The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Marketing for Businesses
How many times have you walked past a coffee shop, only to be lured in by the irresistible aroma of freshly brewed coffee? Or maybe you’ve caved in and tossed those tempting candies and snacks near the checkout counter into your cart? Well, you can thank sensory marketing for that!
That’s right – businesses, big and small, use clever, subtle yet intentional cues to tap into our senses and nudge us toward making a purchase. Whether it’s convincing us to finally buy something we’ve been eyeing or tempting us to add a little extra to our cart, sensory marketing is all about creating experiences that speak directly to our senses.
Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? It’s indeed a fascinating concept in the marketing world, and we’re about to explore it today. Ready to understand how brands use sight, sound, smell, touch, and even taste to win us over? Let’s go!
Sensory Marketing: An Introduction
As we established earlier, sensory marketing is about appealing to the five senses so as to instantly engage customers and create memorable experiences. This goes a step further than conventional advertising and surprises, entertains, or interacts with the target audience to connect with them at a deeper level. As a result, they are more likely to remember the brand or product being promoted a little longer than when they encounter a traditional ad.
While “sensory marketing” sounds like a fancy term, the idea itself is not new. For ages, businesses have been using their own strategies to enhance the experience and sway purchasing decisions.
For instance, take the concept of a test drive before buying a car. The moment you step in a car and feel it, it feels real and a car that impresses you at that instance is more likely the one that you drive home. Or have you noticed how essentials like milk are often placed at the farther end in most stores? So when you walk past the aisle to go pick up some milk you end up adding something else to your shopping cart.
Another example you probably relate to is the use of dim lighting at most fine dining restaurants to create a cozy and welcoming atmosphere – influencing you to dine a little longer. Whereas fast food chains mostly use bright signage and bright ambient lighting to align with the fast dining culture.
All these are some well-known sensory marketing instances you probably have encountered without even realizing that the business is marketing to you.
In addition to this, there are some brands known to proactively use sensory cues at diverse touchpoints. Let’s talk about a few such that are known for their sensory marketing expertise.
Brands That Have Aced the Art of Sensory Marketing
McDonald’s
From the instant allure of the golden arches to the signature red and yellow ads, McDonald’s has its way of grabbing attention with visual cues. But that’s not all.
They create ads that make your mouth water. For example, if the clip below makes you hungry, you’re not alone!
In addition to visual cues, the brand also actively uses auditory cues.
What does “badabababa” remind you of? Need more clues? Listen to this tune.
You could instantly tie the jingle to McDonald’s, right? Yes, that’s a brilliant example of using audio brand elements to appeal to the auditory senses. McDonald’s has been consistently incorporating this jingle into their marketing for decades.
Ba Da Ba Ba Bah, I'm Lovin' It! #BestSongEver
— McDonald's (@McDonalds) June 25, 2013
There have also been several instances where the brand has deployed other sensory cues in marketing. Consider their scented billboard campaign.
For this campaign, the brand placed solid red and yellow billboards in Utrecht and Leiden, Netherlands.
Customers passing these billboards were welcomed with the signature aroma of McDonald’s French Fries. Smells can be impactful sensory cues, especially in food marketing! Hence this idea worked and it helped drive foot traffic to the local McDonald’s outlets.
As you can see, there was no brand name or logo on the billboard or any other visual cue giving the brand name away. However, some customers instantly recognized the brand.
Starbucks
Starbucks is another well-known brand to have aced the sensory marketing game. From the smell of freshly brewed coffee to the lighting and music creating a whole different vibe, Starbucks outlets around the globe have stringent standards when it comes to sensory cues. The idea is to create a wholesome and memorable experience at all their outlets.
Did you know that Starbucks employees are not allowed to wear strong perfumes when on duty? This is mainly to prevent these strong scents from interfering with the fresh coffee aroma. And because of the fact that coffee beans absorb odors easily.
In addition to olfactory cues, Starbucks is known for their music. In fact, for four decades now, the brand has consistently used music to complement the experience at their outlets. You can even view their playlists on Spotify.
Apple
Apple’s distinct minimalistic brand identity consists of strong visual cues tying back to the brand. Moreover, think of the ambiance of Apple Stores. These stores carry excellent lessons in sensory marketing and its impact.
To begin with, there is a clean uncluttered layout that makes maneuvering through the store and experiencing all the products easy. But that’s not all. Reportedly, the tilt on the laptop screens in Apple Stores is such that they encourage users to adjust the screen to better view it. That’s the instance they make first physical contact with the product – a sensory cue!
Then comes the sense of touch that the brand taps into with their premium unboxing experience.
Do you have a secret stash of Apple iPhone boxes? You’re not alone! Apple has definitely been a trendsetter when it comes to smartphone packaging, and gadget packaging on the whole. Did you know that Apple has a patent for the signature packaging?
The brand is very particular about creating a memorable and luxurious experience and this begins the moment a user holds the Apple box in their hands.
Finally, there are signature sounds that are part of the Apple ecosystem – like the below sound that most people are familiar with – the sound of a Mac device powering on.
