Sensorial Marketing: a strategic brand management through the 5 senses

What is “Sensorial Marketing”?

Sensorial Marketing is a new marketing strategy which is likely to have an effect on one or several senses of consumers, in order to attract them by increasing their well-being. Even if the sight, touch, and taste belonged to traditional marketing for long time, “sensorial marketing” has appeared when companies decided to manipulate the two other senses: smell and sound.

Sensorial Marketing is especially developed in shops in order to create a comfort atmosphere where customers can feel good. Indeed, a consumer is likely to spend more time and much money in cozy places, where he can listen to relax music, smell a good fragrance, touch comfortable materials, see pleasant packaging, and taste some goodies.

Sensorial Marketing acts on Mix through the improvement of the perceived quality of product, an original communication and a comfort atmosphere in shops. Thanks to Sensorial Marketing, customers don’t buy anymore a product or a brand, but they look for a feeling in their purchase. Buying a product or service must be similar to living an incredible experience.

Nowadays, it is the poly sensorial marketing that companies try to develop. They have to use several senses, especially the least used like touch, taste and smell, to launch their products. Now, each sound, taste, or smell has to connote a feeling or an idea for consumers. For instance, when you drive a luxury car, you know you have bought a luxury car because it is a BMW, with leather seats,… Henceforth consumers want to feel they leave a singular experience with that car. Brand and logo           are not enough to symbolize high quality of product, the luxury side has to be smelt, touched, sounded, seen and tasted.

Why do companies use sensorial Marketing?

There are 3 main reasons which have encouraged companies to develop sensorial Marketing.

Through the globalization, the competitiveness has more and more increase in the market, among brands and distribution channels. Face to competitors, several companies decided to innovate in their product or service to attract the senses. Firstly, they have innovated in order to improve the satisfaction of needs or to create new wants. Then, innovation could be a means of being different and distinguish its brand from the others. In that case, sensorial Marketing is a kind of innovation in marketing strategy, because it uses Mix leverages to influence consumer’s emotions. Indeed, Sensorial Marketing acts on product, promotion, and place to attract the 5 senses.

More and more customers seek original experience of purchase. Whereas we live in a virtual world, dominated by internet and NTIC, consumers aspire to find again human contacts and reality which reassure them. Besides, urbanization has been moved away nature from people, so consumers seek to be closer to the environment through their senses. Thus, brands did not hesitate to stimulate the senses, in shops or thanks to products, to allow consumers to live a pleasant adventure.

Companies can build up its brand image from an atmosphere in their shops. The place where the customer buys products can refer to the brand identity. “Nature & Découverte” brand has created an atmosphere where we protect and love the nature. Lights, music, and perfumes are made to feel we are in jungle or forest, as an adventurer. Then the atmosphere of shops represents the targets. Brands create a place where their target can feel comfortable

5 kinds of sensorial Marketing

ü  Sight Marketing: Companies attract sight through special colors, forms, textures, and materials.

ü  Smell Marketing: More and more brands introduce perfumes into their products in order to bring an added value. For instance, pens or post it which smell fruits when you use it.

ü  Touch Marketing: Companies do not hesitate to make their products free to handle. For instance, “Abercrombie & Fitch” puts top-model on display to sell its clothes. Firstly, customers visit A&F shops to take pictures of them with top-models, and then they buy. The atmosphere where you can touch and talk with a top model encourages people to buy because they live an usual and very pleasant experience.

ü  Sound Marketing: Music helps brands to create atmosphere more smart, cozy, or natural. It sounds more realism in shops with music.

ü  Taste Marketing: Especially in organic industry, brands develop original taste to surprise consumers. For instance, in macaron industry, companies innovate by creating salty macaron, from “foie gras-figue” or “chèvre-tomate”.

Some examples…

Coca-Cola slogan tries to express a message of feeling: “open happiness”. It means Coca-Cola is more than a product with a pleasant taste; it brings you a comfort emotion, a moment when you can enjoy life and have fun time with your friends. With Coca-Cola, consumers share a pleasant moment. Characteristics of the product are not the most important message that brand wants to communicate.

IKEA tries to evoke the reality when they create a bedroom, or a kitchen. They stimulate our imagination buy sight and touch. You can move in the IKEA productions as you can do at home. It is a way of living a real experience through your senses.

