The sixth sense is called 'Experience'
While every channel, every touch point or platform is extensively analyzed and projected on infographics, the most important one stays untouched for the biggest part. Us.
Moving our emotions will always be the highest goal for any brand in the world, whether that should lead to a better relationship or to conversion, we can hardly think of anything more valuable then a brand connected story that will touch the heart of the user. Having said this, it is remarkable how many marketeers are consumed by the numbers and statistics that come out of the logarythms of their genius programmers.
O yes, the value of analytics is undisputed at this stage, but shouldn’t there be a lot more attention for the 'touch points' that make it possible to touch our feelings and experiences, instead of the instrumental tools: our senses?
Where is the campaigning strategist that will build a conceptual approach focussing on the opportunities that our senses open up? Why is every marketeer well-informed about any channel serving different needs - like social channels, paid media, events or window displays - but keep focussing on the brand side mainly, instead of the needs of their users?
That's exactly why senses like smell and sound are widely underestimated as tools of experience storytelling. They're all available in the technical toolbox on platforms these days, think tablets, but hardly used. Why not use an audio file of the deep, sonoric voice of Winston Churchill when writing about him or using him as an archetype in your communication, to intensify the user experience of your content? And while it is practice to activate dysfunctional hunger impulses of demented elderly people by smell, it must be possible as well to activate a smell sensor when people pass by your outdoor advertising.
Have a look at how the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago challenged people to scratch off their bus shelter advertisement to uncover information. Their approach was focussed on the sense of touch through interaction with curious people spending their time in front of their posters anyway. With visually attractive results because of the see-through effect.
It would make waiting for the bus a lot more pleasant when your nostrills get chocalate smell for a treat instead of your neighbour's cigarette, wouldn't it?