Fold7 'Nature Hits Different': The Science of Sensory Stimulation and Behavioral Triggers
- Christina Png
- Mar 13, 2025
- 4 min read
The Nature Hits Different campaign by Original Source isn’t just an ad—it’s a masterclass in behavioral science applied to marketing. Developed in collaboration with Fold7, the creative agency behind the campaign, it synthesizes sensory perception, emotional triggers, and cognitive biases to create an experience that doesn’t just capture attention—it demands a response. This campaign is a powerful case study in how to design a brand experience that feels truly alive by leveraging both human psychology and cutting-edge AI-driven visuals.
1. The Psychology of Energy Perception (Fold7 'Nature Hits Different': The Science of Sensory Stimulation and Behavioral Triggers)
One of the key behavioral insights behind this campaign is the way people perceive and experience energy. Research shows that sensory inputs—like bright colors, strong scents, and rapid motion—can stimulate the brain’s alertness pathways, triggering a state of heightened arousal.
Color Psychology: The campaign’s bold, almost neon-like hues are no accident. Colors like orange, lime green, and electric blue are associated with vitality, movement, and wakefulness. Studies have shown that bright, high-contrast colors can boost attention and even impact perceived energy levels.
Scent and Memory: The brain’s olfactory system is directly linked to the limbic system, which governs emotions and memory. By emphasizing strong, zesty, and cooling scents, the campaign ensures that the act of using the product is imprinted as a highly stimulating experience—making it easier for consumers to recall and crave later.
2. The Contrast Principle: Nature as a High-Intensity Experience
Traditional personal care brands often use nature as a metaphor for relaxation, positioning their products with soft hues, gentle imagery, and calming narratives. Nature Hits Different flips this expectation entirely, leveraging the contrast principle—a cognitive bias where things seem more extreme when placed next to their opposite.
By presenting nature not as tranquil but as an unstoppable force, the campaign disrupts consumer expectations and makes a stronger impression. This contrast between what we expect nature to be (calming) and what Original Source makes it feel like (high-energy) forces the brain to pay attention and remember the experience more vividly.
3. The Power of Multisensory Marketing
Neuroscientific research has consistently shown that the more senses a brand engages, the stronger the emotional and cognitive response. Nature Hits Different is a case study in multisensory marketing, combining:
Visual Overload: The AI-generated imagery creates surreal, high-intensity visuals that stimulate the brain’s pattern recognition system. The unexpected, exaggerated imagery taps into the Von Restorff Effect—our tendency to remember things that stand out dramatically.
Tactile Imagination: The out-of-home (OOH) ads show people pressed against shower glass, emphasizing texture and sensation. This taps into embodied cognition, where simply seeing something can make us feel as if we’re experiencing it.
Scent Imagination: Even though audiences can’t smell the ads, the intense visuals trigger an olfactory illusion—where people can almost imagine the freshness of mint, citrus, and eucalyptus just by looking at the campaign.
4. Emotional Triggers: The Role of Dopamine and Novelty
The brain is wired to seek novelty—new experiences release dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation. The campaign plays on this principle by introducing something unexpected: an AI-powered, hyper-stimulating representation of nature.
Disrupting Routine: Most personal care ads feel familiar. This campaign, with its surreal, AI-driven landscapes, disrupts the norm, activating curiosity and keeping consumers engaged. (Fold7 'Nature Hits Different': The Science of Sensory Stimulation and Behavioral Triggers)
Creating Anticipation: By making the shower experience look thrilling, the campaign triggers anticipatory dopamine release—where just thinking about using the product creates a reward response in the brain.
5. Behavioral Framing: Repositioning a Daily Habit as a Sensory Adventure
One of the most powerful elements of this campaign is how it reframes an everyday habit—showering—as something extraordinary. Behavioral research shows that people are more likely to form habits around experiences that feel rewarding.
By positioning its product as a morning energy hit rather than just a shower gel, Original Source taps into habit loops—cue, routine, reward. The campaign subtly suggests:
Cue: Morning tiredness
Routine: Use Original Source shower gel
Reward: A jolt of freshness and energy
This kind of framing helps integrate the product into consumers' daily lives in a way that feels essential rather than optional.
6. Fold7’s Role in Crafting a Sensory Revolution
Behind the creative execution of Nature Hits Different is Fold7, a London-based creative agency known for its disruptive and high-impact storytelling. Fold7 blended traditional production techniques with AI-generated imagery to create an electrifying, surreal representation of the shower experience.
Their approach involved:
AI-enhanced visuals that amplify nature’s intensity, making it feel larger-than-life.
Immersive OOH and digital content that turns simple moments into powerful sensory experiences.
A deep understanding of behavioral insights, ensuring the campaign not only looks bold but also feels irresistible to consumers.
Fold7’s ability to synthesize creativity with strategic behavioral science makes Nature Hits Different a benchmark for innovative brand storytelling in the personal care industry.
Conclusion: A Campaign That Truly Hits Different
By synthesizing principles of neuroscience, psychology, and sensory marketing, Nature Hits Different does more than just advertise—it activates. It turns nature into a high-energy force, reframes personal care as a multisensory adventure, and leverages behavioral triggers to make the brand unforgettable.
This is marketing at its most strategic—blending science with creativity to not just sell a product, but to shape an experience. Thanks to Fold7’s creative expertise, Original Source has delivered a campaign that doesn’t just talk about freshness—it makes you feel it.
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