Apple has well understood sensorial Marketing. It starts with computers line product, thanks to an original design, clear and smart, which creates a well-being feeling through the sight. By launching I-pads, Apple wanted to stimulate touch sense through tactile and move innovation. Now you do not buy I-pad only for its software, but also because it is sensory attractive.

Sensorial Marketing, creativity from companies

Finally, sensorial marketing shows us that the success in business is not only in well-quality products, but also through the uniqueness which expresses through the creativity.

What about you?

I would be happy that you share your sensorial marketing experience with us…

XoXo

                                                                                                          C.G

Coca-Cola vs Orangina: same Social Medias’ strategy?

        Internet is for a long time included in the communications strategy of brands. But with the web 2.0 raise, a new way of using internet is born: direct connecting with your consumer. The idea is co-creation through games, missions, events, spread from a customer to another through the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube… but also building a closer relationship with individuals. The aim of this kind of strategy? Not only an increase in your sales or the boom of your fans/followers’ number, but above all, the basements of your image.

        Coca-Cola and Orangina are quite active on these social media. Let’s do a comparison between two different ways of using communities.

        Thanks to Michal Donnely, the Coca Cola’s Group Director of Worldwide Interactive Marketing, “the home page of Coca-Cola is not coke.com but google.com”. And Facebook, FlickR, Twitter… as well. During his presentation at the iStrategy 2.0 conference in 2010, the director clearly showed the new web strategy of Coca-Cola: be everywhere through the trendiest social networks of our days.

Coca-Cola social communicaites (source: Mr. Donnely presentation)

        Today, the company fanpage counts 35,8 millions of likes (on November the 15^th )and is open so that customer may post information, comments, “happiness moments” with their coke bottle, suggestions and opinion. This is a co-storytelling strategy: the brand is owned not only by the company but also by its buyers who take part of the brand development. 

Customers' Quotations takken from the Coca Cola fan page in 2009

       This participative way of communication is also on Youtube (with the link to be followed shared on Facebook of course) where Coca Cola has its own channel (as music superstars do like Rihanna or Beyonce). Launched last year during the World Soccer cup, the aim of this page is to “share moments of happiness” (worldwide slogan of the brand since 2009), in the World Soccer Cup case: “celebrate each goal”.

         

Last summer, Coca-Cola continued to celebrate life and spread happiness through its Summer theme. Today, 538 videos are available on the channel, where it is some official videos or fans video.

        Interactivity, shares, links, ultra presence on social websites and building sustainable relationship with their consumers are the main words to describe Coca Cola web 2.0 strategy. But what about Orangina??

Orangina’s social media

Like Coca Cola, Orangina has a strong activity within the social media with its Facebook group, its tweeter account and YouTube channel. In France, Orangina is famous for its viral activity based on strong commitment within social media. Hugues Pietrini, CEO of Orangina-Schweppes Company -which hold Orangina, Schweppes and Oasis- realised the potential of social media as Oasis’s Facebook page quickly attracted more than 600 000 fans, few months after its creation. Thus, they decided to exploit social media’s communication in order to reinforce proximity with the customer and brand image.

An important Facebook activity:

Among Orangina’s social media, Facebook is the most important; indeed, it has become a strategic tool with the goal of creating a high proximity with the customer. For this, they publish at least 3 messages per week about different topics: last movies, match results of the French rugby team, or funny YouTube videos. All in all, they act like a real friend on Facebook, in order to be part of costumers everyday life.

Today, Orangina’s Facebook page is fully part of the strategy of the brand and it is used to launch new products. Indeed, Facebook fans are privileged as they see new products months before normal customers.

 Orangina’s Youtube channel, a great maketing intelligence tool:

As we treated in another article, Orangina’s last communication campaign using sexy animals was made to  to trigger people reaction, in a word, to create “buzz”. If you want to whatch the full video you can do it at Orangina’s Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/orangina.  There, it is possible to "like" or "dislike" the video and post a comment. Thus Orangina’s Youtube videos already has numerous comments, mostly negative, where people express there misunderstanding of the TV ad, or say  they just found it funny. In fact, beside those negative comments, public reaction  on youtube appears like a great marketing intelligence of Orangina and a way to mesure TV ads popularity, (videos have been seen more than 4 million times).

