Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind the Stuff We Buy

Informationen zum Autor Martin Lindstrom Klappentext Now available in paperback, "Brand Sense," the definitive book on sensory branding, shows how companies appeal to consumers' five senses. CHAPTER 1 Start Making Sense IN THE WEEKS AND MONTHS FOLLOWING publication of Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy , I was invited to appear frequently on America's most popular morning program, the Today show. The topics we covered were variousshopping addictions, whether sex in advertising sells, subliminal advertising, and so on. During a recent appearance, I carried out a focus group with a selection of tweens, ages eight through twelve. My goal? To measure the degree to which sensory brandingthat is to say, the use of fragrances, sounds, and even textures to enhance the appeal ofproductsaffected these kids. It was like emceeing a strange new game show called Name That Sense. First I played a handful of well-known songs associated with various well-known companies and TV shows. Most of the children were able to name them immediately, among them Disney, Apple Computer, and the signature theme music from Spongebob Squarepants and NBC. Now it was time for the smell test. The first fragrance that floated out was (and will always be) one of the most evocative aromas in the world. Oh, I know that smell, one said. Every kid knows that smell, another broke in. Okay, I said. On the count of three, you're going to tell me what the brand is. Ready? One two three They all got it: Play-Doh! The next two fragrances? Crayola crayons and Johnson's Baby Powder. The children identified those, too. Next, we graduated to a brand collage board, where only parts or fragments of companies' logos or symbols were visible. Still, the kids were able to identify most if not all of the brands, from Kellogg's to Pepsi-Cola to MTV to Nike. Some, to my surprise, were even able to recognize the logos of Gucci and Tiffany's. After scanning a handful of logos, I brought out a bunch of products from high-end designers, popular department stores, and even some generic clothing I'd picked up from street vendors. Now, blue jeans are a not uncomplicated item for most fashion-and brand-obsessed middle-schoolers. One of the girlsOliviacradled a pair of jeans in her lap. These are from Abercrombie! she announced happily. As offhandedly as I could, I asked, So how do you know those jeans are really from that store, and not fake? Because of their smell , Olivia replied. She then proceeded to inhale the sweet (some might say sickly sweet) fragrance of the Abercrombie & Fitch jeans she was holding. What Olivia was holding looked like any other pair of blue jeans. They could have come from Target. They could have come from Macy's. They could have come from a factory outlet anywhere in America. But this middle-school student had identified those jeans without blinking for one reason only: their unmistakable aroma. As strange and intriguing as Olivia's brand preference might sound, my appearance on the Today show couldn't help but remind me of the first worldwide sensory branding research project I ever carried out, which concluded in 2005. It was a five-year mission involving hundreds of researchers and thousands of consumers across four continents. Our goal was to understand the rationale behind behavior like Olivia'sand provide a road map for consumers to understand why they were drawn to a product, whether it was an iPod, a jar of Nescafé coffee, or even a simple breakfast cereal. Olivia, after all, was a living, breathing example of what marketers aspire to when they create a brand. I've long wondered: What is it that makes a child (or for that matter, an adult) fall head over heels for a brand like Apple or Kellog Zusammenfassung <...

Autorentext

Martin Lindstrom

Klappentext

Now available in paperback, "Brand Sense," the definitive book on sensory branding, shows how companies appeal to consumers' five senses.

Zusammenfassung
The definitive book on sensory branding, shows how companies appeal to consumers&#8217; five senses to sell products.

Did you know that the gratifying smell that accompanies the purchase of a new automobile actually comes from a factory-installed aerosol can containing &#8220;new car&#8221; aroma? Or that Kellogg&#8217;s trademarked &#8220;crunch&#8221; is generated in sound laboratories? Or that the distinctive click of a just-opened jar of Nescaf&#233; freeze-dried coffee, as well as the aroma of the crystals, has been developed in factories over the past decades? Or that many adolescents recognize a pair of Abercrombie & Fitch jeans not by their look or cut but by their fragrance?

In perhaps the most creative and authoritative book on how our senses affect our everyday purchasing decisions, global branding guru Martin Lindstrom reveals how the world&#8217;s most successful companies and products integrate touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound with startling and sometimes even shocking results. In conjunction with renowned research institution Millward Brown, Lindstrom&#8217;s innovative worldwide study unveils how all of us are slaves to our senses&#8212;and how, after reading this book, we&#8217;ll never be able to see, hear, or touch anything from our running shoes to our own car doors the same way again.

An expert on consumer shopping behavior, Lindstrom has helped transform the face of global marketing with more than twenty years of hands-on experience. Firmly grounded in science, and disclosing the secrets of all our favorite brands, Brand Sense shows how we consumers are unwittingly seduced by touch, smell, sound, and more.

Leseprobe
CHAPTER 1

Start Making Sense

IN THE WEEKS AND MONTHS FOLLOWING publication of Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, I was invited to appear frequently on America&#8217;s most popular morning program, the Today show. The topics we covered were various&#8212;shopping addictions, whether sex in advertising sells, subliminal advertising, and so on. During a recent appearance, I carried out a focus group with a selection of tweens, ages eight through twelve. My goal? To measure the degree to which sensory branding&#8212;that is to say, the use of fragrances, sounds, and even textures to enhance the appeal ofproducts&#8212;affected these kids. It was like emceeing a strange new game show called &#8220;Name That Sense.&#8221;

First I played a handful of well-known songs associated with various well-known companies and TV shows. Most of the children were able to name them immediately, among them Disney, Apple Computer, and the signature theme music from Spongebob Squarepants and NBC. Now it was time for the smell test. The first fragrance that floated out was (and will always be) one of the most evocative aromas in the world.

&#8220;Oh, I know that smell,&#8221; one said.

&#8220;Every kid knows that smell,&#8221; another broke in.

&#8220;Okay,&#8221; I said. &#8220;On the count of three, you&#8217;re going to tell me what the brand is. Ready? One &#8230; two &#8230; three&#8212;&#8221;

They all got it: Play-Doh! The next two fragrances? Crayola crayons and Johnson&#8217;s Baby Powder. The children identified those, too. Next, we graduated to a brand &#8220;collage board,&#8221; where only parts or fragments of companies&#8217; logos or symbols were visible. Still, the kids were able to identify most if not all of the brands, from Kellogg&#8217;s to Pepsi-Cola to MTV to Nike. Some, to my surprise, were even able to recognize the logos of Gucci and Tiffany&#8217;s.

After scanning a handful of logos, I brought out a bunch of products from high-end designers, popular department stores, and even some generic clothing I&#8217;d picked up from street vendors.

Now, blue jeans are a not uncomplicated item for most fashion-and brand-obsessed middle-schoolers. One of the girls&#8212;Olivia&#8212;cradled a pair of je…