Summary of aims

The paper aims to present a sensory place branding framework, integrating concepts of multisensory placeexperiences and brand love. Such a model has the potential to provide a new perspective within place branding domain, by showing how multisensory place experiences, conveyed by meta and individual experiences, can enhance positive emotions and generate city brand love. Moreover, it lays the foundation for understanding the role of human senses in developing and implementing creative and innovative placebranding strategies.

Main Approach

The author depicts from relevant theories in sensory marketing and branding, place branding and brand love to develop a sensory place branding framework, in which multisensory place experiences are key drivers of city brand love.

Key arguments

Cities like London, Paris and New York project themselves as highly experiential and invest millions of dollars to spur tourists´ senses continuously and make them passionate about their cities. Moreover, extant research on sensory marketing and branding stress the significance of the experiential dimensions of consumption such as fantasies, feelings and fun (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982) and acknowledges the importance of brand experiential value in creating emotional resonance with consumers (Lindstrom, 2005,Hultén, 2015). Interestingly, a recent study from Barnes et al. (2014) suggests that tourists are primarilydriven by sensory experiences when travelling. Hence, it can be argued that multisensory place experiences can elicit strong and passionate emotional attachment (Carroll and Ahuvia; 2006) towards place-sensescapes (Berg and Sevón, 2014). The question remains: How can cities create and implement compellingmultisensory place experiences that turn tourist into cities advocates and enhance brand love?

References

Barnes, S.J., Mattson, J. and Sorensen, F. (2014). “Destination brand experience: Testing a scale in thetourism context”, Annals of Tourism Reearch, Vol. 48, pp. 121-139.

Berg, P.O. and Sévon, G. (2014). “Food-branding places – A sensory perspective”, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Vol. 10, No 4, pp. 289-304.

Caroll, B.A. and Ahuvia, A.C. (2006), “Some antecedents and outcomes of brand love”, Marketing Letters,Vol. 17 No 2, pp. 79-89.

Holbrook, M.B. and Hirschman, E.C. (1982). “The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasy, Feelings and Fun”. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9 No 2, pp.132-140.

Hultén, B. (2015). Sensory Marketing: Theoretical and Empirical Grounds. Routledge:NY.

Lindstrom, M. (2005), Brand sense: Build powerful brands through touch, taste, smell, sight and sound, NewYork: Free Press.