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/cocacola

http://www.youtube.com/user/cocacola?blend=1&ob=4

http://www.slideshare.net/iStrategy/coca-colas-social-media-strategy

Sensorial Branding: The brand of tomorrow?

« Most brands and products are now interchangeable.” Philip Kotler

As one of fathers of Marketing said, "more and more products are the substitution of another one". For the companies of these products, their challenge is to distinguish from the others. How? If products have noticeably the same functions and satisfy customers, the differentiation is made through the brand. Some brands do not hesitate to stimulate the consumers' 5 senses, in order "to enrich the brand experience and build up its uniqueness and personality,while ultimately paving the way to the consumers' affection, preference and loyalty.”

Be different, use Sensorial Marketing.

To do the difference, firms associate increasingly their brand to an emotional added-value, a solution to the consumer’s hedonist quest, mainly thanks to taste, sight, smell, touch, and sound. In traditional marketing (product marketing), firms often use sight, through colors and forms, to attract consumers. For instance, most brands have a logo to express their values and sensations that their product delivers. Then, taste and smell are obviously employed in organic products like food, fruits, drinks,…in order to make the product attractive for customers. Sound and touch are less used in marketing because it is harder for companies to symbolize values of the brand and inspire good feeling to people. We can diffuse music in shops and use soft raw materials in the cloth production but your brand is not directly relied on it.

Honestly, I think sensorial marketing can be a really good idea to emphasize the products and encourage customers to consume. Indeed, creating a cozy atmosphere may make people confortable, and therefore be more prepare to purchase. For instance, sound and smell are not used enough in outlets, especially in supermarkets, a place where many people hate to spend much time. At the moment, Sensorial Marketing is only a tool to increase sales volume and not to improve or to promote the brand image.

Coca-Cola and its new catching bottle catch the audience’s eye.

            For the brand Coca-Cola, Sensorial Marketing is not really new. It used it in 1916 when it decided to change the bottle. Coca-Cola wanted a bottle to everyone could recognize in the darkness through the touch. Thus, the original bottle represents the woman’s body with the brand written in three-dimensional. This bottle, called “The Dame with the sheath dress”, still symbolizes the brand. Coca-Cola succeeded in matching the brand image with the touch of the bottle.

In 2008, Coca-Cola repeats the experience for the launch of its new bottle. To express the idea that the new bottle is easier to catch than the last one, Coca-Cola and Marcel Agency launched Velcro poster campaign distributed in bus shelters. I think it is a very original idea to compare the “catching” form of the bottle to the Velcro sensation. In my opinion, it was a risky gamble because it might people do not understand the relationship between the bottle and Velcro strips. But, regarding volume sales’ figures, Coca-Cola succeeded in catching people’s eye. Indeed, in 2008, French volume sales increased by 3.8 % compared with the previous year.

Orangina, much more than a drink.

Orangina used also Sensorial Marketing through its bottle. Orangina was as subtle as Coca-Cola, creating a bottle which refers to the taste of drink. Indeed, Orangina designed a bottle looking like an orange which reminds the drink taste. Beyond the form, the Orangina’s bottle has the same touch as the orange skin. Here, I think it is a good way to promote the product itself whereas we have not consumed it yet. Only through the touch and the look, we guess what we are going to consume.

Sensorial Branding, the brand which differs from the other 

            In my point of view, nowadays, we cannot work in Marketing without Sensorial Branding. We live in the innovation and technologies Age where people still expect to be surprised by brands. Customers keep on wanting to feel new sensations. Sensorial Marketing could be the solution for brands to differentiate themselves and perhaps to inspire customers to be loyal towards a brand. But as a future marketer, in certain cases, I would hesitate to use it, because Sensorial Branding may manipulate customers through their senses, especially the smell in organic products.


I say "yes" for a Sensorial Branding which permits the brands to differ in the market but "no" for a S.B which lies to consumers! As marketers, we should be responsible for what and how we promote, especially if we decide to attract consumers thanks to their senses, something which is difficult to control!

XoXo

                                                                                              C.G.

Sources:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Sensorial-Branding---The-Future-of-Brand-Building&id=1412143

http://mathildemeyer.suite101.fr/le-marketing-sensoriel-a2074

http://www.journaldunet.com/management/dossiers/0606139marketing/controverse.shtml

The new coffee by Coca Cola And Illy Issimo : Why not ?!

