{"id":7557,"date":"2016-08-16T07:22:48","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T07:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/?p=7557"},"modified":"2024-10-21T12:30:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T12:30:28","slug":"sense-and-sensibility-in-branding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/sense-and-sensibility-in-branding\/","title":{"rendered":"Paving The Way To Improve Brand Experiences: Sense And Sensibility!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Millward Brown chief global analyst Nigel Hollis<\/em> mentions in his book, \u2018Brand Premium: How Smart Brands Make More Money\u2019<\/em>, <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBrand experience exerts the single biggest influence on brand associations. By confirming or denying expectations, experience determines our beliefs about a brand.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Millward Brown, Chief Global Analyst
\nSource: Brand Premium: How Smart Brands Make More Money<\/span><\/p>\n

Search The Right Business Logos Here<\/a><\/div>\n

This translates into the fact that no matter what brands have to say about their products, it is their memories associated with the brand that will dictate future choices, and user experience that will determine the lasting impressions of the brand. Customer experience can make or break a brand and the following facts testify to that.<\/p>\n

Here are some interesting facts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • 82% customers believe that the event is the experiential form of communication most likely to lead to the purchase<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • 8 out of 10 consumers who had a positive customer experience<\/strong><\/a>, talked about the brand.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • 70% of consumers believe that emotions account for 50% of their purchasing decision.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • 9 out of 10 consumers believe that testing the product through experience is the best way to get information on the brand.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • 66% said that experiential marketing positively affects their opinion of the brand.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Moving Up Visuals To Higher Sensory Paradigms<\/h2>\n

    For the last two decades, marketers have moved beyond the realm of visuals to build expertise in reaching consumers and cementing relationships with them through all the five senses. By deploying cues, such as the scritch-scratch sound of a Sharpie pen, the sound of the car door closing, the scent of fresh brewed coffee, the warm and soft tactile feel of Apple products, and the characteristic sting from a swig of mouthwash, marketers hope to intensify perceptions of brands. Ample research has proven that we have entered an era where increasingly more and more consumer product companies are capitalizing on the wonders of sense-based marketing for brand revivals<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Aradhna Krishna, the author of the book \u2018Customer Sense: How the 5 Senses Influence Buying Behavior\u2019<\/strong><\/em>, says that many companies are fast realizing how strong a hold different senses have on our minds and influence our decisions. Krishna was constantly plagued by questions, such as why is an advertisement exhibiting a decadent piece of cake more captivating when a fork is placed to the right of the cake? Or why does wine taste better in a wine glass than in a water glass? Or why does the aroma of cinnamon seemingly improve the function of a heating pad?<\/p>\n

    Krishna reached a conclusion that when senses are congruent in some way, they seem to amplify one another. Since Cinnamon inherently suggests warmth, it can boost the apparent effectiveness and appeal of the heating pad in our minds. Such subtle influences are so powerful, because they are not perceived as marketing gimmicks by consumers, and thus are not met with resistance, as promotions and ads do.<\/p>\n

    Tapping In To The Realms Of Sensory Branding<\/h2>\n

    Here are the essential components of multisensory marketing and how brands over the globe are jumping on the bandwagon to adapt.<\/p>\n

    Whiff of Success: Does Your Brand Have the AXE Effect?<\/h3>\n

    The sense of smell is a potent tool that has the potential to stimulate emotions that are ambiguously defined, but have a distinctive attachment to a place or object. Research by Nobel Peace winners Linda Buck <\/em>and Richard Axel<\/em>, reveal that scholars consider the sense of smell as the most \u201cemotional\u201d sense of all. This is because rather than analyzing the information received from a particular scent, we are more prone to experiencing a \u201cfeeling\u201d upon smelling something.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/a><\/p>\n

    According to the Sense of Smell Institute<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, in New York, a human being can remember up to 10,000 different odors that can elicit different memories; sometimes transporting us all the way back to our childhood. Research has shown a 40% improvement in consumer\u2019s moods when exposed to a pleasant scent; especially if the aroma resonates with a joyful memory.<\/p>\n

    Rule No.1 Of Success; Smell Your Best<\/h4>\n

    Remember the time when you bought your first car? The heady smell of fresh leather, or the \u201cnew car\u201d smell is construed by people as one of the most gratifying scents. The smell becomes as much an element of opulence and a statement of newness as the glossy body. However, the exuberant odor is in fact an artificial construct, no doubt a marketing gimmick to tap in to people\u2019s fantasies. As each car leaves the production line, the aroma is sprayed from large aerosol canisters throughout the interiors.<\/p>\n

    \"Lincoln<\/a>
    \n    Image Source<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

    Similarly, giant retailers like J.W., Abercrombie & Fitch, Jimmy Choo, Westin, Hugo Boss, Bloomingdale\u2019s, and Hollister are widely popular for branding their retail environments with characteristic scents spritzed throughout their stores.<\/p>\n

