Sensory Marketing

Abstract

Sensory marketing is a strategy that seeks to influence purchasing behavior and position a brand or product by engaging customers’ senses. The senses mediate an individual’s interactions with its environment and serve as an interpretative filter—in conscious and unconscious ways—for the information received. In other words, product differentiation originates from the interaction of the consumer with the product through sensorial interplay. Since the late twentieth century, sensory marketing has gained much ground. Growing research illuminates the ways in which senses prompt different responses in people, in both positive and negative ways.

Overview

Sensory marketing refers to the use of marketing strategies—such as branding, positioning, and packaging—to tap into feelings and memories through the engagement of one or several of the senses: sight (visual), sound (auditory), taste (gustative), touch (tactile) and smell (olfactory). All living beings use their senses or faculties to perceive and interpret stimulation originating internally and externally, that is, from both the psyche and the world around. Marketing managers, then, create and implement strategies aimed at using these senses to sell goods and services and to ensure that these make a lasting imprint in consumers’ minds.

The practice of enticing a potential buyer to purchase a good through the senses is as old as commerce itself. Fabric vendors would invite customers to enjoy the tactile smoothness of a silk or food vendors would entice through taste and smell. In its current incarnation, as a thoughtful and research-based field, however, sensory marketing was born when department store retailers began to use background music and pleasant aromas to influence shoppers’ moods and behavior. The idea was to lure shoppers to spend more time and more money at the store. Background music as a retail concept was developed by Muzak in the 1930s, a company that hired bands to record their music and sell it as a service to stores, restaurants and other firms.

Realizing that heightening the senses led to more sales, retailers began to fine tune the music experience and make it coherent with their visual and scented merchandising, in order to promote particular products, experiences, and lifestyles. Sensory marketing, however, relied on trial and error and was not immune to perils. A music mix that alienates a store’s customer base or a faulty sound system can drive shoppers away.

Nevertheless, studies continue to support the idea that, in general, marketing expanded to the senses and a sensory environment, is a winning proposition. Scientific research suggests that a scented product creates better memory recall in users than unscented equivalents. Scented environments—imbuing an area with a aroma—is used not only by retail shops to promote more sales, but also in the hospitality business and real estate field. Other businesses rely strongly on taste and smell; tasting a product increases the likelihood of purchase, so vendors offer product samples, tasting events, and even cooking classes on their premises.

In the last decades of the twentieth century, marketers and academics began to take more seriously the field of sensory marketing and all the ways in which the senses can intensify perceptions of products and brands. Much of this work relies on the concept of "embodied cognition," the notion that bodily sensations have a strong influence on people’s unconscious decision-making processes. These influences are subtle and, to be successful, must be compatible. For instance, some aromas suggest warmth and thus would work better infused in products created to counter cold.

The power of sensory cues or stimuli is in their subtlety, because consumers do not typically perceive them as marketing ploys. Therefore, they do not raise the usual barriers or skepticism to advertising. In fact, sensory marketing has become an established practice in some industrial fields, such as cosmetics, food, hospitality, paper manufacturing, toy manufacturers, and the automobile industry.

Packaging materials may be selected as indicators of a product’s quality. People perceive a fashion good differently, for example, if it is shipped in crinkly paper rather than plastic bubble wrap. Auditory marketing guides the creation of many different products, from luxury car engines to pens, as it has been discovered that the sound of a pen’s scratch or an igniting car engine can identify certain brands. The idea, then, is not only to enhance the experience of using the product, but also to fix it in the user’s memory.

According to many marketing experts, sensory marketing is a way of placing the customer first and supporting interaction with the customer. Traditional marketing strategies developed one-way communication channels in which a good or service provider pitches to consumers, rather than engaging in a dialogue. Eventually marketers began to understand the importance of listening to the customer by way of feedback and focus groups. With sensory marketing, they are responding to consumers’ tastes in the most personal ways possible. On the other hand, some experts raise ethical concerns; they argue that through sensory marketing, some firms are manipulating consumers by cueing their subconscious without their knowledge.

Further Insights

Marketing experts state that human beings are inherently inclined to enjoy sensory rewards. Among the most intense of these sensations are those that evoke memories and please the olfactory and gustatory senses. Marketing managers, then, must know when consumers are more receptive to such cues and, because individuals perceive and react differently to sensorial stimuli, they must also understand how to develop multi-sensory strategies that engage more senses than one. Sensory marketing raises the cost of strategy development and implementation, so that firms must be careful and select those likeliest to succeed.

