Sensory Marketing Essential for Brand Activation Campaigns

Sensory marketing - creating a sensory product experience for the consumer which bypasses their conscious thought resistance to a typical advertising message - has becoming a powerful way that personal care companies can stand out from the competition. And it's not just a fad. Brand activation campaigns that really pay off are backed by science, profoundly affect brand loyalty, and can dramatically increase sales. According to Aradhna Krishna of the Sensory Marketing Laboratory at the University of Michigan, the most effective brand activation campaigns are those that impact all five senses, not just the visual.



By giving your customer a sensory experience, you intensify their internal dialogue about your brand. Consider the well-known brand Olay Regenerist, designed to generate heat (not necessary for product effectiveness) when applied. By creating a sensory experience, consumers quickly became convinced that they had stumbled upon the greatest skin care product, which quickly built brand loyalty and an increased perception of value. Give your customers a sensual experience, and you create powerfully loyal customers.

When rolling out a new brand activation campaign, here are some things to consider.

1. Define your product's "sensory signature". How does the product engage the five senses, and how can you invite consumers to experience each in a complete sensory experience. 
2. Expand beyond your actual product. Take a look at things like product packaging, event experience and digital messaging. Engage with your target market by inviting sensual participation in-person. A brand activation campaign that is perceived as a company asking for consumer input (ie: product testing, skin testing) is much more effective than one-sided messaging.
3. Match the sensory experience of your product to your brand engagement campaign. Invite consumers to touch, feel, taste, hear, smell, and share the experience. A true brand activation campaign will build on itself, encouraging repeat business and brand loyalty. Satisfied customers share their experience with others.  

A recent study tracked brand memory of consumers given a specially scented pencil, and found the sensory experience dramatically increased recall. Every product has the potential to be wrapped in a powerful sensory experience. Successful brand activation campaigns are those able to integrate all five senses resulting in true emotional engagement.

The Science Behind Sensory Marketing/Sensory Branding

Sensory Marketing/Branding has been used by a wide range of industries for the past few decades to create an emotional bond with the consumer regarding their brands. Sensory Marketing fills the one-dimensional void between the marketer and the consumer left by traditional approaches to advertising and marketing.

By approaching the consumer via a combination of the five senses, the marketer is able to use sensory cues to reach the consumer at an emotional, rather than a rational level. The approach is so enormously successful that a great deal of marketing research has been deployed at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Boston College, and The University of Colorado – among others.

This research focuses on the concept of “embodied cognition” whereby our bodies’ sensory awareness affects our decisions. Embodied cognition is an emerging subfield of psychology, artificial intelligence, and philosophy. Researchers have realized that human actions are very often defined by perceptual systems that our conscious minds are not fully aware of.

Cosmetic and body care marketers have been aware of embodied cognition for decades, if not longer. Provide the consumer with a well packaged, generous sample to create a need for the product. Sensory Marketing via embodied cognition can be especially effective when used as part of a Brand Activation Campaign .

Brand Activation Marketing is crucial to building trust with the consumer. There is no better way to engage the consumer, and thereby their minds, than with an interactive USP Solutions Tester to reveal to the consumer their unique Beauty Moment of Truth. The Beauty Moment of Truth creates a need, within the consumer's perception, for your product to solve a perceived lack.


Sensory Marketing engages any combination of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound to create a harmonious experience (embodied perception) as well as a longing within the consumer's subconscious. The experience and the longing cause the consumer to trust your brand and to ultimately need your product.

Sensory Marketing/Sensory Branding in the Beauty Marketplace

Consumers have a proven response to sensory marketing campaigns--indeed, more than 70 percent said they were inclined to buy the brand, and more than 30 percent convert to brand advocates, according to figures published by USP Solutions.  Dozens of globally recognizable firms have utilized their products for sensory marketing and branding.


Sensory marketing engages far more than what people see and hear; it also involves tactile experience and scent. The beauty market, in particular, involves all the senses.


The science behind sensory marketing is stepping to the fore, according to the Harvard Business Review.

"Aradhna Krishna directs the Sensory Marketing Laboratory at the University of Michigan and is considered the foremost expert in the field. She says that many companies are just starting to recognize how strongly the senses affect the deepest parts of our brains....Consumers don’t perceive them as marketing messages and therefore don’t react with the usual resistance to ads and other promotions."


To gain that emotional investment, testers have become a sensory marketing tool of choice. Being able to perform individual tests allows consumers to fully sense and experience the advertised beauty product.

By widening the sensory perception and the impact the product can have on them at a deeply personal level, beauty industry executives can seize an opportunity to make each engaged consumer a lifetime buyer.