"Haptic elements directly trigger the subconscious"

Michael Mätzener: Yes, the "promotional gifts" are not good for the cause. What's more, it diminishes the value of haptic advertising and also implies something wrong: a promotional item is not a gift! It is a communication measure, a communication channel, and we don't give them away. It would never occur to anyone to call an online banner or a movie spot a "gift". Of course, a haptical has a utility value in addition to its communicative purpose, but communication is the motivation, not the gift.

Because it's important, quite simply (laughs). We can't switch off our sense of touch. We can close our eyes and ears, but we can't switch off our sense of touch. We can interrogate or "fall in love", but not "touch". Haptic sensory experience is essential for survival! Sight and hearing, which are the focus of most advertising, are not. You can live blind or deaf, but without touch, people die. And: what we can touch is real, is genuine. Haptic sensory impressions are predestined to appeal to us emotionally. The exciting question is: how do you encode a message, a brand value haptically in such a way that the right emotions and associations are awakened and anchored?

In very general terms: the choice of suitable materials, surface textures, shapes and functions. By "suitable" I mean suitable for the brand, suitable for the message. We associate haptic properties with certain qualities. Let's take weight. Heavy means high quality. Okay, that doesn't apply to mountain bikes, but it does to typical promotional items such as ballpoint pens. In most cases, it is of little use if I hand my customer a lightweight, super-ecological, sustainably produced ballpoint pen made from recycled plastic. The perhaps less ecologically sensible pen with stainless steel parts, which is much heavier, makes a completely different impression. It says: "I am high quality", although it can be "cheaper" and "worse" than the plastic pen. Each material conveys different qualities through the sense of touch: Wood is warm, rustic, natural. Metal is cold, fabric is soft and so on.

No, I wouldn't say that across the board. What does make a difference, however, is whether a company manufactures something or offers a service. A service tends to be more demanding in terms of communication - but that applies to all channels. You can show off a product, but you have to make a service much more tangible - understandable - and differentiate it. It's easy with a car, for example, as it appeals very directly to different senses; you can look at it, hear it and even touch it and test drive it. It's more difficult with a bank. How do you convey its values? How do you convey the quality of a service? But this is exactly where haptic elements in communication can help very well; they directly target the subconscious with their message.

In the field of neuroscience, a great deal of research has been carried out on haptics in the last ten to fifteen years. We now know that we have over twelve million bits per second of perceptual capacity. But only 40 bits are conscious perception, which is about three to five words per second. We can access the remaining 11,999,960 bits, which remain subconscious, very well via haptics - and can thus bring them back into conscious perception. Feeling something, touching something - that can send a much clearer message than just hearing, reading or seeing something. Can you give us an example of this? We know this from children: Saying "Watch out, the fire is hot" twenty times is less effective than a child burning their fingers once. Or: try to describe to someone who has never seen a lemon what a lemon feels or tastes like: it's much more difficult and time-consuming than if you put a lemon in someone's hand and they then feel a drop on their tongue. It is real. The feeling of the lemon happens in the moment, is anchored immediately and can be recalled.

Precisely because they are called promotional products (laughs). No, honestly: for a long time, "creative performance" was seen as the core element of advertising and not as the targeted planning of communication channels and successful storytelling. And: promotional products were not seen as part of the creative process, as if they were separate from the rest of the communication. Yet they can be integrated so well into storytelling and can achieve a great deal in communication!

Yes, the Marke(ding), which will take place for the fifth time on March 13, 2019. I believe that haptic advertising deserves its own festival! Marke(ding) should be a day to touch and feel and give all interested parties the opportunity to efficiently gain an up-to-date overview of haptic advertising media and their possible applications.

Dialog marketing campaigns are often very strong in this respect. There are a few agencies in Switzerland that are really good at this and constantly win international awards for their work. There, the promotional item is often a central part of the communication - or it is even the communication. We see and find precisely such examples in the brand (thing).

A popular and very sensible approach is to use products or materials from the company's everyday life for such hapticals. These should have an affinity with the message, be original and also have a real benefit. Of course, this is not only done in dialog marketing: Lufthansa, for example, had travel bags made from old aircraft seat covers. Company history and upcycling combined in one product - great! Another good example is the cooperation between Nespresso and Victorinox, in which empty Nespresso capsules are turned into pocket knives.

Quite simply: in every one! Hapticals can always strengthen communication, you just have to know how to use them correctly ...

That's a question that comes from the classic "advertising gift" angle (grins). Trends must play a subordinate role. It's much more about choosing the right haptical for a specific communication strategy and, of course, one that fits the company and its values. Of course, you can't completely ignore trends in these considerations, but the approach: "Wow, cool, everyone has that right now, I want that too!" is not expedient.

Yes, of course. Pens and writing utensils remain at the top of the rankings. Sack knives are also consistently popular. Then now, before Christmas, Advent calendars. And of course clothing. This is also a huge topic in all merchandising stories - think caps, hats, socks, T-shirts and so on. What also works well with sales items are "give-aways", i.e. promotional items that provide an incentive to buy. These can be in-packs, on-packs or bundles. For example, a small toiletry bag for cosmetics or a nice bottle opener for a good wine, a mug for a hot drink, tissues for a nasal spray ...

Yes, lighters for example; they have lost a lot of their coolness. Or USB sticks - they were very popular for a while, but are now obsolete. Who still runs around with a USB stick in the age of the cloud?

They are a good addition or change, precisely because not only the sense of hearing and sight are always addressed. We are constantly bombarded with visual and acoustic brand messages everywhere and have learned to filter very strongly. As a result, we no longer really perceive many things through these senses. It's different with a haptical: the recipient picks it up, and never just once. They can literally touch a brand and this always arouses emotions.