These are just a few ways in which Apple creates a wholesome sensory experience for customers.
While these brands have been utilizing a multi-pronged approach appealing to multiple senses, there are also others that have focused on a single, powerful sensory cue to create a lasting impact. From signature sounds to distinct scents and sensory-response-focused campaigns, let’s talk about a few more examples.
A Few More Sensory Marketing Examples
Baskin Robbins – flavor sampling
The best use of sensory marketing will be to highlight a brand’s unique selling point. In the case of Baskin Robbins, their signature flavors are what they are particularly known for. Hence the concept of sampling their flavors.
What happens when they let customers sample their flavors before buying them? They expose customers to diverse flavors and improve the chances of repeat purchases. In fact, the iconic pink spoon that has become an integral element of the Baskin Robbins identity came into existence for this idea of allowing customers to sample the flavors before buying them.
me smiling like I didn’t just ask for another sample after trying 10 flavors pic.twitter.com/wUzdf0Qo9c
— Baskin-Robbins (@BaskinRobbins) November 7, 2024
This idea of appealing to the sense of taste to engage customers from the get-go has proven to be beneficial to the brand for decades. In fact, the concept of free samples itself is known to be quite popular in the food industry. Data shows that about 35% of consumers who get to try a sample end up purchasing the product within the same shopping trip. And a free sample is a classic example of sensory marketing – establishing physical contact with the target audience.
Singapore Airlines – Stefan Floridian Waters
What do you remember when you think about Singapore Airlines? Perhaps many would remember the distinct citrusy floral scent. Did you know that this is a scent patented by Singapore Airlines and is called Stefan Floridian Waters?
Odors are known to be some of the most impactful triggers of memories. Hence scent marketing holds a special place in sensory marketing and Singapore Airlines’ signature scent is a classic example.
Remember that McDonald’s billboard campaign we discussed? There again olfactory triggers led to brand recognition.
Mastercard’s sonic identity
Now let’s talk about auditory cues. Can you recall the distinct notification sound that you hear after making a Mastercard transaction? The video here talks about the launch of this tune to be integrated into the brand’s identity.
Sounds have been used as common sensory triggers in advertising for decades. In fact, communication through radio and advertising through audio ads is a concept older than television and video advertising. Therefore brands around the world have consistently used audio components in their branding and marketing.
McDonald’s jingle, Mac startup tone, the sound you hear when you plug in your iPhone charger, Nokia’s ringtone, Netflix’s “tudum”, the list goes on and on.
The video here is a compilation of several such well-known brand tunes. See how many of them you can recognize.
Dunkin’ Flavor Radio
Korea’s obsession with coffee needs no introduction. Therefore, when Dunkin’ wanted to increase the popularity of their coffee in Seoul and emerge beyond the label of being a place for donuts, they had to do something extraordinary. And they did!
They created a campaign called Flavor Radio. Accordingly, Dunkin’ installed aroma diffusers in city buses in Seoul and these were programmed to release the signature aroma of Dunkin’ coffee every time the Dunkin’ jingle plays in a radio ad. The idea was to tie the aroma to the brand and it worked.
This combined with the positioning of Dukin’ outlets close to bus stops led to an increase in the coffee sales in Seoul and a 16% increase in foot traffic.
The Flavor Radio campaign underscores the need for clearly identifying the goal and action in a sensory marketing campaign.
IKEA – Here Comes the Sun
Sensory marketing takes a whole new level of significance when you take the context and placement into consideration. The perfect example is IKEA’s “Here Comes the Sun” campaign from Stockholm, Sweden.
Considering that outdoor seating at cafes deserves a bit of sunshine, IKEA installed a GPS-controlled mirror outside a cafe in the heart of Stockholm. This helped reflect sunlight directly to the outdoor seating. As you can see in the video here, the campaign grabbed the attention of passersby and brought a smile to their faces as well. This campaign was all about visual stimulation, through light cues.
Fanta’s tastable print ad
Remember the concept of free samples we discussed earlier? Strategies like those are particularly handy when it comes to exposing customers and providing them with sensory cues even before they make a purchase, thus taking them closer to making a purchase.
Building on this idea, Fanta created a tastable print ad for its UAE market. That’s right, an actual print ad in a magazine that you could taste to experience the taste of Fanta. This is a great example of sensory marketing to increase brand exposure and to create a buzz.
Beauty brands using food photography to attract attention
Another very common example of sensory marketing is the use of food to promote beauty products. The idea is to promote them as delectable self-indulgences. But when you do, incorporate relevant food imagery to seamlessly tie back to your product.
For instance, Rhode is one brand known to consistently use food photos and videos to draw attention to their products. For instance, the post here cleverly features delicious cinnamon rolls to promote Rhode’s cinnamon range.
Another way to use food as the sensory cue when promoting beauty will be to metaphorically represent the experience the product delivers or its purpose. For example, the post here from Glowery promotes their morning moisturizer called “Before Noon”. The concept cleverly depicts the concept that the product promoted is like “breakfast for your skin”.
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