Multi-sensory Appeal: Sight Part 1

    Hello all! Happy February six more weeks of winter left. Weather talk gets boring so let get down to business (to defeat the Huns). We are going to talk about sensory marketing, which the American Marketing Association defines as the marketing techniques that aim to seduce the consumer by using the senses to influence his/her feelings and behavior. This principle is key for every marketing campaign. We are going to talk a little bit about how each sense is marketed to and we will go into depth later on.

This week’s topic is Sight, now this is a very large subject, so I’m going to break it into two separate posts. Today we will just focus on the shapes of items that we see and how they are designed to evoke emotions. Next week’s post will be about labels, colors, and how they portray quality.

What can Sensory Marketing do?

*By understanding sensory marketing you can build packaging that will affect the customer in the way you want it to.              

It’s no secret that people can be ruled by their emotions, we react to everything around us, so naturally they are valuable to marketing. Designing a package is a lot of hard work. All five senses have to be considered, you have to find out how your target market reacts, and take all that information and decide what senses are the most important. 

For sight we are going to look at the bottle design for several different vodkas. Vodka has become one of, if not the most popular spirit in the US today. There are a few attributes that are nearly universal when it comes to marketing and advertising for vodka: clear bottles, intriguing shapes, minimal colors, and minimal type. Most of these attributes are used to portray the clarity and purity of the vodka, how smooth the flavor is, and how valuable the product is. Here are a few brands that we will check out.

Anestasia Vodka

 Karim Rashid designed this beautiful work of art for Anestasia Vodka. He created a bottle design that emotionally works three-fold for the company.
1. The shape reflects the word vodka, the angles of the v and k are heavily prevalent in its' design, and it gives a tangible object for the consumer to feel instead of hear.
2. The company is located in Bend, Oregon at the foot of the Cascade Mountains which are famous for their crystal clear water. Transparent bottles are very important for vodka packaging since it portrays how clear and pure the product is. Also the rugged mountains are reflected in the shape of the bottle and are used to reflect the natural ingredients of the vodka.
3. Recycling is an important facet of Anestasia Vodka, they strive to reduce their carbon footprint, and do everything they can to promote sustainability. So this bottle is made out of recycled material and recommended for use as a decanter or vase.

Crystal Head Vodka

Designer John Alexander and comedian Dan Aykroyd created Crystal Head Vodka based on the legendary 13 crystal skulls that have been found all over the world. Not only is the bottle formed to resemble the crystal skulls but the vodka itself is filtered through 500-million year old crystals know as Herkimer diamonds. These crystals are believed to be the same crystal that the skulls are made from. So the bottle reflects the legend and the vodka is embedded with the spiritual properties of the crystal skulls themselves. Instead of calling their product Crystal Skull Vodka, they wanted to evoke emotions connected with the head, and as they put it, "a symbol of life to reflect the legend's message of spiritual power and enlightenment."


U'Luvka Vodka

U'Luvka is of Polish origins. They claim to use the same process that was used by the alchemist Sendivogius in the 16th century. This story, and how strongly it's tied to the company, show us that they are very proud of their heritage. They want the customer to feel that national pride when they see this bottle on the self.
   The company uses their alchemical history as the face of U'Luvka Vodka. The bottle shape is reminiscent of distillation bottles and also is representative of female (rounded base) and male (the neck). This relationship between female and male is a balancing act which alchemy is all about.
   Also it's about the transformation of one thing into another and if that doesn't sound like the process of creating vodka then I don't know what is. Transformation, harmony, and balance are fundamental within the practice of alchemy. These are all aspects of the science that are reflected in life that U'Luvka wants customers to feel.
   In keeping with the other vodka bottles you see that there is very little else to distract from quality of the product. The form and function of the bottle live in harmony and it sits upon the shelf as a very beautiful organic object. The functionality of the bottle lies in the bend of the neck where the thumb rest perfectly and allows bartenders to pour smoothly.

I hope that this has been fun and informative. I just love looking at all the different designs, and I hope you do too! Please if you have any questions, concerns, or comments leave them below. I'd love to respond to anything you have to say. Also if you know of any interesting designs please find me on twitter, or Facebook and send me a message. Your ideas and suggestions could even be the basis for my next post! Thanks again everyone, keep reading, and keep creating!