SENSORY BRANDING Use of senses as a strategic model of communication

PhD. Lect. Oana BARBU West University of Timisoara, Romania

oana.barbu@e-uvt.ro

THE SOCIETY OF HYPER-CONSUMPTION: HOMMO CONSUMERICUS

➤ Gilles Lipovetsky, Le bonheur paradoxal. Essai sur la société d'hyperconsommation, éditions Gallimard, 2006

➤ consumer behavior in the contemporary era is characterized by two interpretative models: ▪ The firs one ➔ technological revolution

➔the establishment of a new type of society: that of the network and informational capitalism

▪ The second one ➔ attitude and value changes in contemporary society ➔a whole new type of society who functions very well “with hyper consumption and not with its

decrease”

LIPOVETSKY SETS OUT THREE HISTORICAL STAGES FOR DEFINING THE CONSUMER SOCIETY

THE MYTHICAL DIMENSION OF ADVERTISING: VARDA LANGOLZ LEYMORE, THE HIDDEN MYTH

▪ advertising strengthens behavioural models ▪ offers a simple solution to the constant and annoying dilemmas of human

condition (who am I? To what group do I belong? Who are my role models)

▪ Both advertising and myth abide the same construction rules of value based rating ▪ tries to resolve inherent ambiguities and basic dichotomies: life-death, peace-war,

happiness-sadness, loneliness-togetherness etc. ▪ it is constructed on OUR

▪ socio-cultural standards ▪ it is applied on a certain set of values ▪ it appeals to our beliefs ▪ it tries to create a certain lifestyle or a consume habit

▪ Why do they succeed? they both interposes between abstract and concrete ▪ using a “dialogue of signs” – they gives us some ANSWERS ▪ They are grounded in our emotions

“ Advertising is the magic system of present times: a highly organised system of magical persuasions and of the satisfaction generated by these, very similar, from a functional point of view, as magic was to the archaic societies, but coexisting at the same time with the latest hi-tech

(Raymond Williams, Our television, ed. Routledge, London, 1989 )

DILEMA:A MAGICAL REALM COULD AGGRAVATE SUFFERING BY CONTINUOUSLY GENERATING DISSATISFACTION

➤ Today’s satisfaction sources: a variety of experiences and the need for constant change

▪ pleasure as “a positive good” and comfort as “a negative good” ➢ advertisements suggest: eternally repetitive pleasure, fact that makes them extremely resistant to

deception ▪ numerous long usage goods, especially public services (heath, education,

entertainment) produce deceptions after a repetitive use

not the advertisement’s products are the ones that disappoint, but the values associated with them by our expectations

GILLES LIPOVETSKY:

➤ Due to the advertising phenomenon, nowadays we are facing a more responsible and vigilant individual ➔ a metaphorical Narcissus that is not easy to be satisfied by products

Characteristics of nowadays consumer: ▪ pays more attention to the information he has selected ▪ Accent on his general image (his body shape, his home, his circle of friends) ▪ he worships leisure time as quality time ▪ concerned with the quality of his experiences, his social and cultural medium !

▪ we are dealing only with a gradual difference among hommo aestheticus and hommo consumericus

“HOMMO CONSUMERICUS DID NOT MIRACULOUSLY CHANGE OVER NIGHT IN A WISE MAN: IT’S JUST THAT THE DIONYSIAN CHAOS (OF THE SECOND PHASE) WAS DEPOSED

BY THE ZEN ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ABUNDANCE OF PRODUCTS”

➤ The days of shouting at consumers are gone:

• Traditional communications solutions are not as effective as they once were

• Impact is falling – advertising recall is in decline

• Channel proliferation and audience fragmentation

• Vision overload

➤ Brands are searching for more meaningful long-lasting connections!

KEVIN ROBERTS (2005), LOVEMARKS, POWERHOUSE BOOKS PUBLISHING HOUSE (SAATCHI & SAATCHI)

SENSORY BRANDING AS A NEW STRATEGY

Sensitivity and emotion have become THE communication and operation factors in advertising

Kevin Roberts (Satchi&Satchi)

STRATEGIC USE OF SENSORY BRANDING

➤ What is Sensory branding?

