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A MULTI
SENSORY APPROACH TO HELPING CUSTOMERS FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR
BRAND.
INTERVIEW WITH SIMON FAURE-FIELD |
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Singapore Marketer
July 2009 |
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Brands find it increasingly difficult to differentiate and connect
with their target market. With 83% of marketing budgets being
spent on commercial communication that appeals to one sense – our
eyes, 75% of our decisions are based upon what we smell and
there’s a 65% chance of a mood change when exposed to positive
music.
Bland service centres, uninspiring bank branches, plain vanilla
retailer outlets, traditional passive merchandising displays,
jazzy colour palettes, bright lights and one-off price promotions
just aren’t ringing the cash registers like they used to, says
British brand consultant, Simon Faure-Field – Asia’s only “brand
atmospherics” guru. Based in Singapore, he heads Equal Strategy
whose mission is to introduce environmental brand marketing – a
360 degree marketing experience - to the region’s businesses,
brands and retailers. Editor, Jefrey Gomez, speaks with Simon to
find out what exactly is tickling the senses of the consumers
these days.
For a long time now visitors to places of businesses have been
treated to business-designed music to appeal to consumers but
you're taking that further with fragrance. Tell us about that.
It's the first time in Asia that any brand consultant has explored
combining the two and we actually use a scientific and systematic
approach. As humans we are affected by the appeal of our
surroundings, which actually tend to affect our behaviour. So for
example, a wine shop was comparing the effect of playing top 40's
music versus classical and jazz, and they actually found that the
volume of sales didn't increase between the two, but they did find
that when people listen to classical music they tend to select
more expensive wines.
There is another study of supermarkets where they compared using
no music, low-tempo music, and high-tempo music. Well
the summary of that was if you're using low-tempo music the
customers actually slowed down, became more relaxed and more
impulsive. So by using low tempo music in the supermarket they
found that sales increase by 38.2%.
If we look at the application of fragrance, Nike once conducted a
study where they have two identical sets of trainers, one pair was
located in a room that had been lightly fragranced, and the other
room had not. They would send consumers in to look at each of
those two pairs of trainers and when they came out they asked them
which trainers they had a preference for. It was found that the
consumers actually preferred the trainers from the scented room.
They were even prepared to spend 10 to 20 dollars more as compared
to trainers in the unfragranced room. So that gives you some
research as to how music and fragrance can really help improve
customer experience and increase the bottom line.
This is a global trend which really all started in the hospitality
industry. Westin, who are a part of the Starwood Group, two years
ago started diffusing a signature fragrance in all of their hotel
lobbies and they coupled that by standardising the music in all
the lobbies as well, so whenever you went from a Westin property
anywhere in the world you actually have a consistent experience.
And how widely is this branding tactic being used in Asia today?
What we're finding in Asia is that brands want to express more of
their Asian brand elements. One of the big banks we are working
with recently renovated their flagship branch with an Asian theme
so the tables, for example, have curved corners that represent
Asian warmth. They are also using different textures and materials
that represent the different Asian nationalities. We are diffusing
an Asian based ginger flower fragrance in there so when you walk
in to the branch you smell and experience this Asian fragrance
which is absolutely beautiful and we have that coupled with low
tempo Asian music. So this actually creates a very holistic
experience for customers which reflect their brand positioning as
Asia’s specialist bank.
We also found the new generation of boutique hotels are early
adopters of these practices. In Singapore, we applied these
techniques to Singapore’s first luxury boutique hotel called Naumi.
If you go to the hotel’s website you'll see this property which is
very clean, modern and stylish. We used a ginger and lime
fragrance which complements the overall tone and feel of their
property and we've also provided music styling by the infinity
pool in the roof which overlooks various key landmarks in
Singapore. We also provide music in the corridors to mask
background noise coming from the rooms for guests who are walking
to their rooms.
Another property we are working with is M Hotel. We used a ginger
and lily fragrance that's coupled with music styling in their
lobby. Another of the outlets we're working with is its Café 2000.
This particular food and beverage outlet has quite a wide range of
moods and activity levels across the day so if you going there for
breakfast, it's very busy, mid morning's very quiet, lunch time is
extremely busy all the way through to the afternoon where the
activity level tails off before it peaks again in the evening. So
we segmented the day into 13 different time blocks and we've
styled the music and tempo to fit the mood of that time of day and
by tapping into our 5 million track library of licensed music.
This means that this client also benefits from having a nice
variety of music throughout the day.
Across the Middle East we're working with Raffles Hotel which
recently opened a new property of a fusion of Asian and Middle
Eastern heritage. We carried out music styling in the main lobby
area as well as the three of the outlets to reflect each of the
different unique qualities of those areas.
What are some of the other avenues you have been employing to get
your clients’ brand message across to the consumers?
Brands need to use an integrated approach across their various
touch points to engage their customers. For example if you have a
creative advertisement in print or on television, it's crucial
that the customers have an experience that matches the perception
created by the advertisement when they visit the property, or even
when they place a call to the company. So our approach here is to
look at using the right sort of music that's going to soothe the
caller, so that it reflects the brand values and positioning. We
also look at integrating interlace messages as a great way to
inform, inspire and entertain callers when they are on hold. This
would educate them on your business, and further reinforce your
brand message about who and what you are. We see this as an
imperative to moving businesses forward. |
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