I’ve heard a bit about “sensory” marketing – does this actually work?

I’ve heard a bit about “sensory” marketing, which appeals to people’s senses. I run a gadget shop and I wondered if there are any kinds of sights, smells or sounds that would work well to encourage people to come in and spend their money?

Don’t let anyone fool you, all marketing is sensory marketing.  It’s just that we need to acknowledge there are at least five senses we can use to engage people with.

Consider the work we’re doing with the Renault Latitude at the moment. We’re using Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) to measure peoples stress levels driving their regular car verses the Renault Latitude.

You can see the responses at www.stresstestdrive.com.au. The point being that this involves sensory technology to dramatise the benefit of the car, but it’s still just marketing.

Further, another part of the campaign encourages people to actually sit in the massaging seats, smell the sophisticated air freshening capabilities and listen to the Bose sound system.

Again, this is engaging the senses of consumers.

Remember you have at least five senses to engage people with, and tell your story with.  A good marketer will use these senses as a checklist and ensure they have considered, although not necessarily used, all of them when considering their marketing activity.

Perhaps the most interesting macro change in marketing communications is moving from the one-way passive image based advertising of yesterday to interactive, immersive and engaging advertising of the future.

With this being the case, all the senses, not just eyes and ears, will become more and more important.