I haven’t read BRAND sense by Martin Lindstrom but the title and theme fell right into the context of place branding for me here in New Orleans as I wandered the French Quarter listening to jazz, eating crawfish pie and gumbo, and drinking Sazerac cocktails (I’m too old for the famous and fru-fru Hurricanes).

Can you think of any places with strong ‘brands’ which do not also have strong sensory associations?

Note to self: perceptions are not conceptually abstract; even when vague, they relate one way or another, for better or worse, directly to the five senses.

Update (10 June 09): My long-time pal Deroy Murdock — a guide for me in New Orleans and as well as in life — has written down the tale of his 14th consecutive Jazz Fest trip, which parallels my experience closely since we spent most of the time there together. I remember well these dishes he delectably describes:

Toulouse Street’s Bistro Maison de Ville serves frog legs with apple-smoked bacon and cheddar-cheese grits. Ahi tuna soon arrives, flanked by avocado gnocchi and bits of alligator meat.

Meanwhile, Stella!’s chefs freeze water balloons in advance. As dessert orders come in, they pop the balloons and drain the excess water that remains within. This leaves behind a hollowed out, balloon-shaped ice sculpture with room for cherry-chocolate-cake ice cream and two sorbets — cantaloupe and strawberry-ginger. They then balance this entire arrangement in a shallow bowl and surround it in an evanescent ring of liquid nitrogen, which smolders at 319 degrees below zero.

Deroy concludes with some good advice, which happens to be highly consistent with the premise of this post on sensory perception and place brands: “Do your retinas, taste buds, ear drums, and liver a favor: Take them on vacation as soon as humanly possible, down to New Orleans.”

Not taking chances: they're building these homes to replace the ones Katrina destroyed.