• Sight – Close to 100 percent of the population places great importance on visual factors when buying a product. These include elements such as shape, size, and color. In fact, color can significantly increase brand recognition and shelf visibility. It is usually the first sense that comes into play in a shopping experience, followed by touch.
• Touch – Skin has millions of sense receptors and is the most important sense, in terms of marketing, after sight, particularly for the packaging industry. Individuals want to experience how a product feels, the quality of its texture, from the weight of a cell phone on their hand to how a fabric slides against the skin. Packaging, which relies greatly on sight and touch, is also very important element not only for sales, but also for the development of a brand personality.
• Sound – Most individuals are very sensitive to sounds by nature and tend to ascribe meaning to them. Because it does not require a person’s full attention, sound can subtly evoke specific memories and feelings. In the contemporary market, almost no retail sales experience and no broadcast advertising exist without music. The career of sound designer was created to professionalize this innovative growing field. Contemporary branding experts increasingly create specific sounds as part of their brand personality.
• Taste – Taste is closely tied to the sense of smell and the two often work together to create a holistic or all-involving experience. Not surprisingly, it is very important in the food industry. However, the perception of "tastiness" is also used in other industries, such as for promoting soaps and scented candles.
• Smell – Some scientific studies suggest that over 70 percent of feelings and emotions originate in smell. Smell is closely linked to memory and mood. Moreover, it can increase or decrease tension and concentration. While other senses are relatively filtered through the brain, smell is considered the most primeval or instinctive or senses. Marketers use it effectively to evoke memories of childhood –such as through the aroma of baked goods—or perceptions of luxury, as in the aromas of leather, wood, and sandalwood.

A well-designed marketing strategy aims at differentiation, that is, to stand out from competing brands in order to generate memorable experiences, gain competitive advantage and increase sales. Sensory marketing complements other aspects of a marketing strategy, including brand personality and the process of consumer rationalization (the analysis of a product’s benefits versus its defects). Therefore, it is of extreme importance that sensory strategies be coherent with the brand’s image and the firm’s overall values. According to theoretical frameworks, sensory marketing differentiation strategies can be classified as follows:

• Sensory-hedonistic differentiation: This strategy is focused on identifying applicable consumer sensations and designing product or service attributes that appeal to those sensations. The goal is to prompt an emotional and lasting connection between the consumer and the product.
• Sensory-functional differentiation: The purpose of this strategy is to enhance the perception of functionality, such as highlighting a product’s innovations or new features, added value, or additional benefits. The idea is that sensory attributes—which in this case are often secondary—serve to lend support to the product’s functional benefits.
• Sensory-symbolic differentiation. This strategy mainly seeks to position a product or brand. Positioning is promoting a product or service in a specific market segment or niche and in a specific way. Sensory attributes to be cued are selected to lend support to the positioning process. (Stancioiu, Ditoiu, Teodorescu and Onisor, 2016).

Issues

Ideally, a brand means something to the consumer and this meaning is supported by a combination of senses. This is what shapes a brand’s personality in the audience’s mind and generates customer loyalty or attachment to the brand. The meaning-making that customers experience in relation to a brand, however, is often based in much research and work produced by a marketing team. Some brands emphasize a feeling of sincerity and openness, others of excitement, and yet others of timelessness. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to know beforehand how customers will perceive a brand.

Studies have repeatedly shown that customers will often reject a brand when they feel deceived. Using factors, for example packaging, that raise consumer expectations is a high-risk strategy. Brands that rely on an image of openness and sincerity risk much if customers perceive it as engaging in deceptive practices or failing to satisfy expectations. However, brands that appeal to consumer excitement, for example, have greater latitude in regards to consumers’ expectations.

Every firm must give thoughtful consideration to its brand’s position in the market and not fall for the common trope that all sensory marketing strategies must provoke surprise (Sundar, 2016). Moreover, customers’ reactions to sensory marketing are often hard to predict and hardly uniform.

Catering absolutely to customer’s senses may have counterproductive results, according to some critics. A 2011 study with European organic food consumers is a case in point. The organic food market is in flux, as it moves from goods previously considered niche or exclusive, to more mass market or mainstream. In other words, organic foods are making inroads among large retailers. Whereas marketers initially believed that buyers were motivated by altruistic ideas—protecting the environment, animal welfare, not using chemical products—studies showed that, in fact, organic food consumers demonstrate hedonistic or pleasure-based motives for purchasing organic food. Among the reasons provided, for instance, were taste and wellness.

Organic food consumers’ preferences prompted many organic food producers to incorporate sensory factors, such as appearance, smell, feel, and taste, into their production practices and marketing strategies. Because organic food is associated with freshness and naturalness, this raised concerns that by satisfying broad-based customer expectations, the value criteria of organic food was shifting toward appearance. Moreover, new consumers were willing to pay the higher prices that come with organic food only if the product also offered a unique experience, such as superior taste and appearance.

Inevitably, this type of situation exerts pressure on organic food producers to standardize some of the characteristics of organic food, such as naturalness of shape, that previously defined it. Critics argued that such a development would run counter to the original philosophy and intent of organic food production and certification.

