media costs, diminishing and fragmenting audiences and increasing advertising clutter”.

This could be partially due to slack media planning, however Shankar and Horton (1999) also point out that there are becoming less and less places in which media can be planned, due to media fragmentation. An example of this is online TV on demand services e.g. 4oD and BBC iPlayer.

New TV viewing mediums such as 4oD have reduced advertising schedules in on demand programming breaks, with some programmes only showing 1 minute of advertisements within a 30 minute programme, a reduction of advertising air time by 5 minutes per half hour (based on 2x 3 minute advertisement breaks).Sky+, (the feature by sky allowing you to pre record programmes straight from your television to your sky box), are also making use of advertisement deference by allowing viewers to fast forward through advertising breaks within pre recorded programming, reducing, even further, audience exposure.

However Shannon and Weaver (1949), through their communication model would argue that the method of deference is nothing that hasn’t happened since advertising was first broadcast, only recently the deference was made more prevalent through technological methods. Deference methods, through something as simple as overriding the advertisement with conversation, classified by Shannon and Weaver as “Noise” have always been present but not recognised as much as an actual method of conscious deference as they are passed off by most consumers as everyday tasks, still an effective method of deference, but simply a more passive method than technological deference. The Shannon and Weaver Model (1949) can be seen overleaf:

10 | P a g e

Ambient media is also guilty, but of channel proliferation. However Brendan Cook of Network Outdoor (2007) sees this adversely to the affects seen on traditional media, stating: “15 years ago when we were proposing ambient advertising and stunts to advertising agencies they would say “Why would we do that?”

Today companies are planning the best way to connect to consumer’s out-ofhome in a whole range of ways.”

On the other hand Greg Authurton, Marketing Manager Nintendo (2007) states that the proliferation of ambient media has broke the clear line between experiential marketing and ambient media, due to rapidity of proliferation. He states the key definer lays in that: “Experiential goes a step further and actually interacts with the consumerengaging them directly.”

This problem found by potentially over-excessive proliferation can be illustrated in a 2005 Nike iD campaign from New York:

11 | P a g e

This involved several interactive billboards, showing customizable Nike footwear, which was customized by customers wirelessly linking to the billboards via text messaging and customizing the shoe via their phone keypad. Afterwards their creation would be forwarded via MMS. Authurton would argue this is an experiential marketing campaign. However in relation to the Concord classification model mentioned previously, this campaign could easily fall into the “other” category or “corporate” due it been displayed on corporate architecture.

Ehrenberg however would argue that the experiential element within this advertisement should not be perceived as a negative value, simply on the means of concise classification. He states “Most brands are not differentiated in physical terms” and it is the building of brand relationships that secure differentiation in consumer repertoires, this can be done via experiencing the product, found in Ehrenberg’s “Weak Theory of Advertising”, (ATRN), Under ‘T’ for trial. The interactive element of the Nike advertisement brings in 12 | P a g e

product trialling in tandem with advertisement consumption, which makes it worthy of appraisal not critique.

Shankar (2000) blames this suggested over proliferation for demand vs. supply problems globally within ambient media. Due to ambient media still been in its infancy and demand continuously increasing due to increasing credibility and corporate curiosity of the media channel, demand is becoming excessive. As of 1999, there were only 200 global agency’s producing ambient media campaigns, each with a specialism e.g. Petrol pumps or shopping trolleys. Meaning if companies wanted their campaign across several ambient vehicles, they would be back and forth, possibly internationally in order to achieve it. Ehrenberg (1997) states that the only way to secure brand salience via ambient media is by an integrated communications mix and “ambient media has the ability to do this par excellence.”

In accordance with Shankar and Ehrenberg it would seem, as each agency has a specific specialism, but work best in an integrated mix, the best way forward for the credibility of ambient media would be to make the most of been a highly proliferated channel and lend itself to creating highly adaptable and widely applicable integrated marketing communication strategies. Tactics of which are unachievable by traditional media channels due to fragmentation ironically reducing channel adaptability (White 2004).

As stated by Ehrenberg, ambient media works best as part of an integrated campaign, also known as IMC (integrated marketing communications). Penn (2006) builds on Ehrenberg by stating: “All media perform the same role, of trying to reach the right consumers when they are in a receptive state of mind.”

13 | P a g e

Green (2006) believes ambient media is a “convenient way of grouping together varied media channels in order to differentiate and distinguish.”

An example of the success of integrated ambient media can be seen in Burger Kings: Chicken Fight campaign (2004):

This integrated strategy was released to promote the simultaneous release of the tender crisp chicken and the spicy tender crisp chicken. With the tagline “Have it your way”, where voters would view a fight online between the spicy chicken and the Tender crisp chicken, voting in their millions for a winner. This is backed up by the “subservient chicken” via interactive advertising where the consumer directs a subservient chicken on webcam, supporting the “have it your way” tagline. The ambient aspect is the subservient chicken (human in costume) walking around in los Angele’s streets, handing out posters of the chicken fight asking customers to vote to “have it their way”. This mix of various channels plays on the positives of each to achieve positive reinforcement of the tagline through diverse methods and targeting strategies.

White (1999) would state however, that Penn and Green seem to treat receptiveness as if it was in vacuum, ignoring the role that habit and 14 | P a g e

consumer repertoires play in hindering short term brand switching, especially in a market such as fast food with Burger king. White states: “In many FMCG markets brand choice is a barely conscious process… brands are liable to be bought on the basis of habits, just as much as the basis of rational comparison”. Meaning receptiveness to such a campaign as Burger king’s subservient Chicken with a short term promotional scheduling would not have a high effect on differentiation, as becoming an established brand in a repertoire means becoming part of “the target audience’s mental furniture”, which is a long term process.

As previously stated the key catalyst in the successive growth of ambient media is the building of credibility and accountability of the channel, when integrated, it is harder to measure the credibility of the channel due to that success credibility is shared amongst several channels. Arnold (2003) states: “The real challenge will be to make it more accountable and discouraging marketers from taking it too far.”

Reid (2007) illustrates this effect of accountability vs. excessiveness In: “Once you push things beyond saturation point, all messages begin to lose their edge- and one advertiser’s ambient advertising is another’s pollution of the environment” This illustrates the dilemma present within integrating ambient media with traditional channels. Due to ambient media still been in its infancy it is tempting for agencies to over use and exhaust ambient in order to come across as contemporary and up to date. As if the channel is exhausted, it will have significantly reduced effectiveness as its originality and quirky appeal will be lost. Dave McEvoy (2007) concludes this perfectly in: “We’ve moved beyond the notion of the public relations stunt and it’s almost the opposite now- everything has to be done as part of an integrated 15 | P a g e

communications mix with people looking for more tangible results than ever before. That is a good thing. True customer engagement has longevity- one trick ponies don’t.”

Keisner (2009) states: “More brands are turning to ambient media as it allows them to hone their focus; they have less money to work with so the money has to work harder.”

This statement proves that within recent economic climates, it is essential targeting is effective to increase profits and reduce losses, a channel characteristic in which ambient media is seen as favourable with many companies.

Adey (2008) believes that ambient media has three main targeting methods: Timing, The mindset of the consumer on retrieval of the advertising message and the importance of the environment reflecting the brand message.

A good example of Adey’s theory of timing can be seen with petrol pump advertising:

16 | P a g e

Over 80% of the UK adult population drive, so it would have mass exposure, seen as it is non gender/demographic specific, and the double entendre of the “fill me up” tagline would also intrigue and attract consumers through the use of humour, due to the timing of the exposure. Adey believes this specific time of exposure is most successful when a consumer’s attention is grabbed during the process of another task, in this case, buying petrol for their car.

Consumer mind-set can vary greatly between various demographics at different times, meaning intentional exposure can only be based on generalisations and stereotypes. However this proved a success in heightening the awareness of safe sex and STI’s in the “Condom Lollypop” campaign, below:

This campaign was targeted at young adults outside busy clubs and bars in University cities, when there perceived mindset of the consumer would be one of promiscuity and sex, giving a perfect opportunity for such a campaign to be synchronised in release. As the consumers mind was on the subject of sex, the message of the condom promotion would be perceived to be processed on a deeper level and taken on board to a wider segment of the targeted audience.

17 | P a g e

Environment applicability is seen by Adey to improve cost efficiency as it is a free medium of brand message reinforcement. This is illustrated in the “Zebra crossing campaign”:

The message of raising awareness of traffic related deaths via an adapted zebra stripe, resembling a coffin is only effective due it to been in the environment in which traffic is present i.e., a pedestrian crossing. If it was placed anywhere else the message consistency and potency would be reduced and fewer consumers would be drawn in, as it doesn’t fit or support the environment in which it is placed.

However Adey’s theory of ambient targeting cannot be seen in its entirety as an equally balanced theory. Philips and Bradshaw (1993) believe targeting models are too “theoretically cognitively biased, with a need for a more synthesised behavioural perspective”. There needs to be a more intense focus on the behavioural interaction between the specific consumer and the media, this has led to Philips and Bradshaw’s idea of an Interactive Behaviour Model, seeing consumers as:

“Being in a continuous state of interaction with their environment. (A significant element of this is the interaction between the pre-disposition to purchase and the point of purchase.)”

18 | P a g e

Meaning that ambient media can lie anywhere between the pre-disposition and product selection, it is the selection of the media placement’s effect on consumer behaviour on which campaign success lies.

Wehleit (2003) supports Philip and Bradshaw further stating how “The message entertains the target group rather than disturbing other spare time activities, like a TV commercial” Illustrating ambient media’s targeting effectiveness comparatively as well as a standalone medium.

Ducoffe and Curlo (2000) theorise: “To succeed in this age of selective and empowered consumers, many would argue that one must create marketing that possesses value “in and of itself”.

