IN a move which sought to pull customers beyond transactions, global payments giant Mastercard has been accelerating its push to appeal to the sensory nerve of clients globally.

The large firm which has in recent times expanded its marketing with restaurant partnerships as well as the selling of perfumes and other memorabilia in its flagship red and yellow colours, has been seeking to engage all five senses of the customer as it doubles down on the practice of multi-sensory marketing. Through multi-sensory branding customers are able to sniff, taste, hear, see and touch a company.

Following the roll-out of a touch card a few years prior, the entity has since remained on an active mission to appeal to all customers, a move it believes should also augur well for financial inclusion.

“In a world where consumers are visually bombarded, the power of articulating a brand using the other four senses can be a powerful differentiator that cuts through clutter by capturing the consumer’s attention. Multi-sensory marketing is [therefore] the future when it comes to defining the character of a brand by establishing a multidimensional identity that differentiates it from the competition,” Mastercard said in defending the strategy.

Through its bright colours and red and yellow circles overlapping logo the company said not only has it been able to create a visible brand marker but also appeals to millions of customers now for whom it wants to deliver priceless experiences.

Tapping into the power of smell, taste and sound the company, through a growing list of strategies, aims to offer customers a complete sense of gratification and fulfilment which goes beyond payments, for which it is most known.

Its sonic brand — named best audio in 2020 — has through sound helped to connect human emotion and technology, providing simple and seamless familiarity in sound for customers. In dividing its sound strategy into three levels, Mastercard said it wants customers to be able to identify with a variation of its audio signatures played to indicate brand recognition, payment acceptance, and completed transactions — each of which, it said, involves different iterations of the same melody but played for varying types of services.

As for its exploration of the sense of smell the company, after partnering with Firmenich — a private Swiss company in the fragrance and flavour business — launched a dual set of fragrances through which it has so far managed to further attract customers through the power of scent. First unveiled during an event in New York, the pair of scents dubbed Priceless Passion, which boasts a rose and honey signature; and Priceless Optimism, which is of a more citric essence, are now being offered for retail to Mastercard customers in select countries.

“The brand’s iconic colours express passion and optimism and embody some of the most exquisite ingredients in the world of perfumery,” the company said.

Similarly appealing to customers through taste and the palate, the payments giant back in 2019 introduced two bespoke macaron flavours — passion and optimism — as it pushed to heighten the multi-sensory brand expression.

The company, which said it has long been creating hundreds of dining experiences around the world, has over the last five years partnered with some of the world’s most prominent chefs to set up hundreds of ‘Priceless Tables’ in iconic restaurants around the world.

In leveraging all five senses in its brand evolution Mastercard said it will continue to reinvent as it looks to reach more consumers.

“As consumer needs and consumption behaviors change, it is imperative for iconic brands like Mastercard to continuously reinvent their approach to marketing to engage consumers,” a senior executive of the company stated.