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Synthetic Synesthesia
ABSTRACT: Why do consumers buy what they buy? Why do certain products attain a cult following, whereas other great products never develop a fan base. “Appealing to the consumers multiple senses, touch taste, smell, sight, and sound, helps establish a deeper
sense of brand loyalty that resonates long after the message has been sent” Aradhna Krishna (18). Because of Krishna’s book Sensory Marketing, we have a whole new field of study which includes all of the senses, according to Alumni Magazine of the Ross School of
Business, this was made possible after holding “the first sensory marketing conference”(“The Senses and Sensibilities of Marketing”, 18) in 2008 which brought together experts of individual senses such as taste or smell. The combination of senses leads to a sensory
rich, immersive experience, and therefore a memorable one as designer Jinsop Lee says in his Ted talk “Design for the five senses”.
Decision Making
•Starbucks uses earth tones, greens and browns to lull
customers into a relaxed state.
•Starbucks mission: To inspire and nurture the human
spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at
a time.
•Dunkin Donuts uses bright white and contrasted
colors to pop out and wake customers up.
•Dunkin founders mission: Make and serve the
freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and
courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores.
Up till now, designers have “mainly focused on making things look very pretty, and a
little bit of touch, which means we've ignored the other three senses.” 5 Jinsop Lee urges us to
design for the five senses, things should not just look pretty, but they should feel good, sound
good, smell good, and whenever possible taste good too! Your brain records all of your
experiences for decision making later on in life, the tools your brain uses to record these
experiences are the five senses. From a marketing perspective, if you can trigger someone's
sense of touch to a high degree, they love the way this product feels, that’s great, but it wont
have the same effect as a product which triggers two or more of the senses simultaneously.
Commercial advertisements have been employing these tactics at every opportunity, even
though the consumer cannot use all the senses while simply watching an ad on the television,
trigger words and choice images stimulate these senses nonetheless. The brain matches what
it sees and hears in an ad, and cross references that data to its past experiences, the foggy
breath tells the brain its cold, the cuddly puppy tells us the product is soft, the fast paced
music excites the brain, the sound of a girl smelling a man with a certain cologne followed by
a sigh of pleasure tells us that this cologne is intoxicating. Considering intimate contact
stimulates all five of the senses, it is no wonder that the phrase sex sells holds true.
•Listening to music that you connect too causes the brain to
release dopamine, a “feel good” chemical.1
• Using a “jingle” helps consumers create associations between a
sound and the product or service. Ex: Old Spice, Intel
•Many people use specific ringtones for family and friends, or the
occasional terrifying boss.
•According to the Journal of Consumer Research, the slower the
music, the more people shop.2
•When slow music is played in restaurants the average bill is 29%
higher.2
•Colgate is looking into new flavors of toothpaste such as
chocolate and fruit flavors.6
•Words like sour, sweet, spicy, minty all trigger certain reactions
in the brain because of associations from past experiences
•.Coca-Cola and similar companies sell a flavoring, their syrup
having a unique mixture of ingredients.
• Some gum candies change flavor over time.
•Colors can often be associated with flavors: “Red Hot”
Sources: 1: Sohn, Emily. "Why Music Makes You Happy." DNews. Discover, 10 Jan. 2011. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
2: Murtagh, Joe. "Successful Marketing Demands Use of All Five Senses | Motivational Speaker - The Dream Speaker™." Successful Marketing Demands Use of All Five Senses | Motivational Speaker - The Dream Speaker™. The Dreamspeaker, n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
3: Dowdey, Sarah. "How Smell Works." HowStuffWorks, 29 Oct. 2007. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
4: Bailey, Regina. "Limbic System." About.com Biology. About, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2014
5: Lee, Jinsop. "Jinsop Lee: Design for All 5 Senses." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED, Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
6: "Kid's Products." Children's Dental. Colgate, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
•Can you type without looking? This is an example of
muscle memory, and keyboards made with notches at
the “J” and “F” help us operate a keyboard
effectively.
•Soft drink companies come out with new designs for
their bottles to fit comfortably in the hand, or to have
grooves for the fingers.
•Would you prefer a soft plush pillow or a scratchy
woolen pillow?
• The skin is the largest organ on the human body,
and we use it heavily to perceive the world around us,
especially determining friend from foe.
•“Smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost
instantaneously.”3
• The olfactory build is connected to the limbic system.
•The limbic system is known to be involved in many of our
emotions and motivations.”4
• Some structures of the limbic system are heavily involved in
memory.
•Research shows that when certain areas of the brain connected
to memory become damaged, the ability to identify smells is
impaired. 4