Sensorial Branding - The future of Model Making

"People invest ?find out more revenue when and exactly where they come to feel good" - Walt Disney

Most brands & products are now interchangeable. This sad statement emanates from one of the fathers of marketing, Philip Kotler.

For a manufacturer to be identified, recognized and understood in its values is the core of every strategy, the nagging issue of every marketing manager.

However, in a competitive environment exactly where the usage & functional value of a model (a product or a service) can be easily copied or duplicated, what is left to stand out from the crowd? How can the customer's preference be triggered to ensure their loyalty? How can the tie that will closely link your model to the consumer and put you ahead of the competition be built, retained or strengthened?

These are questions to which sensorial branding answers: use senses (and their impact on the consumers' perceptions) to enrich the brand experience and build up its uniqueness and personality, while ultimately paving the way to the consumers' affection, preference and loyalty.

Sensorial branding (and sensorial marketing) fills the gap left by traditional marketing theories when it comes to answering today's consumer mindset. This new kind of thinking finds its origins in the '90s, with the shift from the rational mindset that formerly prevailed in the consumer's decision-making process to the emotional and hedonist quest that now drives their desires and consumption acts.

In reaction to an increasingly virtual and pressurized industrial world, people today have started seeking a way to reconnect to reality in their private sphere, for a pathway to re-enchant their world. The individual values of pleasure, well-being and hedonism rose along with a true new concept of consumption that exposed the limits of traditional marketing theories.

Consumption today is a form of "being". Just like any leisure activity, it becomes a place to express a piece of your personality, where you share common values with a small group of other individuals (a tribe). And maybe more than anything else, consumption acts must be analyzed as "felt" acts, as experiences capable of providing emotions, sensations and pleasure.

Purchasing acts are driven by this desire for sensational experiences that re-ignite senses and drive emotions. No matter how effective a product may be, it is its hedonist and emotional added-value, as well as the distinctive experience it offers, that lead consumers to buy it and ensure its loyalty.

What does it mean from a branding point of view?

First, it means that price and functionality are now taken for granted (or, in other words, not sufficiently differentiating). It is now the intangible, irrational and subjective attributes of the manufacturer offering that are the new factors of success.

Second, it highlights the fact that sensations, new experiences and emotions must be part and parcel of the manufacturer experience. It is through these 3 channels that the manufacturer can create greater differentiation, influence consumer's preference and secure their affection.

In summary, focusing the model strategy on rational arguments regarding its functional value is no longer sufficient to ensure success. What is clear is that empowered brands are the ones managing to deliver hedonist and emotional attributes throughout the brand experience. This is where by brands can add meaning and, therefore, value and sense to products and services, transforming them from interchangeable commodities into powerful brands.