Advertisers spend £12m on new approach

New research into ambient advertising in Ireland has shown that £12.2 million (#15.5 million) was spent on the diverse and developing media in 2000.

When compared with more traditional media, the figure may seem low but the value of the research is not so much in the numbers but in this first comprehensive attempt to value the media. As such, it will form a comparative basis for year-on-year spends.

Poster Management Ltd (PML), an outdoor specialist, conducted the research with the co-operation of 46 contractors which supply ambient media. These range from advertisements on take-away lids to temporary banners on scaffolds. The list of ambient media is fairly esoteric - ads on rickshaws and on beermats feature - so there are several small media contractors involved. This has, in the past, made research into the area difficult.

PML divided ambient media into five categories:

POS (point of sale);

roadside;

transport;

leisure;

other.

Transport accounted for 28 per cent of the spend. Twenty-five per cent of the outlay was on POS and 5 per cent was on the loosely categorised "other" - including call cards and advertising in schools and colleges. The most controversial type of ambient media in this country are mesh posters. These appear on the side of buildings and scaffolding for short campaigns. Normally planning permission is needed for any fixed poster site but mesh posters operate in a grey area in this respect. Firms put them up usually without planning permission and then take them down when a complaint is made to the local authority or plan a shortlived campaign.

Safety regulations in the building industry mean scaffolding has to be surrounded by mesh and advertisers then take the opportunity to print an advertising message on that mesh.

New forms of ambient media arrive every month, usually from the US where bigger budgets and greater audiences permit expensive production techniques.

Earlier this year Esat's telephone kiosks were decked out by 2FM to resemble shower cubicles. It was the first time any advertiser had used the kiosks and, to date, the last.

Ambient media are costly. The printing of the vinyl wraps used in 2FM's case to create the shower curtain effect proved too expensive. The softening of advertising budgets evident since January will affect growth in the area. And the next PML study into ambient will show how much faith advertisers have in the medium when clients tighten the purse strings.

bharrison@irish-times.ie