QR Codes

Download a QR app on your phone to view the message below!

You generate a QR Code (Quick Response) that contains anything..

text, website, telephone, sms, email, google map location, etc.

The modern, tech savvy, telephone addicted consumer can now use their phone (there is free QR code scanning software for every phone on the market)..

This is a quick way to get info into someones phone. Your contact info, a website, etc. They scan it, the QR software interprets the info
using the built in camera, and the info (depending on type) is acted upon by the phone. If it's a web address, it might launch the browser. If SMS, it will open messaging and put your phone number in the to field, etc.

You could have hidden discount codes, and by walking the customer through the process of using the QR Code, it would be even more firmly cemented in their minds.

No need to print anything out. Green!

Scent: Entering the subconscious

A Scent-evoked memory is unique from other kinds of memory experiences. Orders can be conditioned to emotions that positively influence buying behavior.

Think of a scent that you love: Chocolate, wedding cake, flowers, fresh cut grass, popcorn, etc. Many people have an emotional attachment to wedding cake. It brings them back to when they were a child waiting for Mom and Dad to come home from a wedding with a piece of cake wrapped in saran wrap. Chocolate is a favorite for many people as well, it reminds them of the candy store with their parents and being able to pick out one piece of candy and the over whelming excitement they felt on the way to the store and ripping the wrapper open and savoring that piece of chocolate.

Popcorn brings up wonderful memories of family movie night. My dad would always pop popcorn on the stove and fill a huge bowl and every time a scent of popcorn is in the air, I imagine myself in the kitchen waiting for the first batch to be done. What is your favorite scent?

Most businesses are stuck in the rut of using traditional marketing tools and fail to understand the potential scent marketing has to offer. A simple whiff of air can accomplish more than an entire page of copy.

The right scents can lead consumers to want not only food and drink, but also a large number of rewarding items. According to a Rutgers study, average sales increases 14% when scent was incorporated.

During a tradeshow, the company ScentAir pointed some of its ScentWave machines away from its booth and emitted various fragrances onto the show floor to prove the power of scent.

“It’s incredible how just putting a fragrance out into our booth space really stopped people in their tracks as they walked the floor… people literally followed their noses to our booths.”

The interactive in-booth experience proved successful for ScentAir, as the company saw a 627% increase in sales leads from 2005-2007.

But...Scent alone is not enough!

Sight..

The importance of Sight

Today’s consumer needs and wants to be visually engaged. Here are some quick facts:

•33% of Americans have watched in-store video.

•10% of shoppers make a habit of watching retail video.

•47% recall learning about specials or sales from video displays.

•52% feel more stores should run video programming.

•78% finds the screens helpful.

•30% of retail viewers made an unplanned purchase as a result of a video.

Everyone is aware that digital medial is replacing traditional print media. Newspapers and magazines are folding and print media is dropping off at a rapid rate. Digital signage and Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Marketing is leading the industry. In 2008 DOOH accounted for $2 Billion in revenue and the end of 2011 it is predicted to be over $4 Billion!

According to Reuters, Nearly 80% of people surveyed recalled at least one of 4 advertisements running on digital billboard screens at bars where they were partying. Partying is the key word. They were not bored in their car on the commute home, looking at passing signs, or waiting for their favorite show to complete a commercial break. They were in bars, with friends, drinking, laughing, and by all practical purposes, not paying attention to advertising, yet 80% of them were.

Digital Signage is attracting visual attention and engaging consumers!

However, “sight” alone is not enough!

Sound...

Last time we approached the subject of 6D Marketing and how it engages all five traditional senses and then that creates a thought. So, what senses are the more important?

1. Sound

2. 2. Sight

3. 3. Scent

However, it takes all 6 to achieve the ultimate success. You can’t play baseball without the bat, soccer without a ball, basketball ball without a basket and you can’t achieve ultimate marketing success without all the human senses.

SOUND

Sound is the most important sense and often the most overlooked. Consumers want a stimulating atmosphere; most people do not like complete silence. 86% of people feel that music has an effect on the overall atmosphere. And studies have proven that playing the right music can increase revenues up to 29%.