Doyle (2000) supports Ducoffe and Curlo, stating that this new age of empowered customers is supported by advertisers putting Shareholder Value first in order to “build long term relationships with customers, based on satisfying their needs been at the forefront of strategy”. This method of shareholder value analysis creating long-term internal and external value for consumers is summarised in: “Value creation is much more to do with the firm’s effectiveness in developing marketing assets. Investors assess strategies on their ability to create shareholder value so the company’s share price reflects investor’s evaluations of whether the current strategy of management will create value in the future” Dahlén (2005) considers this value is created through ambient media via “publicity seeking logic” to generate attention and entertain the audience, reaffirming brand values. Red bull employ this publicity seeking tactic using heavily branded and modified mini coopers to drive around city centre areas to generate brand awareness:

19 | P a g e

In this saturated area of purchase opportunity, brand awareness can lead to product selection in a minimal time space, reducing the invasion of competing messages, potentially leading to expanded beverage choice.

However Edenius (2007) opposes Dahlén’s “publicity seeking logic” stating that the use of ambient media is more complex than “Generating liking because of its novel form”. Edenius follows that brand value salience can be enhanced through the tangible and highly visual elements of ambient media, which cannot be achieved through traditional mediums. This is shown in an ambient campaign by Smart:

20 | P a g e

Due to the adaptability of the ambient channel the salience of the brand value of size is increased due to liking of smart cars to a cycle, via the use of oversized cycle lock to secure the vehicle to a lamppost. Although this is clearly illustrating the brand value in a concise and direct manner, theorists such as Toncar and Munch (2001) believe the increased brand salience is only due to “rhetorical figuring”, which does not necessarily mean the campaign execution is outstandingly genius, but it is merely the entertainment value that enhances consumer perceived value due to a high emotive involvement.

Aaker, Fouriner and Brasel (2004) build on the idea of rhetorical figuring, believing that certain values within a brands communication strategy have to be secured as favourable in order to create a sincere and secure relationship with consumers, they state that “should the brand break with them it is highly likely that consumers will break from their relationship with the brand”. This has lead to the development of a Value vs. Relationship table format, shown below.

Values Innovative Team working Caring Fun

Resulting Relationship Trustworthy, Confidence Co-operative, Open Friendly, Altruistic Informal, Socially Orientated

Based on the analysis of previously covered literature it is evident ambient media falls into two of the value classes: Innovation and Fun. The former illustrates the applicability of ambient to securing trust within the brand and securing credibility, whereas the latter suggests an approach more likened to that of Dahlén’s “publicity seeking”. Evidentially showing a quite oxymoronic, polarized choice of applicability.

This perceived oxymoronic applicability can be described by De Chernatony, Drury and Segal-Horn (2004) as not oxymoronic, but simply dynamic. They 21 | P a g e

suggest: “They (Brands) have to evolve to reflect the changing demands of customers as they gain more experience, as well as continually maintaining a position of strength against ever changing competition.” Aaker, Fouriner and Brasel’s illustration of values is seen as too one dimensional and it is important to differentiate between a brands core values and peripheral values, it is only peripheral values that transgress with the evolution of consumer demands, whereas core values remain fixed. It is the core values in which Aaker, Fouriner and Brasel refer to when illustrating the determining state of core value consistency and the longevity of brand-consumer relationships.

Kunde (2000) states that as longevity increases through brand adaption and improvisation, so should the media channel of choice, to become “more stronger and relevant to customer, so the brand becomes more involving”. He states that this increased relevance and involvement can be found in ambient channels. Where the aspiration of a brands advertising should be the evolvement of a “brand religion”, shown below in Kunde’s “Brand Religion Model (2000):

The red star situated on the graph illustrates at which stage Kunde believes ambient media is most effective, when a brand culture is established, but not yet a brand religion. He believes the innovative and credibility building aspects of the ambient channel lend themselves to securing brand religion.

22 | P a g e

This journey from Product to religion, via the use of ambient media, is illustrated by Levi Jeans:

The brand has already secured a strong brand culture; with iconic traditional media campaign such as the “Laundrette” TV campaign. However the need to adapt led to a dynamic approach to accommodate evolving consumer perceptions and demands. This was done via the “Denim monster” ambient campaign, where a four legged ‘monster’ prowled streets in New York. The monster was not heavily branded, which shows an evidence of an existing brand culture, where consumers could recognise a campaign of Levi’s purely through a consistent style and brand image.

Jobber (2007) critiques Kunde’s model saying that advertising, such as the above is not the sole vehicle securing a “Brand Religion”, but it is down to a long term corporate ethos of CRM (Customer Relationship Management), of which new ambient campaigns such as the Denim monster are simply contemporary extensions of in order to keep up with social trends. In order to get to this point Levi’s CRM must have begun at “Understanding the value, attitudes and behaviour of various consumers and prospects. Only once this has been achieved customers and prospects can be segmented so that planning activity is effective as possible”. The Levi 501 is simply one of these many segments that have led to Levi’s creating such a successful brand image.

23 | P a g e

This rejuvenated image through the new adapted campaign is said by Cooper and Simmons (1997) to establish Levis as an “Entrepreneurial revolutionary” by “changing the equilibrium of values that hitherto have been regarded as important. Creating fresh motivations in the consumer agenda based on the premise that consumers have, or can be changed.” Yeshin (2006) builds on Cooper and Simmons, stating that this entrepreneurial revolutionary style has led to a contemporary “brand street cred”, which has to lead to brand religions such as the cult Levi 501 following among various European and American youth subcultures.

Pillot De Chenecey (2001) contests Cooper and Simmons stating that such saturated brands inevitably through over exposure lead to “culture jamming” , where over over-exposure lead to an anti brand religion, increasing “consumer cynicism”. Where consumers feel the pushy nature of over saturation with major brands like Levis, or previously mentioned brands like Burger King and Nike illustrates a feeling of insincerity, and evokes a feeling that brands are employing “strategic consumer philanthropy”. Pillot De Chenecey opposes De Chernatony, Drury and Segal-Horn believing this abolishes brand - consumer relationships rather than strengthens them.

Krautsack (2007) proposes that ambient media has three key roles within advertising, on which the brand-consumer relationship can be further reinforced: •

Art convergence

•

Consumer closeness

•

The rise of brand tangibility

Krautsack states: “Art and advertising have been two fields strongly converging platforms, content and meaning. While art has borrowed lifestyle topics from advertising, the communications industry adopts artful ideas that were originally created only to raise discussion and to please the eye and mind of the beholder.”

24 | P a g e

Within advertising it is ambient media’s role to increase the extent of this two way information exchange. Krautsack suggests this artistic style adopted by ambient media is effective due to its mirroring in the rise of a metropolitan culture in the UK, since the early millennium. It is the appreciation of the advertising channel as an art form that discourages “consumer frustration of high clutter, and consequently their resistance to any form of advertising”.

With “The objective being to raise impact and likeability for public space advertising coinciding with the need for better content”.

The benefits of the use of art convergence can be seen in the “Ice Polo” campaign for Volkswagen (2004):

The campaign involved the creation of a full sized model of a Volkswagen polo made entirely of a nine tonne block of ice, using the art discipline of ice carving. It was used to promote free summer air conditioning for Polo owners.

Although the car only survived for twelve hours it created such an impact, that it lead to four weeks of press coverage of the campaign. Creative director, Jeremy Craigen credited all success not to the communications or theoretical strength of the campaign, but the outstanding “aesthetic and artistic quality” of the campaign.

25 | P a g e

From a semiotics perspective this “aesthetic and artistic quality” is further credited by Jakobson (1966) stating that iconographic metaphors such as using ice to symbolise the qualities of air conditioning create a “Visually Onomatopoeic Quality” to further the salience of the brand value advertised.

However theorists such as Leopold (2000) would oppose Krautsack and Craigen, and Jakobson, believing new artistic mediums do not work as stand alone on building brands, but simply provide something nice to look at, if they are not integrated with traditional methods they are “simply dumb, inefficient marketing. The most effective way to reach young markets is not by building new mousetraps, it’s about enhancing existing mousetraps”.

The idea of brand building is highly dependent on consumer closeness and the establishment and building of deep-seated consumer relationships.

Krautsack depicts this in the questions “Is it unique experiences that will excite? Are we participating rather than consuming?” It is this experiential aspect that ambient media brings which can lend itself to building ever more solid relationships, that traditional media simply isn’t capable of.

Wehleit (2003) summarises this perfectly in “Presenting commercial messages in the right place at the right time has opened doors for a new level of involvement of the target group, replacing the classic means of one way communication.”

Neisser (2005) demonstrates below the critical aspect of the experience and integration with the ambient campaign.

“To be part of a lifestyle, brands need to start spending more time with their current consumers and less time with their prospects. It may not boost next month’s sales, but the opportunity of having a core group of brand crusaders is too powerful a tool to ignore”

26 | P a g e

An example of this is the Apple I-pod, moving from a product, to paraphrase Neisser, to a “Social movement”. An example of this was achieved via ambient media:

The media is integrated into their everyday lifestyle such as a work commute, subconsciously strengthening relationships between consumer and brand, through pulsing exposure. The brand has clear brand values and identity, which becomes a social movement by integrating itself into the consumers identity rather than been a standalone product/brand identity.

Pillot De Chenecey (2001) provides another interesting critique, believing the evolution of social movements is not one of conscious free choice, but due to “brand bullying” a “disappearance of space and a lack of meaningful choice”.

Krautsack on the other hand believes this restriction of choice and brand bullying is non evident, and is just a cynic’s take on “the fascination of both experts and consumers... and the astonished faces and reactions of non traditional media strategies and ideas” (2007). Krautsack states this is due to the “increased levels of tangibility through technological development and adaptability.”

This is illustrated by interactive billboards, used by Samsung Mobile: 27 | P a g e

The user can test the features of the mobile phone via the features been implemented into a touch-screen billboard creating a product-consumer relationship from the very beginning, providing both brand knowledge alongside brand credibility and reassurance.

