MCB-30806 Sensory Perception & Consumer Preference
Lecture Summary
Lecture 1 – Introductory Lecture
15-03-2021
Sensory Marketing
Sensory marketing engages the consumers’ senses and affects their perception, judgement and
behaviour.
Five senses:
- Haptics
- Olfaction
- Audition
- Gustation
- Vision
Those 5 senses have an effect on attitude, learning & memory, and behaviour
The effects are often subconsciously, but with predictable effect?
An example of sensory effects
Experimental condition: half of subjects sat in a booth where cleanser with a citrus scent was used,
where the other half (control) did not have scented cleanser.
Three dependent measures were carried out:
1. Lexical decision task
o People recognised cleaning-related words faster!
o Indicates that scents are related to knowledge and activate this
2. Spontaneous mention of cleaning related-activities
o “Write down five activities that you are planning to do during the rest of the day”
o More frequently list cleaning as an activity in the scent condition (enhanced accessibility)
3. Actual cleaning behaviour (when eating biscuit)
o Respondents removed crumbles more often in scent condition link between scent
perception and behaviour
The experiment tells us that:
- Sense can have a non-conscious effect
o On cognition (thinking) and behaviour (doing)
o Through associations with scent, the cleaning concept came into consciousness
- There are many of such effects:
o Sensory labels of food
o Signature scents in hotels
o Packaging cues (Orangina)
o Crispy food sounds
4 types of responses: an overview
- Direct affective response to the physical/sensory stimulus
o Sensory liking is appealing
- An affective response to the match between the physical/sensory aspects of the stimuli and
the internal representation or schema associated with the stimulus
o (in-)appropriateness and schema affect
How expectation differences can affect in itself
- Affective response to the meaning of the stimulus beyond the physical/sensory aspects
1
,MCB-30806 Sensory Perception & Consumer Preference
Lecture Summary
o Associations to concepts in knowledge structures (smell of pine brings memories of
Christmas indirect association)
- By affecting the judgemental and decision environment (mood)
o Sensory can induce affect which affects decision making
What is sensory perception & consumer preference?
- The senses are the windows to the outside world
- They bring outside information inside the human system
- Provide the basic inputs from which we make sense of the world
- The sensory information guides perception, preference, and behaviour
- Understanding how this works and how this translates back into offering, allows for better
marketing strategy
- Product versus environmental stimulation
- Core product versus extended product
- Focus on product design versus focus on market behaviour
- Focus on sensory quality versus on total perception
- Focus on single point in time versus focus over time
- Different types of behaviour
How it relates to what you already know
2
,MCB-30806 Sensory Perception & Consumer Preference
Lecture Summary
The perceptual process in slow
motion
Ellen is walking in the woods, where there is a lot to
see: environmental stimulus. But, the thing she
focuses on (attended stimulus), is a moth on a tree.
The attended stimulus reaches the eye, which is the
relevant receptor, and that information activates
certain nerves. That information is trans ducted to
start the processing stage, which creates the
perception of ‘something on the tree’. In the
recognition phase, she realises it is a moth. The
action she then undertakes is to walk towards it.
Perception is determined by an interaction
between:
- Bottom-up processing;
o Starts with the image on the
receptors
- Top-down processing
o Brings the knowledge into play
How is this different from what you know?
- Sensory channels combine and interact
- Not just mind body, but also body mind. This introduces grounded cognition theory
- Basis of “grounded cognition theory”
o Bodily state
Facial expresses affects funniness ratings of cartoons
o Situation action
Vertical head nodding affects agreement with editorials
o Mental simulation
Imagining listening to music activates auditory cortex
Seeing cookies activated primary taste cortices
Why is it important for marketing?
There is a transition from utilitarian choice, to experience management. It is beyond product value
and more about consumption value, i.e. what does the product do for you in the moment of
consumption.
- Marketing
o Production – selling – marketing – service – relationships
- Pine & Gilmore experience economy
o Commodities – goods – services – experiences
o From flour and butter, to prepacked cake mix, to Hema take-away, to going out
- Satisfaction literatures
o Quality – value – satisfaction – delight
- Marketing paradigms
o From “good dominant” logic to “service dominant” logic
o When the story becomes part of the product (story-telling, e.g. with beer
3
, MCB-30806 Sensory Perception & Consumer Preference
Lecture Summary
Why consumers value (sensory) experience?
We want to feel entertained and entitled. Basic needs are well satisfied, and have become ‘qualifiers’
they aim at higher order needs in Maslow terms
they have an intrinsic need for stimulation
they focus increasingly on value inherent in consumption per se, rather than with the
consequences of consumption
Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation: consumption is means to an end (any car can bring me to work; reward is in the consequence)
Intrinsic motivation: consumption is a goal in itself, irrespective of the consequences
KANO model
Consumption situations have a number of different features, but they are not all the same.
Linear improvement is when you improve your product quality by ‘a little bit’, the liking will also
increase by ‘a little bit’
There are features of consumption situations, that do not give you a lot of value if it is delivered, but
they do give a lot of dissatisfaction when you don’t deliver it.
For example, food safety: you cannot say it is extra safe (so you do not get rewarded for it), but you
do get punished when it is not safe dissatisfier
Satisfiers are often based in sensory information. If you don’t expect something, but do get it, then
you are really satisfied.
Optimal simulation level
- Many theories are “drive reduction theories”
o These cannot explain the active search for sensory experience (sensory deprivation
studies)
o Drive reduction theories assume that you would feel neutral in a coffin, because the
level of arousal is 0. But, this neglects the fact of panic, for example.
