Adding new dimensions to corporate identity management and corporate communication : exploring the sensory perspective

Corporate visual identity plays a dominant role in the corporate identity and corporate image literature and is a key factor in conveying the identity of an organisation. In contrast, non-visual cues have been widely ignored by academics so far. This paper aims to expand the restricted visual concept by taking a holistic perspective incorporating all sensory stimuli based on the various ways of human perception. In detail, the five human senses (i.e. seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching) are considered as the basic framework for a more holistic construct. This paper presents a broad literature review that examines existing research on all five sensory dimensions. The review clearly shows that even though other sensory dimensions can have significant effects, apart from visual identity, research in the corporate identity and corporate image area on sensory dimensions such as scent and sound is rare. Consequently, this paper proposes the construct of corporate sensory identity. The proposed construct incorporates all five sensory dimensions in a consistent way which reflects all senses by which an organisation can convey its identity to all of its internal and external stakeholders.