Coca-Cola launched a new product with Illy issimo. It’s a cold coffee and a cold cappuccino bottle. Illy issimo is made with the finest natural ingredients that create the pure pleasure of coffee and awaken the senses while you’re on-the-go. Drink coffee became an usual think. Now we can drink coffee in a restaurant, in a bar, in a café, in a fast food… or take it away in paper cups with the openning of different coffee shop like Colombus café or Starbucks.

A lot of people drink coffee for different reasons:

- The great taste the drink brings

- The fact caffeine help us to “stay awake”

- Or the fact it “wakes us up” the morning
- In some countries such as Italy, coffee is a part of the cultural habbits

- Finally, coffee may be consumed for a break, especially at work for a coffee break.

Furthermore, I think drinking coffee is became stylish because when you drink coffee or when you have a Starbucks coffee cup in your hands it shows you are up to date.

With this drink, Coca Cola hopes to touch young workers who move a lot and who need one drink to help them to stay awake. But it’s a new product in France, there is no competitors at the moment. Only energizing drink like Red Bull, Burn… are on the same market. That’s why Coca Cola decided to align its product to RedBull prices (2,20€ to 3€).

For the distribution strategy, Coca Cola decided to choose selective distribution. They wants to spread Illy Issimo through words-of-mouth.

In my opinion, I think it could be a good product because I know a lot of students and young workers who drink a lot of coffee, not because they love it but because they need it to get awake. So I reckon that this drink is an opportunity for them to drink their coffee (like an energizing beverage) whenever and wherever they want. But it also can be dangerous because it’s cold drink so it’s like an energizing like Red Bull, Burn…

So what do you think about this new drink? Do you like this new idea? Do you want to try?

XoXo

C.R.

Sources:

http://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/2011/10/16/04015-20111016ARTFIG00170-coca-cola-lance-des-canettes-de-cafe-froid-en-france.php

http://tpe-cafe.e-monsite.com/pages/consommation/les-habitudes-de-consommation-des-francais.html

Orangina launch a new range of cosmetics and house cleaning products

Have you seen Orangina’s last media campaign ? If not, have a look at Orangina’s website and you will see an advertisment that will certainely surprise you.

The TV commercial shows a chameleon with a teenager voice looking at the mirror in its bathroom and cleannig his pimply face with some Orangina. The chameleon tells us Orangina helps him to clean his spots and therefore helps him to be more self confident. 

If you watch often TV you probably recognized the famous ad for Clearasil (ex Biactol), don’t you ?

What is the link between Orangina and Clearasil ? And why sould a chameleon clean it’s face ? Obviously there is no link at all between those two products, and the use of a chamelon is absurd. In a word, this ad is a complete nonsense, and this is why it is funny.

 Indeed, Orangina targets young people, teenagers or young adults that are (or where) used to clean there face with Clearasil every morning ; this will certainly remain them some funny college pictures, when they used to play skatebord and have a face full of spots…Thus by this nostalgia effect, Orangina creates proximity and friendlyness with targeted customers ; teenagers and young adults.

But the main pupose of Orangina’s campaign is not only to become a « cool » drink thanks to this funny ad. In fact, they want to become a trendy soda which meens a drink that will be ordered in cafés and night clubs. Thus we can see that this parodical movie of Clearasil made by Orangina is followed by 3 other parodical advertissment such as a Gillette, Mr Clean, and  a washing machine poudre. Indeed, the purpose of Orangina’s campaign is to target people that understand second degree humour, which meens open minded and cultivated people that can decode the communication which surrounds them. Talking to these people, Orangina becomes in some way a trendy and hip product.

XoXo                                                                                                                                                                                                     A.M

Sources :

http://www.orangina.fr/

Coca-Cola, a luxury brand?

The Daft Punk bottle is the new exclusive edition launched by the brand in 2011. This gold or silver bottle has been designed through a partnership between the brand and the famous French music band who decided to use these symbolic colors of the artists’ headphones.

In 2006, Coca-cola launched its first aluminum bottle with a unique design. Each year, the brand creates a limited edition of this bottle by using the colors and trends of the moment (the Justice music band inspired the 2009’s bottle, Mika was the muse of 2010…). The bottle is sold in trendy places (night club, selected supermarkets such as Monoprix…) and from 1 to 1,5€ (25cl) (the classical product sold in cans, bottle costs from 1 to 1,70€ per liter). By these partnerships with pop icons of the moment, Coca cola targets the night clubbers and young adults interested in art, design and fashion objects.


