Ambient communication: how to engage consumers in urban touch-points

This paper seeks to define the concept of ambient communication, its main determinants and evolutionary features. It provides a comprehensive classification of basic categories and applies experiential marketing principles. The paper is a first conceptual attempt to deal in a unified way with a variety of heterogeneous out-of-home communication tools whose diversity and innovativeness has led so far to a lack of clear understanding, and failure to exploit their full marketing potential. The paper is also useful to companies because, by taking the urban landscape as the core feature of all conventional and unconventional outdoor communication tools, it enables marketers to develop a comprehensive approach to the exploration of ambient communication’s effectiveness, by focusing on its impact on consumer brand engagement.