- Complexity theories build on the optimal level of arousal
o People differ in what is optimal for them
(personality)
o There are many ways to adjust the actual level
of stimulation in line with the Optimum
4
Lecture Summary
Lecture 1 – Introductory Lecture
15-03-2021
Sensory Marketing
Sensory marketing engages the consumers’ senses and affects their perception, judgement and
behaviour.
Five senses:
- Haptics
- Olfaction
- Audition
- Gustation
- Vision
Those 5 senses have an effect on attitude, learning & memory, and behaviour
The effects are often subconsciously, but with predictable effect?
An example of sensory effects
Experimental condition: half of subjects sat in a booth where cleanser with a citrus scent was used,
where the other half (control) did not have scented cleanser.
Three dependent measures were carried out:
1. Lexical decision task
o People recognised cleaning-related words faster!
o Indicates that scents are related to knowledge and activate this
2. Spontaneous mention of cleaning related-activities
o “Write down five activities that you are planning to do during the rest of the day”
o More frequently list cleaning as an activity in the scent condition (enhanced accessibility)
3. Actual cleaning behaviour (when eating biscuit)
o Respondents removed crumbles more often in scent condition link between scent
perception and behaviour
The experiment tells us that:
- Sense can have a non-conscious effect
o On cognition (thinking) and behaviour (doing)
o Through associations with scent, the cleaning concept came into consciousness
- There are many of such effects:
o Sensory labels of food
o Signature scents in hotels
o Packaging cues (Orangina)
o Crispy food sounds
4 types of responses: an overview
- Direct affective response to the physical/sensory stimulus
o Sensory liking is appealing
- An affective response to the match between the physical/sensory aspects of the stimuli and
the internal representation or schema associated with the stimulus
o (in-)appropriateness and schema affect
How expectation differences can affect in itself
- Affective response to the meaning of the stimulus beyond the physical/sensory aspects
1
,MCB-30806 Sensory Perception & Consumer Preference
Lecture Summary
o Associations to concepts in knowledge structures (smell of pine brings memories of
Christmas indirect association)
- By affecting the judgemental and decision environment (mood)
o Sensory can induce affect which affects decision making
What is sensory perception & consumer preference?
- The senses are the windows to the outside world
- They bring outside information inside the human system
- Provide the basic inputs from which we make sense of the world
- The sensory information guides perception, preference, and behaviour
- Understanding how this works and how this translates back into offering, allows for better
marketing strategy
- Product versus environmental stimulation
- Core product versus extended product
- Focus on product design versus focus on market behaviour
- Focus on sensory quality versus on total perception
- Focus on single point in time versus focus over time
- Different types of behaviour
How it relates to what you already know
2
,MCB-30806 Sensory Perception & Consumer Preference
Lecture Summary
The perceptual process in slow
motion
Ellen is walking in the woods, where there is a lot to
see: environmental stimulus. But, the thing she
focuses on (attended stimulus), is a moth on a tree.
The attended stimulus reaches the eye, which is the
relevant receptor, and that information activates
certain nerves. That information is trans ducted to
start the processing stage, which creates the
perception of ‘something on the tree’. In the
recognition phase, she realises it is a moth. The
action she then undertakes is to walk towards it.
Perception is determined by an interaction
between:
- Bottom-up processing;
o Starts with the image on the
receptors
- Top-down processing
o Brings the knowledge into play
How is this different from what you know?
- Sensory channels combine and interact
- Not just mind body, but also body mind. This introduces grounded cognition theory
- Basis of “grounded cognition theory”
o Bodily state
Facial expresses affects funniness ratings of cartoons
o Situation action
Vertical head nodding affects agreement with editorials
o Mental simulation
Imagining listening to music activates auditory cortex
Seeing cookies activated primary taste cortices
Why is it important for marketing?
There is a transition from utilitarian choice, to experience management. It is beyond product value
and more about consumption value, i.e. what does the product do for you in the moment of
consumption.
- Marketing
o Production – selling – marketing – service – relationships
- Pine & Gilmore experience economy
o Commodities – goods – services – experiences
o From flour and butter, to prepacked cake mix, to Hema take-away, to going out
- Satisfaction literatures
o Quality – value – satisfaction – delight
- Marketing paradigms
o From “good dominant” logic to “service dominant” logic
o When the story becomes part of the product (story-telling, e.g. with beer
3
, MCB-30806 Sensory Perception & Consumer Preference
Lecture Summary
Why consumers value (sensory) experience?
We want to feel entertained and entitled. Basic needs are well satisfied, and have become ‘qualifiers’
they aim at higher order needs in Maslow terms
they have an intrinsic need for stimulation
they focus increasingly on value inherent in consumption per se, rather than with the
consequences of consumption
Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation: consumption is means to an end (any car can bring me to work; reward is in the consequence)
Intrinsic motivation: consumption is a goal in itself, irrespective of the consequences
KANO model
Consumption situations have a number of different features, but they are not all the same.
Linear improvement is when you improve your product quality by ‘a little bit’, the liking will also
increase by ‘a little bit’
There are features of consumption situations, that do not give you a lot of value if it is delivered, but
they do give a lot of dissatisfaction when you don’t deliver it.
For example, food safety: you cannot say it is extra safe (so you do not get rewarded for it), but you
do get punished when it is not safe dissatisfier
Satisfiers are often based in sensory information. If you don’t expect something, but do get it, then
you are really satisfied.
Optimal simulation level
- Many theories are “drive reduction theories”
o These cannot explain the active search for sensory experience (sensory deprivation
studies)
o Drive reduction theories assume that you would feel neutral in a coffin, because the
level of arousal is 0. But, this neglects the fact of panic, for example.
- Complexity theories build on the optimal level of arousal
o People differ in what is optimal for them
(personality)
o There are many ways to adjust the actual level
of stimulation in line with the Optimum
4
