Ushering in a new era for marketing

In the era of digital marketing, sensational campaigns often find a home on social media platforms

• Sensational marketing make the happiest people in the world 
• This new marketing strategy can leave a strong emotional imprint that can enhance brand recognition and engagement

‘Sensational marketing’ is a term that is not widely recognised or defined in the field of marketing. However, it could refer to a marketing approach that aims to create excitement, generate attention and provoke strong emotional responses from the target audience. Such an approach may be used to make a product or service stand out in a crowded marketplace or to create a memorable marketing campaign. Here is an introduction to the concept of sensational marketing. 

In today’s highly competitive and ever-evolving world of marketing, capturing the attention of consumers is an ongoing challenge. Traditional marketing strategies often struggle to break through the noise and connect with an audience bombarded by a constant stream of information. In response to this, a concept known as “sensational marketing” has emerged. 

Sensational marketing is not a widely recognised term within the marketing field, but it summarises a unique approach that influences the power of sensations, emotions, and memorable experiences to create a lasting impact. It seeks to surprise, thrill, or even shock the audience, leaving a strong emotional imprint that can enhance brand recognition and engagement. 
This marketing approach is characterised by a few key principles: 
1.Emotional Resonance: Sensational marketing aims to trigger deep emotional responses in consumers. It seeks to create an experience that goes beyond the rational, tapping into feelings of awe, excitement, joy, or even intrigue. 

In the era of digital marketing, sensational campaigns often find a home on social media platforms and other online channels, where content can quickly go viral

2.Memorability: The core idea behind sensational marketing is to be memorable. By crafting marketing campaigns or content that stand out in the minds of the audience, brands can leave a lasting impression that extends beyond the immediate moment of exposure. 
3.Attention-Grabbing: Sensational marketing employs strategies designed to grab attention in a world where attention spans are short and distractions are abundant. It is often characterized by bold, creative, or even unconventional tactics. 

4.Viral Potential: Sensational marketing often leverages the power of social sharing and word-of-mouth. When something evokes a strong emotional response, people are more likely to share it with their networks, amplifying its reach. 
5.Risk and Reward: Sensational marketing can be a high-risk, high-reward strategy. While a successful sensational campaign can generate substantial buzz and business, it can also backfire if not executed thoughtfully. 

In the era of digital marketing, sensational campaigns often find a home on social media platforms and other online channels, where content can quickly go viral. 
While sensational marketing can be a powerful tool for brands, it is essential to strike a balance between creating excitement and maintaining brand authenticity and ethics. Not all industries or brands may find sensational marketing appropriate. 

Sensational marketing involves using attention-grabbing and emotionally resonant tactics to create memorable and impactful marketing campaigns. The variables or elements that contribute to sensational marketing can vary depending on the specific context and objectives of a campaign

Sensational marketing involves using attention-grabbing and emotionally resonant tactics to create memorable and impactful marketing campaigns. The variables or elements that contribute to sensational marketing can vary depending on the specific context and objectives of a campaign. However, here are some common variables or components that are often associated with sensational marketing such as: Emotionally resonant content, unique and novel concepts, visual appeal, storytelling, audience relevance, Humour and entertainment, surprise and shock value, call to action, multi-platform distribution, timing and trend relevance, controversy and debate, audience participation, visual potential ,ethical consideration and measurement and analytics are main factors have been affected to sensational marketing concept. Then mainly this study can be identified following components in major areas of the sensational marketing in the consumer behaviour. Based on the human behaviour that focused the sensors, it can be generated by following major areas as key points of the sensational marketing. 

• Visual Sensation 
• Auditory Sensation 
• Taste and Smell Sensation 
• Touch Sensation 
• Emotional Resonance 
• Multisensory Experiences 
• Consumer Engagement 
• Cross model effects 
• Brand recognition 

Visual Sensation: Visual elements are central to marketing, and they play a significant role in sensational marketing. 
Auditory Sensation: The sense of hearing is another important sensory aspect of sensational marketing. 
Taste and Smell Sensations: Taste and smell are used less frequently in marketing but can be influential when relevant. 

Touch Sensation: The sense of touch can be incorporated in physical marketing materials, packaging, and experiential marketing. Textures, tactile sensations, and interactive experiences can create a sense of novelty and engagement. 
Emotional Resonance: Sensory marketing often leverages emotions, which are closely connected to the sensory organs. Visuals, sounds, and other sensory elements can evoke emotional responses, such as joy, nostalgia, excitement, or relaxation. 

Multisensory Experiences: Some marketing campaigns aim to engage multiple senses simultaneously to create multisensory experiences. For example, a combination of visually appealing imagery, a catchy jingle, and the promise of a delicious taste can create a memorable and resonant brand experience. 
Consumer Engagement: Sensory marketing aims to engage consumers at a deeper level by appealing to their senses. When consumers have sensory experiences, they are more likely to remember and connect with a brand or product. 

Cross-Modal Effects: Sensory marketing can have cross-modal effects, where the stimulation of one sense affects the perception of another. For example, the colour and design of packaging can influence the taste perception of a product. 
Brand Recognition: Creating sensory associations with a brand or product can enhance brand recognition. 

Application of the Sensational marketing concept 

When concern about the sensational marketing factors that has been introduced here, it will be benefited to the academic and non-academic people to gather this concept for the application of the product and services that can be newly introduced fresh product and service of the audiences in Sri Lanka as well it will be benefited to have some unique advantages of the marketing propaganda. In the analysis of the context, there are heart touching actions, feelings, words, sounds, art clips, scenes, colours and logos are more sensitive to the audience of the target market. Especially the nature of the behaviour in Sri Lankans is more sensitive when compared to the sensitivity of people in other countries. We love to nature, kindness and are honest with their religions as well as we are happy in every moment of life. If anything happened within a few moments it can be changed by understating the reality of life because of the usages of the Buddhist cultures. Then our sensors are more in tune with nature. Then most corporate sector people can use this concept for their moves to introducing a new product or service to the market. This emotional concept is more popular at the corporate sector with brand and branding propaganda as well as other promotional and advertising activities. If we take CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities and other marketing activities that have been highly used by the creative people we see that sensational marketing is bit different. From a Sri Lankan context, most of advertising campaigns that are run use this concept. 

As per the conclusion of evidence across different perspectives, the use of sensational marketing concepts has been a recurring strategy to capture attention, engage audiences and drive business results. While the specific tactics and channels have evolved, the fundamental idea of employing sensational elements to create impact remains a consistent theme in marketing history. 

(The writer is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Management Science, Uva Wellassa University, Badulla and can be reached via 07616437921 or by dropping a mail to neel@uwu.ac.lk  )