Now more than ever, people crave real-life experiences. They don’t want to see an ad for your museum or water park. They want to feel what it’s like to walk the halls adorned with centuries-old art or plummet down a slide at 20 miles an hour.
So, how do we transport people to your attraction without giving away the experience for free? In comes sensory marketing, a strategic approach that captivates customers better than a traditional ad ever will.
In this post, we’ll explain how to incorporate the five senses in your marketing campaigns. This includes learning from the brands that do it best and looking at creative sensory marketing examples that will inspire your attraction’s next campaign.
- What is sensory marketing?
- How to appeal to the 5 senses in your marketing
- 5 multisensory marketing examples
What is sensory marketing?
Sensory marketing focuses on stimulating one or more of the five senses to leave a lasting impression on customers. The idea is that appealing to the senses will create a deeper connection between the brand and the consumer, influencing them to make a booking decision.
In the tours and attractions industry, sensory marketing can elevate an ordinary experience into an extraordinary one. Imagine a hot air balloon tour operator who wants to show curious people what it’s like to enjoy a flight over a beautiful landscape. The operator could use virtual reality (AR) glasses to transport customers to the sky without leaving the ground.
Or perhaps a walking tour operator wants to integrate sensory elements into its tour through the town’s most historic district. The operator might use ambient music or sounds like old-town chatter to immerse guests in the atmosphere of another time.
By strategically engaging the senses, you can strengthen your connection with visitors and leave a lasting impression on them. As a result, your business may see a boost in bookings and word-of-mouth recommendations.
How to appeal to the 5 senses in your marketing
While traditional marketing relies on sight and sound, there are ways to appeal to all five senses — sometimes in a single campaign. Let’s explore that below.
Sight
Sight is arguably the most powerful sense when it comes to marketing. Traditional advertising relies heavily on the artful combination of images, colors, and shapes to appeal to the right audience. It can work like magic: Over 40% of consumers say they’ve been inspired to purchase after seeing digital signage while shopping in-store.
We also use visuals to communicate our brand identity, such as logos and fonts. Disney Parks are masters of leveraging sight in their marketing. We can start by looking at their promotional videos, which feature real-life footage of families having fun in the parks or whimsical fireworks lighting up the sky. These images instantly evoke a sense of nostalgia, an emotion that can persuade a viewer to book a trip to Disney.
Disney’s meticulous attention to visual details inside the parks — from smiling actresses dressed as princesses to the meticulously decorated attraction queues — reinforces its brand identity as “the happiest place on earth.”
How might other operators replicate this? Let’s say you run a zipline course. You could invest in professional drone footage to showcase the panoramic views guests experience during your zipline course. Start by crafting promotional videos or social media content with that footage, highlighting your zipline’s unique scenery. Pair this with vivid, action-oriented language that conveys the thrill of your course.
On-site, extend this visual storytelling to the environment. Decorate your check-in area or waiting zones with thematic elements that align with your location. Also, ensure your guides wear branded, visually cohesive uniforms to reinforce your brand identity. By curating a visually immersive experience, you’ll attract more visitors and give them something good to talk about.
Sound
Next, let’s tackle the sense of sound. Think about turning on the TV and hearing the Netflix “ta-dum” sound. It’s a simple yet powerful sound instantly recognized by anyone using the streaming service. That sound is known as sonic branding because it instantly connects people to the brand without using any visuals.
Sound effects and music can profoundly influence a viewer’s emotions, setting the tone and atmosphere for an experience. Take Disney as an example: the enchanting melodies playing in the queue lines and the carefully orchestrated soundtracks accompanying every ride combine to amplify the sense of magic and wonder that defines a visit to the parks. These sensory details seamlessly immerse guests in the fantasy worlds Disney creates.
At the Warner Bros. studio in London, guests are greeted with Harry Potter’s magical soundtrack for a behind-the-scenes tour of the films. If you’re a fan, you know the music instantly sparks nostalgia, setting the tone for the adventure ahead. Similarly, attractions can use soundtracks tailored to their themes to create a prelude to the experience.
