The Story

Hotels get it…and slowly, banks and credit unions seem to also.

At last week’s MAC Conference, we were lucky to be in a pretty nice, swanky hotel - one that understands the impact of multi-sensory marketing.

When you walk into the lobby of the Newport Beach Marriott, you instantly notice a distinct aroma - a calming, mellow scent, part fresh sea breeze, part relaxing lavender. It’s the hotel & spa’s signature scent - something that impacts you as soon as you enter the building.

All of the attendees at the conference noticed it, and when we talk to them about how they can use multi-sensory tactics in their branches, it provides a great, real-world, real-time example for us. As soon as we say - “did you notice that smell when you walked into the hotel lobby?”, they say, “totally! and I can do that in my branches, so when my members smell that somewhere else, they instantly think of their credit union, no matter where they are!”

Exactly.

Smells permeate all aspects of our day - some nice, some not-so-nice. So make an effort to control what your members or customers smell when they come in to your branches - it’s a subtle way of reinforcing your brand and your story, and it’s something that members and customers will quickly come to associate with your credit union or bank.

(Everyone knows the strong connection between scent, memory and mood. But if it helps any, keep this statistic in mind: according to Brand Sense, 75% of our day-to-day emotions are influenced by what we smell.)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am and is filed under Credit Union Branding, Experiential Marketing, Branding, Credit Union Marketing, Experiential Brands, Multisensory Marketing and 5 Senses Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.