Ink takes off with ambient

Singapore - Ink Publishing has launched a new ambient media division and is confident the business will be a success despite the downturn.

Ink's Ambient Media arm, which is in charge of ambient advertising for the airlines Jetstar, Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific, launched at the end of 2008. The division is headed by group associate publisher Dario Burgel and currently has two staff.

Burgel said Ink set up the ambient business because it "identified a need for clients for someone to look after their ambient media on airlines".

"It only made sense that we look after the ambient media for them," he said.

Ink publishes a massive number of in-flight magazines, for airlines such as Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, Jetstar, China Airlines, AirMacau, Bangkok Airways, Gulf Air, Cebu Pacific and Tiger Airways. It also publishes titles such as TimeOut Singapore and CNBC European Business.

Burgel said despite ambient media being "fairly new and unexplored", the response so far to the offering has been "sensational". He said more clients are looking to ambient media due to the recession as it is cost-effective, targeted and different.

"Agencies are interested in it because it's out of the box and they can be very creative with it," he said.

"The interest is really out there. The campaigns we offer are a very creative solution."

Ink offers advertising on all parts of the airplanes, from tray tables and headrest covers to ads that run on in-flight TV screens. It also offers audio announcements and live demonstrations that can performed during flights by the crew. So far the division has run campaigns for the likes of Budget Car Rentals and Sydney Airport.

Burgel said he is currently looking for more airlines to partner with and will hire more staff for the division at the end of the year.

"We're working on a couple of [client] proposals at the moment, it's slowly taking off," he said.