Smell
Our sense of smell is connected to a part of the brain related to memory. This is why a scent can instantly transport someone to a particular place or moment. Brands have taken note and use scents to create lasting impressions.
Singapore Airlines, for instance, has a signature scent to remind travelers of the warm welcome they will receive when boarding a flight. Passengers then start to associate the smell with comfort and premium service.
Let’s say you’re responsible for marketing a vineyard tour. Infusing your tasting rooms with the scent of fresh grapes or oak barrels can further immerse guests in the winemaking process. Similarly, a tropical eco-tour operator could develop a signature candle with rainforest scents, which they could sell as merchandise or send to repeat customers as a thank-you gift. Even small additions like a scented brochure can make an impact.
Taste
The sense of taste is essential for food and beverage tours. In a distillery tour, for instance, taste becomes the highlight of the experience. The sense of taste and smell go hand in hand. In a whisky-tasting tour, smelling the spirit is as much a part of the sensory experience as tasting it.
Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland takes its tour guests on an immersive journey through the whisky-making process. During a tasting session, visitors compare flavor profiles and learn how age, barrels, and ingredients impact the taste. The hands-on interaction with the whiskey encourages them to purchase bottles as souvenirs or gifts.
Tour operators might also consider offering exclusive tastings that can only be experienced on-site. After the tour, follow up with guests by providing recipes for cocktails they can create at home using the spirits they purchased during their visit. This creates a multi-layered experience that extends the memory of the tour after their visit.
Touch
The final sense is touch. It is often overlooked in marketing but can profoundly impact if you’re creative enough. When people physically interact with their surroundings, they connect to that experience more deeply.
Yet, how can you incorporate tactile elements into your marketing and guest experiences? Let’s take a look at Apple stores. The retailer encourages customers to interact with their iPhones by letting them test them in-store. This tactile experience gives people the exciting, tingly feeling of holding a new iPhone in their hands.
Now, let’s bring this back to the attractions space. A museum might host a Van Gogh immersive exhibit where elements like textured walls and interactive displays let guests “feel” the art. Meanwhile, a fishing charter could provide hands-on lessons for tying knots or cleaning fish. A little creativity goes a long way when expanding your campaigns to consider all the senses.
5 multisensory marketing examples
And now, we’ll let the experts show the way. We’re looking at you, Disney, and Delta. Grab pen and paper to note inspiration from travel brands making waves in the sensory marketing space.
Disney World’s Fully Immersive Theme Parks
Disney World is the gold standard for multisensory marketing. Disney masterfully incorporates sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste into every facet of its theme parks. From the colorful characters walking down Main Street to the whimsical music playing in the background, Disney creates a magical atmosphere that appeals to all the senses.
The brand’s success lies in its meticulous attention to detail: Even the scent of freshly popped popcorn wafts through the air, immersing guests in a fairytale experience. You can similarly apply this by curating an environment where every sensory element supports your brand’s overall identity.
Paris Zoo’s Out of the Box Campaign
To promote its grand reopening in 2014, the Paris Zoo launched a creative campaign that strategically placed oversized animal crates near iconic city landmarks, designed to give the illusion that big animals had escaped the park. Each crate featured detailed branding and information about the zoo’s launch date, successfully intriguing passersby enough to pause and look.
The lifelike animal crates stood out in the busy urban areas — using curiosity as a powerful motivator, leaving people eager to learn more about the zoo. Creative, out-of-the-box marketing like this can generate excitement for your attraction. Using playful props in unexpected locations to draw attention to your brand can instigate an instant booking, simply fueled by the fear of missing out on something cool. Integrating your marketing into the public sphere allows you to reach a broader audience and create a memorable buzz around your brand.
Six Senses Hotels Multisensory Experience
As suggested by the name, the Six Senses hospitality brand prides itself on creating a multisensory hotel experience. Their resorts feature calming scents like lavender in rooms, soothing music in common areas, tactile natural materials in decor, and locally sourced cuisine to activate the taste sense. The hotel also uses locally grown ingredients in their spa treatments, further strengthening the guest’s emotional connection to the destination being visited.
