Sensation Transference

It is a given that those that design for a living will surround themselves with
beautifully designed products. After all having beautiful things around us,
makes us appreciate design, understand good design and continue the wonderful
cycle of the design of good things. This emphasis on visual design
is not confined to designers. All of us appreciate and are influenced by the
power of design. However what we don’t realise at times, is that we are sometimes enchanted by not only the
product but the packaging as well.

According to a pioneer in the world of marketing, Louis Cheskin, we cannot help
but be influenced by the packaging of a product. To us, as consumers, when we
buy a product, we buy the packaging and the product. Coke from no-name can
will taste inferior to us than Coke in a Coca-Cola can. Cheskin called this
“sensation transference”. What we feel about the package of a product
can influence how we feel about the product itself.

Back in the 1940’s, Cheskin packaged margarine in a foil wrapper
and asked the manufacturer to change its color from the de facto white color to a rich yellow. By making
these changes, Cheskin managed to equate margarine to the aesthetic qualities
of butter (considered a superior product than margarine). Sales of margarine
went up dramatically.

So what can we learn from Cheskin’s principle of ’sensation transference’? That
it matters how we package things. We start to experience the taste of an Oreo
cookie even before we put the cookie in our mouth. From the color of the
outer package to the crackling of the plastic inside, the cookie is more
than flour and sugar and a few thousand chemicals. It is the sum total of the
entire experience, from the product display in the grocery store, the package
and it’s contents. And that is what good brands have always known. Countless people have
talked about helping Jacob Nielsen, usability professional, re-design his
website, to help him take advantage of this sensation transference. Good
content inside a good looking container, may be more palatable than the existing
pale yellow and blue laundry list of links.

So what we can learn from sensation transference today? Well, for one, let’s focus on how we package our brand. Let’s take a good hard look at
our brand package and figure out if any of the below is true for it:

1. Our logo is not as important as we think. Yes, you heard correctly. Your logo is really not
   that important. Once you have a professionally designed logo in your hands,
   it’s not the logo but what you do with it that matters. Unless you are a
   multi-national corporation that needs to be recognized across language and
   cultures, and are willing to spend millions of dollars to protect your
   properties, your logo is only one part of your visual language. You will want
   to spend equal amounts of time and money, to build your messaging and product
   statements. Can you guess which company’s website this is? You probably can,
   even though there is no mention of their products, and all evidence of their
   logo and navigation has been removed. The reason for that is that while this company recognizes that their logo is important, they are also equally concerned with all other aspects of their visual communication to you, the end-user. They ensure that their products, website and all marketing material speak the same language. (Oh, just in case, the company is Apple)
2. We are not consistent enough. To understand the importance of
   consistency, imagine a happy meal without a toy. Or a visit to Disneyland
   without seeing those mouse ears. Or the absence of Tony the Tiger on the
   Frosted Flakes cereal box. Packaging your brand means to have a shorthand with
   your audience. They need to know what you stand for. Today and tomorrow. Both
   physically and conceptually. Cool is to Apple what Speed is to Fedex. Or what
   discounts are to Wal-Mart. From your brochures to your office carpet, consider
   what your choices are saying about what your brand stands for.
3. We are not different enough. Might seem like a paradox when discussing
   consistency, but to be different is to not be like your competition. Pierre Bourdieu,
   a French psychologist said, “A choice of brand is a clear statement of
   what you are NOT!” Show your audience how you are different. What do you
   stand for, that your competition does not? To be a strong player in the market
   you need to be known for one thing. Make sure you shout out this difference
   from the roof tops (roof tops could equal home page, splash screen, brochures
   etc). Your difference can actually be a potential weakness turned upside down.
   For example: some people prefer dealing with small, growing companies rather
   than the big corporate man. Ben & Jerry’s capitalized on that. Maybe your
   difference is not in the final product but in your production process? Or in
   your values and community involvement? Vancity made a name for themselves doing
   just that. The only way you are going to find out what you do differently than
   your competition, is to study your competition and the existing marketplace—know
   them inside out and react with courage. “Against Animal Testing” was more than
   just a slogan, it was a way of doing business that brought the Body Shop much
   success and encouraged the entire cosmetics industry to examine their
   practices.

So in the end, to understand the importance of branding is to understand the power of packaging. We are human and can’t help but be influenced by what we see. So make sure that your outsides are telling the correct story about your insides!

Big ups to two books "Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" and "Brand Sense". Both are seemingly contradictory. The first places emphasis on how we can go wrong when asked to evaluate our first impressions, and the second bases research on asking people about their first impressions. However, both books helped me write this article.