The concept of brand tangibility is theoretically strengthened by Ehrenberg’s “Weak theory advertising” model. Also known as the “ATRN” model, the model takes the consumer from brand awareness, through trial and reinforcement, to nudging. The former concept of the interactive billboard shows this quite plainly, with the billboard first catching attention and when approached and read, the awareness of the brand is raised, whereas the interactivity of the channel allows for a trial to reinforce the credibility of the product, reinforcing it as a prevalent product choice in the mind of the consumer. In this case, Samsung mobile handsets as a favoured product choice.

Kotler (1985) however highlights that Ehrenberg’s model only focuses on the Core and Augmented product, not the Actual Product. Meaning the

28 | P a g e

extensiveness to its applicability is lessened, as it ignores the consumers focus on how tangible elements also help in building brand value.

Crowe (2005) states that in a global scope, the undertaking of ambient campaigns is no longer a creative addition to a campaign or a way of securing brand salience, but is essential to maintaining a well respected image corporately as well as among consumers. He summarises this move from a desire to use ambient media to a need in: “In any mature market, the key players are focusing on qualitative factors such as creative thinking, strategic insight and innovation to provide their points of difference. Put simply, media agencies need to be creative to survive. Proving cheap media access is a low-margin hygiene factor, assumed by clients at the start of a presentation. Creative zest, as well as price, is now what clinches the business.”

Conclusively it is easy to see that relative to its infancy as a media channel Ambient media is not lacking in theoretical coverage. Having been analysed from a social point of view, to technological, branding and targeting it seems to have been analysed to a standard from which it can be confidently defined as a concrete and secure standing media channel. Horton (1999) validates this statement in “Ambient media should now be viewed as an integral part of the advertising and communications mix and merits its place within a marketing communications context”.

The main issue existent with marketing sceptics is clarified by Reid (2007) in “Its good for a laugh, but surely very little to do with the serious profession of advertising”. This evidences certain scepticism, if not suspicion of a new and rapidly increasing medium, still yet to prove its worth. However Moran (2001), satirically opposes this view: “It’s a sad day for capitalism when a man can’t fly a midget on a kite over Central Park”. Eagleton (2000) however squashes the sceptics with a logical view on the rise of ambient media, with reference to a “cultural landscape in a postmodern world”:

29 | P a g e

“Culture and social life are once again closely allied, but now in the shape of aesthetics of the commodity, the spectacularisation of politics, the consumerism of lifestyle, the centrality of image, and the final integration of culture into commodity production in general. The two senses of culture, the arts and common life, have now been conflated in style, fashion, advertising, media and the like”.

Is it that the emergence of ambient media was inevitable in accordance with the rise of consumerism, a heavy focus on aesthesis and the prevalence of materialism, or is Reid (2007) right when he states “clients will soon tire of the faddish and whimsical.”?

It is evident that certain aspects with ambient media have been theorised on a deeper level, and some aspects simply brushed over, showing a wholly incomprehensive analysis of the field as a whole. Through primary research it is these lesser covered factors that have the opportunity to be explored.

From a targeting perspective environment and message have been comprehensively covered by Adey, whereas the concept of demographic targeting by environmental placement is not as relatively comprehensive.

Through the means of primary research the aim would be to introduce the concept of demographic environmental preference and how this has an effective on emotive consumer involvement and psychological processing of the message of ambient campaigns.

Contradictions between theorists have raised the question of credibility of ambient media, and its affect on brand equity. This raises the question of possible brand group suitability i.e. Service Sector, Product ranges or Events.

Dempsey (2006) states “Ambient works extremely well when it brings brands to life, it can complement broader campaigns by encouraging consumers to interact with the brand”. However, is the complementary factor, suited to certain brand groupings or is it a blanket classification? Primary research can be used to theorise this relatively untouched idea of brand group suitability,

30 | P a g e

and reach conclusions on the suitability of ambient media use to specific brand contexts.

3. Methodologies As proposed in my conclusions from Secondary Research, the aims of the Primary Research tasks were to investigate two issues within the field of Ambient Media: 1. Is there a specific type of brand that is more suited to the use of Ambient Media?

2. Do particular demographic groups respond differently to ambient media when it is shown in specific environments more than others?

The two methods of research used were multiple choice and scale paper questionnaires and focus groups.

Quantitative questionnaires were chosen as a research method for the first investigative procedure as they allow the administrator of the research to “Examine and explain relationships between variables” (Saunders et al 2000).

Paper distribution methods were chosen as it “It is easy to control the study environment” and unlike online questionnaires do not incur a self-selected sample therefore do not incur problems such as “random representatives and a socio economic skew” (Riva, Teruzzi et al. 2003).

Other advantages of paper questionnaires are that the researcher is present at the time of administration therefore gaps in data are much less likely than in online administration where “Lack of forced answer options” effect “Quality of the data when respondents fail to fill in specific items as they work their way through the list of questions”.(Denscombe 2009). Although gaps in data do reduce representativeness of the results Proctor (2005) also highlights that

31 | P a g e

Social Desirability Effect of having a researcher present can have just as much of a detrimental effect.

Effort had to be made to secure an ethical approach to the choice of methodology; this was done in several ways. Firstly all responses were kept anonymous to protect participant identity, simply identifying responses by demographic classes such as gender. Refusal to withdrawal was also a choice given to all participants so they felt no pressure or force to participate on an indefinite level. Lastly, at the point of distribution contact details were provided to all participants if they felt any contact or necessary questions needed to be raised regarding the research, post participation.

The questionnaire consisted of 7 questions (5 multiple choice and 2 scales), however question 5 of 7 was split into 7 subcategories representing different brand types, with pictorial examples of campaigns (see appendix 1) Including sub categories the cumulative total of questions was 13, keeping the questionnaire as short as possible as, as Harris (1997) states “Response rates drop off after 10-15 questions and are directly and negatively correlated with Questionnaire length”, which meant when administered if the questionnaire looked too long, refusal to participate would have been heightened. The multiple choice and scale style of the questions helped minimise time needed to complete the questionnaire therefore reduced the number of participation refusals. The quantitative method also allowed for easy presentation of the findings via graphs and tables.

The area of distribution was in University buildings, mainly the Library, Main atrium and the Sports hall, as they have the most continuous and dense amount of foot traffic at all times of the day, meaning opportunity to attract a representative sample was higher. The fact administration of the questionnaire was carried out by the researcher meant, as much as possible, the sample was kept as representative in terms of gender and age and knowledge of the field. In order to avoid “Respondent Imposition” distribution was carried out after the hours of 4pm so as to avoid disrupting people between lectures and/or seminars. A sample size of 100 was aimed for, as 32 | P a g e

representativeness was of high importance due to a relatively small sample size.

In terms of questionnaire wording all technical jargon was kept to a minimum and any terminology that was necessary was accompanied by an explanation if needed. Also to avoid ambiguity with scale questions a key was provided ranging from 1-5.

In order to anticipate potential problems with the questionnaire a pilot study was carried out on 10 respondents. The only issue raised from the pilot study was the confusion regarding technical terms, which was rectified by providing explanations of any terminology that was necessary to use, as previously mentioned.

Focus groups were chosen as the method for the latter research question due to the need for in depth qualitative response, as the quality of the findings was highly dependent on a rich pool of differentiated data due to the subjective and personal elements related to individual experience. Bartunek & Seo (2002) summarise this in: “Qualitative methods help the researcher in comprehending a phenomenon that quantitative methods cannot provide”.

However there is a high reliance on the critical element of context when carrying out focus groups, raised by Jörgenson (2005) through the example of homographs and synonyms, for example, the world ‘play’ has many contextual references such as a theatrical play but also as in a child playing, it is absolutely critical the researcher is knowledgeable of the context in which the word was used to determine the reliability of the findings. Also subjective material selection plays a huge part in determining the outcome of the data gathered for example “If a text contains 1000 unique words, the researcher will need to focus on a list of somewhere between 25 and 50 keywords” (Schmidt 2009). It is this subjective interpretation of importance which could

33 | P a g e

skew data results. However the researcher was present at all Focus groups carried out, which minimised all of the above effects.

Ethically a high level of importance was focused on briefing and debriefing procedures, in order to provide a promise against deceptive practice, classified by Proctor (2005) as: “Where a researcher misrepresents the purpose of the research, its sponsorship, its promises of anonymity, and the amount of time required to participate in the research or inducement for participating in it.” All these issues raised by Proctor were tackled by the de/briefing slides seen in Appendix 2, Care was also taken to make sure all images of ambient media shown in the focus group were legal and decent to avoid participant trauma. As before with paper questionnaires, anonymity, withdrawal opportunity and methods of contact were also provided to all participants.

All Ethical issues for both Focus Groups and Questionnaires can be illustrated in an EA2 form (Appendix 6) which was passed and signed by relevant authoritative bodies.

The focus groups took place at the researcher’s home, aided by a PowerPoint presentation (see Appendix 2). The two focus groups were mixed gender in groups of 4, with focus group A consisting of respondents aged 16-25 and focus group B consisting of respondents aged 35-50+.

The focus groups were recorded via Dictaphone and written note taking. The data was arranged into a singular transcript including all 8 respondents, as each focus group answered an identical set of questions (Appendix 3) the transcripts are then presented in analysable forms via note taking of colloquial response and necessary tabulation of values. This allowed for comparable data analysis to be carried out efficiently and reliably.

In hindsight the methods used were both appropriate and well-chosen in the context of time restraints and material availability, such as strict submission deadlines and the access to a very large pool of participants all of very similar 34 | P a g e

age, which meant finding a representative sample was difficult. If anything could be changed within the research the possible benefit of online questionnaires could have been considered as in terms of “Respondent Imposition” distributing by hand incurred higher than anticipated levels of participant refusal, whereas with online distribution, carrying out the questionnaire could be done at the participants own time of choosing, therefore becoming less of a perceived imposition.

