It’s everywhere, at your local beauty salon, the corner deli, at your neighborhood dry cleaner and even on the sidewalks. Ambient media is delivering advertiser messages and product samples in the most unexpected places and directly into the hands of target audiences. This element of surprise, the relaxed setting, and even the consumer’s very own home, have caused advertisers and marketers alike to capitalize on ambient media’s intimate approach to consumers nationwide.

Yet with all the wonderful new opportunities out there, planners and buyers should take heed. A few extra steps can ensure the validity of a media vendor’s claims, lest you be bamboozled, hood winked and lied to.

Exclusive rights. Many companies tout this claim for advertising opportunities in pizzerias, salons, dry cleaners, cinemas, colleges, casinos – basically everything non-traditional under the sun. But how many can prove this claim with a long list of clients and programs? Are they specific to the format they claim to be able to deliver? Can they provide samples of the latest campaigns they’ve run within these networks? Do they have case studies depicting ROI’s and coupon redemption figures? Certainly, photos of previous campaigns should be available.

It’s media planning 101, but there are those instances when companies are pitted against each other for the same exact advertising program, for the same exact media product. The reality, often times in the ambient arena, is that only one can actually execute the program. The other will entice the advertiser with lower rates, depreciating the value of the product and the industry entirely.

Now we come to actual delivery. In certain networks (dry cleaners and salons specifically), there is a language and cultural barrier that prevents companies from just coming in and handing out free marketing materials. Ask your vendor how their relationship with these venues is established and maintained. Does your vendor have a network of field staff that regularly visits and interacts with these specific venues? Is your vendor merely running around town dropping off free materials? How do they control or monitor the times the stores actually use the media materials? Can they provide sales slips, affidavits signed by the venue owners and managers detailing the receipt and prompt usage of materials?

Be wary, vendors will try to outsource the awarded program back to their competitor, either by selling it through at a loss or by trying to sell the program back to their competitor’s own network. A rather messy, unsuccessful process for everyone involved.

Do your homework, ask for photos, sample lists and testimonials. These few little steps go a long way.

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