ASMR

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We are all familiar with the modern lullaby that we call a sleep machine: simulating the soft crash of waves onto sand, rain falling lightly and steadily onto rainforest leaves, or the chirping of crickets amongst blades of nighttime grass. Now, another modern soundscape is becoming increasingly popular. It is a sensory experience that is growing in popularity but is grounded in some of the same ideas that we see on late-night TV food commercials, in modern psychology, and even at Olson Zaltman in our market research. This phenomenon is Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR.

ASMR is most commonly experienced through frisson combined with piloerection — more colloquially known as goosebumps. But, to most of us, it is described it as “that tingly feeling” on the back of your neck or forearm when exposed to something that creates low-grade euphoria — a.k.a. a brain orgasm.

For some, the ASMR practice elicits feelings of relaxation and even a brief respite from anxiety, stress, or insomnia. For others, it produces feelings of distaste. ASMRtists (yes, those exist) can produce ASMR videos that range anywhere from the creation of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to a woman brushing her hair. Think of these instances as isolated, amplified sounds.

ASMRtist and YouTube user Peaceful Cuisine has been featured on the ever-so-trendy Tastemade food channel. As Tastemade is a food-centric medium, the videos add enhanced sound to the typical aesthetic of the late-night pizza commercial. Take a look at this instructional video for how to make a classic dessert.

While there is a plethora of first-hand, anecdotal data on ASMR, there is little quantitative data to support these findings. For some, endorphins are the primary cause of the “tingles” and slight euphoria of ASMR. Oxytocin — also known as the “love hormone” — can also play a role the feelings of ASMR. Oxytocin is an extremely powerful hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. Levels of this hormone increase when you greet a loved one with a hug or experience a soothing massage. Others don’t experience ASMR at all, or find it to be creepy or disturbing. It all depends on your personal triggers. After all, Canadian news outlet and media company VICE calls it “The Good Feeling No One Can Explain.”

ASMR was officially coined by Jennifer Allen, an inquisitive individual who works as a manager for a technology company, in 2010. Sensory marketing, unlike ASMR, has been around for quite some time. According to Harvard Business Review, marketing teams across industries have been implementing sensory marketing in their product development for at least two decades. These same teams craft their sensory marketing efforts around the idea of embodied cognition: the theory that cognition is molded by how that stimulus affects the entire body or organism.

For example, think of a time that you’ve slept in a hotel bed. You hear the rustle of the down comforter, the click of the light switch as you turn it off, and you smell the slight tinge of bleach mixed with fabric softener as you snuggle into the sheets for some shut-eye. The room is chilled, the thick curtains drawn. Would you assume this hotel room is comfortable? Clean?

That’s precisely what today’s marketers want you to co-create. Whether it is olfactory, tactile, visual or auditory — in the case of ASMR — marketers are increasingly leveraging the senses to communicate messages to consumers that they themselves are unaware of. Consumers are only subconsciously aware of these messages and therefore do not receive them in the same manner as they do print advertisements, commercials, or banners ads, for example.

At Olson Zaltman, we do not ask research participants to listen to the sound of fingernails expectantly tapping a countertop or the chopping of vegetables on a cutting board. What we do work with, though, is the element of the senses in regards to consumer perception.

Here are a few examples of companies that have integrated the concept of ASMR into their marketing:

In March of 2016, Pepsi posted this video to their Instagram account.

This video focuses on the auditory effects of the effervescence of their most classic beverage. Captured in only a few seconds, Pepsi used ASMR to highlight a seemingly basic facet of their product, but with a slight twist.

KFC has also implemented ASMR in their social media. In July of 2016, KFC’s brand icon Colonel Sanders was featured in an ASMR video that primarily focused on a pocket square but then reverted back to his true passion: fried chicken. In this 2-minute satirical video, Colonel Sanders showcases the sounds of silk intermixed with descriptive whispering and the crunch of battered and fried chicken.

Based on a report the Washington Post, KFC’s chief marketing officer Kevin Hochman said, “There’s a lot of comfort that’s associated with ASMR, and that’s what our food delivers”.

Relaxed? Hungry? Comfortable? Uncomfortable? All of the above? Although ASMR is finding its foothold in the marketing community, who knows whether we will someday start focusing on auditory messaging over all other popular sensory marketing. Whether they are earresistable or earritating, I’ll let you know if I hear of any good ones.

Sophia Yanik is an Insight Associate with Olson Zaltman, Associates.