In Focus groups the choice to have both focus groups all having similar ages of participants could be looked back on as a bad choice. A more heterogeneous sample could have encouraged deeper discussion and variance of opinion, especially through snowballing techniques.

However as a set of research methods using focus groups and questionnaires alongside one another, although for different aims worked well as getting both quantitative and qualitative data lead to more varied and deeper pool of data retrieved. The choice to use both has worked in terms of achieving objectives and aims primarily set.

Conclusively the research methods used in order to acquire my primary data are Quantitative Questionnaires exploring specific brand type suitability for the use of Ambient Media and Focus Groups exploring particular demographic group’s responses to Ambient Campaigns in varied environments, and the differential effects of these environments on the different groups. Each method can be cross referenced with secondary research findings within the Literature review in order to reach a comprehensive and accurate conclusion to the study.

35 | P a g e

4. Findings and Analysis Environmental familiarity was the primary task examined by the focus groups, the aim being to build a comparative linkage system between Green (2006) Classification Matrix and Adey’s Targeting theory (2008). The statements given by respondents show no evidence of trends within collective demographic groups, particularly in terms of gender (see appendix 3). An example of this is two conflicting statements by participant A, “I tend to go shopping a lot in town and places like Meadowhall” Whereas a participant of the same age, gender, education level and income bracket (Participant B) states “I’m not that big a shopper as I don’t like the crowds, but I enjoy a drink every now and again”. This shows that gender show no collective favourability towards a given environment.

However age groups did show a collective favourability towards, as Green would classify it as, “Leisure” with statements such as: “I’d say the Pub”, “I like the odd drink so I’m round the pub a lot too” and “I work mostly during the week, but I like going down pubs and clubs at the weekend” All respondents of this group were of the 16-30 age groups, and mixed gender and income brackets, showing age as a ruling factor in referral to the leisure sector. Older demographic ages (50+) (Participant E) stated that familiarity with the leisure sector was high, but a differing area of the sector, in, “If I was gonna go out it would probably be to the cinema or somewhere like that”.

Collectively as a sample it is evident that there is a mass favourability to two of Greens (2006) sectors of ambient media environments, namely Retail and Leisure. This critiques Adey (2008) in that environmental placement is not of equal importance to that of mind-set of the consumer, and that demographic targeting could pose to be unsuccessful as demographic groupings have internally conflicted views and opinions are highly differentiated and 36 | P a g e

personalised, which could be down to personal mind-set, another of Adey’s targeting strategies.

Adey’s theory of targeting via mind-set was investigated further by the study of consumer receptiveness and observancy across Green’s environmental areas. Through analysis of the data there are no consistent trends within demographic groups, which supports Adey’s theory of mind-set targeting as a consumers mind-set is independent of demographic groupings and classifications. An example of this been two males (Participants E and F), who class receptiveness in their work environment, classified by Green as “Corporate” in two conflicting ways: “I’m always nakered during the week so kinda don’t really look around at stuff that much” alongside “I’d say I’m pretty receptive working at college, cos its part of my job”.

The main trend evident as a whole among participants was more of a focus on inquisitiveness rather than receptiveness which effects how much they pay attention to happenings with their given environment. This is shown in such statements as, “When I’m in a pub or bar I’m quite nosey as to what others are doing” and “If I do go out the cinema or for lunch or something I tend to be a bit nosey of what’s going off”.

The theme of inquisitiveness seems to be more gender biased with all female respondents mentioning being “nosey” in various environments, whereas male respondents tend to be inquisitiveness in very specific environments, such as previously mentioned by Participant E been receptive at work, purely because “It’s part of my job”.

These findings propose that’s Green’s (2006) classification model is insignificant in terms of receptiveness across demographic groups, as receptiveness is individual rather than demographic dependant. Adey (2008) is further credited by these findings as it stands as evidence that targeting via mind-set is important on a personal level to consumers but not to blanket demographic classifications.

37 | P a g e

However Shannon and Weaver’s communication Model (1949) provides an explanation for the theory of receptiveness. Shannon and Weaver state that “Noise” acts as a barrier to consumers internalising advertising messages, but in the case of Ambient Media through the data it can be seen that Noise is rather a positive influence on increasing receptiveness to the advertisement.

Participant F evidences this in, “If I was down town and something big was going off I’d go and see what all the fuss was about” Therefore stating that this perceived “Fuss” actually increases receptiveness rather than diminishes it, as stated by Shannon and Weaver.

Adey (2008) states that environment applicability is used to improve cost efficiency alongside brand message reinforcement. In order to assess brand applicability of an environment it’s is necessary to gather perceptions of the environment of itself, this was done in section three of the focus group programme. The findings show that there are significant subdivisions in negative and positive environmental perceptions. Retail and Leisure had mixed but majority positive response, whereas Travel, Community, Corporate and Other sections had a more majority negative response.

Although Retail has a cumulative positive response as being fun, as Participant F states “I think shopping and leisure comes across as Fun”, backed up by Participant H in “I always seem to have more fun in shopping and leisure places”. The widely agreed upon view is that such environments are heavily gender biased towards females. Participant B clearly evokes this view. “Shopping is definitely more for women”, reinforced by participant A “I think places such as shopping centres and town are more for women”. This however contradicts responses from section A, where only half of the female participants stated a high familiarity with shopping areas, which could suggest that responses to section three are heavily influenced by cultural stereotypes.

Leisure again although positive cumulatively also has a demographic skew in terms of age, seen as more suited towards a younger audience. Participant B states “Pubs and clubs are more for student types”. Backed up by participant A stating “clubs and stuff are for younger people”. However it is evident then 38 | P a g e

when referring to leisure most participants refer solely to evening and alcohol related leisure pursuits, with Participant B referring to clubs and pubs completely separate to their perception of other leisure pursuits labelling them as “Monotonous”, illustrating ignorance towards other leisure activities such as cinemas or gym’s, such as participant E’s previously stated preference for cinema. The idea of fun also relates closely to the idea of leisure as it did with retail. Participant C states “I think leisure places and pubs/clubs can be seen as exciting and fun”, furthered by Participant H saying “I always seem to have more fun in shopping and leisure places”.

On the other hand community, corporate and travel get a highly negative response summarised by participant F in: “Transport and street things are boring and too every day and places like universities and libraries have too much of a boring persona for people to interact”.

Participant H builds on this idea of a boring persona, believing the idea of suburbs and institutions are too “Boring and work orientated”. This perception shows that the environmental perception is highly determined on what activities are stereotypically carried out within it, such as corporate environments been handled negatively due to their association with work, therefore perceived negativity.

However as an outlying value it could be said that this boring persona perceived by the younger demographics can be read by older demographics as calming and relaxing, as participant E states: “I’d say shopping areas nowadays are very busy and “hustly bustly”, I feel better and more clam in nicer places like gyms or stuff like that”.

Aaker, Fouriner and Brasel’s Value vs. Relationship Matrix (2004) builds on the values brought forward by the participants, as the term “Fun” plays a quarterly role in this matrix, seen in both the literature review and below: 39 | P a g e

Values Innovative Team working Caring Fun

Resulting Relationship Trustworthy, Confidence Co-operative, Open Friendly, Altruistic Informal, Socially Orientated

The values of fun, favoured most highly by participants as a positive means of securing ambient credibility via environment focus on the informal and socially orientated context. This is evident in participant’s response to two of Greens (2006) Classifications: Retail and Leisure.

In order to further increase credibility via environmental application it is critical to understand the consumer of who are active within a given environment as to create effective targeting strategies. This was done via an investigation into how participants perceived which demographic groups would frequent each given environment; this data was tabulated and coded via the table given to respondents (Appendix 4) Key findings shown within the tables (see Appendix 3) are that ethnicity was registered as irrelevant in 98% of all response, registering it as an insignificant factor. Yeo (2005) however sates this might not be the actual case as “racial discrimination is still social taboo”, and it is social desirability effect that leads people to feeling a need to appear politically correct in terms of ethnicity.

Another negative factor shown was that in environments previously given negative perceptions: suburbs, street furniture, common institutions and transport there was a higher level of “IRLV” response (shown in the key as “irrelevant”). Festinger (1957) would state this irrelevance been due to cognitive dissonance as respondents feel the need for engagement in order to interact with an environment, but cannot identify with such, as previously stated “Monotous and everyday” environments therefore become dissonant from them.

40 | P a g e

However the two most perceived widely applicable and credible environments were classified as city centre shopping districts and leisure venues.

Both classifications had a heterogeneous gender mix, with a 50/50 spilt of both male and female. The age group span also averaged at an applicability scale of groups A-E, which translates as 16-40, spanning 6 out of 8 of the possible age ranges.

In terms of class all classes were included apart from class A, however only 1/8 participants were themselves from class A which could suggest a perception of their environmental habits could have been avoided due to familiarity and understanding of the class.

Ethnicity as previously mentioned was ruled out as irrelevant. A mean average score of IRLV was also applied to education level, meaning the demographic classification also proved irrelevant. The income bracket also ranged from 13 thousand pounds per annum plus, meaning income based demographic segments were all encompassing within the chosen two environments.

The continuous preference towards leisure and retail sectors therefore is further emphasised within phase four of the focus group, with both sectors seen as most credible for ambient media use, as they have an allencompassing demographic exposure therefore environmental adaptability and targeting is heightened.

In order to further investigate the effects of efficient targeting methods on ambient media credibility, the concept was investigated at a connotative level, asking participants how they would alter their perceptions if incorrectly targeted themselves. The key theme rose from the investigation was not that of ineffective targeting, but the lack of opportunity available to be incorrectly targeted, as participants felt that ambient media’s targeting strategies are too geographically focused rather than demographically. Participant A states “I feel I’ve missed a lot of ambient campaigns as they only seem to take place in 41 | P a g e

big cities”. Participant G furthers this believing they can’t make a fair judgement or response as they haven’t been given opportunity to form an opinion, “Its once in a blue moon I see one though cos Sheffield isn’t used that much its more cities like London or Manchester where I think most of it happens”.