Limited edition, higher price, special sales points... Is the company trying to change its marketing strategy? Actually, it doesn't. But it is using the codes of the market to attract a totally different kind of consumer.  Coca-Cola succeeds in creating a unique and rare product. Moreover, the aim of the Club Coke is not the beverage, but the bottle itself, a strategy closed to what we can observe on the perfumes’ market (where the container is essential for the consumer, as we may notice with "Kokorico", the new Fragrance by Gautier). Thus, Coca-Cola Company wants its product to be kept at home as we do with an empty bottle of fragrance. For the most diligent club coke customers, these bottles are collector, cannot be thrower in the garbage and have a personal value, history (in which context the consumer bought these bottle, where and how hard was it to find it…).
Furthemore, the company exploits another key concept of the luxury goods: the egery, an influente artist known by its target on Coke's case. And we observe that Coca-Cola went deeper in its strategy: from our point of view, the Club Coke bottle is pretty close to a luxury product! The 2011's bottle is now available in store in a box which look like a kind of jewel box:
                             

The club coke bottle may be seen as well as the new 21^st century by-product: instead of selling clocks, post cards, magnets available for everyone, Coca Cola proposes a limited product hard to find. This collector bottle is recognized on the market as an art object, and many hipsters collect it and await the next upcoming launch. By using these art and trendy codes, Coca Cola creates specific bounds with these collectors, by knowing their tastes. These buyers have an image of the brand which is not the same as the one classical consumers have. Coca Cola is not here a famous Coke brand, but a fashion brand aware of the pop culture.

XoXo                                                                                                                                                    P.L                                                                                                                                                                       

Sources :

http://bit.ly/oIic3O
http://bit.ly/hcJAjb
http://bit.ly/q7nxUw

Coca-Cola: The timeless brand

Coca Cola is much more than a simple global brand, it is an icon.

As all icons, they last through years contrary to you! Few brands like Coca Cola have witnessed all important steps of your family’s life. He was here for the first dating of your grandparents, and of course he was the best friend of your parents during the holidays, you share him with your boy/girlfriend, and perhaps he will become a truly addiction for your own children. Finally, it is a guy who knows all your life! And you, do you know his story? Have you already been interested in him? Obviously not! Shame on you! So let me introduce him to you.

Coca Cola ID

ü  After Recession War: 1^st prototype made in chemistry from Columbia, formulated by John Pemberton. It was a patent medicine inspired by “vin Mariani”, an European coca wine, which cured many diseases like dyspepsia, headache, …

ü  1886: First sales at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta. It was sold for 5 cents a glass at soda-fountains.

ü  1888: 3 companies of Coca-Cola on the market (A.G Candler, J-C Mayfield, C. Pemberton) with 3 different recipes.

ü  1892: The Candler’s company became the Coca-Cola Company (the current corporation).

ü  1894: Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time.

ü  1955: Cans of Coke first appeared

ü  1982: Diet Coke

ü  1983: Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola

ü  1985: Coca-Cola Company changed the formula and launch “New Coke” to compete Pepsi. But it did not work with a nostalgic public who regret the first recipe. First launch of Coca-Cola Cherry (in USA)

ü  2001: Coca-Cola with Lemon
ü  2002: Coca-Cola Vanilla
ü  2005: Coca-Cola with Lime and Coca-Cola Raspberry
ü  2006: Coca-Cola Black + Coca-Cola Black Cherry-Vanilla and was replaced by Coca-Cola Vanilla in 2007 + Coca-Cola Citra available in Bosnia and Herzegovina, New-Zealand + Coca-Cola Zero (in Australia and USA)
ü  2007: Coca-Cola Orange available in UK, Gibraltar, Germania, Austria and Switzerland.

A large portfolio, responsible for the success story 

Through the Coca-Cola portfolio, we notice that this brand has created many tastes to satisfy all of its consumers, what explains its success story.

If you are not still convinced that Coca-Cola is an icon of our century, think about the 70000 Coke bottles consumed every 10 seconds in the world, or the billion bottles drunk a day. Coca-Cola is beyond seasons, borders, and time. He is immortal.

XoXo                                                                                                                                                    C.G

Sources :

http://bit.ly/rlAzqV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola