Verso un'ecologia della comunicazione non convenzionale: una concettualizzazione out of the box dell'ambient communication

[Autom. eng. transl.] Among the forms of non-conventional communication (CNC), Ambient Communication (AC) currently represents a manifestation of the brand that is widely consolidated internationally. Nevertheless, a clear and robust conceptualization of the CA able to direct the practices is still absent. Our study is aimed at providing an overall conceptual framework of the AC within the CNC, in order to shed light on the role it plays in supporting brand-consumer relations according to the sensibilities of advertising professionals. The study develops a methodological approach of focused ethnography based on 11 in-depth interviews with a reasoned sample of advertising professionals that systematically explores how they conceptualize, articulate and contextualize the AC in their speeches. The results reveal that, even if explicitly considered a central element in brand strategies thanks to its ability to act as a relational territory between the brand and the consumer, the CA is perceived at an implicit level by advertising professionals through an ambivalent representation that reveals a fragile and insecure perception of its actual value. This seems to demonstrate a limited awareness of its potential by advertising professionals due to the absence of conceptual foundations that can provide strategic guidelines on how to properly design, manage and measure the AC. Furthermore, this seems to indicate a lack of professional maturity which reveals their need, still felt, for self-legitimation in the eyes of customers as strategic partners. All this causes an obstacle to the genuine expression of the potential of the AC to support the brand.