This proves that in order to establish any level of credibility on a grand scale ambient media would need to span out geographically. This is deemed necessary before the feeling of being ignored by smaller city dwellers, such as locals here in Lincoln, of which the sample is mostly comprised off, make a negative presumption, based purely on ill-informed perceptions. Participant H summarises this feeling of ignorance in: “I just wish they’d be more of this kinda stuff in smaller places as I didn’t really know anything about it till today. I’ve seen this kinda stuff before but didn’t know what it was called or anything”.

Ambient campaigns are mostly used as part of an integrated marketing campaign, meaning measuring standalone credibility is hard as campaign success is shared among various vehicles. The study therefore is to accept Arnold’s challenge (2003): “The real challenge will be to make it more accountable and discouraging marketers from taking it too far” The aim of this questionnaire was to identify a product class to which, through consumer perception, had a positively correlated value match to that of ambient media. Straker (2008) Brand classification’s (Appendix 1) were used as a method of brand groupings in order to raise reliability and credibility of the study, Keisner (2009) states this reliability and credibility is of upmost importance to clients using ambient media as, “More brands are turning to ambient media as it allows them to hone their focus; they have less money to work with so the money has to work harder”.

42 | P a g e

Firstly, in order to establish the reliability of the data about to be gathered the aim was to monitor how informed participants were on the field of ambient media, this was done by segmenting the respondents into two groups, previously exposed and unexposed to ambient campaigns. The findings are shown below:

The findings show that 62% of respondents have never been exposed to an ambient campaign before, which relates back to the data found in the focus groups were participants blamed reduced exposure to selective geographical positioning, which could also account for problems incurred within this study.

This initial finding could be seen to hinder reliability of data gathered as 62% of the respondents responses will be based on uninformed, inexperienced perceptions.

In order to further examine the extent of the lack of exposure the previously exposed participants were asked to categorise their exposure in line with Straker’s (2008) classification model. By doing this it could anticipate any potential skews in data gathering due to a familiarity bias. The data set found is shown overleaf:

43 | P a g e

The highest peak lies within organizations, and events, both intangible brand types. The higher saturation of intangible brand types within the ambient media channel, may suggest a need to increase involvement among these brands types due to a lack of tangible representation. Kunde (2000) in his brand religion model referred to this as brand adaption and improvisation in that the media channel needs to complement the brand type by making it “More strong and relevant to the consumer, so the brand becomes more involving”. It is this involvement that helps secure a memorable experience of the brands communication strategy.

This perceived brand class suitability however is ambiguous, with a 52/48 split, shown below.

44 | P a g e

It is therefore deemed necessary to further investigate the specifics present within the ambiguity of brand class applicability by presenting the participant with a series of options, sourced from theories previously mentioned such as Krautsack’s brand-consumer relationship model (2007) and Ehrenberg’s weak theory advertising model (ATRN) (1974) on which to identify factors that are most influential to ambient media suitability., the differing levels of influence are presented below:

The most influential determinants, by a considerable distance are Brand tangibility and Brand Innovation. These two factors relate closely to Krautsack’s 3 elements of consumer-brand relationships (2007), namely art convergence (innovation) and the Rise of tangibility. Krautsack states the importance of these two fields in that “the objective being to raise impact and likeability for public space advertising” therefore suggesting that determinant factors of suitability are based on how the brand class impacts on the perception of the ambient channel, namely been supportive and complementary, as Krautsack’s theory proves. Simmons (1997) states innovative brands are more suited to ambient media as the key role is to “Create fresh motivations in the consumer agenda”, whereas the idea of brand tangibility been a determinant factor is again supported by Krautsack, stating that brand tangibility is becoming more necessary due to cultural values rising in tandem such as “Technological development and 45 | P a g e

adaptability”. This also seems to answer Krautsack’s own question of “Are we participating rather than consuming?” with this research showing within ambient media, the former is near enough a certainty.

In order to further examine the idea of suitability on a more reliable measure, the participants were asked to judge brand class suitability with visual aids of ambient campaign examples of brands within the given class see Appendix 1 This area of the questionnaire also helps tackle the reliability problem found in previous exposure figures from question one, as now judgement is based on an actual example rather than hypothetical perception.

The findings proved to be complementary and supportive of previous findings within the questionnaire, supporting the common feeling that intangible brand sectors are more suited to the use of ambient media. The four most favoured sectors in terms of mean rated “Quite suitable or perfectly suitable” ratings were: •

Services

•

Organizations

•

Events

•

Geography

All four sectors calculated a mean average of a 72% perceived suitability, with Organizations been the highest at 76%, graphical evidence can be found in Appendix 5. The prevalence of this suitability can be emphasised by comparison to the tangible brand classes with a perceived suitability average of 37%, just over half as high a percentage as intangible brand classes, illustrating a distinct divide.

The tangibility divide is distinctive within Dempsey’s (2006) statement on ambient media:

46 | P a g e

“Ambient works extremely well when it brings brands to life; it can complement broader campaigns by encouraging consumers to interact with the brand”.

Dempsey’s focus on this kind of brand metamorphosis to encourage interaction goes hand in hand with ambient media complementing intangible brand classes. The media channel lends an attribute to the brand class, of which it would not normally possess: a physical, tangible representation of its brand values. Ambient media is seen to better do this than traditional media channels, as McEvoy (2007) states “people are looking for more tangible results than ever”, and due to ambient media been physically present in public space it therefore becomes as evident in the consumers head as in their path of vision and physical grasp, as White (1999) would put it, it becomes “the target audiences mental furniture”.

As stated by the below graph ambient media practitioners need to pay heed to brand group suitability.

As seen 78% of participants indicate a perceived negative effect on brand image if ambient media is administered to a brand incorrectly. Again further enforced by the bar graph below showing a collective 56% of all participants believing ambient media has significant effect, be it negative or positive on brand equity, it is the ambient media practitioners attention paid to brand 47 | P a g e

group suitability that choses whether this influential effect sways either negatively or positively for the brand in question.

5. Conclusions and Recommendations As stated in the first paragraph of the literature review “It is the cloudiness of judgement that has led to the development and evolution of ambient media”, this study has found to help clear the clouds by unearthing several new findings to aid the development and evolution of this relatively new field.

The study of secondary literature unearthed a highly distinct finding above anything else , not only relevant to ambient media, but advertising as a field, this been that, in contemporary society, creativity is the key player in securing non-traditional media vehicle credibility. This is evidenced perfectly in Crowes (2005) previously cited quote:

“In any mature market, the key players are focusing on qualitative factors such as creative thinking, strategic insight and innovation to provide their points of difference. Put simply, media agencies need to be creative to survive. Proving cheap media access is a low-margin hygiene factor, 48 | P a g e

assumed by clients at the start of a presentation. Creative zest, as well as price, is now what clinches the business.”

Although critics such as Reid (2007) have a prediction that “Clients will soon tire of the faddish and whimsical” and that ambient creativity is only the buzz of the field due to, as Edeneus (2007) would describe, “its novel form”. It is more than evident that, relative to its infancy, it has been comprehensively covered by both media and press, and that not only is ambient media now part of the, as stated by Eagleton (200) “cultural landscape in a postmodern world”, but also credited by Horton (1999) as been “viewed as an integral part of the advertising and communications mix”.

The findings of primary research, both qualitative and quantitative have both been found to be conclusive in finding answers to the questions posed within the methodology: 1. Is there a specific type of brand that is more suited to the use of Ambient Media?

2. Do particular demographic groups respond differently to ambient media when it is shown in specific environments more than others?

Although the initial aim of the questionnaires was to find brand class suitability in accordance with Straker’s classification model (2008), it was found that the governing factor of brand group suitability laid in the tangibility within the brand class, not the brand class values as a whole. This was evident in findings that intangible brand classes where perceived as almost twice as suitable to ambient media use than that of tangible brand classes. Namely Organisations and Events were seen as two brand classes that are most suited to the use of ambient media, both highly saturated in terms of market environment yet extremely intangible. Results also show that both are highly factored in terms of innovation, found to be a key catalyst by participants in determining suitability. This can be evidenced in examples of ambient campaigns from both sectors shown overleaf:

49 | P a g e

It can be seen that the ambient media channel lends tangible value to intangible brand classes, as Leopold (2000) would put it “enhancing existing mousetraps”.

Focus group objectives were initially meant to examine demographic differentiations in response to ambient media in differing environments; however as cumulative research found, extensive demographic differentiations were not that evident. Across all demographic groups it was found that value transference from environment to campaign played the biggest role in a positive perception of the brand advertised. The two key environments that encouraged a blanket positive perception of the ambient campaign shown were Retail and Leisure.

Quotes such as “I think leisure places and pubs/clubs can be seen as exciting and fun”, and “I always seem to have more fun in shopping and leisure places”, Illustrate that as the participant feels relaxed and happy within these two environments, they transfer these positive emotions onto a campaign present within that environment, known by Toncar and Munch (2001) as “rhetorical figuring”.

Although both research methods found conclusive results that shed light on areas previously un-investigated within the field, it would be recommended that further study should be carried out to increase reliability of the findings.

50 | P a g e

When comparatively analysed with secondary data the idea that innovation plays a large part in tackling the problem of intangibility solved by ambient media, supported by Krautsack (2007) in that there are “increased levels of tangibility through technological development and adaptability” related to ambient media strategy, it would be recommended to investigate further.

The concept of technology and innovation growing in sync would be recommended to investigate both correlatively and comparatively in order to distinguish a possible relationship between them, if indeed a relationship is present at all. As this would determine how the technology and innovation would also be encouraging the development and evolution of competing media channels.

