Never underestimate the power of the senses. Bringing touch, taste, smell, sound or sight to your brand can make a huge difference. How often do we find our spirits lifted by music? So why wouldn’t you want to associate this emotionally compelling sense to everything you do? You know from this blog that my iPod has the soundtrack of my life. When I hear one of my favorite songs in a store, or as part of a promotion, I’m already inclined to take notice. The same connections can be made by all the senses but sometimes I reckon we take the senses in very strange directions. Like these Middlesex University researchers who discovered that the effects of tasting chocolate were greater than kissing. It seems bizarre, but the BBC reported that when they monitored the heads and hearts of ‘romantically involved couples’ they reacted more strongly to chocolate melting in their mouths than to kissing. The head researcher Dr David Lewis summed up, “Chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz”. I was relieved when even he admitted he was surprised. Then he lost me again. “A chocolate buzz in many cases lasted four times as long as the most passionate kiss.” Four times? I refuse to believe it. Kissers of the world unite!
