Vaibhav Doshi- 61510440

COBE- I Section
COBE Insights II- Sensory Signature

Presented below are examples of a sensory signature for each of the five senses.
Sight:
Orange (telecom service provider based in UK) has square logo filled with orange colour that
just says orange. This logo is extensively used and centrally projected in almost all of its
advertisements. The logo appeals for simplicity and youthfulness through its colour. This
simplified logo helps the companys brand recall. Whenever Consumers see orange colour
they think of brand Orange. The simplified logo also makes people feel that services are
hassle free. Ease if service and simplicity were key aspects that orange indirectly highlighted
ahead of the competitors through its simplified logo. In India Orange dominated the revenue
market share for several years before it was taken over by Hutchison. Even post the
takeover Hutchison could not phase out the orange logo immediately and had agreed to pay
fees to orange for use of the logo for 2 years in India.
Sound:
Nescafes TV advertisements not only appeals visually, it also appeals consumers auditory
senses through its jingle Pa para ra pa ra ra.Ho shuru har din aise. The moment an
Indian consumer hears this signature tone even passively, he will diefinitely think of Nescafe.
In India coffee was mostly consumed in south where most people prefer a bitter coffee.
However, this jingle has helped Nestle achieve a very strong differentiation with respect to
competition (Unbranded and branded both). The jingle helps consumer associate Nescafe
with morning freshness and urban young population. Also note that morning is the time when
most Indian households consume either coffee or tea.
Smell:
Seven eleven is convenience store in US that uses a scent for marketing in all its stores.
Whenever you enter any seven eleven store a consumer will experience a distinct smell of
bakery products. All of the stores smell the same. This provides the consumers a signature
experience as the consumer feels that the products are freshly baked and are authentic.
This also makes consumer feel that products are standardised. This has helped seven
eleven differentiate from other competitors and has led to increase in sales of bakery and
milk products.

Touch:
Microsoft had designed a key board that used a semi leather material. This material provided
the feeling that it was a luxurious product, since leather in consumers mind is associated
with luxury and comfort. Microsoft was able to emphasise the touch aspect of the keyboards
rather than pure utility function of keyboard (far emphasised by competitors).As a result of
such positioning Microsoft was able to price them at a significantly higher price and create a
niche for itself in a market in which it was not amongst top 3 players and Logitech was the
dominant player.
Taste:
EOS Evolution of Smooth a cosmetics company- has used taste cues to develop a lip
balm targeted at young females. These balms are packed in an egg like container and have
very smooth surface. The egg like container allows the consumer to apply the balm to both
lips simultaneously as if she is eating- adding to signature experience. They are called
smooth sphere lip balms. products comes in flavours such as strawberry sorbet (pink),
blueberry acai (blue), pomegranate raspberry (red-violet), which tastes similar to the
respective fruits. Because of such effective use of sensory cues a new player like EOS
created a niche for itself in a hyper competitive and saturated market. EOS Lip balms were
initially considered challengers to heavyweights such as Maybelline cherry me, however,
today EOS is considered equal if not bigger in lip balm category. EOS lip balms have fan
pages on Facebook and You tube and EOS Lip balm product is followed as if EOS is a cult.
Some people even have hobbies of collecting different (as many as possible) flavours of
EOS lip balms.