Due to the environment in which the study was carried out various limitations were present, in particular sampling methods were limited as an environment such a university is extremely demographically skewed particularly in terms of age, which meant gaining representative samples proved a strenuous and difficult task.

Access to specialist computer materials also proved to be a restriction, especially in terms of qualitative data analysis, as during writing methodologies it was evident subjectivity was a dampener on reliability of research findings when analysed by hand. If contexts were different, in particular financial limitations, access to QDA (Qualitative Data Analysis) software could have significantly improved depth, reliability and credibility of focus group findings.

Future research into the field of ambient media, or even client’s physical use of ambient media could take three main recommendations from this study: •

The importance of selective Media Planning

•

The use of Non Demographic based targeting strategies

•

The benefits of experience based over consumption based media

51 | P a g e

Due to Ambient Media been relatively new, as stated by Arnold (2003), “The real challenge will be to make it more accountable and discouraging marketers from taking it too far”. It is this need for accountability and potential premature media channel exhaustion that means media planners need to be aware that not every brand is suitable to be shown in almost any environment when it comes to Ambient Media. The most important, yet difficult task will be to, as put by Crowe (2005) “Focus on qualitative factors such as creative thinking, strategic insight and innovation to provide their points of difference” and not over exhaust ambient media, as as Reid (2007) rightly states “clients will soon tire of the faddish and whimsical”. So to secure the success in Ambient Media planning it is suggested by Loggie (2003) that "Ambient planning requires mapping out a day in the life of an audience and thinking of every conceivable touch point."

Arnold’s (2003) and Crowe’s (2005) ideas of accountability and “Strategic insight” are also highly dependent on effective targeting, as Ambient Media is classified, by Hatfield (2003) as “non-traditional media opportunities”, Primary research findings suggest that this should then be targeted in a non-traditional manner. Among many marketing theorist’s Demographic segmentation and targeting is the most traditional and commonly used method of targeting, yet through focus group analysis it was found this was ineffective. The most effective method of targeting lays in values and emotion based targeting such as parsimony focused psychographic targeting.

The argument between theorists on the potential positivity of Ambient Media’s experiential elements lays pretty much unresolved, However through primary research it was evident that tangibility of the medium played a significant role in its effectiveness of increasing brand equity. This suggests that in future the tangible aspects of ambient media should be played to an advantage by practitioners, as McEvoy states “True customer engagement has longevityone trick ponies don’t”.

52 | P a g e

6. References Books Bernstein, D. (1997). The Strengths of Outdoor. In: . Advertising Outdoors: Watch This Space!. London: Phaidon Press. 112-128.

Chandler, D. (2008). Challenging the Literal. In: . Semiotics- The Basics. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge. 123-143.

De' Chernatony, L. (2010). Employing the Brand Building Process: Synthesising the Nature of a Brand. In: . From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation: The Strategic Process of Growing and Strengthening Brands. 3rd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinmann. 257-293.

DeFleur,M, Ball-Rokeach, S. (1989). Mass Communication and the Construction of Meaning. In: . Theories of Mass Communication. 5th ed. New York: Longman. 228-255.

Fill,C. (2006). Communication: Theory, Interactivity & People. In: . Simply Marketing Communications. Essex: Pearson Education. 29-56.

Jobber,D. (2007). Competition & Marketing. In: Reade,K Principles & Practice of Marketing. 5th ed. Berkshire: McGraw Hill Education. 784-797.

Levison, JC, Hanley PRJ. (2006). Congruence and Your Marketing Identity.

In: . The Guerrilla Marketing Revolution: Precision Persuasion of the Unconscious Mind. London: Piatkus Books. 92-103.

Lucas,G, Dorrian,M. (2006) Guerrilla Advertising: Unconvential Brand Communication. London: Laurence King.

McQuail, D. (2009). Theories: New Media- New Theory?. In: . McQuails Mass Communication Theory. 6th ed. London: Sage Publications. 135-161 Moriarty,S, Mitchell,N, Wells, W. (2009). Internet and Non-Traditional Media.

In: . Advertising: Principles & Practice. 8th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. 348-354.

Olins,W. (2008). Brand Visibility. In: . The Brand Handbook. London: Thames & Hudson. 24-30.

Peter, JP, Olson JC. (2008). Influencing Consumer Behaviour. In: Biernat, JE Consumer Behaviour & Marketing Strategy. 8th ed. New York: McGraw Hill .

243-248.

53 | P a g e

Proctor,T. (2005). Evaluations, Reports & Presentation. In: . Essentials of Marketing Research. 4th ed. Essex: Pearson Education. 348-380.

Shimp, TA. (2000). The Communication Process and the Fundamentals of Buyer Behaviour. In: Schoof, B Advertising & Promotion: Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. 5th ed. Orlando: Harcourt College. 114-152.

Tull, DS, Hawkins, DI. (1993). Sampling and Data Analysis. In: . Marketing Research: Measurement and Method. 6th ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing. 559-595.

Yeshin, T. (2006). The Importance of Intergrated Marketing Communications (IMC) . In: Oakes, H Advertising. London: Thomson Websites 2009 Archive. Available: http://dsinsights.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html. Last accessed 17th Nov 2010.

Ambient Media Advertising. Available: http://www.frederikhermann.com/archives/ambient-media-advertisingguerrilla-marketing/. Last accessed 16th Nov 2010.

Bounty 'Fill Up Here'. Available: http://www.getmemedia.com/ideas/tgtmotorists-4000-forecourts-petrol-pump-nozzle-advertising/alvern-medialtd.html. Last accessed 15th Nov 2010.

Condoms: The Sweetest Gift. Available: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3k0ISs/www.eatnineghost.com/condom-thesweetest-gift/. Last accessed 16th Nov 2010.

Guerrilla Ads: Volkswagon. Available: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/08/guerrilla_ads/image/3_volkswagon. jpg. Last accessed 17th Nov 2010.

Levi's: Denim Creature. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Eeh7jD3--fU. Last accessed 16th Nov 2010.

Red Bull: The Stuff of Beverage Legends. Available: http://www.sosemarketing.com/2009/06/24/red-bull-the-stuff-of-beveragemarketing-legends/. Last accessed 16th Nov 2010.

54 | P a g e

Smart Marketing. Available: http://guerillascoop.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/smart-marketing/. Last accessed 16th Nov 2010.

Spiderman 2: Ambient Media Campaign (2003). Available: http://www.sharenator.com/Creative_advertising_2/. Last accessed 12th Nov 2010.

Subserviant Chicken. Available: www.subserviantchicken.com. Last accessed 15th Nov 2010.

Swiss Made: Swiss International Airlines: Ambient Campaign, Germany (2007). Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeZd12KVSMY. Last accessed 11th Nov 2010.

What is Guerrilla Marketing?. Available: http://guerillamarketingking.com/2010/08/what-is-guerilla-marketing/. Last accessed 17th Nov 2010.

Articles Alarcon, C. (2005). Ambient Media Innovations Target Upmarket Consumers.

B&T Weekly. January 2005, 11.

Ambler, T. (2000). Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice: How Ads Work.

International Journal of Advertising. 19, 299-315.

Baltes, G, Leibing, I. (2007). Guerrilla Marketing for Information Services?, 19.

Barnes, J. (1999). Creating a Difference with Ambient Media. Admap Magazine. Feb 1999, 1-4.

Benady, D. (2009). Reaching the Right Consumer. Marketing Magazine. July 2009, 29-30.

Brown, C. (2003). Can Ambient Rise Above the Stunts?. Precision Marketing.

Feb 2003, 12.

Bruggen,E, Willems, P. (2009). A Critical Comparison of Offline Focus Groups, Online Focus Groups & E-Delphi. International Journal of Market Research. 51 (3), 363-380.

Crowe, C. (2005). Creativity: A New Benchmark?. Admap Magazine. 463 (.), 1-3.

55 | P a g e

Dahlen,M, Granuld,A, Grenos,M. (2009). The Consumer Percieved Value of Non-Traditional Media: Effects of Brand Reputation, Appropriateness and Expense. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 26 (3), 155-163.

Denscombe, M. (2009). Item Non-Response Rates: A Comparison of Online and Paper Quesstionnaires. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 12 (4), 281-291.

Doyle,P. (2000). How Shareholder Analysis Re-Defines Marketing. Market Leader. 8, 1-13.

Field, P. (2007). Getting the Best from Multi-Channel Campaigns. Admap Magazine. 489, 1-3 Field, P. (2008). Harnessing Guerrilla Marketing Effectively. Admap Magazine. 499, 1-3.

Fry, A. (January 2006). Centre of Attention. Marketing. 51, 33-34.

Green, A. (2006). Are So Called Ambient Media Just Stunts?. WARC Media FAQ. October 2006, 1-3.

Gruenwedel, E. (2005). Street Fighters. Adweek. 41 (32), 1-5.

Jones, JP. (1990). Advertising: Strong Force or Weak Force? Two Views an Ocean Apart. International Journal of Advertising. 9 (3), 2-12.

Krautsack, D. (2007). Ambient Media- How the World is Changing. Admap Magazine. 488, 1-6.

Mansell, N. (2002). So Good You Don't Notice It. Marketing Week. July 2002, 32-33.

Neisser, D. (2005). The Secret of Marketing Creativity. Admap Magazine. 457 (.), 1-3.

Neuborne, E. (2001). Guerrilla Marketing Grows Up. Agency Magazine.

Spring 2001 (.), 1-3 Pillot De Chenecey, S. (2001). The Captive State vs. Brand Takeover. Admap Magazine. May 2001, 1-3.

Reena, J. (2006). Advertising: When Guerrilla goes Bourgeois. Business Week. Aug 2006 , 1-3.

Reid,A. (2007). Fad or Future?. Campaign. 29 , 30.

Reyburn, D. (2010). Ambient Advertising: Healthcare Media in a New Context.

American Marketing Asociation. Winter 2010, 9-12.

