Music maximizes travelers’ emotions.

These days, ‘synesthesia marketing’, which stimulates all five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, etc. in complex ways to provide new experiences, is getting more and more popular. Not only is synesthesia marketing effective in quenching the thirst of modern people’s dried up feelings, but it also maximizes consumer satisfaction. Let’s find out more about it.

Beginning of ‘Sense Marketing’, which satisfies modern people tired from busy everyday life.

Now more and more places provide taste and emotions.

The term Sense Marketing is known to have been used around 1992. Generally, it refers to a marketing strategy of ‘stimulating sensory organs for sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to appeal to the customers’ five senses’. In the past, appealing convenience and function to stimulate consumption was preferred, but when this term arrived, the marketing that prioritized ‘value, message, and being touched’ became a lot more active.

The very trendy greenhouse concept cafe is also part of the Sense Marketing.

But why has satisfying consumer emotions become necessary? As media and industry both drastically developed, modern people needed a new stimulation to console their dried-up feelings while they suffered from their busy everyday lives. As an example, when they have to grab a cup of coffee, they not only consider the flavor but also the atmosphere, music, and brand image of the place they will be drinking the coffee in. Those who study consumer psychology announced that sensory feeling and instant reaction affect consumption and that the era calls for Sense Marketing. Scott Robinet, the author of , said ‘experience is the gathering of points of contact between corporates and consumers where they exchange sensory stimulation, information, and emotion’. In the modern society, without a doubt, communication with ‘smart’ consumers is emphasized.

Stimulating ‘synesthesia’ for touching experiences

ASMR stimulates both hearing and sight.

Then how could one communicate with the consumers for successful Sense Marketing? Due to the effect of quickly changing media, communication methods are changing and developing in various and irregular ways. Each consumer expresses different feelings after going through the same experience. Businesses felt the need to build rapport with the consumers and deliver satisfactory touching moments. The recently devised and developing marketing trend for such purpose is ‘stimulating synesthesia’.

Synesthesia combines the Greek words ‘Syn (together)’ and ‘Aisthesis (recognition)’, meaning ‘a single sense bringing about another sense of a different realm or a sense brought about in such a way’. But apparently, a person who can naturally experience synesthesia is only 1 in about 2,000, which is not a lot. It also is more often with the case of artists rather than regular Joes. But a certain amount of synesthesia exists within senses felt by regular people in their everyday lives. So, creating a special environment will allow them to feel greater emotions. This is called ‘synesthesia marketing’. In the end, utilizing which method to provide how multi-dimensional an experience is will determine the success and failure of ‘synesthesia marketing’.

Various synesthesia marketing cases

A/C that recreated Mt. Sorak’s natural wind and scent got great reviews.

Let’s look into successful synesthesia marketing cases where various means were designed, shall we? A donut brand installed an air freshener in the bus and had the brand’s unique coffee scent fumed out of the air freshener whenever the brand’s radio advertisement came out. During the advertisement period, the number of visitors to the store increased by 16% while sales increased by 29%. The ‘4D A/C’ is also a big successful case. This A/C recreated the wind that blows around Mt. Sorak’s most refreshing spot to stimulate the sense of touch and captured the natural scent extracted from Korean fir trees to also stimulate the sense of smell. This A/C got great reviews from those who dislike artificial wind, and its natural scent was proved to have excellent stress reducing effect, which led to high consumer satisfaction level.

But there were opposite cases as well. One of the most well-known one would be the cafe opened by internationally famous top models like Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, etc. Their thin body types actually negatively affected the appetite of the consumers who ate at the cafe. In the past, one of the major cola drink companies once launched a colorless drink to provide something new for their customers and failed. They connected the senses for taste and sight, but transparent cola just ruined the sense of sight.

So, it shows that successful synesthesia marketing requires not just providing new stimulation to the consumers, but satisfying the needs of the existing customers while also providing new stimulation.

‘Emotional window’, connecting various attempts together; music brings back the memories of previous travels.

A new, original campaign which adds emotion to your bus trip

Recently the original campaign which allows you to listen to music in the highway bus, ‘emotional window’, is being recognized by many as the new synesthesia marketing case. It’s an Innocean Worldwide campaign that allows you to have a unique experience by combining music and travel, jointly provided by Antenna Music and Kumho Busline. When You find your own ‘emotional zone’ in the speedy highway bus, scan the QR code on the window with your phone to listen to songs by Antenna Music artists such as Jeong Seung-hwan, Lucid Fall and Toy.

Emotional window campaign began its trial operation on January 15th. You can enjoy this service in 20 Kumho Buslines buses for 3 routes ？ Seoul↔Anseong, Seoul↔Yuseong, and Seoul↔Sejong that depart from the Seoul Express Bus Terminal in Seocho-gu, Seoul. After a 3-month trial period, more buses will have this service after a discussion, and it will also showcase greater variety of music.

Gerald Zaltman, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School, said ‘people feel and think about everything they recognize with their senses, and remember all of that as their past’. As our previous cases show, numerous brands are actively carrying out the Sense Marketing to be remembered vividly by people. This can also be an enjoyable experience for the consumers as well. Are you planning on taking a trip soon by any chance? If you are dreaming of a trip which will allow you to experience emotionally charged moments to the fullest and be remembered for a long time, maybe you should take part in the emotional window campaign.