Hello Lewis Robbins

Senior Associate Strategist

of Millennials crave experiences that stimulate the senses.

76% This stat makes sense at first. But what about the other 24%? Do they loathe sunsets? Do they despise chocolate pudding?

There’s a gap between the rich sensory experience of our personal lives and the alien way we approach the senses in the marketing world.

We are all already experts in the senses. And if we could tap into our own expertise, what powerful, brilliant experiences we could create.

Four common sense techniques you can use to elevate your brand.

A coffee brand gave away its product after this billboard created a yawning epidemic.

Yawns are contagious because of ‘mirror neurons’. We understand experiences we see, hear or read by simulating that experience in our brains.

KICK “Green tastes like lemon ice cream, and smells like grass that’s just been cut.”

Mirror neurons can be activated in a number of different ways. The Black Book of Colours helps blind people to feel colour through raised images, and evocative text.

KICK

Reading ‘sensory’ words (‘mustard’, ‘feathers’) activates the sensory cortex. The brain treats depictions of movement, scent, and texture as the real thing. We all have a beautiful sensory palette waiting to be activated at any time.

“Yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chick’s feathers”

Glorious Soup created a context for its product, likening it to ‘strolling under a colourful tree canopy’.

This Nike ad, shot entirely in the first-person perspective, creates a vicarious experience that allows the viewer to project themselves into the ad.

Use mirror neurons to create extra crunch! Don’t stop with clarity and logic. Activate mirror neurons through sound, sight, and words to make something happen in another person’s mind.

Synesthesia means ‘joined sensation’. It’s a neurological phenomenon where one sensory stimulus triggers another.

We are all synesthetes.

But this kind of cross-wiring isn’t the exception. It’s the norm.

Which shape is Kiki, which is Bouba? 95% of people named the sharp, spiky shape on the left Kiki—and the soft, rounded shape on the right Bouba. We ‘map’ the sound to the shape.

Aligning the senses –

Cadburys changed the shape of their chocolate (you could call it Cadburys Bouba) to enhance its smooth, creamy flavour.

Our surroundings also influence our perception of a product. Aligning the senses is called cross-modal design. It can make a whiskey taste sweeter, a car engine sound more powerful.

Jack Morton created an experience for Nespresso Cubania that mapped the characteristics of the coffee to the rhythm of the dancers and the music.

Let Kiki and Bouba be your guide! We are all synesthetes. Align the senses to make brand experiences more engaging, memorable and enjoyable.

Tradeshows like Mobile World Congress can seem like anti-hospitality experiences. It’s about sales and leads, driven by who can shout the loudest.

Create a warm welcome by bringing people to their senses. Don’t facilitate transactions—build relationships.

Sensory cues have a powerful effect on mood. This Philips lighting system uses different wavelengths and intensities of light to complement the rhythm of activity inside the classroom.

Every sensory cue affects how people feel. Birdsong isn’t just nice to listen to—it’s been used hospitals, airports, classrooms and banks to create a calming atmosphere.

Selfridges created The Silence Room – a temporary space where shoppers can de-stress and recharge.

Bring people to their senses Empathise with your audience to build deeper, longer-lasting relationships.

Physical sensations can prime our perceptions. People use warmer language to describe an encounter if they are holding a warm cup of coffee. People who have just been socially excluded feel colder than those who haven’t.

Puzzle pieces covered in sandpaper primed people to perceive an interaction as being more adversarial and difficult. (It went ‘roughly’, as opposed to everything going ‘smoothly’.)

An experiment showed that two groups of people, both assessing identical CVs, will give more ‘weight’ to the CV presented on a weighted clipboard.

Microsoft embodied the user experience of Windows 8, ‘fast and fluid’, by building a slide in a shopping centre.

We understand abstract concepts largely through metaphor. Apple’s glass staircases embody the values of the brand.

Forget sterile cosmetics environments. Aesop’s use of materials reflects a kinder attitude to personal care.

The Jewish Museum is an architectural metaphor for something that words alone couldn’t convey.

Grasp sensory metaphors Express your brand values through sensory metaphors to communicate with people on a deep, intuitive level.

Use mirror neurons to create extra crunch

Let Kiki and Bouba be your guide

Bring people to their senses

Grasp sensory metaphors

As children, we explore and learn about the world through play and through the senses. But somewhere along the line we lose our way. So let’s remember our own expertise—and use the senses to create impactful, beautiful experiences that change how people feel—and which live long in the memory.

Talk to us – Contact Peter Sun VP, Brand Marketing Peter_Sun@jackmorton.com +1.212.401.7015

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Visit us online at jackmorton.com

About Jack Morton

We’re a global brand experience

agency. We generate breakthrough

ideas, connecting brands and

people through experiences that

transform business. Our portfolio of

award-winning work spans 75 years

across event marketing, sponsorship

marketing, promotion and activation,

experience strategy, employee

engagement, digital, social, and

mobile. Ranked at the top of our field,

Jack Morton is part of the Interpublic

Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG).

© Jack Morton Worldwide 2015