Multi-Sensory brand experience in an airport restaurant

Abstract

This thesis explores phenomenon of multi-sensory brand experience, later on applying the findings to a restaurant Nordic Kitchen, located in Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Nordic Kitchen belongs to a large food-service company HMSHost. The environment of the airport is unique in many ways, but most importantly there is a lot of competition that is very similar to Nordic Kitchen by the type of service, food and experience it has to offer. Hence, the choice of the consumer is solemnly based on the cognitive and emotional processes, which are affected by five senses: olfactory, auditory, vision, haptics and taste.

Multi-sensory brand experience creates emotional, sensorial, cognitive and behavioral value to a consumer on a deeper, more bonding level than traditional marketing and branding. Sensory branding is reinforced by the positive feeling created by the smell, sound, vision, taste and touch, forming an experiential value for the consumer and a successful brand image. Each of five core senses has been a matter of research among the contemporary marketing professionals, as the traditional approach is not enough anymore to keep the consumer loyal or interested. The research takes the course towards the recent theories based on the influence of the sensorial strategies towards the brand success, and sensorial stimulation aimed to create a bond between a brand and a consumer.

The observation is chosen as the main research method to answer the research questions based on the desk study done. The findings are presented in a narrative manner with regards to the aforementioned theories.