Crossmodal correspondence between sounds and smells in marketing.

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2016-06-15
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en
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As humans we tend to match stimuli from different sensory modalities together. This is called ‘crossmodal correspondence’. Previous studies have already explored congruence effects. However, few studies have looked at the influence of sound-odour congruence on attitude and memory, while simultaneously also taking notice of marketing implications. Therefore, this experimental study looked at the sound-odour congruence effects on people’s evaluation of advertisements, brands and products and on people’s brand memory. In addition, the possible differences in congruence effects between familiar and unfamiliar brands were tested. This was done by letting participants smell odours, half of them high and half of them low arousal. After each odour, an advertisement with a high or low arousal jingle and a familiar or unfamiliar brand was presented to them. Based on participants’ evaluation of the advert, brand and product, the existence of congruence effects on attitude was determined. Participants’ memory was tested with a recognition task. Based on their recognition accuracy and reaction times, possible congruence effects on memory were measured. In general, no sound-odour congruence effect was found on people’s attitudes, irrespective of brand familiarity. This shows that congruence in sounds and odours will not always be helpful in creating more positive attitudes. However, individuals’ need for arousal did influence people’s attitude towards the advertisement. Individuals with a relatively high need for arousal preferred advertisements with high arousal sounds compared with low arousal sounds. In addition, a congruence effect was found on memory. When odour and sound were congruent in terms of high arousal, individuals’ reaction times were faster than in case of incongruence. This means that sound-odour congruence, under certain conditions, can positive influence memory. In addition, familiar brands were faster recognized than unfamiliar brands, but only when sound and odour arousal were high. By looking at the (combined) effects of sound and odour on attitude and brand memory, this study created some insight into the if and when sound and odours can be used for marketing.
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