Sensory branding can be defined as the purposeful design and deployment of the interaction between the senses in order to stimulate a consumer's relationship with a brand and to foster a lasting emotional connection that optimizes purchasing and brand loyalty. It involves building an image of the product in the consumer's mind by developing a unique identity, conveyed through several media that generate cues for all the five senses. In other words, it means providing an overall satisfactory experience to the customer through a stimulus by possibly all the five senses and not just one or two odd ones as adopted by most other branding concepts, e.g., it is the touch of the Cadbury's chocolate that fine appearance, its emotional jingle, kuch khaas hai zindagi mein and of course the mouth-watering taste and aroma that goes into building positive customer experience with the brand. All this is perceived in totality by the customer. So, when one recalls the brand Cadbury, it may be the picture first but cannot be the picture alone that creates a sensation. It is the overall experience that any customer recollects which was generated as a response from more than one or possibly all the five senses.
`Brand' as defined by the brand expert Philip Kotler is a collection of signs, symbols, ideas and logos, etc. But this definition is very myopic today. Any manufacturer markets its products today in a well-packaged form with its own private labels that may or may not be very popular among the common public, but can we regard it as a brand? Certainly not. So, where's the problem? If we evaluate it on the stated branding parameters, it does score 100%, but the problem here is that of belief and commitment. |
