This special issue focuses on the latest findings and contributions of sensory marketing. In the past decade, the number of studies on sensory marketing has increased markedly. This work has included development of theoretical implications and practical implementations. However, a problem of reproducibility has been suggested in the field of psychology, which strongly influences sensory marketing research. Additionally, revelations of research misconduct by a few researchers have partly undermined the credibility of sensory marketing research. Therefore, in this special issue, we reconsider the value and contribution of sensory marketing by presenting leading work in this area. Each of the five invited peer-reviewed studies includes excellent academic findings and practical suggestions. As such, we believe that this issue will make an important contribution to progress in research on sensory marketing.

This paper focuses on the impact of marketing-related sensory factors on consumers’ healthy food consumption and reviews relevant studies published in top marketing journals after 2000. We found that the association between sensory factors and healthy food consumption has been of interest in a variety of marketing-related fields, including consumer behavior, advertising, public policy, and retailing. Through the review, we suggest five future research directions for sensory nudging on healthy food consumption: the need to examine non-visual sensory factors, multi/cross-modal sensory effects, cultural differences, the promotion of research in line with real-world food consumption, and the need for more comprehensive and long-term validation of the relationship between healthy eating and sensory marketing.

Product packaging can serve as a medium that conveys information and concepts regarding its contents. Previous research showed that a product image (visual object) spatially located at the bottom of the package led consumers to evaluate the product to be visually heavier in comparison to an image located at the top of the package did. The present study investigated this location effect (or the bottom-heavy association) in both visual and haptic domains. I succeeded in replicating the location effect in the evaluation of the visual heaviness of a product (Study 1). A diminished but significant location effect was also demonstrated in the haptically perceived heaviness when participants lifted the product with their hands (Study 2). However, the preceding evaluation of the visual heaviness of the product disrupted (rather reversed) the bottom-heavy association in the subsequent heaviness perception of the lifted product (Study 3). When the product image was shown on the bottom of the package, participants perceived the lifted product to be lighter in comparison to when the product image was shown at the top. These results suggest that the psychological effects of packaging design are elicited not only by visual processing but also by visual-haptic integration and that they have bidirectional effects on the consumer’s processing strategy.

People perceive letters included in their name more favorably than those not included in their name. This tendency is called the name letter effect, and it can affect various types of decision-making, including brand choices. For instance, a consumer named Lundy is more likely than one named Thomas to purchase a Lexus car, as it shares the same initial. This study examines how the name letter affects consumers’ brand choices when brand names are written in Japanese Kanji script. Previous studies have shown that Kanji are processed as visual rather than auditory information. Based on this linguistic nature, the authors predicted that the name letter effect in Kanji would be elicited by congruence between a brand name and a consumer’s name in both spelling and pronunciation (vs. only in pronunciation). An analysis of actual purchase data concerned with the OTC stomach medicine Ohta-Isan (太田胃酸) revealed that consumers with names that matched the brand name (太田) in both pronunciation and Kanji spelling were more likely to purchase the medicine than consumers whose name was pronounced the same but written with different Kanji (e.g. 大田 and 多田, both pronounced Ohta) and consumers with names neither spelled nor pronounced the same way.

An increasing number of brands have been redesigning their logo. While the manner of change varies, some brands only change the logo color. This study examined the effect of changes in color saturation during brand logo changes on consumers’ brand attitudes. It is known that saturation, which indicates the vividness of a color, gives consumers an impression of energy and dynamism. Therefore, we examined the impact of changes in brand logo color saturation on brand attitudes by enhancing perceptions of brand energy. Throughout three experiments, it was found that 1) a highly saturated logo enhances consumers’ perception of brand energy; 2) increasing saturation when changing the logo color increases brand energy perception, which in turn increases attitude toward the brand; and 3) the effect of brand energy perception on attitude toward the brand is stronger for global brands than for domestic brands. This study, which clarified the relationship between the influence of saturation on brand attitude when changing a brand logo, may provide many suggestions for brands considering logo redesign.

With the spread of mobile payment services, reward point systems have been frequently promoted in recent years. Therefore, the number of short-term users who enroll for the purpose of earning reward points is increasing, although the low retention rate of mobile payment services has become an issue. This study examined whether or not perceived control and psychological ownership can enhance the intention to reuse mobile payment services by focusing on touch interface when using payment services. The results of these two studies revealed that payment methods requiring users to manually input the monetary amount, thereby using increased screen contact (as opposed to payment methods not requiring the input of a monetary amount), increased the sense of control over payment services, and that perceived control increased the sense of psychological ownership. In addition, it was confirmed that the improvement in psychological ownership caused by screen contact increases the intention to reuse the mobile payment service.

Virtual reality (VR) is gaining attention as a technology that offers new experiences to consumers. The purpose of this study was to identify current trends in marketing research on VR targeting consumers. Forty-nine empirical papers published since 2019 were extracted and categorized into themes of “communication,” “spatial setting,” “experience,” and “device acceptance.” For the studies on “communication,” “spatial setting,” and “experience,” we clarified the effects of VR and VR devices. For “device acceptance,” we clarified the factors that led to the acceptance of VR devices by consumers. Finally, as a critical issue common to each theme, it was pointed out that the characteristics of the VR devices and contents targeted by each study were unclear. As a specific solution, it was pointed out that each study needed to measure and report the components of VR. Other issues noted included organizing theories that explain the effects of VR and pre-designing sample sizes.

In the midst of digitalization, a polarization has developed between autonomous and proactive consumers and those who prefer altruistic and accidental consumption. Consumers who prefer accidental consumption seek context-dependent, instantaneous consumption, and unpredictable, impulsive satisfaction. Inspiration associated with consumption behavior can satisfy this impulse satisfaction and motivate subsequent purchase-related behavior. In this paper, we review existing research on “consumer inspiration,” which is important when considering marketing in response to accidental consumption. Consumer inspiration is examined from the three perspectives of “mechanism,” “antecedents,” and “effects”. There are three issues for future research. (1) Since inspiration is diffuse, it is necessary to establish a marketing perspective to deal with it. (2) It is necessary to examine individual differences and situational factors in the digital environment. (3) It is necessary to study the cognitive Consequences of consumer inspiration.

Firms are commercializing new business models using various types of data. The Japan Weather Association has handled a huge amount of meteorological data and developed a number of weather forecasting and disaster prevention projects. With the recent evolution of digital technology, they have succeeded in developing a product demand forecasting service by combining weather data, sales data, and consumer behavioral data. Despite falling outside of the Association’s core interest of disaster prevention, the researchers identified the opportunity to cooperate with companies in other industries and launched a subscription business model for their product demand forecasting service in the white space. The association was able to develop this product demand forecasting service thanks to advances in weather forecasting technology, which can now predict the future to a degree, along with the capabilities of their human resources (i.e. weather forecasters). In addition, as a social business player, the core value of “solving social issues” pushed the evolution out of the core space.