Lessons From Luxury #7: Creating Multi-Sensory Brand Experiences

'Elegant Insights: Luxury Lessons for Life and Business' is a series of #12 invaluable lessons from looking deeply beyond the glitz and glamour. For better margins, stronger loyalty, and elevated leadership - personally and professionally.

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People collect memorable experiences, slices of life and pleasant personal moments. Brands can deliver these. In fact, some brands - and especially luxury brands - do deliver these extremely well. How? By designing and implementing multi-sensory brand experiences 💎

But it’s easier said than done. It’s a complex undertaking to map out customer experience fully, it takes guts (and money) to create great brand experiences - and then there are risks, too. Because bad experiences are stickier than the good ones. It’s called negativity bias. In simple words: We tend to talk and amplify negative experiences more strongly than advocating all the great ones we have.

The X Factor

Brand experience is something that cannot be easily copied, and therefore should be a point of differentiation of your brand. For example, Louis Vuitton bags are copied so well to their very last detail that it is almost impossible to distinguish it from the original. However, the purchase experience inside an LV store cannot be copied. Half of the price of the bag is actually paid just to experience ‘the real thing’ – and this includes the full in-store experience. This kind of customer experience cannot be replaced with e-commerce easily, either. Despite the fact that e-tail surged during the pandemic, the effect of a hands-on environment cannot be overstated. There is a reason why LVMH, Kering and Prada are buying (instead of just renting) real estate at places like 5th Ave., Madison Ave., Milan, London etc. And it’s not just footfall. The in-store experience is so important that, for example automotive players move down-town, too. Think Tesla, Polestar, Genesis, Cadillac etc.

In a world where products and services are becoming more and more commoditised, customer experience is the only true differentiator. Annette Franz

Luxury brands design sensory experiences beyond the store. Armani, Versace and Bulgari have their hotels. After Dior, Chanel, Burberry and Prada, Louis Vuitton too decided to open a café called Le Café V in Osaka, Japan. Opening such new spaces of service and lifestyle has proven to be one of the most effectives ways to communicate brand codes, values and culture in an experiential and multi-sensory way.

Five Key Lessons for Non-Luxury Brands

From the music that plays on the customer service phone line to the sounds of potato chips’ packaging, from the heavy weight of a whisky glass or a luxury pen to the cling-like sound of a S.T. Dupont lighter, from the smell of a new car to the temperature inside a store that has a staff trained in etiquette: In any competitive industry, the right multi-sensory experience can make all the difference.

A pleasant experience worth remembering and talking about usually creates the effect of word-of-mouth. Your business or your brand starts getting referrals if it manages to offer an effective experience. Your customers become not only loyalists but also advocates of your brand.

So here are five key points to help you lift your own brand experience:

1. Craft Multi-Sensory Brand Experiences: Actively engage all customer senses by designing every brand touchpoint. From the texture of your products or service, to the ambiance in your stores or office top the tone of your customer service. A comprehensive sensory engagement deepens emotional bonds and enhances brand memorability.
2. Implement the Peak-End Rule: Focus strategically on the most intense point and the final moments of the customer interaction. Ensuring these experiences are exceptionally positive can create lasting favorable impressions, significantly influencing overall customer satisfaction and recall.
3. Empower Your Employees: Invest in comprehensive training for your staff to ensure they are well-prepared to embody and convey your brand's values. Employees who are confident and knowledgeable about how to deliver exceptional customer experiences are essential for maintaining consistency and personalization in customer interactions.
4. Minimize Negativity, Maximize Pleasure: Proactively design your customer experiences to reduce pain points and enhance pleasure points. Paying attention to minimizing negative experiences and amplifying positive ones can greatly improve customer loyalty and advocacy.
5. Elevate In-Store Experiences: Differentiate your brand by creating unparalleled in-store (or in-office) experiences that cannot be replicated online. Offer unique services, sensory experiences, and exceptional customer interactions that transform routine interactions into memorable events, thereby enhancing the perceived value of your brand and deepening customer engagement.

There is more depth in my full thinking piece on this topic here. But to summarise: multi-sensory brand experiences build strong and lasting emotional bonds with customers that can perhaps best be described in the words of Holly Gollightly, the protagonist from Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

The only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there.

Victoria’s Secret’s staff spray the brand’s perfume (aptly called Love Spell 😉) into the gift box before wrapping it.

Which multi-sensory brand experience stands out? Who delivers it? And what are you doing? Any great examples welcome!

Onwards and Upwards 🚀

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About: Markus Kramer is the MD at specialist consultancy Brand Affairs, advising Boards, Executives and Operational Teams on all aspects of Strategic Positioning, Reputation and Brand Management. He is a senior visiting Fellow in Strategic Brand Management at Bayes Business School and holds degrees from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley Extension and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of The Guiding Purpose Strategy© and Co-Author of the Responsible Investment Brand Index RIBI™.