It simply makes sense

By the time the American consumer reaches the ripe old age of 65, they have been exposed to two million television commercials. This means that they've spent and equivalent of eight hours each day, seven days a week, watching commercials without a break for close to six years!

You may very well discuss the effect of those TV commercials. In the search for that something new, I reached the conclusion that we have to move right outside of today's advertising paradigm. We have to go back to the basics and identify what actually appeals to human beings on an ordinary, everyday basis.

Almost our entire understanding of the world is experienced through our senses. Our senses are our link to memory and can tap right into emotion. A bright fresh spring day has a particular smell to it. Manufacturers try to bottle this feeling of life's renewal. Then the marketers use the emotional connection to spring to sell their dishwashing liquids, toilet cleaners, shampoos, soaps, window cleaners and, well, you name it...

With help and support from the international research institute Millward Brown, a team of 600 researchers over a period of 18 months, undertook a qualitative and quantitive research project across 13 countries. The findings have been nothing short of mind-blowing. They revealed that 83 percent of all brand communication according to the BRAND sense study today is focused on our two senses: what we hear and see. In sharp contrast, 75 percent of our emotions are generated by what we in fact smell.

Branding is all about building emotional ties between consumer and product, and so if this is true, then it forces us to look at the reasons why this fact has been almost entirely ignored in the world of marketeering. Furthermore the next logical step is to investigate how this concept can be leveraged and to what effect.

Incorporating smell into branding has already begun. In fact as far back as 1973 Singapore Airlines broke through the barriers of traditional branding with their Singapore girl, a move which would prove so successful that in 1994, the Singaporean Girl celebrated her 21st birthday, and became the first brand figure to be displayed at the famous Madame Tussaud's Museum in London. Prior to that the airline based their promotions on cabin design, food, comfort and pricing - ignoring the total sensory experience they could offer. Singapore Airlines made the shift when they introduced their campaign based exclusively on the emotional experience of air travel.

With a brand platform that emphasizes smoothness and relaxation, their strategy was to move away from portraying themselves as merely an airline and opted to present themselves as an entertainment company. In the process, a new set of brand tools were invented by the end of the 1990s when Singapore Airlines introduced Stefan Floridian Waters. Not your average household name, to be sure, but Stefan Floridian Waters is an aroma. An aroma, which has been specifically designed as part of Singapore Airlines. Stefan Floridian Waters formed the scent in the flight attendants' perfume, was blended into the hot towels served before take off and generally permeated the entire fleet of Singapore Airlines planes. The patented aroma has since become a unique and very distinct trademark of Singapore Airlines.

Texture has also been leveraged. Kellogg's, the breakfast cereal experts believe taste is as affected by the textures we eat as the flavor of the food. Kellogg's has spent years experimenting with the synergy between crunch and taste. As part of this research they made contact with a Danish laboratory that specializes in the exact crunchy sensation of a breakfast cereal. Kellogg's wanted to patent it, and trademark and own it in the same way they own their recipe and logo. So the laboratory created a highly distinctive crunch uniquely designed for Kellogg's, with only one very important difference. The particular sound and feel of the crunch was identifiably Kellogg's, and anyone who happened to pass by cornflakes displayed in a glass bowl at a breakfast buffet would be able to be recognize the anonymous cornflakes as Kellogg's.

But Kellogg's is not alone. The smell of Crayone color pens that take me back to childhood has in fact become an important ingredient in the company's brand strategy. Early 2000 Crayola needed to protect their brand from the many unauthorized competitors in Asia. This proved challenging in the extreme. It's difficult to protect a color pen, which draws generic colors. It's even harder to do when the logo is barely recognizable and the pens are separated from their packaging. All you can do is smell.

By analyzing the scent of the original pen, Crayon artificially manufactured the smell and patented it. Today the very characteristic smell that we so strongly associate with Crayon, is chemically coded and an essential component of the Crayon product, there to stimulate the memory of generations of kids in years to come, and above all, impossible to imitate.

What we've learned from Singapore Airlines and Kellogg's is that success lies in mastering a true sensory synergy. A tactile feel in your jaw accompanies the Kellogg's crunch. The aroma only takes on an exotic tang when accompanied by the colorful beauty of the Singaporean girl or the distinct smell of Crayola pens.

Will the effects be increased if we harness more senses into the equation? In short, let me summarize more than 10,000 pages of research by simply saying, Yes. The more senses you appeal to, the stronger the message. When applying this information to a branding context, the general rule of thumb is that the more senses a brand appeals to, the stronger the message will be perceived. Interestingly, stronger bonding directly translates to higher prices that consumers will be prepared to pay.