Multisensory Consumer-Packaging Interaction (CPI): The Role of New Technologies

The recent development of various sensory-enabling technologies (SETs) has attracted the interest of those marketers wishing to enhance the online and in-store multisensory experiences that they offer to customers. Such technologies have also proven relevant to the delivery of more engaging multisensory human-food interactions. However, to date, little work has been conducted on their potential role in the interaction between consumers and product packaging, a key element of branding. In this chapter, we present an overview of how the latest SETs can be (and in some cases already are being) incorporated into the packaging of various different products in order to deliver novel multisensory product experiences. We predict that these technologies will increasingly come to enhance the scope of packaging as a marketing communication tool. They might, for instance, be used to project people into consumption experiences, promote brand engagement, as well as improve product evaluation, by means of, say, augmented reality applications. Such technologies will become an increasingly important element in the consumer experience. They may even be able to enhance the perceived sensory properties of products, help in personalization, and/or help regulating our eating behaviour.