The best brands (Apple, Starbucks, IBM, Mercedes, Nike) know that it's crucial to use all of our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) to build a brand. The sensory experience is what gets you to buy their products over and over and over.
A multi-sensory brand experience generates certain beliefs, feelings, thoughts, and opinions in our minds. All great marketers know this is the easiest way to touch the soul of a customer.
So What Does That Have To Do With Living The Life You Love?
Sensory processing dominates our brain functioning. Everything we experience is the result of a sensory stimuli. Activating our five senses pulls us into the experience.
Our objective is to show you how to use these sensory experiences in the spaces we inhabit
- to connect to nature
- to come into resonance with our own natural biorhythms
- to connect to our own souls, and
- to live from a place of deep connection
I. Hearing
Sound has a very profound impact on all of matter (All living beings as well as inanimate objects). As sound waves hit surfaces they generate visual patterns (The study of Cymatics). This following video by Nigel Stanford is phenomenal.
"Stanford put together a series of science experiments that demonstrate how sound can move matter around and combined them into a pretty solid music track and a very awesome video"
Dieter Bohn
Click here if the video does not load.
5 Things To Enhance The Hearing Sensory Inputs In A Space
- Mute the ads while you watch television
- Turn off smart phone notifications. The average person checks their phone every six minutes, that's 150 times a day!
- Singing has such a powerful vibration. Sing songs that move you, make you happy, fill you with joy.
- Music can dramatically affect a room's energy. Find something that makes you feel the feeling you want to create in the room. Denise Linn suggests the following
- African drumming music infuses a room with creativity, life force, and strength
- Children's lullabies infuse the room with child like innocence
- Gregorian chants bring forth powerful spiritual energy
- Classical music and flute have a soothing effect
- Soft, ambient new age music can be uplifting
- Bells, Chimes, Gongs, Musical Instruments. Ring them, play them regularly, they clear out stagnations and tune up spaces
II. Sight
83% of information we retain is visual. 40% of all perfume purchase decision are based on the design of the bottle (Business Insider)
- Remove physical clutter. Clutter, a significant visual distraction, greatly contributes to stress and scattered thinking. Clear your desk, your counters, and your home. Make your space visually simple. You'll be amazed at your ability to focus. For inspiration and ideas check our post on de-cluttering and simplifying
- Introduce interaction with a space
- Use color to create the feeling you desire in your space
- Use indoor plants. These 15 indoor house plants purify as well as bring positive energy in.
III. Smell
75% of our emotions can be triggered by smell . Stores like Abercrombie & Fitch have been known use scents in the store to increase sales. Consulting firms like ScentAir, specialize in helping brands leverage scent marketing to their advantage.
What Can We Do In Our Homes?
- Use nontoxic, earth friendly, and natural cleaning supplies
- Allow fresh air to circulate through your space often. Our closed homes have startling levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds)
- Use Aromatherapy on a daily basis. Use a drop of natural essential oil in small misting bottles and keep them handy around the house. Spray a mist every time you walk by. While scents are personal, you can use the following suggestions by Denise Linn for various rooms.
- Bedroom: Lavender, Rose, Geranium
- Children's Rooms: Diluted Lavender & Orange
- Office: Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Rosemary
- Kitchen: Lemon, Grapefruit
- Bathroom: Peppermint & Pine, Rose & Ylang Ylang
You can also use diffusers, vaporizers, and incense
A few other essential oils and their qualities:
Follow this link to watch a short video on Aromatherapy (NDTV show Routes)
- Basil: uplifting, provide clarity
- Chamomile: soothing, calming
- Juniper: purifying, stimulating
- Sage: cleansing, purifying
- Sandalwood: stress reducing, sensuous, soothing
IV. Touch
Touch is the second most important experience generator (Visual being 1st). Our skin has more than 4,000,000 sensory receptors.
Be mindful of the products you choose to buy. Buy natural fibers and materials. Furnishings and fabrics made of wool or cotton have more energy than synthetic fibers. The closer the object is to its source the more positive energy it bears. A wooden chair has more life energy than a plastic chair.
V. Taste
The most important factor in reducing stress is keeping the body nourished. Here are three rules Dr. Deepak Chopra shares to keep the body nourished, healthy, and stress free.
1. Eliminate FLUNC from your diet
- F - Frozen
- L - Leftovers
- U - Unnatural (additives, preservatives, colors)
- N - Nuked
2. Include 6 tastes in every meal - Astringent, Bitter, Pungent, Salty, Sour, Sweet
- C - Canned
3. Find moderation in your hands- The stomach is about the size of our fist. Eat just enough food that fits in your hands cupped together.While this post may be a lot of information. It is important to start taking steps in the right direction.
Here is our suggestion. Assign 1 sense to each day of the week. Say Sight - Monday, Hearing - Tuesday, Smell - Wednesday and so on. As you go through the day, be mindful and make small changes to enhance the sensory experience for that day.
As the weeks go by small changes (that can be done in just a few minutes) add up to a lifestyle that makes all the difference.
What were your thoughts on Nigel Stanford's video? What brands are you drawn to? What about their brand appeals to you? Share your thoughts, let us know in the comments below.
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