56 | P a g e

Riva,G, Teruzzi,T, Anolli,L. (2003). The Use of the Internet in Psychological Research: Comparison of Online and Offline Questionnaires. Cyber Psychology & Behaviour. 6 (1), 73-80.

Ryan Segger, T. (2007). How Ambient Media Has Grown Up. B&T Weekly.

March 2007, 18-20.

Schmidt, M. (2010). Quantification of transcripts from depth interveiws, Open Ended Responses and Focus Groups. International Journal of Market Research. 52 (4), 483-509.

Shankar,A, Horton,B. (1999). Ambient Media: Advertising's New Media Oppurtunity. International Journal of Advertising. 18 (3), 1-6.

WARC Best Practice. (2004). How to Use Ambient Media. WARC Best Practice. Oct 2004, 1-4.

Wehleit, K. (2003). Ambient Media: The Key to Target Group Communication.

Admap Magazine. 439, 1-7.

Weijters,B, Schillewaert,N, Geuens, M. (2007). Assessing Response Styles Across Modes of Data Collection. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 36, 409-422.

7. Bibliography Books Cappo, J (2003) The Future of Advertising USA: Crain Communications

57 | P a g e

Day, GS (1970). Buyer Attitudes and Brand Choice Behaviour. Toronto: Collier-Macmillan. 37-56.

Green, O (2001) Underground Art London: Laurence King Publishing Harris,P, McDonald,F (1994). European Business and Marketing: Strategic Issues. London: Paul Chapman Publishing. 57-60.

Havard Business Review (1991). The Best of Havard Business Review.

Boston, USA: Havard University. 201-213.

Henderson, S, Hackney, D, Landau, R Billboard Art London: Angus and Robertson (1981) Hogg, MA, Vaughan, GM (2005). Social Psychology. 4th ed. Essex: Pearson Education. 41-81.

Levinson, JC (1994) Guerrilla Advertising: Cost Effective Tactics for Small Business Success, New York: Houghton, Mifflin Margoiles, J, Gwathmery, E (1993) Signs of Our Time New York: Abbeville Publishing McDonald, C (1993). How Advertising Works. Oxfordshire: NTC Publications.

McQuail, D, Windahl, S (1993) Communication Models: For the Theory of Mass Communication. New York: Addison Wesley Longmann Pricken, M (2004) Creative Advertising: Ideas and Techniques From the World’s Best Campaigns, London, Thames and Hudson Saunders, M, Lewis, P and Thornhill, A Research Methods for Business Students London: Financial Times and Prentice Hall Sutherland, M, Sylvester, AK (2000). Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer. 2nd ed. Australia: Allen & Unwin. 55-85.

Tench, R , Yeomans, L (2006). Exploring Public Relations. Essex: Pearson Education.

Articles Alarcon, C. (2005). Need to Split Ambient & Outdoor. B&T Weekly. April 2005, 4.

Ehrenberg,A, Barnard,N. (1997). Advertising: Strongly Persuasive or Nudging.

Journal of Advertising Research. Jan/Feb 1997, 21-31.

Ehrenberg,A, Jones, JP. (2000). What is Effective Advertising? Two Viewpoints. WARC Conference Papers. Jan 2000, 1-9.

58 | P a g e

Morris, MH, Schinduette, M, LaForge RW. (2002). Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Construct For Intergrating Emerging Entrepreneurship and Marketing Perspectives. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. 10 (4), 1-14.

Rabiee,F. (2004). Focus-group interview and data analysis. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 63, 665-660 Turk,T, Ewing,MT, Newton,FJ. (2006). Using Ambient Media to Promote HIV/AIDS Protective Behaviour Change. International Journal of Advertising.

25 (3), 333-359.

White, R. (1999). What Can Advertising Really Do For Brands?. International Journal of Advertising. 18 (1), 2-12.

8. Appendices 8.1 Appendix 1: Questionnaire Skeleton Script Brand Class Suitability Questionnaire

59 | P a g e

Ambient Media: “The rapidly expanding sector of non-traditional out-of-home media opportunities" 1. Have you ever been exposed to ambient media campaigns before? a) Yes b) No 2. If so what brand classifications where they advertising?

(David Straker Brand Classifications 2008)

a) b) c) d) e) f) g)

Individual Product eg. Coca Cola Product Range eg. Mercedes Cars Services eg. Personal Training Organizations eg. Greenpeace People eg. Celebrity/Actress Event eg. Concerts Geography eg. Cities, Tourism Promotion

3. Out of the categories listed above do you believe ambient media should/does have any specific suitability to some classifications over others? a) Yes b) No 4. Out of the following reasons, of which do you find most influential on determining suitability to the use of ambient media? a) b) c) d) e) f)

Tangibility of the Brand class Innovation/Creativity of the Brand class Market Saturation of Brand class Competitive Nature of Brand class Familiarity of Brand Class Other

5. Below are examples of ambient campaigns within each brand class, please rate on a scale of 1-5 to what level the use of ambient media fits the image/message of the Brand, in terms of its class.

Key: 1- Not Suitable at all 2- Not Quite Suitable 3- Neither Suitable or Unsuitable 4- Quite Suitable 5- Perfectly Suitable

a) Individual Product: Red Bull Beverages 60 | P a g e

b) Product Range: Ann Summers Sex Toys

c) Services: DHL logistics

d) Organizations: Greenpeace

61 | P a g e

e) People: Gail Porter (Sexiest Women)

g) Events: Edinburgh Dungeon Exhibition

h) Geography: Aruba

62 | P a g e

Tourism

6. Do you believe using ambient media unsuitability can negatively affect a brands image? a) Yes b) No 7. To what level do you believe ambient media is influential on brand equity and brand perception? (1- Not influential at all, 5- Highly Influential)

8.2 Appendix 2: Focus Group Slides

63 | P a g e

64 | P a g e

65 | P a g e

66 | P a g e

67 | P a g e

68 | P a g e

69 | P a g e

70 | P a g e

71 | P a g e

72 | P a g e

73 | P a g e

74 | P a g e

75 | P a g e

76 | P a g e

77 | P a g e

78 | P a g e

79 | P a g e

80 | P a g e

8.3 Appendix 3: Focus Group Transcript 81 | P a g e

Focus Group Transcript Participants Demographic factors Gender Age Social Class Ethnicity Education Income

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

F 16-20 E Cauc.

UG <13,000

F 21-25 E Cauc.

UG <13,000

F 16-20 E Cauc.

UG <13,000

M 21-25 E Cauc.

UG <13,000

M 50+ A Cauc.

PG <30,000

M 26-30 C1 AC UG <18,200

F 41-45 C2 Cauc.

GCSE <18,200

F 21-25 C1 Mix PG <18,200

1. Following will be several descriptions of different environments and/or vehicles in which ambient media can be staged. Of which are you most familiar within these environments/vehicles? (Shopping Centres, City Centre Shopping Districts, Common Institutions e.g. University, Library's, Public/ Personal Transport, Street Furniture, The Suburbs, Leisure Venues e.g. Cinemas, Pubs, Clubs)

A) “I tend to go shopping a lot in town and in places like Meadowhall, but like any student I’m obviously round Uni a lot, and like to have the odd drink so I’m round the pub a lot too” B) “ I’m not that big a shopper as I don’t like the crowds but I enjoy a drink every now and again so I’m down a bar, I don’t tend to use public transport a lot, and do most of my work out of Uni so I’m there as little as I can be” C) “Like (B) said I’m not a big shopper, I prefer online, but I’m always in or around campus and use public transport like trains to get back home every few weeks” D) “I’d say the Pub, if I’m honest” E) “I work in a college as a lecturer, so in student areas like that regularly.

I don’t like shopping and don’t go out drinking much, if I was gonna go out it would probably be cinema or somewhere like that” F) “ I’m at work most during week, but I like going down town, pubs and clubs and that at the weekend” G) “ I’m a housewife, so I’m in the suburbs when I nip to the shop and stuff like that, I only tend to go to town when I need something and it’s a quick in and out” H) “I like going shopping when I have the money, which isn’t regularly, If I was to go shopping it would be more to town than an actual shopping centre”

82 | P a g e

2. Within the use/presence of the previously stated environments/vehicles, in which do you feel you are the most receptive to your surroundings and why?

A) “Like I said I enjoy going shopping, so when I am in town or a place like Meadowhall I am window shopping so quite nosey with my surroundings” B) “I’m not really that much of a receptive person but when I’m in the pub or a bar I’m quite nosey as to what others are doing and what’s going off” C) “When I’m on train I’m always pretty bored so always having a look around and trying to make time go quicker” D) “I don’t tend to be that observant in general, but I s’pose if something was going off in the pub I was in I’d notice it” E) “I’d say I’m pretty receptive in college cos its part of my job” F) “I’m always nakered in week so kinda don’t really look around at stuff that much, but If I was down town if something big was going off I’d go and have a look what fuss was all about” G) “If I do go out to cinema or for lunch or something I tend to be a bit nosey of what’s going off, but this isn’t regular, only like once every couple a week’s” H) “When I do go shopping I like to have a good look round and make a day of it, so I’d be pretty observant of anything that was going off” 3. Out of the previously mentioned environments, how would you describe your perceptions of the environment, in your personal judgement?

A) “I think places such as shopping centres and town are for women, clubs and stuff for younger people, and the suburbs definitely for older people like couples and family’s” B) “ Like (A) said shopping is definitely more for women, whereas pubs and clubs more for student types, I think the leisure places are just monotonous and people are in their own little world when they go” C) “I think leisure places and pubs/clubs can be seen as exciting and fun, shopping pretty feminine, but suburbs and transport quite boring”

83 | P a g e

D) “Street furniture and transport I thinks pretty boring and standard, depends who I’m with what I think of it I think” E) “I’d say shopping areas nowadays are very busy and “hustly bustly”, I feel better and more calm in nicer places like gyms, or stuff like that” F) “ I think shopping and leisure comes across as fun, transport and street things are boring and too “everyday”, and places like universities and libraries have too much of a boring persona for people to interact” G) “Although suburbs are quite boring its where I am most of time, I think places like shopping areas are more fun, Public transport is boring, as is street furniture” H) “I always seem to have much more fun in shopping and leisure places, suburbs and institutions I think come across as boring and work orientated” 4. Following this slide I will show several demographic segments and ask how you feel the demographic group suit the environment, based on your previous debate.

