Cashing in on Theory

The sensorium, as Caroline Jones explains in Sensorium: Embodied Experience, Technology, and Contemporary Art, includes the entire gamut of sensory perceptions an individual experiences at any given time.  Beyond that even, the concept of sensorium transcends individual sensibilities as a culture-spanning type of sensory hierarchy individuals in a society adopt unconsciously, never quite knowing why they have developed the tastes they have or how those tastes guide certain cognitive and behavioral functions.  The sensorium then, by these terms, becomes a virtual stage for various rhetorics of sensation to compete for individual favor on a subconscious level.  Furthermore, by this understanding, people’s tastes become subtly reflective of their personalities, and the gates of persuasion are therefore opened up to those who understand either the types of things a target likes or the type of person that a target is.  By ascertaining either of these facets of information, a party interested in gaining a target’s interest becomes substantially more likely to succeed.  Interesting, no, and while the general public may be largely unaware of this phenomenon, you can bet that the mass marketers and rising entrepreneurs of this world are well aware of it and are giving the matter ample attention.  Take, for instance, L’Oreal’s latest marketing campaign, which involves the introduction of a new retail marketplace machine designed to enhance customer/product interaction and boost perfume sales.  Any guess what this fancy new machine is called?  That’s right you guessed it, check out L’Oreal’s new Sensorium customer console in the video below…

Listen closely to the guy who comes on at .51 seconds into the video; his description of the sensorium and how they are trying to manipulate it is pretty interesting.  My question, is how else are marketing teams and companies trying to incorporate the sensorium?  I bet there are more than we are aware of, but I'm also curious to see how this turns out.  I have my doubts as to whether or not this type of marketing will work in the retail environment. What do you think?