Music can negatively or positively impact revenue, so you must be sure to pick the right music at the right volume. Several studies confirm that when loud music was played in a supermarket, customers actually spent less time shopping. Music tempo affected the speed in which consumers moved around a store.

The tempo of music also affected the time people spent in a restaurant. Individuals experiencing fast music spent less time at their tables than individuals listening to a slow tempo.

Another study found that music tempo influenced the number of bites taken and the speed with which drinks were consumed at a bar.

“Music is not a generic sonic mass, but rather a complex chemistry of controllable elements.” -Dr. Bruner II

The same study concluded that a supermarket reported a 38% increase in sales when the store music played slow music rather than fast music.

A similar restaurant study found groups dining under the slow music tempo spent, on average, 40% more on drinks than groups dining under the fast tempo condition.

As a marketer, you cannot overlook, not only the importance of music, but music selection.

However, “sound” alone is not enough

Advertising and Marketing Executives understand the pain of failing to innovate and understanding the consumer. Failure can cause their brand to be forgotten and destroyed (i.e.: Circuit City). History shows failure happens approximately 80% of the time. They will loose customers, and not achieve new customers. They will be beaten by the competition and the biggest fear that an executive will face is a failed career.

There is a solution. Let’s take a look at Joe Smooth. Joe:

· Understands that out-dated techniques will destroy his products and brands.

· Open minded.

· Innovative to change

· Wants to learn new ways to promote his product.

· An industry leader

· Determined to protect and build brand loyalty.

· Most important, Joe is willing to take the correct, continual action to recruit AND retain customers.
What is Joe’s key to success? He dresses nice? Has a huge smile, fast car, and hot wife? Joe understands what most executives don’t: What makes consumers buy!

6D Marketing is leading the way. The key to engagement is through

interactive marketing that stimulates consumers’ 6 dimensions (senses)

allowing them to retain and act on information for longer periods of time.

CONSUMERS MUST BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED!

WHAT IS 6D MARKETING?

6D Marketing engages ALL 5 dimensions (human senses) and then

creates thought and action. It creates an emotional connection that

engages the brain and promotes the brand, product or service

into long term memory vs. being forgotten.

Here is an example:

A tall redhead named A.O. sashays onto the beach. She’s wearing a glow-in-the-dark rainbow bikini. The beachgoers can’t help but look her way, a towheaded surfer named Jack included.

They soon discover that A.O. can sing like Beyoncé. Now the people on the beach are mesmerized by her voice and her appearance.

As Jack finds an excuse to get closer to this fascinating creature, he discovers that a delicious aroma like a tropical fruit basket wafts in the air around her. “Mmmm,” he sighs.

He reaches out to just touch her beauty, when, voila, tiny bright candies fall from beneath her hands. He scoops them up to taste. Their fruity goodness is just as he imagined.

As he begins to wonder if this divine-smelling, candy-dispensing redheaded glow-in-the dark nightingale is just a heat-induced hallucination, he is suddenly immersed in a fog of cool refreshment that brings him to his senses.

A week later, on a Friday afternoon, Jack visits the corner convenience store to pick up a twelve-pack for the weekend. As the cashier rings up his purchase, he looks down only to see a familiar rainbow-hued package, and memories of the mysterious girl named A.O. come flooding back. “And one for the road,” he says wistfully to the cashier as he gently tosses it on the counter.

And that, my friends, is 6-D Marketing.

The more sense evoked, the greater the probability for that product and service to stay in memory long term!

So…what sense are the most important?

Advertising $$$ Wasted?

Sorry for the lack of blogging, things have been crazy at Ad Oasis. 6D Marketing is gaining attention and the phones are ringing off the hook. I encourage all of you to be a fan of our facebook page, it will keep you update on the happenings of Ad Oasis and 6D Marketing.

Last time we talked about Neuromarketing and briefly brought up advertising cost. In 2005 U.S. Corporations spent more than $7.3 billion on consumer research, and in 2007 that figure rose 39% to $12 billion: in just 2 years.

