Sensory marketing in practice

All of us are familiar with sensory marketing, use its tools and are exposed to it daily, although not everyone knows the term. This is a type of marketing aimed at the buyers’ feelings and their emotional state. It can be said that this is a direct, natural, and even reflex path to a client, since it is based on human nature, on our basic responses.

The most successful brands are “champions” in conveying feelings and emotions. The method of unconscious communication is very effective for brands, because our senses are immediately connected to the limbic system. It is this part of our brain that is responsible for memories, feelings, pleasures and emotions. If a brand stimulates multiple senses, we will be connected to it at a deeper emotional level. Sensory marketing helps a person develop a conditioned reflex, i.e., a clear association of melodies, sounds, smells and colors with certain brands. In this way, it increases not only brand recognition, but also its memorability and customer loyalty.

As it is known, humans have 5 senses — smell, touch, sight, hearing and taste. Stimulating the senses generates emotions and facilitates learning. Such sensory methods as color and sound have been used actively by marketers for a long time, but in terms of our nature direct contact is made through aromas and tactility.

Smell and touch

Smells and touching surfaces provoke us as customers. And vice versa: using knowledge about them, we form certain (necessary) responses from buyers. Direct methods of exposure can be represented by aromatizing premises and products, creating a certain texture of packages and promotional products.

Bakeries located in supermarkets increase sales by saturating the air with the aroma of freshly baked bread, thereby encouraging impulse purchases on the way to this department. In department stores, expensive perfumes are sprayed at the entrance to the escalators leading to the departments for wealthy customers. Furniture sellers use aromas of coniferous wood, lingerie stores use sexy scents to bring customers into a state of euphoria, even banks perfume their premises for the purpose of creating a sense of well-being.

A practical case: “The French travel agency Havas partially reproduces the atmosphere of future vacation destinations in its offices, giving off the smell of heated sea sand and exotic tropical thickets.”

Indirect contact with customers can be made through visual perception and hearing, that is, through visual and audio images. In this case, indirect channels successfully influence the dominant ones, because our psyche itself supplements the information received. For example, if we see something fluffy on the screen, and this video is accompanied by a soft sound, we have a real feeling of touching a fluffy object, and a warm emotion is born inside.

A practical case: “In the shoe salon where sensory marketing is used, sales increased by 40% in two months. The salon attracts its customers with the scent of “budding buds,” stylish music, coffee and chocolate shades of the interior, and even pleasant-to-touch packaging.”

Color

Colors appeal to feelings, not to human logic. Color significantly affects a person’s mental and intellectual state. 80% of color and light are “absorbed” by our nervous system and only 20% — by vision. It has been found reliably that each color evokes subconscious associations and reactions. Properly selected color solutions attract the target audience’s attention, promote communication, and form an emotional perception.

In short, there are three basic (achromatic) colors:

white is cool and clean, it does not cause any unpleasant feelings and serves as an excellent background for other colors

black is the color of self-immersion, it brings a feeling of loneliness, internal conflict, however it is also great as a background for other colors

gray is neutral, creates a sense of stability, encourages restraint

Chromatic colors are presented in the widest range, especially if their shades are taken into account As an example of the impact, let us list some of them: red tunes in determination and activity; pink makes people more attentive, tender and empathetic; brown concentrates on bodily sensations, causes a sense of stability; yellow is the color of openness and purposefulness; golden embodies striving for power and demonstrating one’s own superiority; green is the color of nature, has relaxing and balancing effects; blue creates a feeling of inner strength and harmony, helps concentrate and calm down; orange is the warmest and most energetic, cheerful and impulsive, provides an optimistic tone, creates a sense of well-being; purple is the color of inner concentration, intuitive thinking and creativity.

When choosing a color for the visual range, it is necessary to take into account seasonality (for example, do not use soporific neutral tones in spring) and national color associations (for example, in European culture white is the color of purity, but in Buddhism it is the color of death). 

Sound

Psychologists have established that fast music forces customers to move faster through the rows. When loud music is playing, customers spend less time in the store, but spend more money. The music should be in harmony with the company’s general style, so that the customer has formed a number of subconscious associations linked to this brand.

A practical case: “Nike has opened several shopping malls, where all the shopping pavilions are vocalized. They emit sounds characteristic of respective kinds of sports. There is a clatter of balls in the basketball department, and horses’ neighing can be heard from the riding pavilion.”

As for music, it is not recommended using well-known melodies to attract customers, because these can evoke various memories and emotions (including negative). Classical music is also not suitable, since many people neither understand nor perceive it, but melodic arrangements of classical music are quite appropriate. It is best to use melodies of related musical styles.

Some companies have their own sound logo or sound slogan, which becomes a harmonious complement to the company’s corporate identity and creates an additional emotional connection with consumers. Musical intonation makes speech more expressive, and memorability of a musical slogan is higher than that of a verbal one.

Fixation and multiple repetition of a specific sound signal for a certain type of information causes in the listeners something like a conditioned reflex.

A practical case: “It was decided to accompany the moment of payment with a VISA card by a sound signal of money falling into a basket. Thus, a person gets a sense of reassurance: my virtual money has arrived where it is needed.”

Conclusion: the uniqueness of sensory marketing is that it is possible to influence the audience not only through direct contact at the point of sale, but also through advertising, sending customers not so much rational motives for the purchase as an emotional call to remember, feel, touch... When developing marketing policy, it is necessary to understand which experiences are important for the target audience, what excites and delights them. And having understood this, it is also important not to miss the opportunity for “hooking” their feelings and, consequently, cultivating attachment.

MICE&more: “We are surprised at hearing that print media is a thing of the past. We have a lot of evidence that our glossy magazine, which attracts attention from afar with its bright cover, is desired to be picked up, to inhale the exciting aroma of fresh printing ink, and start flipping through its pages with large illustrations and eye-catching headlines. Moreover, you can complement the reading with a cup of coffee and a fresh croissant. When you get acquainted with a new issue, you first experience pleasant emotions, and then immerse yourself in the meaning of the articles that are interesting to you. We make you want to go somewhere, visit some places, get to know someone and accomplish something. The main color of the MICE&more brand is purple, since we are about creativity.”