Advertising Age has a correspondent named Martin Lindstrom that finds new and innovative ways of building brands. Lindstrom goes around the world, finding new branding techniques.
In one interesting video he explores branding through smell. He goes to a Crayola store and says that there is no smell in there whatsoever. How can that be?
Everyone remembers what crayons smell like. The smell can take you back to elementary school in a heartbeat. Lindstrom guesses that Crayola has changed its crayon formula to no longer smell as it did. No matter how Crayola got rid of the smell, there’s no question that it was a mistake.
If I was blindfolded and someone stuck a Crayola crayon under my nose, I would know right away what it was. That’s branding.
Lindstrom encourages brands to not only use the sense of sight to appeal to people and build brands, but to use as many senses as possible.
To do this, follow these three steps:
1. Develop a sensogram for your own and competitor brands to assess and compare the brand’s sensory appeal. Draw a diagram with five points that looks like a pentagram (don’t worry, nothing evil is coming from this!) and label each point with a sense: touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight.
Then map out how well your brand appeals to each of the five senses, using a 0 to 5 scale. Do the same for your competitors. Which senses do your competitors beat you on? Which senses do your competitors not use at all that you could use to take a bigger part of the market?
Finally, map out your ideal sensogram of which senses you would like to appeal to with a 5 rating within three years.
2. Identify and secure ownership of your brand’s sensory signals. Some businesses don’t even know they have sensory brand signals. Lindstrom notes how McDonald’s has a hearing sense appeal. When you put a McDonald’s straw through one of its plastic lids on a cup of Coke, it makes a distinct sound. I’m sure you can hear it right now. He says McDonald’s should take ownership of that sound. (How to do that, I’m not exactly sure. I’m guessing what Lindstrom means is in the next step.)
And I have to mention Subway. Every Subway smells the same no matter where you go. I had friends in high school that worked at Subway and I could tell from the smell in their cars that they worked there!
3. Exploit every opportunity to introduce brand communication with the senses. Identify which senses you want to own – Lindstrom suggests smell and sound. He suggests putting sound on your Web site since most people have computer speakers nowadays. You could put a short 7-second tune that gives off the feeling of your brand, which Lindstrom calls the “brand signature.” Something soothing for a spa Web site or something rockin’ for a Web site directed at teens.
You could also add some kind of unique smell to your product or packaging. I’ve noticed that certain magazine pages smell a certain way, but I’m not sure if I’d consider that part of the magazine’s brand or not. I think Lindstrom would.
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