The term originates from research by Rex Briggs in 1997, when he was conducting exposed/control experiments with online advertising for Ford Fiesta in the UK.
[1] Even though the online ad banners had only a picture of a person blowing bubble gum and the Ford Fiesta logo, exposure to the advertisement increased perceptions of safety.
As Briggs and Stuart explain in the book What Sticks, Why Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Yours Succeeds, the underpinnings of how surround sound marketing works is based on the idea of "imagery transfer."
[2] In What Sticks, Briggs and Stuart presents research from Unilever Dove Nutrium campaign across TV, Online and magazine that effectively uses the same core imagery to achieve "surround sound marketing" success.
They write, "Just as in a stereo system, one speaker doesn't do it all; instead it's the combination of the woofer, tweeter, and mid range that gives the sound a richness and quality...