Search results

Purpose – This chapter provides a critical review of the emerging field of consumer experience and experiential marketing.Design/methodology/approach – We review definitions, perspectives, and key research areas on the topics of consumer experience, product and service experiences, off-line and online experiences, as well as consumption and brand experiences. We report empirical findings, seminal studies, and insight into the experience process (e.g., how consumers process experiential attributes, how they process experiences over time, and whether positive and negative experiences can co-occur). We present research on experiential dimensions, experiential themes, and the nature of extraordinary experiences.Value/originality – The chapter provides value by discussing the key measurement and marketing management issues of experiential marketing and discusses the original issue whether it is rational for consumers to include experiences in their decision making.

Many industries have witnessed a shift from traditional features and benefits marketing towards creating experiences for their customers (Pathak, 2014), but perhaps none more so than the service industry. The concept of experiences and experiential marketing has garnered much attention in recent years and has evolved to where it now has become more strategic and encompasses

the process of identifying and satisfying customer needs and aspirations profitably, engaging them through authentic two-way communications that bring brand personalities to life and add value to the target audience. (Smilansky, 2018, p. 12)

Despite its popular usage however, experiential marketing has had to contend with a lack of acceptance that was – at least in part – justifiable given its emergent nature and poor measurability properties. Its theoretical underpinnings have been explored but are less codified than many other areas of marketing. Nonetheless, it is an established part of a marketer’s armoury, is innovative in its use of technology such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and, interestingly, has paved the way for a move to a focus on overall business experience. Where customer experience was limited to the marketing domain, business experience is a priority of the CEO, where customer-centricity becomes the driving force throughout the entire company. In this way, the role of experience is central to the ways that companies will grow and achieve better performance in a fast-changing global market. This is of particular relevance to the service industry, which perhaps has experienced the most upheaval of all, throughout the global Covid pandemic. To succeed in a post-Covid world, this chapter will establish how service companies must examine every aspect of their business to create meaningful experiences for customers, that will in turn translate into brand differentiation, ongoing customer satisfaction and business growth.

This chapter examines the significance of multisensory experiences in the branding of the Swedish tourist destinations. Firstly, it provides a critical review of the relevant literature in the field of nation branding. It discusses about the tourism branding strategies that are intended to attract more visitors to Stockholm and in other areas in Sweden. Secondly, this contribution suggests that the destination marketers are engaging with tourists and are providing them with multisensory experiences to drive their emotional resonance for the Swedish destinations. Thirdly, it analyses how the ‘Swedishness’ could be expressed through the destinations’ attractions and from creative marketing campaigns. In conclusion the author provides four case studies on ‘The Swedish Number Campaign’, ‘ICEHOTEL’, ‘The ABBA Museum’ and ‘IKEA Museum’ to better explain how the Swedish destinations are providing the mentioned multisensory experiences to tourists.

Brand backstories enable consumers the opportunity to go behind-the-scenes of their favourite brands. This chapter explores the role of the brand backstory experience in the consumer–brand relationship, detailing the manner in which these experiences are structured to immerse consumers within the brand storyworld.

A qualitative analysis of two brand backstory experiences, a museum exhibit documenting the television series Outrageous Fortune and a factory tour of snack foods brand Herr Food Inc. was carried out using in-depth interviews with backstory creators and observatory field notes of the backstory exhibit and tour.

This study reveals how temporal and spatial elements craft the overall architectonics of the brand backstory experience and how the brand backstory reveal progresses to ultimately unite consumers with the brands’ imagined and real families.

By illuminating the dynamism and evolution of brands and branding practices, this chapter offers exploratory insights into a scarcely explored aspect of the brand experience.

The objective of this research is to explore the relationship between brand experience and customer equity (value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity). We examine the impacts of different contact points’ experiences (media contact, physical environment contact, people contact, and product usage contact) and different dimensions of brand experience on customer equity. Further we investigate the possible moderating effects of different brand positioning and strategies – hedonic and utilitarian, on this relationship. The data which are collected via online survey includes 410 observations with brand experience and 83 without brand experience, 493 valid samples in total. We found that positive and strong brand experience is the key factor for building strong customer equity. Although the impacts of all four contact points’ brand experiences are significant, product usage contact has the most powerful influence on customer equity and its individual drivers. The results also indicate that the different brand positioning strategies do have moderating effects. For utilitarian brand, only brand experience at product usage contact point has significant impact on customer equity and its three drivers. For hedonic brand, all four contact points’ experiences have significant relationships with customer equity. Finally, the four experience dimensions (sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral) have different impacts on customer equity and its three drivers at different experience contact points.

Strategy Question: How do we effectively communicate our brand to our customers and our market?

Summary: Many firms have a sense of the organization’s “brand.” We define brand as “the promise of an experience” to the customers. Firms need to identify the elements of the customer experience that are valued by the customer and determine the brand experience the organization wishes to convey is consistent with the experience of the customer. This tool uses a simple survey process methodology to determine whether the brand experience the organization wishes to convey is consistent with the experience of the customer. A simple X/Y chart is used to array the firm’s offerings based upon the customer’s perception of the brand experience. Comparisons with competitive firms can be included in the analysis. The results provide insight into the effectiveness of promotional and communication efforts intended to develop brand awareness among customers.

The purpose of the study is to measure the mediating relationship of online buying intentions between narcissism, materialism and brand experience and their effect on luxury purchase behaviour of luxury items by Phuket, Thailand customers. The study has used primary data collection techniques to gather data and used purposive sampling to analyse the data. The study's sample size is 250 respondents who prefer to buy luxury items. The research has used Smart PLS software to measure the relationship through bootstrapping and algorithms. The study has found significant positive mediation of online buying intentions between narcissism, materialism and brand experience and their effect on luxury purchase behaviour of luxury items. This study suggests the theoretical and practical implications for purchasing luxury behaviour from managerial, policymakers and researched perspectives. This study also discusses the future directions and limitations.