    \"Sense<\/a><\/p>\n

    Brands Winning The Smell Game<\/h4>\n

    While all brands have jumped on the bandwagon to adapt this branding secret, some brands have embodied it to absolute perfection. Here\u2019s our round up of the brands that are making us sway and giggle and our hearts flutter with their fragrance.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Dunkin Donuts:<\/strong> During a campaign by Dunkin Donuts, an atomizer was set up to release a draft of coffee aroma each time the brand jingle played on municipal buses. The successful campaign augmented visits to the outlets in the vicinity of the bus stops by 16%, while sales at those outlets escalated by 29%.<\/li>\n
    • Singapore Airlines:<\/strong> The airline incorporates a pleasant bespoke scent called Stefan Floridian Waters, which permeates each aspect of the airline; from the airhostesses, down to the freshly scented towels. According to Lindstrom (2005), the new sensory branding ploy is now associated with being feminine and Asian by travelers and makes them reminisce comfortable, smooth journeys.<\/li>\n
    • Cinnabon<\/strong>: The aroma of freshly baking Cinnamon rolls is too enticing to resist and it is no coincidence that the ovens at each Cinnabon outlet are placed at the front of the store, where the fragrance could waft out and diffuse throughout the airports and malls, where the outlets are generally situated.<\/li>\n
    • M&M:<\/strong> The M&Ms World store in London’s Leicester Square is luring their customers in with the decadent aroma of chocolate. Since their products come pre-packaged, it was impossible to infuse the store with the chocolate scent until they spritzed the store with an artificial chocolate fragrance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Can Sense Of Smell Actually Affect Consumer Behavior?<\/h4>\n

      As to the science of how smell can be leveraged to influence consumer behavior, a study conducted by academic and consumer psychologist Eric Spangenberg and his colleagues found that customers are highly predisposed to look around and peruse through stocked shelves of scented stores, and even experience an escalation in positive opinions and a tendency to linger patiently in long lines, than in their unscented counterparts. In addition, the study also highlighted that when feminine fragrances, such as \u201cvanilla\u201d or \u201ccitrus\u201d, were sprayed inside the store, the sale of women\u2019s attires doubled. Similar results were observed for men when masculine scents, such as \u201crose Maroc\u201d were used.<\/p>\n

      According to Spangenberg, “Men don’t like to stick around when it smells feminine, and women don’t linger in a store if it smells masculine.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Strike The Right Chords Of Success<\/h3>\n

      Aren\u2019t we accustomed to the catchy jingles running on TV, the Iusacel ringtone of an incoming call, the memorable Intel notes used throughout all of Intel\u2019s brand building and advertising campaigns, and the famous Nokia tune? There are other equally transcendent but less obvious sounds, such as the messenger alert sounds, the distinctive chord played by Mac upon start-up, the \u201cclick\u201d of Zipo lighters, the crunch of cereal, the crumple of fancy crinkly paper, the pop of the soda can, and the sound that the doors of many car brands, such as Chrysler and GM, are designed to make to generate acknowledgement and recognition in our minds.<\/p>\n

      \"Spk<\/a>
      \n      Image Source<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

      The unique and characteristic crunching sound you adore about the Kellogg\u2019s cereal doesn\u2019t come naturally. The crackling sound you hear was diligently mastered in a laboratory. According to Martin Lindstrom, \u201cKellogg\u2019s considers the crunchiness of the grain as having everything to do with the triumph of the brand, which is why their TV ADs emphasize the crunch we hear and feel in our mouths.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Leveraging Music To Impact Purchase Behaviors<\/h4>\n

      As consumers, we are typically so accustomed to the background music we hear when we step inside a restaurant or a retail store that we don\u2019t think twice over it. If it\u2019s a top 40 hit or a song we know, we might hum along for a while, or not without giving a second thought. However, what we are oblivious to is the fact that behind the curtains of your mind, the music is slowly and deliberately working its magic and being used to get you to spend more money, speed you up, or slow you down. In a research by Suvi Saarikallio, music is found to increase physiological arousal, affect our moods, self-regulate our emotions, and even to affect us physically by alleviating or escalating our heart rates.<\/p>\n

      \"The<\/a><\/p>\n

      A research focused on studying the \u201ceffect of music tempo on consumer behavior in a restaurant\u201d discovered that restaurants that play soft and slow music are better able to make patrons spend considerably more time and money than restaurants that play fast paced beats. If that is the case however, why does Abercrombie & Fitch instead choose to play boisterous club music throughout its stores? As Cara Buckley puts in an NY Times article, contemporary restaurant and retailer owners believe that while the older generation runs away from it, the millennial are better able to withstand louder music, enabling the brand to maintain a fresher image and a more youthful clientele.<\/p>\n

      In addition, according to Emily Anthes, “Shoppers make more impulsive purchases when they’re overstimulated. Loud volume leads to sensory overload, which weakens self-control.” No doubt, Abercrombie & Fitch, and other contemporary brands are looking for ways to create an environment that overstimulates the brain and triggers impulse purchase behaviors. Not to mention, loud music can also keep out the evenhanded parents! Check out this video to get a taste of Abercrombie & Fitch\u2019s playlist:<\/p>\n