Toward a Bakhtinian typology of ambient advertising

Abstract

Ambient advertising represents a growing sector of creative advertising practice, but has garnered little academic research. This paper aims to provide a theoretical foundation for the examination of ambient advertising's place within the marketing communication mix. The author presents a typology of ambient advertising based on the theory of the chronotope by Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975), the creative expression of the intersection between temporal and spatial dimensions, arguing that this represents the most fecund model for exploring the way in which ambient advertising seeks to harness the matrix of time and place. The typology offers a rationale for comparing different ambient campaigns on the basis of the degree to which they clearly express a particular chronotope and goes on to link this to a consideration of rhetorical persuasiveness.

Keywords::

• ambient advertising
• Bakhtin
• typology
• space/time

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the constructive suggestions made by two anonymous reviewers and other contributors such as Susannah Mirghani, Amir Shirkhanbeik, and Chris Miles.

Notes

^1. Available in Creative Advertising by Pricken (2002, 175).

^2. Available in Creative Advertising by Pricken (2002, 172).

^3. Available at http://www.seaspace.cn/img_1/seaspace_060625_9.jpg

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gulnara Z. Karimova

Gulnara Z. Karimova received her PhD in Communication and Media Studies at Eastern Mediterranean University (North Cyprus). She is the author of books Color as a Method of Influence on Consumersand Bakhtin and Interactivity: A Conceptual Investigation of Advertising Communication. Currently, she is a lecturer of a joint Mahan and Malaysian University of Science and Technology MBA program and a marketing consultant for such companies as Novin Leather (Tehran, Iran).