Topic: EFFECTIVENESS OF SENSORY INPUT IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

To understand effectiveness of sensory inputs in promotional methods that constitute ambush and experiential marketing.

SUBJECT: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

PREPARED BY: RIDA KHALID RAO
Student ID: 8594
Effectiveness of Sensory input in consumer behavior

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me throughout the course
of this MBA project.
I am thankful for their aspiring guidance, first and foremost, I would like to thank to my course facilitator
Mr. Saddam for the valuable guidance and advice. He inspired me greatly to work in this project and to
see things from the eye of a marketer and for example that related to the topic of our project.
Besides, I would like to thank the authority of Iqra University, North Nazimabad for providing with a
good environment and facilities to complete this project. It gave me an opportunity to participate and
learn about the fast moving field of marketing before being a part of it.

Thank you,

Rida Khalid Rao

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Effectiveness of Sensory input in consumer behavior

AMBUSH MARKETING

Ambush marketing is a marketing technique where one company or campaign takes benefit from the hype
created by other or any major event to create awareness for its own product without spending much in its
financial contribution or may spend nothing for that particular event.

Here is an example of ambush marketing which strike as extraordinary marketer behind it, whenever I
give it a read:

1. War on wheels (Audi and BMW)

Let’s take the example of the above billboard which may seem like a normal advertisement method to a
lay man but being a future-marketing manager we need to zoom in on the details that here we have two
elite brands of automobiles who target niche market and what’s better than a witty way of promoting your
product which is already one of the extraordinaries, as one of these brand opted for.

Back in 2009, Santa Monica California, Audi and BMW were involved in bill board war starting from
Audi setting up a bill board for A4 which said “Your Move, BMW.” BMW responded and setup another
bill board close to that of Audi with a picture of its M3 model with the impression “Checkmate”

So this was how Audi diverted the attention of customers to them by using BMW which served two
purpose, as per ambush marketing, they got the fame/attention towards their product and secondly, such a
witty way of presenting “what’s new” in product lasts longer than traditional methods of marketing
however, both of them later denied this attempt.

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The sense of vision is what is used to create whatever image the consumer wanted to create on the mind
of consumer and rest is on the creativity of consumer itself as to how they take it.

2. WAR IS IN THE AIR

Well now below is a case from series of billboards being used for ambush marketing by each of the
companies involved beginning with Jet Airways putting up a hoarding as announcement for some changes.

Kingfisher Airlines used this opportunity for their own advertisement in hope of catching the light from
them to theirs .

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Go Air thought about telling them that happiness is short lived so they put up their shows too

Now the reason for considering this as an example here is that the marketers of the said companies didn’t
wait for an event but they created an event of their own and each of them tried to get their share out of this,
although the initiators might not be the ones to plan on it but they eventually got a fair share out of the event
and not much of financial expenses where consumed for setting up these bill boards until and unless one of
the said companies sued any other.
So what I learnt from the above example is that it’s not always supposed to be big event but it’s about
sharing one’s limelight and turning it into your own sunshine which certainly requires a great marketer.

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Effectiveness of Sensory input in consumer behavior

The sense of vision is what is used to create whatever image the consumer wanted to create on the mind
of consumer and rest is on the creativity of consumer itself as to how they take it.

EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

Experiential marketing or “event marketing,” is a marketing strategy that engages consumers using branded
experiences. These experiences could include an event, a part of an event, or a pop-up activation not tied to
any event.
While there’s no one right way to approach experiential marketing, at its core it’s all about immersing
consumers in memorable live experiences.

3. JetBlue - The Ultimate Icebreaker

Photo source: Eventmarketer.com

JET BLUE used this method and promoted their product in a clever way to promote their flights from
New York to Palm Springs which is actually a transition from a dead of winter to warm sunny
destination. What they did was placing a number of summer accessories inside a six-foot by six-foot ice
block and told New Yorkers that if they get it, it belongs to them and what’s better than “Free”. People
actually were so caught up in this game that they did whatever it took to reach to the prize by chipping the

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Effectiveness of Sensory input in consumer behavior

ice away and one of which was a charm “ free tickets to palm springs”. Other prizes included summer
accessories such beach attire and golf clubs.
This activation was done in partnership with the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau,
helping to bring more tourism to the beautiful California city.
What I learnt by this is that “free” is what no body ever said “NO” to and adding a gaming experience is
an add-on to a vibrant social media campaign around the experiential strategy.
Experiential marketing turns out to be a little more effective when attempting to think out of the box for
consumers because it utilized two very strong senses that is vision and touch so it will be stored in your
mind for longer period of time as people tend to remember events where they were participating far more
than just vision.

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