Companies trying to sell you a product will do anything to cram their ads down your throat, but it’s always nice when they show a bit of creativity and taste when trying to get your attention. Ambient advertising is one such specific form of advertising, which seeks at once to become a part of its environment and to draw your attention to it. Whether it’s a spoof product, a well-placed and cleverly designed billboard, or something else, the point of creative advertising is to get your attention and make you think.

It all began when the power of traditional media started declining, giving way to innovative off-the-shelf advertising ideas. These clever ads started appearing in British media jargon around 1999 and this kind of creative design has been actively evolving ever since.

Some of the ambient ads out there may shock you, entertain you, or even make you laugh. What do you think about the creative ads that we’ve collected here?

If you’re interested in seeing some more of these creative ideas, be sure to check out our previous ambient ad posts (part 1 and part 2).

NRDC.org: Air Pollution Kills 60,000 People a Year

Advertising Agency: unknown

National Geographic: 3D Crocodile Escalator

Advertising Agency: unknown

Pepto-Bismol: Laundromat

Advertising Agency: Publicis, New York, USA

Motor City Nightmares: Horror Buckets

Advertising Agency: Y&R, New York, USA

Sparring Partner Gym: Hanging

Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, Italy

IBM: Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, France

Doom Fogger: Roachville

Advertising Agency: TBWAHuntLascaris Johannesburg, South Africa

Carnival Cruiselines: Waterslide Escape

“Our water park goes to the Bahamas.” (Advertising Agency: Arnold Worldwide, USA)

Bigelow Organic Tea

Created by Joseph Delhommer

Visa: Go Back to Pompeii

To raise awareness of Visa’s sponsorship of the Pompeii exhibit at our National Museum, we greeted all visitors to Wellington Airport with a lava flow that ran around the baggage carousel.

Baltica Beer: Subway

Advertising Agency: Sepia, Chile

Dental Care

Advertising Agency: unknown

The Hairdressers: Need a Top Chop?

Advertising Agency: unknown

Windex Glass Cleaner

Advertising Agency: unknown

Hopping Pátio Dom Luís: Breast Cancer Bra

“Prevent breast cancer. Do the self-examination.” (Advertising Agency: Bolero, Fortaleza, Brazil)

Dressing for Pleasure: Ketchup bottle

There are two worlds of bottom snacking, the world of BDSM and thw world of ketchup bottles. The company, Dressing for Pleasure, a specialist in fetishwear and all things S&M releated, married these two worlds by putting stickers of enticing rear ends on the bottoms of ketchup bottles. Thus inviting bar patrons to explore a completely different appetite while addressing their hunger.  (Advertising Agency: JWT, New York, USA)

Frontline: Get Them Off Your Dog

“Get them off your dog.”  (Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Jakarta, Indonesia)

Fight Smoking

Advertising Agency: unknown

Mercedes-Benz 2012 C-350 Coupe

“Looks fast even in a park. Mercedes-Benz” (Advertising agency: BBDO Toronto)

Juice Salon: Escalator

Advertising Agency: Rediffusion DY&R, India

Korean Subway Ad

Photo by: Stephen Nessen

Quebec Automobile Insurance Society : Seatbelts

Advertising Agency: Lg2, Canada

Don’t Drink And Drive

Advertising Agency: unknown

Nivea: Good-bye Cellulite Couch

Advertising Agency: TBWAChiatDay, New York, USA

The Redbirds Are In Town

To promote a home stand for the Memphis Redbirds, a minor league baseball affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, we covered a car in fake bird droppings and parked it near a busy intersection with a sign that read, “The Redbirds are in town.” (Advertising Agency: Archer Malmo, Memphis, USA)

Cool and Creative Ambient Ads Part I

Cool and Creative Ambient Ads Part II

Games

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