Excerpt from course description

Digital Sensory Marketing

Introduction

Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2027.

In a marketing landscape shaped by rapid technological change and heightened expectations for immersive digital engagement, this course investigates the emerging field of digital sensory marketing. Designed for MSc students, it examines how sensory modalities influence consumer perception, experience, and decision-making across offline and digital contexts. Integrating insights from marketing, psychology, and human–computer interaction, the course addresses the strategic use of modes of engagement, as well as sensory-enabling technologies, including augmented and virtual reality, haptics, and olfactory interfaces, in the design of persuasive brand experiences. Emphasis is placed on theories such as embodied cognition and multisensory integration, and their implications for digital consumer engagement. Through critical analysis of interdisciplinary literature, practical exploration of digital sensory tools, and real-world case studies, students will acquire the theoretical grounding and applied skills needed to evaluate, design, and implement multisensory strategies in marketing practice.

Course content

  • Introduction to the senses: Vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and more.
  • Multisensory customer experiences.
  • Foundations of sensory marketing and embodied cognition.
  • Multisensory integration principles: Sensory language, congruence, and sensory and information load, sensory dominance.
  • Research methods for evaluating multisensory experiences.
  • Frameworks for multisensory experience analysis and design.
  • Human–computer interaction and sensory-enabling technologies.
  • Visual, auditory, haptic, olfactory, and gustatory interfaces in digital marketing.
  • Immersive digital consumer experiences (e.g., AR, VR) and concepts such as immersion, presence, realism, interactivity.
  • Internet of Things, AI-powered technologies, and Web 3.0.
  • Personalisation and sensory profiles (e.g., need for touch, need for smell).
  • Ethical considerations in digital sensory marketing.
  • Case studies and applications across industries.

Disclaimer

This is an excerpt from the complete course description for the course. If you are an active student at BI, you can find the complete course descriptions with information on eg. learning goals, learning process, curriculum and exam at portal.bi.no. We reserve the right to make changes to this description.