Ambient advertising : an investigation into the effect that the Visual Impact, Environmental Impact and Pedestrian Interpretation has on creating the Ambient Advertising message

In my thesis I will be discussing how messages are conveyed through ambient advertising. Ambient advertising is a form of advertising that appears in public places. It does not have the same spatial boundaries as conventional outdoor advertising for example; billboard. It can appear as a person/s, object or spectacle. Its messages are often hidden and can rely on the intellectual perception of the observer for interpretation. In this thesis I have formulated three parameters in order to deconstruct my analysis. The three parameters I am using are; Visual Impact, Environmental Impact and Pedestrian Interpretation. I will go into greater detail explaining these parameters in my hypothesis. Ambient advertising strategies aim to highlight the unusual in the usual, the unexpected in the expected. Strategies through which pedestrians encounter enigmatic installations of various kinds within the public spaces of towns and cities. It could be described as the ‘Brand’ displaying its advertising message in three-dimensional form. Using material strategies to engender curiosity, wit and likeability to engage the pedestrian, it is a non-traditional method of creating an advertising campaign. Ambient advertising is designed to disrupt, intrigue, entertain and be memorable. It exists outside the normal rules of engagement of traditional advertising for example; digital, television, radio and press. All of these advertising strategies struggle to find a voice amongst the thousands of brand messages that fight for the attention of consumers everyday. In my thesis I discuss the theories of semiotics as developed by Ferdinand de Saussure(1916), Roland Barthes (1964), Michael O’Toole (2011), Laura Oswald (2012). I am also using semiotics as a tool to interpret and decode the visual language of the ambient advertisement. By including the theories of social theorists Erik Du Plessis (2008) and Robert Cialdini (2007) I will be able to discuss how people react and behave in social situations when viewing an ambient advertisement. The metaphors that are created in the mind of the pedestrian when viewing an ambient advertisement are integral to the interpretation of the ‘message’ and therefore I have included the theories of metaphor and interaction theory of Charles Forceville (1996), Gunther Kress (1996), Theo van Leeuwen (1996), George Lakoff (1980) and Max Black (1972). Advertising is constructed to attract attention and be persuasive, I have included the theories of persuasion(advertising) by Judith Williamson (1978), Katherine Told Frith (1997), Guy Cook (1994) and Paul Messaris (1997) and Zaltman & Zaltman (2008) to decode and interpret the relevance of cognition and metaphor in the interpretation of signs of visual communication. In order to discuss the theories of environment and the anthropological aspect of space, in each of the case studies, I have included the theories of Marc Augé (1995) and Michel de Certeau (1984).

Name dc:type.qualificationname

mphil

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Williams, Angela

• NK Celfyddydau addurnol Celfyddydau cymhwysol Addurno ac addurn

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:730