The Six Senses’ ability to craft immersive, multi-sensory experiences that connect deeply with guests is something to admire. You may not be running a global hotel chain — yet there’s much to learn from their approach. Something as simple as creating a branded soundtrack for your attraction can create an auditory connection between your brand and the guest. Every time they hear that soundscape, they will be inclined to think of you.
The same goes for scents. One of my most prominent childhood memories is walking by the jungle-themed Rainforest Cafe in my local mall and smelling misty foliage. The fabricated rainforest scent would reach me before I even reached the restaurant, at which point I’d begin begging for lunch there. To this day, that scent is ingrained in my memory, proving how powerful sensory marketing can be.
Delta Air Lines at SXSW
Delta Air Lines created a pop-up lounge experience at this year’s SXSW festival by transforming a downtown Austin restaurant into one of its airport lounges. The setup featured Delta’s red-and-blue branding, vintage travel posters, and even a daily coffee happy hour, all designed to immerse guests in Delta fandom. The airline took the campaign further and extended it to Austin’s international airport, where festival attendees would be arriving. There, festival guides and an express lane for badge pickups for SkyMiles members were provided.
Delta’s activation successfully engaged multiple senses — from its top-notch visual branding to the coffee happy hour. These elements transported attendees into Delta’s world, reinforcing its identity as a premium, customer-focused airline. Exclusive perks, such as express lanes and personalized services for loyal SkyMiles members, also created an emotional connection with customers by making them feel valued. Like Delta, attractions should consider offering exclusive benefits, like priority access or VIP areas, to loyal guests.
Art Institute of Chicago’s Van Gogh Airbnb Activation
Instead of relying on traditional methods, the Art Institute of Chicago partnered with Airbnb to promote its major Vincent van Gogh exhibition. The result was a recreation of van Gogh’s iconic painting, The Bedroom, as a physical space where guests could actually spend the night. Now, visitors could step directly into the artist’s world directly, forging a deep connection to his work and life.
This campaign engaged multiple senses by inviting guests to experience the painting in a tangible way. The uniqueness of staying inside a world-famous painting was pretty exciting in the art world, leading to widespread media coverage and word-of-mouth promotion.
Attractions can draw inspiration from this campaign by thinking of ways to turn their content into interactive experiences. For instance, you might recreate elements of your exhibits or attractions in a tangible format that allows visitors to feel like active participants — like the Titanic exhibit in Tennessee, where guests can run their hands through a trough of icy water.
Key Takeaways
The main takeaway here is that sensory marketing works. Let’s summarize why that is:
- Sensory marketing goes beyond traditional advertising. These campaigns appeal not only to sight but also to sound, smell, taste, and touch, making them overall more potent than a static ad.
- Sensory marketing should align with your brand’s unique identity. Signature scents, curated soundtracks, or tactile materials can reinforce your brand and ensure guests associate their experience with your attraction. Examples like Disney Parks, Delta’s SXSW activation, and the Art Institute of Chicago demonstrate how using sensory elements aligned with your brand can leave a lasting impact on your audience.
- Take inspiration from campaigns like the Paris Zoo’s animal crates or the Van Gogh Airbnb activation to bring elements of your attraction into public spaces. This extends your reach to new audiences and leverages curiosity to fuel more bookings.
- Whether it’s the smell of fresh popcorn wafting through a park, ambient music in an exhibit, or textured displays that invite touch, small sensory additions can transform a visit into an unforgettable memory. Rainforest Cafe, I’m looking at you.
Sensory marketing is a way to forge authentic, emotional connections with your guests. Whether you’re running a museum, a theme park, or a zipline course, sensory marketing offers an opportunity to stand out in a competitive market. With a bit of creativity and inspiration from the examples in this guide, you’ll be ready to craft campaigns that inspire your audience to book their next experience with you.
