The senses are a part of the perceptual process, which consists of sensation, attention and interpretation. Sensation is the passive process of bringing information from the outside world to the brain. The process is passive in the sense that we do not have to be consciously engaging in a sensing process. Perception is the active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting the information brought to the brain by the senses.
As the senses are the only means by which marketers are able to target, they have to stand out as we are constantly bombarded by external stimuli. The NLP communication model states that we are exposed to 2,000,000 bits per second of external stimuli, but we only process and perceive 134 bits per second.
Sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste : This American coffee advert targets all of the senses and does it well. It starts off with coffee being made in a machine, then being poured steaming into a cup. The morning looks to be a cold one, hence the steam, and the man sniffs the coffee while holding it in both his hands to warm himself up. He is then shown outside - ready to face the day after being invigorated by the coffee. The ad then shows coffee being poured slowly into a cup. It then moves on to showing people relaxing outside their apartments with a cup of coffee and going through their morning routines energetically and happily as they drink coffee on the go.
The advert is very fast paced, with most of the shots lasting less than two seconds, and reinforces the message of being energised by the coffee. The sound for the advert is a memorable and smooth acapella created for the advert.
This advert is a great example of touch being used to sell the product (a moisturiser). The skin colours used match the product itself and are soft and warm, and the skin is clearly smooth and glowing. The word "ignite" is used cleverly to reinforce the warm and glowing feelings. The use of black as a background helps to bring out the glowing through use of contrast as the rest of the images pops out in comparison and it accentuates the light reflecting from the skin. There are 3 bodies in the poster which are touching, as well as the hand touching the shoulder which all help you imagine touching the smooth skin, which you would also have if you used the product. The text is white and does not stand out in comparison to the bodies, which further makes you focus on the bodies (and so the touch aspect) first.
Sound:
The best example I could recall of a sound or jingle being used in advertising is from Intel's first pentium advert. The fact it's short, sharp and has been consistently used as Intel's theme has cemented it as
Another example of sound being used to great effect is this Christmas drink driving advert from THINK! The Christmas music (which is traditionally a calm song) does not match the images on the screen at all and the contrast between them invokes a strong emotional response, which helps viewers to remember, discuss and pay attention to the ad.
The absence of sound can also be effective, as this clip demonstrates:
The new Kit Kat, the Kit Kat Senses is, as you would expect, a product that targets multiple senses. It's shown as being tasty, crisp, smooth, luxurious and a guilty pleasure. The advert also has a song with the singer of the song featured in the advert, which draws your attention to the fact that it's targeting your hearing.
Gestalt is a psychology term which means "whole" "pattern" or "configuration". It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. It posits that many stimuli acquire a pattern quality that is greater than the sum of its parts.
These principles are: Figure and ground, grouping (proximity and similarity), closure, and stimulus ambiguity.
Figure and ground
The eye differentiates an object form its surrounding area. a form, silhouette, or shape is naturrally perceived as figure, while the surrounding area is perceived as ground. The figure is what captures our attention.
Figure
The word above is clearly perceived as figure with the surrounding white space ground.
In this image, the figure and ground change as the eye perceives the shape itself or the silhouette of a face within the shape. The image on the right is the classic example of figure & ground. A black vase is visible, but so too, are two white faces opposite each other with their outline making up the black vase.
Grouping (proximity and similarity)
Similarity Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern.
The example above (containing 11 distinct objects) appears as as single unit because all of the shapes have similarity.
When similarity occurs, an object can be emphasised if it is different to the others. The figure on the right gains your attention as it is different to the rest.
Proximity
Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together; when placed together, instead of being random objects they become a group or whole.
The nine squares above are placed randomly. They are perceived as separate shapes.
When the squares are arranged in a pattern, grouping occurs. While they continue to be separate shapes, they are now perceived as one group or shape.
The above figures form a figured shape due to the proximity of each part.
Closure
We see incomplete pictures as complete. If enough of the shape is shown, it is possible to percieve the whole by filling in the missing infomation.
Although the panda above is not complete, enough is present for the eye to complete the shape. When the viewer's perception completes a shape, closure occurs.
Stimulus ambiguity
Stimulus is ambiguous when it does not correspond to an immediately recognisable form. We need to find a context in which to place it.
I like the below quote because it suggests that one who is able to do as Napoleon says, is able to control their perception of the world.
"The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind. "
Napoleon Bonaparte
This is very impressive
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