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Brand Sense

Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound

Martin Lindstrom

Free Press, 2005

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Author Martin Lindstrom deserves credit for this original contribution to the overworked discipline of branding. He makes the case for involving all five senses – as well as emotions of nearly religious depth – in branding. While this may not work for every industry (it would be hard to make financial services tactile, aromatic or beloved, for example), it is a provocative idea that expands the branding discussion. getAbstract finds that Lindstrom makes a logical case for exploiting the power of the senses and emotions as he weaves in data based on a 24-nation study by research firm Millward Brown. The research explored “to what extent the religious factor – faith, belief and community – could serve as a model for the future of branding.” It also examined how taste, touch, hearing, smell and sight can create links between buyers and brands, and paid incisive attention to actual branding stories. Though some repetition crops up, Lindstrom generally keeps the book moving along with new facts that propel each chapter. He makes it clear that greater sensory emphasis could boost many brands – and, perhaps, the careers of many brand managers.

Summary

The Five Senses

Branding is undergoing a sea change. In the past, manufacturers owned brands, but in the future the consumer will own them. Brand effectiveness is dropping. To get and hold consumer attention, future brands will have to resonate with all five senses and emotions.

In the 1950s, marketers developed the “Unique Selling Proposition,” which focused more on products’ physical differences and less on brands. In the 1960s, brands regained emphasis via the “Emotional Selling Proposition,” based on fostering the consumer’s attachment to the product. Coke and Pepsi created emotional identities based on their labels, not their colas. The 1980s “Organizational Selling Proposition” touted a brand’s business aspects, and in the 1990s, marketers focused on the “Brand Selling Proposition,” which made brands more powerful than products. In this environment, the Harry Potter, M&M, Disney and Pokémon brands carried the brand story beyond the anchor product itself and into ancillary offerings. The change in branding eventually became evident in the late 1990s with the “Me Selling Proposition,” marking the consumers’ tendency to develop more personal attachments to their...

About the Author

Martin Lindstrom founded his ad agency at age 12. Today, it serves numerous international corporate clients. He publishes a weekly column on branding and has written several books, which have been translated into more than 15 languages.

Brand Sense

Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound

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The Five Senses

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