Multi-sensory Sculpting (MSS): Eliciting Embodied Brand Knowledge via Multi-sensory Metaphors

This article approaches brand knowledge retrieval from an embodied cognition perspective, assuming that brand-related cognitive representations result from conscious and non-conscious brand experiences involving multiple senses. Consumers store embodied brand knowledge on a predominantly non-conscious and modality-specific level and use multi-sensory metaphors to express embodied knowledge. Retrieving embodied brand knowledge requires methods that (a) stimulate various senses that have been involved in brand knowledge formation and (b) give consumers the opportunity to express themselves metaphorically in a format similar to their cognitive representations. This article introduces multi-sensory sculpting (MSS) as a method that allows retrieving embodied brand knowledge via multi-sensory metaphors and proposes a multi-layered metaphor analysis procedure to interpret these multi-sensory data. The paper provides an empirical example illustrating the identification of embodied consumer brand knowledge via MSS data. The article concludes with implications for management highlighting the advantages of MSS compared to other methods.