On Wednesday, Mike Rosenau and Jerry Deeney of Studio Creative had a unique opportunity to present to an audience of about 100 Pepsico Global Communications Team members.  The subject, as requested by Pepsico, was “the role of visual identity in events.” 

 

Knowing full well that there’s “more than meets the eye” when it comes to branding, we chose not to limit the presentation to visual considerations.  Instead, the theme was “Making Sense of Visual Identity: How to Use Your Five Senses to Bring Your Messages to Life.”  We looked at each of the five senses individually, offering case studies and practical tips that the audience could take away and put to immediate use.  We also  theorized that there’s a sixth sense in branding – and no, it has nothing to do with seeing dead people.  It’s about having a sense of consistency throughout every aspect of your live communications. 

 

Part of the program involved challenging the audience to answer a few thought-provoking questions about sensory branding.  One question we asked was, “Which of the five senses has the most powerful influence on the human memory?”  I don’t know that it’s been scientifically proven, but according to our research, “smell” seemed to take the prize.

 

Have you ever smelled something that instantly conjured up vibrant, emotional memories?  For me, the scent of secondhand cigarette smoke mingled with a warm summer breeze never fails to transport me right back to the Little League baseball field.  I can see myself standing there in a big, blue batting helmet and hear the chant from the field: “Eh, batter, eh, batter, eh, batter, SWING!”  

 

This phenomenon is called involuntary memory, or “Proustian memory” after Marcel Proust, who frequently wrote about it in his novels.  In one famous instance, the taste of a madeleine cake soaked in lime-blossom tea causes a vivid scene from the narrator’s childhood to suddenly rise up before him “like a stage set.”  Along with the memory come warm feelings that free him from his worldly concerns.

 

Scientists say that seventy-five percent of what we perceive as taste actually comes from our sense of smell,  so I think it’s safe to assume that Proust’s nose played a role in the madeleine experience.  But, how is it that smell can make this happen?  

 

I’m no biologist, but what I’ve read is that the 10 million-or-so receptor cells in our nasal passages interpret smells, then forward the message to the 50-some thousand cells in the olfactory bulb.  The olfactory bulb acts as a “smell amplifier,” sending boosted scent signals to two places in the brain.  One of those places is the limbic area, which deals with emotion, behavior and long-term memory in addition to olfaction.

 

This raises some interesting questions when you consider that most live communications seek to motivate consumers primarily through imagery, sound and texture.  Are we underutilizing the one sense that offers a direct line of communication to the very things we want to influence– emotion, behavior and memory?  Could the right smell help a consumer feel emotion for a brand, affect their shopping behavior and help them remember a certain brand when they’re ready to buy?  Conversely, could the wrong smell turn them off? 

 

If nothing else, when your ideas for sight, sound and touch run dry in your next brainstorm, it might make sense to try thinking with your nose for a change.