Sensory marketing is a strategic method that aims to engage consumers’ senses to create a long-lasting and emotional connection with a brand or message. This type of marketing seeks to stimulate one or more of the five senses: vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
According to Dissabandara & Dissanayake (2019), “the main objective of the Sensory marketing is to send a direct message to the consumer’s brain creating an interest, tempting the client to purchase that particular product creating a bond between the client and product.”
The origins of sensory marketing date back to the 1940s, a crucial time in marketing when experts first began studying how visuals affect advertising. During that time, the main visual elements marketers used were posters and billboards. Nowadays, marketers have a host of technology to captivate consumers’ senses.
Vision
Our brains process visual information much faster than we do text. Visual elements aligned with your brand’s colours, logos, and messaging create a more impressive user experience.
Firstly, decide a theme. A theme can help you create a consistent and coherent look and feel for your event, as well as inspire your décor, lighting, invitations, and dress code. A colour scheme can help you set the mood and the tone for your event, as well as create contrast and harmony which is visually appealing to attendees.
For example, if you are organising a gala dinner, you might choose a black and gold theme to convey elegance and sophistication. If you are hosting a product launch, you might opt for a bright and bold colour scheme to attract attention and generate excitement.
Consistency between the event’s theme and visual elements makes the event’s messaging more powerful.
Smell
Evoking your attendees’ sense of smell is an overlooked but very effective way to engage and captivate. Since our limbic system is responsible for emotion and memory, how something smells can significantly impact how we react to and recall an encounter with a brand.
Numerous businesses have previously dabbled in the art of sensory marketing by developing their own distinctive smells and aromatic experiences.
As a suggestion, shops selling food may want to place their ovens towards the front of the building so that the aroma can attract customers outside. Certain substances can be used and kept heated to ensure a constant aroma throughout the day. If you want your product to be recognised no matter where it is smelt, you need to find a scent that is linked with your brand.
While this may be difficult for some brands, at events, try incorporating popular aromas that are proven to make people happy, such as citrus or flowers. Do this by placing scent diffusers and air fresheners throughout the meeting space to encourage a positive association with your event.
Hearing
Did you know listening to just 25 minutes of music every day for at least 10 days will help to prevent back pain? It can also make you sleep better. So why not play music at your events to make your attendees happier and healthier?
Start by creating a Spotify playlist themed around your event. Include songs selected by your speakers and keynotes, or tracks that resonate with the event’s theme. Invite attendees to contribute their favourite songs or submit them for approval. This builds a community feel and creates excitement even before the event kicks off.
Taste
Everyone’s tastebuds are different, so how do you capture and engage all attendees’ senses in one go?
Having a range of delicious, mood-boosting foods on offer will captivate attendees and leave a lasting memory of the event in their mind. Dark chocolate, coconuts, and blueberries all are scientifically-proven to boost your mood whilst being a healthy choice for the event buffet.
This can tie in closely to how you capture your attendee’s sense of smell. Try serving freshly baked bread, citrusy fruits, and aromatic hot coffee to entice individuals in.
Touch
You can’t give your audience a literal hug, but you can still appeal to their sense of touch with the right mix of promotional products. Whether it’s a soft, fluffy texture or an intriguing grip design on a reusable water bottle, you can still integrate touch into your branded merchandise and turn more heads.
The more unusual, the more memorable, and employees will associate the feeling of intrigue and excitement with your event.
Beyond technological solutions, brands can create multi-sensory experiences through carefully curated pop-up installations, experiential events, or immersive brand activations. These experiences might combine visually striking displays, ambient sounds, interactive tactile elements, and even targeted scent diffusion to transport consumers into a fully realised brand world.
As consumer expectations continue to evolve and the competition for attention intensifies, multi-sensory marketing strategies will become increasingly crucial for brands seeking to build enduring connections with their audiences. By tapping into the power of the five senses and creating truly immersive experiences, brands can exceed mere product promotion and convert their marketing efforts into unforgettable sensory experiences.
Get in touch with us to learn more about sensory marketing for your events.