Concerns grow over marketing's full sensory assault

Appealing to consumers' senses is almost a sure-fire way to boost flagging sales and create an instantly recognisable brand association. But is the reportedly inherent power of the practice leading marketers down a dangerous road?

When the Hershey's Chocolate store in New York opened, sales were anything but spectacular. The 'chocolate factory' wasn't drawing enough consumers, and those it did attract spent far too little. The problem? The store, despite the plethora of chocolate products, did not smell like chocolate. The foil packaging sealed in the smell. The answer? The store's management began pumping in the 'chocolate smell'. Overnight, sales increased by 39 per cent, according to figures supplied by Brand Sense author Martin Lindstrom and Millward Brown.

And while not yet prevalent, brands in the hospitality (Mandarin Oriental Hotels, The Peninsula Hotel Group and Raffles Hotels), airline (Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines) and retailing (Shanghai Tang) industries are actively employing it to varying degrees.

These examples are some of many from 'sensory appeal' marketing expert, Lindstrom. Sensory appeal marketing involves moving beyond the traditional method of using channels like television and print to convey a certain message to the rational part of consumers' consciousness.

Lindstrom notes the five senses -- smell, touch, taste, audio and visual -- are often more powerful than the traditional channels, but they are also often under-utilised.

"Our numbers, from lab tests and tests conducted in retail stores on products and services, show that a simple use of scent can increase sales by up to 350 per cent," he says. "Customer loyalty, by using the sense of touch, sound and aroma, increases by up to 110 per cent."

But the practice -- although not yet widely used -- could face a difficult time ahead. Its power in appealing to our subconscious may draw comparisons to 'subliminal advertising', a practice widely regarded as unethical.

"This is the closest we come to subliminal advertising. Forget everything about hidden bottles in one frame in the cinema," says Lindstrom. "The power of smell is substantially stronger, and very subliminal."

But he's quick to add that while consumers can be 'pushed' in a certain direction to which they were already predisposed, people cannot be influenced against their will. So where should the line be drawn?

"To be perfectly frank, I don't know. I would personally say don't do stuff to others you wouldn't do to yourself; however, everyone's ethics are not the same."

Lindstrom goes further, suggesting there needs to be guidelines and regulations in place governing how the practice is employed.

"When writing about (Las Vegas) casinos spraying in a secret aroma, increasing the gambling rate by 45 per cent, I received two requests to skip the chapter. I didn't, however as it indicates the power of this and the way it has been kept secret for a long time," he says. But Tom Doctoroff, Northeast Asia area director JWT, says the issue is less about subliminal advertising and more about consumer choice. "Consumers have a choice. When they watch television, or when they read a newspaper or hear a radio, they can close the newspaper, turn off the TV and turn off the radio," he says.

"This is a question of taking away consumers' choice to be exposed to that advertising sensation and, in that sense, it can be a little bit questionable in terms of ethics." He goes on to say consumers have a right to 'keep their noses clean'. "It's no more or less visible, or salient than anything else because it's really just another way of conveying a message," he says.