Multisensory brand experiences: Taste, smell and touch on the Internet

DIGITAL BRANDING See and hear on the Internet: Of course! But also smell, taste and touch? Yes, that's also possible if we use the findings of research into how our human brain works and how it processes, stores and retrieves information.

digital storytelling under the microscope. Now it's all about multisensory brand experiences.

In the digital age, it's about listening and learning, connecting and experiencing, and sharing and co-creating. Brands must awaken consumers' emotions and build long-term as well as deep relationships with them. After all, in an affluent society where basic physical needs, social connections, and safety needs are met, consumers focus their attention on finding experiences through emotional stimulation. Consumers demand inspiration, touching all their senses and the brand experiences that result.

Thus, multisensory appeal and emotional stimulation are gaining in importance: by using multisensory marketing elements, brand communication can take place in a more diverse way, brand perception can be increased by activating the senses, and ultimately an emotional relationship can be established.

But brand managers face a major challenge: In the real world, brands and products are physically available, but digital media are limited in principle to the consumer's visual and auditory perception. New ideas and innovative marketing strategies are needed to appeal to consumers through all five senses. This can be achieved through the results of neuroscientific research.

Brands as neural networksWe store experiences as neuronal networks ("cell assemblies"). Such a network consists of many nerve cells (neurons) that are interconnected. We also know such neuronal networks under the term pattern or schema, as complex, bundled knowledge: The alpine schema/mountain schema consists of fresh mountain air, the sounds of cowbells, the smell of the forest, the tactile sensation when we pick a flower. The tropical schema is associated with hot air, palm trees, white sand, sounds of waves, taste of coconut.

- See: Pictures, staging, etc.- Listen: Brand acoustic logo, music, sounds such as the BMW door slamming shut, speech-. Odor: Leather, flowers, food Keys: Surfaces, floors, wind Taste: Hot, Cold, Hot, Mild, Spicy

Table: How much information we absorb through our senses

Brands should trigger strong feelings in users in order to create long-term, deep relationships. Consumers pay attention to brands that offer experiences and stimulate them emotionally. Users can see, hear, taste, smell and touch the digital brand. Even the color of a website triggers different feelings: Red stimulates, blue calms.

Today, we know that the use of images, videos and sounds in multisensory marketing has proven its worth, for example in digital storytelling, because these stimuli leave a lasting impression on the consumer and thus ensure brand loyalty. Our perception is 83 percent visual and shapes our first impression of a brand most strongly. This explains the increased use of images in digital media. Images catch the eye quickly and activate, triggering associations in the consumer after a very short time.

The principle of holisticsOne sense can activate other sensory impressions. This can be explained by the principle of holistics: we store sensory impressions holistically in the sensory network. The activation of one sensory stimulus is enough to stimulate the entire network and to recall the complete multisensory memories. Example: When we see an apple, we know how it tastes, how it smells, how it feels, and we know the sound when we bite into it.

When someone falls, we also feel pain for seconds because our brain activates the pain center as if we were experiencing it ourselves. When someone laughs, we are amused before they even start telling the joke. In this process, the brain uses the visual signals and processes them, creating an image of our reality. Thus, through the mirror neurons, we feel what we observe. Thus, the neural networks in the brain are active even when we are not performing an activity ourselves, but merely watching someone else perform that action. The mirror neurons simulate the body doing what is observed itself. We feel and experience what another person experiences.

Hatnut offer a crochet class on their website. Here you can see very well how several senses are addressed, especially also the sense of touch

ConclusionMultisensory brand management in digital media is not a dream of the future - it is already happening. Users can retrieve memories via mental models or schemata by seeing other people or objects. Seeing is also smelling, tasting, touching, hearing. This view opens up a new dimension.

The greatest significance here is the Coherence of the sensual design. Let us guide stimuli from the brand's promise of reward, multisensory brand management can have a lasting effect on the user. Regardless of the device, platform, and service, the brand should send coherent, consistent signals. If the sensory stimuli are not coordinated with each other, or even influence each other negatively, this can damage the brand.

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