Tactile marketing is a marketing strategy that utilizes touch to create a more immersive and engaging brand experience. We expect marketing trends for 2023 to be full of higher-touch marketing pieces. We expect to see more companies using tactile marketing techniques to differentiate themselves from their competitors and create a deeper connection with their customers. If your brand wants to avoid digital oversaturation, consider how much more you could accomplish with an authentic sensory experience. Here are eight tactile marketing trends we expect to see in 2023.
Go Dynamic with 3D Designs
We love to see creative ideas come to life—as in (real) life. Modern large-format presses and finishing equipment – like our Acuity Prime Flatbed Printer and Zund Flatbed Digital Cutter – allow us to create multifaceted, engaging visual displays at a large scale.
Take our 8’ foot tall, custom-printed holiday tree, for example. The dynamic green pattern gives this piece a lifelike quality. The shelves make a perfect display for holiday cards or packages. Show off a new product, launch a new thematic campaign, or simply give existing customers a reason to be wowed with a 3D design. The possibilities are endless.
Embrace Luxury with Luxe Finishes
Bring Sexy Back with Vintage Minimalism
The simplistic design is clean and unobtrusive and focuses less on all the busy work and back on the message of the campaign.
Have confidence that your message matters and give your customers a blast from the past. You can check out how we did this in our 90s-themed campaign.
Use a Bit of Atypical Typography
Options for using typography in tactile marketing are many and versatile. The intrepid marketer will step outside dull ol’ brand standards in 2023. They’ll find innovative ways to use bold, serifed, or modern versions of old fonts. Break the rules a little this year. Do more than just show words with fonts—let them communicate your ideas, too. Take this example.
If all else is falling short, you could create a new font to help you bring your campaign to life. Let your fonts pave the way to more creative marketing campaigns by incorporating expressive typography, vintage, and minimalistic motifs.
Make a Sensational Sensory Experience
Proper tactile marketing engages the senses from every angle. Going to the movie theater is about more than watching images on a screen. It’s about the smell and taste of the popcorn, the feel of the bass in your seat, and the gut-wrenching emotions the characters communicate. Similarly, an unboxing experience will involve sights, smells, auditory components, occasionally a tasteful element, and all the feels.
Use colors to help create thematic engagement. Your filler choice can add a sound and tactile factor in the form of crinkle paper or something simply soft. Incorporating an edible item can evoke taste and smell as well as a memorable sensory experience. And your branded promotional products round out the whole package. For MVP status, put it together thoughtfully so that the unwrapping becomes a literal experience in and of itself. Take this tactile marketing campaign which has all the bells and whistles.
Ditch the Discount and Opt for High-End Products
Craft a New Color Combo
Award the Amazing
Anyone in a relationship will tell you that recognition goes a long way. In 2023, take the time to recognize fantastic work—employees and customers alike. This year, notable companies will launch great marketing campaigns and give kudos to stellar clients and team members who take their work to the next level. Here are examples of some of our employee-generated and customer-driven campaigns.