Information Technology Reference
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the sense of taste and its complementary sense. This approach means that
the “reasonable” aspects of website development like navigation and func-
tionality need to be relegated while those elements that enhance the senses
need to be placed at the fore. To begin with, the descriptions of the prod-
ucts themselves must be strong, that means compelling, imaginative, concise
and punchy. The accompanying images should also have a high impact and
literally “diffuse” taste. For example, instead of featuring a static image of
a hot meal set on the table of a luxury restaurant, the image may be made
interactive by enabling the aroma to be emanated from the plate through vir-
tual steam rising from the plate. This will surely have a higher impact than
a one-page essay on how great the food tastes and how great the brand is.
As already mentioned in this chapter, websites that focus on the mind rather
than the eyes will have an edge in sensory brand communications and vali-
dation. A look at the websites of three renowned French gastronomy brands
Dalloyau, Jean-Paul Hévin and La Maison du Chocolat will confirm what
I mean by focusing on the eyes through text. Fauchon (Figure 4.13) on
the other hand has applied visual and taste stimulus through images and
e-merchandizing approaches on some of its website's pages.
Taste references may also be used to evoke the imagination of what the
product may taste like. For example, not everyone may know what
foie gras
d'oie
tastes like but they may be able to imagine this taste if they are told that
it is rich, musky and delicate, and melts on the tongue like the smoothest but-
ter and calls to mind the feeling of silk. An additional approach to evoking
the sense of taste online is through testimonials of taste experiences posted
on the website as well as organizing real-life taste events that are broadcast
live or subsequently online.
Figure 4.13
French brand Fauchon uses visual and taste stimulus through images
and e-merchandizing approaches to activate the taste buds on its website's pages
Table 4.1 presents an overview of the online luxemospheric elements and
their links to the human senses and Internet marketing strategies.
