Captivating, the one word that describes this spot for the Acura ZDX.
The reason is simple, this ad appeals to the viewer’s emotions. By themselves, the catchy music, attractive woman, and filming technique offer little emotional value. But together, they create a certain synergy, offering a seamless message that compels a sense of captivation and awe.
What emotion did you feel while watching this clip? Did you notice Carnegie Hall in the background (implying sophistication and elegance)?
Throughout this sensory branding series, I hope that I have convinced you on the importance of extending brands on a five dimensional level that covers the five senses. With that said, the last sense we will examine is sound. Just as smell is associated with memory, sound is associated with mood. Sound is capable of stirring up a range of emotions.
This is especially true with music. Think about it… music communicates the emotional context for your message. Just look at the movie industry; when directors want to make moviegoers happy, they play happy music. When they want to scare you they play scary music.
The power of music should never be underestimated. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that music can be a deciding factor in a consumer’s purchase decision. The study demonstrated that the pace of music played at retail locations influenced spending and traffic flow.
This idea that sound can actually influence a purchase decision has been largely ignored by brand managers. Just look at the buzz that super annoying $5 foot long commercial created.
To quickly wrap up our discussion of sensory branding, I hope that I have convinced you to at least try to identify how your brand can appeal to the senses. Clearly it is near impossible for any brand to leverage all five senses, but your brand should appeal to as many senses as possible. Not only will a complete sensory experience enable your brand to stand out, but it will decrease the likelihood of customers switching to competitors.
The sense of touch is another sensory aspect that is often ignored. Texture, Shapes, Temperature, and other senses of touch offer powerful possibilities to create a bond with your consumers. Like taste, the use of the tactile sense is to companies which sell physical products. Even if the sense of touch isn’t applicable to your company, read on! You may be pleasantly surprised as to how easy it is to leverage this sense.
Oftentimes, consumers associate product quality with how a product feels. (do you want a flimsy sailboat or a sturdy one?) This association can go even deeper, as studies have shown that the tactile elements of a product are key components in the perception a consumer has for a particular brand.
The thing to remember is that even though you may be unable to leverage this sense with your product, your brand can still appeal to elements of touch. Tactile senses can be easily translated into your marketing material (Cold: Corona, Smooth: Apple)
I love the example Mike Moser gives in United We Brand when describing introducing the Reebok Pump: “We knew that the shoes felt different from any other athletic shoe. When the sneakers were pumped up, people said the shoes seemed to fit better…all we had to do with the ads and commercials was to create incredible awareness so the people would look for the shoes in the store and feel the actual shoe for themselves. Anything we would have said to try and convince someone that the shoe fit better or gave better support would have paled in comparison to how the shoe felt on the person’s foot, so we didn’t try.”
Taste is an obvious sense for companies that deal with food and beverages. Blue Bell Ice Cream, A1 Steak Sauce, Hennessy Cognac, KFC Fried Chicken, Coca Cola; every brand in these industries want to create a unique and specific taste to associate with their brand.
Of all the senses, taste most relies on the others. In fact, nearly 80% of taste is derived from your sense of smell. In order to get a full sensory experience with taste, all other senses but be appealed to.
By its nature, the use of taste is limited primarily to food and beverage products. However, there are some non food or beverage products that have been able to incorporate this sense such as dental products. It is important to remember that everyone is different in which sense(s) they rely on to validate their experience. With this in mind, if you are able to associate your brand with a specific taste, do it! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to gain loyal taste-driven customers.
Apart from sight, marketers have done little to incorporate the other senses within their brand building toolkit. This is a mistake.
Though vision is our most dominant sense, when it comes to eliciting an emotional response, smell is much more powerful. In Brand Sense, Martin Lindstrom states that “seventy-five percent of the emotions we generate on a daily basis are affected by smell”. Nothing is more memorable than a smell, as it is able to bypass all conscious thought and immediately bring forth a rush emotions and memories.
Firms who are able to incorporate scent into their branding elements are able to develop a deep emotional connection with their customer. Singapore Airlines, Rolls Royce, and Starwood Hotels are all companies that have been able integrate distinct scents with their brands.
Starbucks has come to understand the scent aspect of sensory branding. The aroma of fresh ground coffee and espresso has been a great branding tool for Starbucks as it has aided in building the “Starbucks experience”. But when Starbucks began offering breakfast sandwiches, Starbucks began smelling like coffee + eggs + cheese…not a real attractive combination for coffee connoisseurs. Shortly thereafter Starbucks dumped breakfast sandwiches because it interfered with the coffee aroma and diminished the brand experience.
Even if you think your marketing mediums or product offerings are incapable of appealing to the sense of smell, do not worry. Even though some marketing channels and products cannot convey aroma, you can utilize sight to communicate and integrate a scent with your brand. Take the Korean Air ad embedded below, it appeals to your sense of smell, among other senses.
