Pizza Box Advertising!
Many times this past year, I ordered pizza from various pizzeria’s in my Connecticut hometown. To my surprise, I began noticing advertisements for Cingular Wireless telephones on the pizza box. Somewhere between Belini’s Homestyle Pizza and Fresh Ingredients was that familiar orange logo and a cell phone that I could own for FREE if I SIGNED UP NOW. The first time I noticed this I couldn’t help but laugh. Why would corporations want to advertise on something as disposable as a piece of cardboard that has an average shelf life of approximately ten minutes in my household? Then it dawned on me while I was trying to think of some examples of ambient media. Signals are being sent at us by the media at an alarmingly fast rate from all directions. As we as a society become more cognizant of that fact, the harder media has to work to grab our attention. Perhaps the advertising agency that works for Cingular recognized this. If the general public has gotten savvy enough to ignore a billboard and skip television commercials with a TiVo perhaps a more surprisingly intimate approach to advertising should be taken. To attack that savvy consumer and hit them where it really hurts-their stomachs.
