Sensory branding
How do colour, music and scent change what we buy?
Senses shape expectations before words do. Slow music slowed shoppers and lengthened their stay, and few people notice music at all. A simple scent lifted spending in one shop by about a fifth, touching a product makes it feel owned, and cues that match in energy work best together.
What the report found
- Own a colour. Colours carry meanings that people read quickly, and a colour held consistently over years becomes one of the fastest ways to recognise a brand. The meaning depends on the setting, so test it rather than assume it.
- Set the soundtrack. Music that fits the product steers choice: in one supermarket, French music sold five times as much French wine as German, and few shoppers noticed. A short sonic logo works best when it is easy to process.
- Use scent with restraint. A pleasant scent that suits the product makes a place feel better and helps people remember brands. In one shop, a simple scent lifted spending by about a fifth, where a complex blend did not.
- Let people touch. Touching a product makes people feel it is already theirs and raises what they think it is worth. Weight signals quality: the same food served in a heavier bowl was judged denser and better.
- Make the senses agree. People link sounds, shapes, colours and tastes in shared ways. When scent and music match in energy, shoppers rate a store more highly and buy more; when cues clash, the effect weakens.
Who it is for
For brand managers, designers, retailers, hoteliers, restaurateurs and anyone who decides how a brand looks, sounds, smells and feels.
How we work
Field Guides turn the evidence into principles, each with the research, a worked example and what to try and watch out for. Every claim is graded, and where researchers disagree, as they do on whether scent in shops changes what people buy, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.
Cite this report
The Why We Project (2026) Sensory branding: Colour, sound and scent. Field Guide No. 13. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com