The task involves gathering your perceptions of what kind of people the environment would most appeal too. Using your details chart (APX) for reference. (*IRLV= Seen as Irrelevant) Shopping Centres Participant> Demographic Gender Age Class Ethnicity Education Income

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

A-C

ALL

A-B

ALL

A-D

B-D

ALL

A-B

IRLV

IRLV

B-C2

A-C2

B-D

IRLV

A-D

B-E

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

GCSE+

GCSE+

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<13K

<13K

<18,200

<13K

City Centre Shopping Participant> Demographic Gender Age Class Ethnicity Education Income 84 | P a g e

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

F

M

F

F/M

F/M

F

F/M

F

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

A-C

ALL

ALL

E-C

E-C2

D-B

IRLV

E-C2

IRLV

E-C2

C1-E

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

<UG

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

<UG

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<13K

<13K

<13K

<13K

<13K

Common Institutions Participant> Demographic Gender Age Class Ethnicity Education Income

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

IRLV

IRLV

F

IRLV

M

IRLV

M

IRLV

A-F

ALL

A-F

A-G

ALL

A-H

A-G

A-D

A-C1

A-C2

A-B

A-D

A-C2

A-C1

A-D

A-C2

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

A-L+

GCSE+

GCSE+

A-L+

ALL

GCSE+

A-L+

ALL

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<13K

<30K

<18,200

<13K

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

A&H

ALL

A-B

ALL

A-C

A-B

ALL

A&H

E-C1

E-C2

E-C2

E-B

ALL

IRLV

E-C2

B-E

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

UG>

UG>

IRLV

IRLV

UG>

IRLV

PG>

IRLV

<13K

<18,200

<13K

<18,200

IRLV

<13K

<18,200

<13K

Transport Participant> Demographic Gender Age Class Ethnicity Education Income

Street Furniture Participant> Demographic Gender Age Class Ethnicity Education Income

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

B-E

ALL

C1-E

E-B

ALL

IRLV

ALL

B-E

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

ALL

IRLV

IRLV

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

C-H

D-H

D-H

ALL

ALL

ALL

ALL

C-H

A-C2

A-C1

A-D

A-D

A-D

A-C1

A-C2

A-C2

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

CAUC

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

UG+

IRLV

A-L+

ALL

GCSE+

ALL

ALL

ALL

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<18,200

<30K

<18,200

<30K

Suburbs Participant> Demographic Gender Age Class Ethnicity Education Income

85 | P a g e

Leisure Venues Participant> Demographic Gender Age Class Ethnicity Education Income 5.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

BOTH

BOTH

BOTH

BOTH

BOTH

BOTH

BOTH

BOTH

A-C

A-D

A-F

A-F

ALL

ALL

ALL

A-E

B-E

B-E

C2-D

C1-E

B-E

A-E

B-E

B-E

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

IRLV

GCSE+

GCSE+

GCSE+

ALL

ALL

GCSE+

<13K

<13K

<18,200

<13K

<18,200

<13K

<18,200

<13K

How do you feel you would change your perception of a brand, if you saw an ambient campaign, of which you felt incorrectly/correctly targeted?

Do you ever feel you may have missed out/got a lot out of ambient campaigns that you have heard of, but seen/not seen, and feel the campaign didn’t/did reach you because of in/effective targeting?

A) “If I was exposed to one in a place I thought was specific to my age group etc. and it didn’t fit my kind of brand I’d think of it as less professional, I feel I’ve missed a lot of ambient campaigns as they only seem to take place in big cities” B) “I think targeting ambient is hard due it been in public places, so I wouldn’t really feel that bad about it, I’d just ignore it. I do think like (A) said its only really ever done in London so I never see it” C) “Cos it’s so publically placed it wouldn’t really effect my perception. I just wish these kind of campaigns would happen in smaller places too” D) “ If it was pushed down my throat it would put me off the brand, If I could simply block it out, it wouldn’t bother me too much, I don’t really see many though as most happen in London or other bigger places” E) “ I’d feel that the brands marketing department was under researched, I don’t see many campaigns in ambient seen as they all seem to happen down south” F) “ If I felt incorrectly targeted in an environment that I thought was specific to me It’d make me think a bit less of the brand, I think I’ve only ever seen 2 or 3 though and they were all seasonal for Xmas, should be more continuous ” G) “I think I’ve been incorrectly targeted by campaigns in city centres, but I just brush it off and put it down to loads of different people been 86 | P a g e

around. Its once in a blue moon I see one though cos Sheffield isn’t used that much, its more cities like London or Manchester where I think most of it happens” H) “I’ve never felt incorrectly targeted by a campaign, however the ones I see most of are for general products such as groceries, so there is no specific group to target I don’t think. I just wish they’d be more of this kinda stuff in smaller places as I didn’t really know anything about it till today, I’ve seen this kind of stuff before but didn’t know what it was called or anything”

87 | P a g e

8.4 Appendix 4: Focus Group Coding Graph

88 | P a g e

8.5 Appendix 5: Brand Class Scale Graphs

89 | P a g e

90 | P a g e

91 | P a g e

8.6 Appendix 6: EA2 Ethical Approval Forms

EA2 Ethical Approval Form: Human Research

Please word-process this form, handwritten applications will not be accepted

This form must be completed for each piece of research activity whether conducted by academic staff, research staff, graduate students or undergraduates. The completed form must be approved by the designated authority within the Faculty.

Please complete all sections. If a section is not applicable, write N/A. 1 Name of Applicant

Charlie Philip Marples

Department: Business & Law

Faculty: Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations

Student 2 Position in the University Researcher 3 Role in relation to this research

4 Brief statement of main Research Question

Two research questions: 1) 2)

5 Brief Description of Project

Is there any brand class suitability to the use of ambient media eg. Fmcg products or cosmetics (via Paper Questionnaires) To what level is the environment in which the media is shown influential on consumer identification with the ambient media?

(Done via Focus Groups)

Focus Groups • Displaying examples of differing environments in which ambient media can be placed and monitoring and recording receptiveness and consumer identification with the environment • Ask participants questions on how the environment affects their perception of the product advertised • Including briefing and debriefing Paper Questionnaire • Create an paper questionnaire, to be distributed by hand • Using scale questions • Includes pictures of ambient campaigns from different product classes/ brand classes • Suitability monitored on scale • Reason for choice of suitability shown on scale

92 | P a g e

Approximate Start Date: 10/2/11

6 Name of Principal Investigator or Supervisor

Approximate End Date: 20/2/11

Charlie Marples Email address: Charlie_03@hotmail.co.uk

Telephone: 07530937768

7 Names of other researchers or student investigators involved

1.n/a 2.

3.

4.

8 Location(s) at which project is to be carried out

On university Campus (Library Meeting rooms) and my Home address: Flat 2a Avondale St. Lincoln Lincolnshire LN2 5BL

93 | P a g e

9 Statement of the ethical issues involved and how they are to be addressed –including a risk assessment of the project based on the vulnerability of participants, the extent to which it is likely to be harmful and whether there will be significant discomfort.

(This will normally cover such issues as whether the risks/adverse effects associated with the project have been dealt with and whether the benefits of research outweigh the risks)

94 | P a g e

Focus Groups • Age- All participants will be over 16 years old • Emotional Trauma- All participants will be briefed and debriefed before and after the task • Confusion- all technical jargon will be kept to a minimum • Content of Advertisements- All content will be legal and decent, with no explicit content • Opportunity’s will be given to withdraw at anytime • Responses will be anonymous for protection identity • Contact details will be provided if any issues or questions arise Online Questionnaire • Age- All participants will be over 16 years old • Emotional Trauma- All participants will be briefed and debriefed before and after the task • Confusion- all technical jargon will be kept to a minimum • Content of Advertisements- All content will be legal and decent, with no explicit content • Opportunity’s will be given to withdraw at anytime • Responses will be anonymous for protection identity • Contact details will be provided if any issues or questions arise • Distribution will be by hand on university campus and via external peer groups and family • All responses will be monitored as and when they are completed

Ethical Approval From Other Bodies

10 Does this research require the approval of an external body ?

Yes

No

11 Has ethical approval already been obtained from that body ?

Yes this form.

x

If “Yes”, please state which body:-

No

Please append documentary evidence to x

If “No”, please state why not:Not needed

Please note that any such approvals must be obtained and documented before the project begins.

95 | P a g e

APPLICANT SIGNATURE I hereby request ethical approval for the research as described above.

I certify that I have read the University’s ETHICAL PRINCIPLES FOR CONDUCTING RESEARCH WITH HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS. _____________________________________ Applicant Signature

_______12/2/11_________ Date

_________________CHARLIE PHILIP MARPLES____________________ PRINT NAME

FOR COMPLETION BY THE CHAIR OF THE FACULTY RESEARCH COMMITTEE Please select ONE of A, B, C or D below:

A. The Faculty Research Committee gives ethical approval to this research.

B. The Faculty Research Committee gives conditional ethical approval to this research.

12 Please state the condition (inc. date by which condition must be satisfied if applicable)

C. The Faculty Research Committee cannot give ethical approval to this research but refers the application to the University Research Ethics Committee for higher level consideration.

13 Please state the reason

D. The Faculty Research Committee cannot give ethical approval to this research and recommends that the research should not proceed.

14 Please state the reason

96 | P a g e

Signature of Chair of Faculty Research Committee (or nominee)

_____________________________________

97 | P a g e

________________