Last week, my latest book, Brand Sense, was published worldwide. My primary mission was to figure out the importance of our five senses in relation to branding. Millward Brown undertook the Brand Sense study, utilising the skills of 600 researchers across 13 countries. It revealed that the bulk of all communication today - 83 per cent - appeals to sight, leaving a paltry 17 per cent to the other senses.
Surprisingly, the study reveals that smell is our second most important sense after sight, not sound. In fact, 75 per cent of all our emotional connections are based on what we smell. And yet, less than two per cent of today's communication takes scent into account. Two identical pairs of Nike running shoes were placed in two separate, but identical, rooms.
One room was infused with a mixed floral scent. The other wasn't. Test subjects inspected the shoes in each room, and then answered a questionnaire.
Overwhelmingly, by a margin of 84 per cent, consumers preferred the shoes displayed in the fragrant room. Additionally, the consumers estimated the value of the 'scented' shoes was, on average, US$10.33 higher than the pair in the unscented room.
Which brings me back to the colourful Crayolas. As the company prepared to enter the Chinese market, they realised that they had to have a differential that would keep them unique in an environment of super-skilled imitators and abundant competitors. They decided to leverage smell. And although the smell of Crayola crayons hardly resembles rose potpourri, its power lies in its ability to take us back to childhood.
The Crayola smell was analysed down to the minutest detail, and was then trademarked, making it impossible to imitate. What had once been a coincidental by-product of the manufacturing process had, over the years, become an essential element of the brand, in the same way that new car owners expect a new-car smell in their vehicle. It's a smell that everyone believes is part of the fact that everything's, well, new. But this is not the case. Before each car leaves the factory floor it's sprayed with a scent that is designed to last about six weeks. Rolls Royce and Mercedes-Benz invented and branded their own new-car smell.
All our sensory touch points are essential to building the brands of tomorrow. We cannot afford to overlook any of them. It could be this very reason why the most iconic of brands, Coca-Cola, is suffering. For whatever good reason, they've ignored the fact that the majority of consumers believe that Coke tastes better when drunk from a glass bottle. Better than if drunk from plastic or a can. This may also explain why the largest import from Mexico to the US is Coca-Cola in a classic bottle. So, as Coke removed the glass bottle from the market, it lost sole ownership of the tactile soft-drink experience. According to the Brand Sense study, Pepsi now is the leading tactile owner.
The message is simple. We are all created with five senses. The loss of any one of them creates suffering. They are essential to our lives, and as such they should be essential to building our brands. So, before you neglect the sensory assets of your product, reconsider the importance of each touch point.
You could find the very differentiation you've been looking for. Then you can protect it, before your competitor realises your super sensory secret.