Our eyes contain more nerve endings than any other part of the body, we touch an average of 140 objects every day, and the soothing sounds of ASMR can literally alter our heart rate. In a time when consumers are increasingly prioritising experiences over possessions, experiential marketing offers a limitless sensory playground for brands and creative thinkers alike.
Experiential stands alone as the channel that taps into, even transcends, the five senses. Research in embodied cognition shows that how we feel, taste, or smell has a profound impact on emotional responses and purchasing behaviours.
As investment in experiences grows, advancements in technology and innovation are unlocking new creative possibilities for multi-sensory engagement, fostering deeper, instinctive connections with people.
While it’s natural to consider the five primary senses individually, live events unify our sensory perceptions through a concept known as synesthesia, creating a cohesive and heightened experience.
“The child sees before it hears or speaks,” John Berger wrote in his revolutionary book Ways of Seeing. Sight is our primary way of understanding the world, with up to 80% of impressions processed through our eyes. Even as adults, over 50% of the brain’s cortex is dedicated to interpreting visual information, forming the foundation of how we perceive, interpret, and connect emotionally.
Sight remains the dominant sensory touchpoint for most brands. But, with 70% of global marketing budgets allocated toward digital channels, visual communication is predominantly constrained by the limitations of screens - size, resolution, and the contexts in which they are viewed. Whether seen during a morning commute or queuing for a coffee, the visual experience of a brand’s message is often fleeting and inconsistent.
Marshmallow Laser Feast’s (MLF) ‘Liquid Light’ experience in collaboration with Johnnie Walker, transported guests into a visual world of glassmaking, with glass forms suspended in mid-air, each representing the search for strength within fragility. Browser Tracking Protection enabled. Unable to display content.
By contrast, in real-world lighting conditions and environments, the human visual system has a broader dynamic range and color perception, meaning we can perceive nuances that no screen can accurately replicate. Live activations don't just display visual information, they combine scale, light, and texture to immerse people in a complete visual journey. When brands curate their own lived environment, they control the context of their messaging, driving a more collective emotional response.
The most subliminal of the five senses, sound bypasses the conscious mind, profoundly influencing our emotions and memories. Sound also has the ability to trigger our other senses. A simple five-note whistle can stir up the taste of Mcdonald's. A nostalgic song can bring back vivid visual memories, and autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) can physically slow the heart rate and send tingling sensations throughout the body.
When it comes to experiential, brands should consider how sound will subconsciously affect their audience and activate their other senses. What emotional undertones will it set, and how will it influence their engagement with the space or product? The soundscape of a space defines its atmosphere. Are you encouraging visitors to move quickly through an environment, or inviting them to linger at a specific touchpoint? Even subtle audio cues can leave a lasting impression and shape how people interact with brands.
Brands can even let their environment do the talking for them. “Aperol has consistently done a great job at gaining high traction in small spaces”, says Set Creative’s Creative Director, Steven Gonzalez. “At Coachella specifically, their orange-scented experiences are always close to the main stage, so people can still hear the music without having to leave the experience”.
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Much like sound, taste is deeply connected to the limbic system—the part of the brain responsible for memory and emotion. While our taste buds regenerate every 10–14 days, a single flavour from childhood can instantly transport us decades back in time.
It’s important to remember the interconnectedness of our senses when thinking about taste. Roughly 80% of what we perceive as taste comes from our sense of smell. Touch also has a significant impact on our perception of taste. For example, glassware company Riedel offers demonstrations at their retailers, serving the same wine in a number of different shaped glasses to show the incredible effect each shape has on the way you experience taste.
Bompas & Parr and Avocado Toast brought to life a cutting-edge 360 immersive digital dining room, drawing on the expert knowledge of curators and historical researchers to evoke the stories of the Incense Road that was at its height some 2,000 years ago. Browser Tracking Protection enabled. Unable to display content.
Food is perceived as tasting better when it looks visually appealing. For experiential marketers, curating a feast for the eyes, ears, and nose can be just as crucial as the taste buds. Set Creative's Michelle Bablo, Creative Director, expands:
“When a dining experience is good, you notice it less, but when it comes to taste, bad experiences often involve the other senses. When there’s no music, things can feel awkward, but when music is overly loud or angry, diners take on those emotions. Visual elements matter too - Dishes are often plated with certain colors or designs in mind, usually on a white or neutral plate. Table settings and linens contribute to the meal's aesthetic, and strong floral scents or overpowering perfumes can sometimes interfere with taste and the enjoyment of an experience.”
Humans are hardwired for tactility. Over millions of years, we've evolved to engage with the world through our hands, shaping how we perceive and interact with our environment. Studies have shown that holding a warm cup can shift how we feel about a situation or person, and despite the boom in online retail and ‘showrooming’, two thirds of gen Z prefer shopping in physical stores vs. online, largely down to the fact they can touch a product before purchasing.
Sela’s award-winning work ‘Unsilence The Crowd’, introduced haptic shirts to help deaf and hard-of-hearing fans experience the atmosphere of a football match through touch, responding to the sound of the stadium in real-time, and vibrating accordingly. Browser Tracking Protection enabled. Unable to display content.
The power of touch also plays a vital role in creating accessible multi-sensory experiences. For individuals who are deafblind, touch serves as the primary means of engaging with the world. Here, innovations in technology are breaking new ground, enabling brands to connect meaningfully and creatively with audiences with disabilities and sensory impairments.
75% of our emotions are triggered by smell over sight, sound and touch. Studies indicate that people recall scents more vividly than visuals or sounds, with a 65% recall rate even after a year compared to just 50% for visuals after three months.
Brands have long tapped into this primal connection to scent (also known as ‘olfactory marketing’), with companies like Apple intentionally engineering that “new product smell” that comes with the unboxing of a device, even leading to the development of a MacBook pro fragrance. Scent is more than a subtle detail - it can transform spaces and amplify emotional connections. By deliberately engaging the nose, brands can evoke emotions that linger long after the moment has passed.
While it’s natural to focus on the five primary senses in isolation, this approach can often feel a bit limiting. At their core, immersive experiences are a complimentary and holistic combination of multiple senses, amounting to more than the sum of their individual parts.
But what about the other senses? Ross McIntyre, Director of Creative Strategy at innovation studio, Subvrsive says, “The standard perception of the five senses stops considerably short of the senses that can be engaged in an immersive experience. The two unsung heroes of the sensory world are the vestibular and proprioceptive, which control balance and muscular/joint sensations, respectively.
Innovation in motion-simulating platforms can engage the vestibular system, as can dynamic environments including elements that change gravitational force (such as AI). Haptic feedback - a largely underutilized input outside of video games - can simulate resistance and tactile sensations, both of which reside in the proprioceptive system. Emerging tech like 6DoF (Degrees of Freedom) in VR, advanced feedback suits, and multi-directional treadmills will continue to expand and refine how we interact with these largely ignored senses through experiential marketing.