➤ Marcel Proust – “In search of lost time” - 1909

✓  intuitive memory ✓ time travel because of a familiar taste:  taste of a madlen cake (sort of a cupcake)

✓ a familiar object can trigger a flashback instantly and this reaction is used by marketers and advertisers as a strategy to relate with their product

✓This is called SENSORY MEMORY

STRATEGIC USE OF SENSORY BRANDING: USE OF ALL 5 SENSES

➤ Senses - subsystems that enable the physiological response to stimuli in the form of sensations.

➤ At the base of sensation is a particular functional property of animal organisms sensitivity.

➤ the first form of information communication is the reception of sensory information

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TOUCH ANYTHING?

HOW CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE RED COLOUR TO A BLIND PERSON?

HOW DOES A DEAF PERSON DANCE?

STRATEGIC USE OF SENSORY BRANDING: USE OF ALL 5 SENSES

➤ synesthesia: a natural neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

➤ seeing sounds

➤ seeing smells

➤ touching colours

Advertising uses the power of synesthesia by the help of our sensory memory!

advertising techniques have mixed two senses: sight and hearing

Printed advertising: Combinations of two senses:

sight-smell; (Visual suggestion of a perfume smell)

sight-touch (texture)

visual taste (visual suggestion of taste)

EXAMPLE OF SYNESTHESIC SENSORY BRANDING

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=VMOR9I2JXZS

BRAND SENSE STUDY 2002By Brand Sense and Martin Linstrom

➤ The world's first global study of the way we use our five senses on relation to brand propositions

➤ 13 countries involved; 3 different market types (America, Europe, Asia), over 10.000 people

➤ 83% Of all information people receive is visual

➤ The sense of smell emotionally affects humans up to 75% more than any other sense

➤ Our mood will increase by up to 29% if we are exposed to a positive tactile feeling

➤ Our mood will increase by up to 23% if we are exposed to a positive taste feeling

➤ Our mood will increase by up to 46% if we are exposed to a positive image

➤ Our mood will increase by up to 65% if we are exposed to a positive sound/song

TODAYS CONSUMERS DEMAND SENSORY BRANDING

➤ smelling pages in perfume brochures

➤ perfume testers

➤ we prefer to taste food before we buy it

➤ we developed consumer habits: tequila, Corona Beer

We demand a complete experience with the products we buy

- uniqueness

- memorability

- full attachement

THE SMELLING ROOM EXPERIMENT (2010)

• In a well-known experiment at the Chicago Institute of Smell and Taste two identical pairs of Nike trainers were placed in two identical rooms; one room was scented, the other was not

• Not only did 84% of the research sample prefer the pair in the scented room, they were – on average – prepared to spend an additional $10.33

BRANDS MAKING SENSE – SOME BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES

➤ mixing senses for brand awareness • Coca Cola (sight - colour, sound - of an opened bottle, touch - the shape of the bottle) • Nokia, Windows, Intel, Samsung (sound associated with sight of the logo) • Singapore Airlines (touch, sight and smell associated with airplane chairs and blankets) • Coccolino (smell-touch-sight campaign)

➤ other types of mixing senses • Milka chocolate with pudding for Christmas •Danone yogurt with cinnamon for Christmas • The "spring Fresh" smell of Coccolino and Silan laundry softener • The “new car odour” was invented by BMW! • Barkley Bank London brought a coffee smelling machine inside • various types of music inside a clothing store target different people and consumer behaviour

“The subject is the one that desires, but the object is the one that seduces

-Jean Baudrillard

IDENTIFY POSSIBLE SENSORY FEATURES OF THIS BRAND

IDENTIFY POSSIBLE SENSORY FEATURES OF THIS BRAND

IDENTIFY POSSIBLE SENSORY FEATURES OF THIS BRAND

“whether we like it or not we are becoming overexposed to sensory branding.

Can we talk about an ethical problem?

THANK YOU FROM ALL MY SENSES

PhD. Lect. Oana BARBU West University of Timisoara, Romania

oana.barbu@e-uvt.ro