Talk, touch, feel, smell, taste, see...
How we react to our surroundings and how we feel about them is crucial to our brand, product or service experience.
But it's mainly been limited to a one way conversation where visual or audio communications have been directed towards us - even with new technology such as the internet (which still operates largely as an electronic publication). OK you get 'Welcome back Douglas' when you log-in somewhere familiar,
that was exciting a decade or so ago, not now.
So what's next? There are a whole host of senses just waiting to have their turn.
The concept of 'brand fragrances' was an extreme just two or three years back but is now well accepted. Audio stings are second nature. What Intel first took mainstream, many others have imitated. The TV programme LOST took the concept of a theme song down to fairly much a single, reverberating note.
And ramping up quickly are the personalisation/interaction of our phones and our environment. You can have different rings for different people, different wallpapers, different sounds. This personalisation is also being seen in products - different packaging that changes with seasonality or just to keep current. Products that can be customised to your requirements, the ability to add your own touches and personality.
Next, think of interactive posters, the whole phenomenon of being able, via your phone, to be alerted when your friends are in the same vicinity as you, or billboards that respond to particular cars passing by with individualised messages....
It's all happening right now.
When the movie Minority Report came out, people 'oohed' and 'ahhhed' about the scenes where Tom Cruise walked past ads and they addressed him by name. Not so much science fiction any more. In 2007, Mini drivers who had signed up for a trial promotion in San Francisco saw billboards that addressed them by name as they drove past, with pertinent messages thanks to radio chips embedded in their key fobs. "Hey Mary, great day for your convertible!", "Happy birthday Rob!"
It's not hard to see where things could go, but we're getting there fast already. Some things that are already in the works (or at prototype stage) are pushing the boundaries even further. They touch (if you'll excuse the pun) some of the senses we haven't yet considered as part of the 'brand' experience.
How about websites you can talk to and that respond to the human voice? The buzz on this is big. Next comes smell - released from your phones or your computer, or the product itself; olfactory packaging that issues a smell when you open it (the smell of fresh peach with your flavoured water for example); mobile phones that vibrate differently when different people call you up; tactile media that changes and interacts with you.
Come to your senses. All of them.
Touch, smell, feel (even taste) - it's not just what you see and hear any more.
How many words can you think of that start with C and why should you care? Consumer, content, collaboration 
Intellectual property can be a tricky legal area. And these days the term 'property' more than applies... 
People hear the spin more clearly through the noise. Listen up. 
So what's the story with the Easter Rabbit and all those other animal icons? There's a long tradition of using symbols we know in branding... 
Tactile media rules! So come to your senses. All of them. Touch, smell, feel - it's not just what you see and hear any more. 
So what are the trends that are speeding towards us from the horizon? Some have already reached us while others are looming... here's our pick. 
