The role of sensory branding stimuli in attitude formation towards a brand: A research on a home textile sector

As the consumer needs and expectations change day by day, brands tend to develop different strategies. With these strategies, brands aim at influencing consumer attitudes and perceptions. Sensory marking is one of these strategies, and its target is to guide consumer attitudes and perceptions through stimuli involving color, sound, smell, texture and taste. To that end, the perceptions of consumers towards the brand are shaped consciously and systematically through the senses. In this study, the focus is on the role of the senses in consumers' attitude formation towards a brand. Considering the lack of research on it in the literature, it was aimed to investigate consumers' perceptions of sensory branding with cognitive, emotional and behavioral dimensions, which form the elements of the attitude. The research was carried out in three stages as focus group interview, pilot study and main sample analysis, respectively. Two separate preliminary studies were conducted as a part of the research, and semi-structured open-ended interview technique was used in the first preliminary study and the questioning technique (questionnaire) was used in the second one. As part of a relational field study, quantitative and qualitative data were obtained and the role of sensory branding stimuli on consumers' attitudes towards the home textile sector was investigated. As a result of the main sample analysis, "Sensory Branding Attitudes Measurement Tool" was developed in order to measure consumers' attitudes towards the brand. The measuring tool, which involves the senses of sight, hearing, smell and touch, yielded 4 factors, 12 sub-dimensions and 36 items in five-point Likert scale. As a result of the research, it was observed that the level of knowledge, feeling and intention consumers have for the product or brand affect their perceptions and attitudes towards the brand. It was concluded that the emotions, which was detected to be the most influential attitude element, encouraged consumers to create a conscious intention by affecting them in each sensory aspect, cognitively and behaviorally.