Engaging the 5 Senses in your Sensory Experiential Marketing Campaign

November 2020

When launching an experiential marketing campaign, it is all about engaging with the consumers. However, for your marketing strategy to be a success, you need to make sure that you are engaging all of the senses. This is something that Purity are specialists in and something we have vast experience in.

What is multi-sensory marketing?

In simple terms, it is the combination of art and science to engage our senses. If a brand is capable of triggering more than one response from consumers, it enhances their experience and will increase the chance of long-term loyalty to your brand.

Brands seek to evoke an emotional response from their consumers and engaging a person’s five physical senses is an important part of any sensory experiential marketing campaign. Read the article below to find out why you should engage your consumers 5 senses.

Sight

So, let’s start off with sight, which is something that all marketing campaigns focus on. After all, this is a highly powerful sense. Did you know that we are able to process visual information 60,000 times faster than we do the written word? For visual information to be registered, it only takes the brain around 13 milliseconds, which is astounding, right? Experiences need to be visually appealing up close and from a distance. Using VR to amplify the power of visual stimuli is highly recommended for any activation campaign.

One thing to remember here is that sight is not limited to what your audience in front of you is able to see. There was a study carried out by Event Marketer that revealed that 50 per cent of consumers at experiential marketing events will go onto share posts. This means that your marketing reach is being expanded by your audience, so make certain you generate campaigns that are visually appealing across your social media channels.

Sound

Next, we have sound, which has the ability to trigger emotions without the person even realising that it is happening. Endorphins are released when we listen to music that we find pleasing. This generates pleasure and increases the positive impression that we have of the brand experience. When utilising sound, think about generating an ambience and atmosphere that will have a positive impact on the mood of your event. The sound you select must be consistent with the message your brand wants to communicate. For example, feelings of relaxation can be increased through the use of jazz music.

Smell

Fun fact: did you know that your sense of smell is the only sense that we have that goes directly to our brain’s limbic system. This is a powerful system where memories are stored, as well as learned associations and emotions. As a consequence, scent can have a big impact on how we perceive and feel about brands, how long we remember an experience, our sense of well-being, and our overall mood.

Touch

Samsung is a brand that is worth assessing when it comes to using the power of touch in your sensory experiential marketing campaign. If you go to any Samsung Experience Store, you will see that consumers are given the chance to touch, pick up, and utilise the different tech items that they have to sell. Samsung really took advantage of this during their Premium Galaxy Studio campaign that Purity worked on in 2019. The campaign was the most experiential platform Samsung had ever created to date. It was a truly immersive experience that allowed consumers to create Insta-worthy moments. When looking to create your experiential campaign, think about different ways that you can emulate Samsung and enable your audience to try out your different items for themselves. Remember, senses are linked, i.e. sight and touch both interact. If you are able to touch and see objects, you will have the ability to make judgments about the items quicker, and with a lower amount of effort than you would need to if you just relied on sight and nothing else.

Taste

Taste is an interesting one, and it can be difficult for certain brands. It is fascinating to see that taste is so strongly related to the other four senses. This is why it is so effective to appeal to numerous senses so that you can generate emotional reactions. Drinking and eating are linked with positive memories by the brain. You may be wondering if there are any specific advantages of adding taste to your experiential marketing campaign if you do not sell beverages or food. However, spas and salons are a good example here. Offering your consumers some small bites, or a tea or coffee, can make a big difference to the experience and this may complement your event well.

If you have read this blog post and are considering whether or not you should host a live experience campaign during Covid, read this post to find out why it’s possible.

We hope that this article gives you some insight into the powerful effects that that engaging consumers 5 senses can have on your sensory experiential marketing campaign.