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In addition to visual and acoustic brand strategies, Mastercard has also embarked on a journey to develop the sense of taste. The taste is very closely related to the original brain. It affects consumers quickly. For the most part, people tend to like or dislike a taste right away. And if they don’t like something right away, it can take a long time to get a taste for it.

The taste of a brand associated with an edible product or drink is very natural. But what about brands like Mastercard that have no natural reason to be associated with taste? Well, we could bring out prepaid edible cards, but that’s probably not a smart idea. Instead, Mastercard started a program called Priceless Tables, where a fabulous dinner is served at a table or two in exotic and completely unexpected locations – such as a billboard in Manhattan or next to a dinosaur skeleton in a Chicago museum or a baseball diamond on a table . These tables, of which we have created thousands around the world, provide a great experience for consumers on a large scale. And they lead directly to a boost in brand image, with a lot of talk about it on social media.

We even opened restaurants, including in Manhattan. Some of these restaurants are naturally faithful replicas of exotic restaurants around the world. And we keep changing the topics to keep the concepts up to date. For example, one of the restaurants called The Rock was a very exotic restaurant that literally stands on a rock off the coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania. We replicated the restaurant into a T including the view from every window to be exactly like dinner was in the original restaurant. The menu, the sea breeze, the scent and the specially composed background music that uses our sound melody have created a breathtaking multi-sensory experience. The idea was to create such healthy, multi-sensory experiences that money can’t buy – only a Mastercard can bring them to you.

Mastercard has even made macarons in unique flavors in collaboration with Ladurée, the leading French baker. One taste is the taste of optimism, the second the taste of passion. They are presented in the two colors of the Mastercard logo, red and yellow. They are sold through select Ladurée stores and given out to Mastercard customers at various events and conferences to bolster the brand through their palate.

How Aston Martin uses multi-sensory branding

Another great example of multi-sensory branding comes from Aston Martin, the legendary British automaker associated with James Bond. This brand has done an amazing job in the multisensory space. As a luxury brand, their sales volumes are of course limited and they don’t have gigantic marketing budgets either. Instead of relying on traditional marketing, they explored new areas to enhance their branding. One such direction is sensory marketing, including sonic branding.

Unsurprisingly, for a brand that has been around for more than a hundred years, its sonic identity has been built over many decades and is at the heart of the engine’s distinctive sound. The exhaust is the rumble of the car, a carefully crafted soundtrack that can go from gentle to vicious with the press of the throttle. Nothing has been left to chance to ensure that every sound the car makes is in harmony with the sound of the engine, from seat belt warnings and low fuel consumption reminders to the special click of the gears and the soft creak of the leather upholstery.

Every element of the tonal identity, however insignificant, has been carefully thought out. Using the seat belt tone as an example, Aston Martin decided to make the warning more melodic to be suggestive rather than demanding. If the driver ignores this, there will be a second and a third intensity transition to convey the urgency. The basics of sound identity are matching the sounds the car makes with the brand’s visual identity. Sounds that express and embody the craftsmanship, sophistication and unique character of the brand.

Aston Martin has also used the other senses for touch and smell. It takes more than a hundred hours to make the interior of an Aston Martin and everything is done to provide a sensory experience, from the unique touch sensation when a customer runs her fingers over the leather interior to the aroma of the leather. The aroma is so distinctive that when Aston Martin Works is restoring an old Aston Martin they source the leather from the original supplier to ensure that the aroma of the leather is authentic to that car. Talk about being in a great way obsessed with being true to and aligned with every aspect of branding manifestation.

Gerhard Fourie, Director of Marketing and Branding Strategy, Aston Martin said: “The brand identity has evolved over many decades and even as we move into new areas of marketing, it is important that we maintain the essence of the brand. And we go extraordinarily far for this. “

The emergence of multi-sensory branding

A number of other companies have been moving towards multi-sensory branding, even though they are just getting started. Hotel chains, especially Marriott, have been using Signature Scents as part of their branding campaign for many years. Many retailers take a similar approach, using scent to activate the brain’s limbic system – the part most associated with memory and behavior.

Nike found that customers’ purchase intent increased by up to 80 percent as they added fragrances to their stores. In a similar report, a gas station in the UK found that the smell of coffee in the air increased its sales by 300 percent. However, this should not be confused with sonic branding. Merely adding scents to improve the customer experience or to stimulate the brain or evoke emotions is not sensory branding. It’s just sensory stimulation. In sensory branding, the sounds, smells, tastes, touches, etc. are unique to this brand and are recognizable and clearly associated with that brand. It is the creation of a brand identity across multiple senses.

Multi-sensory branding is about reaching consumers with all their senses in a relevant, authentic, convincing and non-intrusive way in order to overcome the massive clutter and reach the hearts and minds of consumers.

We’re in Marketing 5.0, it’s the era of meaning and sensitivity. The manifestation of all the technology available to marketers means that a lot of dehumanization will take place and that human interaction will be shifting and shifting even more than it has been in the last five years.

The next phase for marketers is to put the human back into human interactions and understand the human sensitivity – not just interests and desires, but the finer subtle elements of the individual as well. Shifting your brand and its boundaries is the only way to engage with consumers in a compelling and impactful way.

Contributed by Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar to the Branding Strategy Insider, excerpt from his book QUANTUM MARKETING: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow’s Consumers Copyright © 2021 by Raja Rajammanar. Used with permission from HarperCollins Leadership.

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