All this money is spend on advertising and research, but how much of what we see, do we retain? We are over whelmed with advertisements. By the time the average consumer reaches 65, they will have seen nearly two million commercials. That is equivalent to watching eight hours of ads, seven days a week for 6 straight years. Needless to say, we as consumers are numb to advertising.

As you know, advertising has changed and continues to change all the time. The challenge is always, how do you reach consumers and get them to remember you ad over your competitor. Some more figures for thought: It took 38 years for radio to reach 50 million Americans. It took 13 years for network television to reach 50 million Americans. It only took 3 years for the Internet to reach 50 million Americans!

MEET TODAY’S NEW CONSUMER

“The new consumer transcends age, ethnic group and to some extent, income! Their style of consumption is so distinctive. They’re consumers rather than buyers. These differences influence every aspect of t heir lifestyle.”

They are immune to ineffective advertising. In 1965 a typical consumer had a 34% recall of commercials and by 1990 that figure had fallen to just 8%. A recent telephone survey of 1,000 consumers found that the average person could name a mere 2.21 of the commercials they had seen.

Let’s look at two case studies. In 1949 Circuit City opened it doors and quickly becomes the 2^nd largest U.S. electronics retailer with 567 Superstores.

In November 2008 they closed 155 stores after they filed for Chapter 11. Then, in January 2009, all the remaining stores are liquidated. What happened? Circuit City failed to continuously build up their brand throughout time.

The second case study is Best Buy. Best Buy opened their doors in 1966 and after a series of acquisitions and growth, they now operate 1,150 stores. Best Buy’s revenue for the fiscal month ending January 2009, rose 4% to $7.5 billion. Despite all the difficult and ever-changing retail landscape, Best Buy has continuously increased brand awareness in interactive environments. According to Best Buy’s customers, their brand represents: Excellent product assortment, satisfactory pricing and convenience.

The questions remain: If all this massive amount of money is being spent, why is there so much failure? What really drives consumers to make the choices they do? What really causes them to choose one brand or product over another? What are shoppers really thinking?

Neuromarketing

We have been talking about the problems that advertisers are facing, so today; we will talk about the solution.

Neuromarketing is the marriage of marketing and science creating a window into the human mind. It is helping to revel WHY and WHAT advertising messages are being remembered and what messages are being forgotten.

Here comes the bold statement, so get ready for it. The truth is never easy to handle: Companies do not understand consumers. The brands that they are developing do not match the consumers’ thought process and their needs. And, just by chance their needs are met, marketers do not communicate their products and services in a way that grips minds and hearts. Basically: Companies need consumers to not only purchase a product, but remember it, have a loyalty to it, and keep coming back for more.

Martin Lindstrom, who wrote the book, Buyology, stated. "Advertisers are like Christopher Columbus in 1492, gripping a torn, hand-drawn map as the wind picked up and his boat lurched toward what might or might not be land."

Neuromarketing is unlocking the subconscious thoughts, feelings and desires that are driving purchasing decisions by consumers. Here is what the biggest discovery: Consumers think one thing subconsciously and consciously say another! Which, as you can imagine, creates a huge problem for marketers.

Another glaring issue is that marketers have been using the same out-dated research for decades: Quantitive and Qualitative research. The issue is that small factors slant focus group responses and these responses determine advertising techniques. These techniques do not work because consumers and marketers don't understand their subconscious buying behaviors.

You buy Colgate toothpaste, Gillette razors, Coke over Pepsi, Ford over Dodge, and the list goes on. But why? You might not be able to answer what brand of toothpaste you have in your bathroom right now, but when you get to the store, you know exactly what kind of toothpaste to get.

The fact of the matter is that 60% of shoppers make decisions in less than 4 seconds. Most purchase decisions are made from the unconscious area of the brain that associates a positive and influential memory with the product or service.

Next time we will talk dollars and cents: $12 billion on consumer market research and $117 billion per year in marketing an actually product. Could all this be wasted?