Studies of such trends illuminate the extent to which sensory marketing affects different people differently. For example, older consumers tend to place greater emphasis on sensory response when buying fresh produce than do younger buyers. This may be because older consumers believe that organic food, being more naturally produced, will replicate the food they used to consume as children. Younger generations, however, raised in different circumstances, seldom make such associations. In other words, the sensorial cues ascribed to organic food both connect with buyer expectations and prompt pleasant memories among older buyers that do not work in the same way with younger ones (Asioli, Canavari, Castellini, de Magistris, Gottardi, Lombardi, & Spadoni, 2011).

Clearly, all senses play very important roles in the daily experience of individuals, and by default, on their consuming behavior. It influences how people perceive and consume specific brands and products, as well as the relationships they may develop with many of these. It is also very effective in differentiating a product from its competitors.

Even though it has been gaining importance in the marketing field, sensory marketing is subject to many limitations, besides the difficulties in knowing how individuals will react to their sensory cues or stimuli. One of these is the media outlet by which it promotes its product. A product cannot, for instance, produce taste, touch, and aroma cues by way of film or television. Some firms have resorted to imbuing their print ads with aromatic strips, such as in perfume advertisements, so that aroma accompanies the visual impact.

Another potential problem is excess reliance on sensory marketing to the detriment of other important marketing and product aspects. For example, taste, aroma, or sound may have no relationship with a product’s actual purpose and performance. It is important, then, to keep always in mind the firm’s values, the product’s purpose and performance, and the brand’s personality when designing a sensory marketing campaign to ensure that coherence and relevance are not lost in the process.

Terms & Concepts

Brand Personality: Human characteristics ascribed to a brand name in order to make it more attractive and memorable to consumers.

Coherence: Being consistent, relevant, and unified across a series of platforms and media.

Competitive Advantage: An event, situation, or strategy that positions a firm or individual in a superior position versus that of its competition.

Cues: A word or signal that serves to prompt an action, response, thought, or feeling.

Functional: The quality of having a specific purpose. Operating in ways relevant to its purpose.

Hedonistic: A view that gives pleasure primary place. In marketing, an appeal to the appetites and longings of consumers.

Stimuli: Something that prompts a reaction. In marketing, a designed element of a promotion or product identity that engages consumers’ attention and prompts a desire for the product.

Symbolic: Related to the use of signs and symbols. Relying on symbols to express a meaning or quality.

Bibliography

Asioli, D., Canavari, M., Castellini, A., de Magistris, T., Gottardi, F., Lombardi, P., & Spadoni, R. (2011). The role of sensory attributes in marketing organic food: Findings from a qualitative study of Italian consumers. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 42(1), 16–21. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=95568818&site=ehost-live

Berg, P. O., & Sevón, G. (2014). Food-branding places—A sensory perspective. Place Branding & Public Diplomacy, 10(4), 289–304. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=99249027&site=ehost-live

Hultén, B. (2017). Branding by the five senses: A sensory branding framework. Journal of Brand Strategy, 6(3), 281–292. Retrieved October 19, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=127851487&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Krishna, A., Lee, S. W. S., Li, X., & Schwarz, N. (2017). Embodied cognition, sensory marketing, and the conceptualization of consumer's judgment and decision processes: Introduction to the issue. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(4), 377–381. Retrieved October 19, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=126824160&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Miller, R. K., & Washington, K. (2012). Sensory marketing. In Consumer Behavior. n.p.: Richard K. Miller & Associates. Retrieved November 15, 2016 from EBSCO Business Source Ultimate http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=66334747&site=ehost-live

Psychology the science of sensory marketing. (2015). Harvard Business Review, 93(3), 28–30. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=101105356&site=ehost-live

Rajain, P. (2016). Sensory marketing aspects: Priming, expectations, crossmodal correspondences & more. Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 41(3), 264–266. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=118260703&site=ehost-live

Stăncioiu, A., Diţoiu, M., Teodorescu, N., Onişor, L., & Pârgaru, I. (2014). Sensory marketing strategies. Case study: Oltenia. Theoretical & Applied Economics, 21(7), 43–54. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=108792492&site=ehost-live

Sundar, A., & Noseworthy, T. J. (2016). When sensory marketing works and when it backfires. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–5. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=118686189&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Cho, E., Fiore, A. M., & Russell, D. W. (2015). Validation of a fashion brand image scale capturing cognitive, sensory, and affective associations: Testing its role in an extended brand equity model. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 28–48. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=99923075&site=ehost-live

Hultén, B. (2015). Sensory marketing: Theoretical and empirical grounds. London, UK: Routledge.

Katsaridou, I. (2012). Sensory marketing: Research on the sensuality of products. International Journal of Market Research, 54(1), 147–149. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=70466821&site=ehost-live

Krishna, A., & Schwarz, N. (2014). Sensory marketing, embodiment, and grounded cognition: A review and introduction. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(2), 159–168. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=95017212&site=ehost-live

Odell, P. (2016). New study looks at effects of sensory marketing tactics. Promotional Marketing, 1. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=115644399&site=ehost-live

Saint-Denis, C. Y. (2018). Consumer and sensory evaluation techniques: How to sense successful products. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.