Abstract
The central theme of the book is sensory marketing, which has been on the rise in the past few years. Very few books have been published in this field, among which the works of Aradhana Krishna (2010), Bertil Hulten et al. (2009), and Martin Lindstrom (2005) are notable. This book adds to the already existing pool of knowledge by providing an overview based on the state-of-the-art scientific research conducted by various researchers in the field of sensory marketing. Sensory marketing is marketing through the five senses of taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell, which are the basis of forming perception and influencing consumer behaviour. These senses can be used to appeal the consumers and create an emotional bond with various products and services.
The book is organized into six chapters, with each chapter dealing with different aspects of sensory marketing like introduction, priming, expectations, crossmodal correspondences and sensation transference in the light of priming and expectations, conclusion, and advice for application. The author introduces sensory marketing as a modern form of marketing. Sensory marketing targets people by influencing their perception and behaviour towards products and services by appealing to their sensory modalities. The perception of customers is formed on the basis of overall product experience and their response to various sensations like taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell.
Further, this book deals with priming that has been defined in the second chapter with its origin from linguistic tasks. Priming is important if one wants to have a basic understanding of sensory marketing and its origin. Priming is an implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus. The author has quoted Neely’s work in a classic study where a ‘prime’ word was followed after a time interval called stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) with a ‘target’ and the reaction times were observed. The reaction times were shorter if the prime was semantically related to the target. This difference is called the priming effect. There are two types of priming: direct and indirect. Direct or repetition priming refers to exposure to a stimulus that facilitates its later retrieval. Indirect priming, on the contrary, is one where the prime and the target are not directly related but through certain associations and that is the reason it is also called associative priming. The human memory system can be used to explain the effects of priming. There are two types of memory: explicit and implicit. Explicit memory is cognitive where the semantic part acquires knowledge and episodic part recalls events whereas implicit memory is a non-conscious influence on behaviour.
In addition, the systems of conceptual and perceptual priming are also studied. Conceptual priming is supported by semantic encoding and retrieves specific explicit knowledge, whereas perceptual system is non-semantic and can operate independently from explicit memory. The concept of a modal theory that separates conceptual and perceptual representations states that as soon as the body senses something, it transforms it into a new representational knowledge that is non-perceptual. A rival approach to this is the idea of grounded cognition. This theory considers brain as a recorder in the literal sense. In order to support these approaches, the author has provided ample examples to show how priming works which is essential for studying the concept of sensory marketing as it allows the reader to grasp how the senses form perception and thereafter stored in the memory.
The next crucial dimension is the concept of expectations. Expectation can be defined as a strong belief that something will happen. The real question that arises is: How these beliefs are formed? Largely, intrinsic cues of a product are the foundation of expectations. Acquired information and active experience might not necessarily result in expectations; other influences might shape them as well. Contrary to inborn associations, expectations may be learned in indirect ways.
Another important aspect of sensory marketing is crossmodal correspondences. It concerns the tendency that sensory features of one modality are matched with the sensory features in another modality. Crossmodal interactions exist when different senses interact with each other; for example, olfaction with haptics, like a piece of scented paper, will feel softer when having a feminine smell rather than masculine. These multisensory integration deals with how different senses interact with each other. There are three major kinds of crossmodal correspondences: structural, statistical, and semantically mediated. The first one is universal in nature and mainly related to the architecture of the brain. The second can be explained in terms of adaptations to the environment. The third one is the most specific, as it is based on language and meaning. These terms may appear a bit confusing for a common man, who is not familiar with this field. The author could have included some case studies to make it clearer.
Sensation transference refers to the carrying over of the attributes from one aspect to another like that of a package to the overall product. The saying that ‘we judge a book by its cover’ is really true and a product must really match its package and name to be successful! For example, when Pepsi changed the logo of 7-Up cans by saturating the yellow components, customers started complaining about the taste as being more lemony. Although actual explanation of how it works does not exist, but influence of affective sensory ventriloquism may be considered.
The crossmodal correspondences and sensation transference are studied in the light of priming and expectations by differentiating between priming and expectations. Priming has been established as an implicit memory effect where a previously presented sensory stimulus subconsciously affects the processing of a later stimulus. On the contrary, expectations have been defined as basic beliefs about sensory and hedonic qualities. The first one is a narrowly defined phenomenon, whereas expectations are of a formal nature with an ad hoc explanation. Another major distinction between the two is that priming is triggered by a stimulus, whereas expectations are formed out of experience.
In the final chapter, the author concludes with a discussion on the use of the above-mentioned aspects in the field of sensory marketing. Priming has been used to influence consumer behaviour and attitudes. Priming facilitates perception that can have effects on behaviour. Besides priming, the use of crossmodal correspondences also assists companies to manipulate the perceived experience in their favour. In the end, the author has given certain implications for future research, as this field will become more and more important in the years to come.
It can be said that the book is different in its approach towards a topic that is new in the field of marketing. While most of the other books deal with the effects of sensory aspects on consumer behaviour, this particular book deals with the cause of sensory effects. Sensory marketing is going to change the way the products and services are marketed. In a highly competitive world, where there is a myriad of options available to consumers, the atmosphere of point of purchase can highly influence their decision-making process. This book provides a glimpse of what the future holds in the field of marketing through five senses. The basics of priming explained in the second chapter hold the key to human brain and its functioning as regards the influence of the senses in the decision-making process. Humans are emotional beings who do not always make calculated or rational decisions but can be impulsive in their purchases and various marketers can take advantage of this fact.
Through this book, the author provides a general framework of the influence of various senses on perception where each of the sensations together with cognition generates perception that cannot be separated from the other. The perception in turn influences the consumer’s behaviour and decision-making ability, thus, providing advantage to companies who are interested in creating a competitive edge among a wide variety of products. Although the various aspects of sensory marketing have been thoroughly explored, the author could not include more terms relevant to this literature due to the elementary nature of the book. This book is recommended to everyone connected to marketing research, particularly the students interested in exploring the concept of sensory marketing. It will also offer some interesting insights to the layman who can take a look at how sensory aspects of products can influence and manipulate their perception of products. Several research hints are provided throughout the book which can be checked online (either free or for a small fee) if anyone is interested in pursuing a particular topic further.