Bertil Hulten - Sensory Marketing

Sensory Marketing

Bertil Hultn

Niklas Broweus

Marcus van Dijk

Bertil Hultn, Niklas Broweus & Marcus van Dijk 2009

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First published 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

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ISBN-13: 9780230576575
ISBN-10: 0230576575

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Preface

1. What Is Sensory Marketing?

Human Senses As Resource

Sensorial Strategies and Customer Treatment

The Human Senses Are at the Center

Brand and Experience Logic The Subjective Nature of Experience

The Senses and the Sensory Experience

The Individuals Experience Logic

Notes

2. Marketing 3.0

Shifting Dynamics The Embryo of the Binary Society

Modern and Post-modern Value Systems

Individualization As Lifestyle

From Product to Sensory Experience

The Brand and Sensory Marketing

Notes

3. The Smell Sense

To Sniff Out a Good Deal

Scent As Experience Trigger

Scents Depth and Dimensions

The Brand As Smell Experience

Notes

4. The Sound Sense

Sound to Hear and Understand

Sound As Experience Trigger

The Holism of Sound

The Brand As Sound Experience

Notes

The Art of Seeing

Visualization As Experience Trigger

The Formation of the Service Landscape

The Brand As Sight Experience

Notes

6. The Taste Sense

Tasteless Marketing

Taste As Experience Trigger

Brands with Spice

The Brand As Taste Experience

Notes

7. The Touch Sense

Tactile Marketing

Texture As Experience Trigger

To Touch a Feeling

The Brand As Touch Experience

Notes

8. The Brand As Sensory Experience

Empathy and Delight

Sensors, Sensations, and Sense Expressions

The Brand Soul As Heart and Mind

The Supreme Sensory Experience

Notes

Index

This book has its origins in our shared interest in sensory marketing. It began in June 2006 with an idea for a research project at the Baltic Business School (BBS) at Kalmar University, Sweden. It was obvious to us that most marketers had long overlooked the significance of the human senses in marketing, especially how different sense expressions such as scent, music, design, taste, and texture can help clarify the identity of a firm or a brand.

Such sense expressions in marketing can be critical to an individuals sensory experience of a brand or a service landscape, where by service landscape we mean the physical and virtual places in which a firm or brand is highlighted to create an image. We noticed that more and more firms had a growing interest in the significance of the human senses in marketing, not just in terms of the sight sense often expressed through advertising and TV commercials.

Of course, different sense expressions contribute to the image or mental conception an individual creates about a firm or a brand. Thus, we were curious to find out more about the role of the five human senses and to further explore sensory marketing in practice.

At the same time, it was obvious that sensory marketing was sparsely treated in national and international research and literature. This amazed us, because the five human senses smell, sound, sight, taste, and touch should in our opinion underlie the purchase and consumption experiences a firm creates through its marketing strategy and tactics. Primarily for this reason, we realized the need to develop new marketing knowledge.

The main purpose of this book is to analyze and discuss what sensory marketing is all about in marketing management practice as well as from a theoretical perspective. It is our hope that the book will be a source of knowledge and rethinking for marketers, researchers, and students.

The content of the book is global in approach and offers a general view and understanding of sensory marketing. Concepts and theories are integrated with real examples from firms and organizations around the world. We illustrate how each of the five human senses is to be seen as a point of departure for a firms sensorial strategies and customer treatment. We also suggest a comprehensive conceptual framework and introduce our ideas and thoughts about sensory marketing.

• discusses what sensory marketing is. Sensorial strategies are presented in relation to how the five human senses are at the center of marketing. Finally, a discussion follows about the importance of the human senses, the brand, and the individuals experience logic.
• presents Marketing 3.0 in terms of the change forces that are affecting marketing management practice at the beginning of the twentyfirst century. In particular, the chapter discusses the growth of the cultural value shift and of digital technology in what is called the binary society. It also discusses the significance of aesthetics, emotions, and experiences for sensory marketing.
• introduces the smell sense from the perspectives of the firm and the individual. Different sense expressions to facilitate a smell experience are discussed and presented. In addition, the meaning of scents for employees working environment and health are emphasized. Hotel Park Hyatt Vendme is presented as an example of the brand as a smell experience.
• discusses the sound sense and the meaning of sound for both firms and individuals. It describes how different sound expressions can contribute to a sound experience. Moreover, the holistic importance of sound is discussed, where personality and artists are key words. Finally, the Saab brand of the U.S. carmaker General Motors is presented as an example of the brand as a sound experience.