Memorable Customer Experiences

A Research Anthology

Joëlle Vanhamme, Adam Lindgreen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317097860
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Gestione
• Index: Business

Experiential marketing - or memorable customer experiences - is proving a popular tool amongst businesses seeking to make an impact in a competitive world. Yet the scramble to achieve a presence among experience providers has led many companies to design and implement experiential marketing without integrating it with their overall marketing strategy. These companies often end up dissatisfying their customers rather than delighting them. This research anthology investigates different angles of experiential marketing. The 16 chapters are organised in six sections. The first section considers whether memorable customer experiences result from the use of traditional marketing practices, perhaps implemented more effectively than previously, or require entirely new practices with new foundations that turn companies into experience providers. Section two details ways businesses seek to build brands through putting experiential marketing into practice, while section three asks whether there are general principles that can be applied to the design of customer experiences which ensure successful outcomes whatever market you may operate in. Section four examines how companies manage their customer experiences once they have made the strategic decision to provide them, and section five looks at methods available to evaluate the success of these customer experiences. 'Experiential marketing changes everything!' claim the management gurus, but is it really so significant that not joining this race is dangerous? The last section of the book offers a much needed critique of experiential marketing.

Part I
Conceptual Foundations

CHAPTER 1
Experiential Marketing: Understanding the Logic of Memorable Customer Experiences

CLINTON D. LANIER, JR.* AND RONALD D. HAMPTO†

Keywords

experiential marketing, symbolic consumption, symbolic resources, engaging transactions, internalized value, marketing logic

Abstract

To address the question of what memorable customer experiences are, exactly, this chapter attempts to understand the nature of experiential marketing. Are memorable customer experiences simply the result of traditional marketing practices implemented more effectively, or are they the outcome of a completely different marketing strategy? Although it is indeed possible for firms to enhance customers’ experiences using traditional marketing practices, this chapter argues that the specific strategy of producing memorable customer experiences is part of a distinct marketing logic that is separate from the goods-dominant and service-dominant logics.1 For marketers to produce memorable customer experiences, they need to understand this experiential marketing logic and its implications. The purpose of this chapter is to outline this strategic logic and thus explore the underlying factors that contribute to memorable customer experiences.

Before we begin, it is necessary to define the domain of experiential marketing. Experiential consumption literature has pointed out that people have consumption experiences in almost every aspect of their lives.2 More important, these consumption experiences can be both market-based and non–market-based.3 Even within market-based exchanges, experiences can be either intentional or unintentional and driven by the firm, the customer, or both.4 This chapter specifically focuses on firm-driven, marketbased experiences. Experiential marketing refers to the strategy of creating and staging offerings for the purpose of facilitating memorable customer experiences.5 This definition is not meant to imply that the firm is in total control of these experiences or their specific effects. Rather, it simply means that these experiences are the result of a market-based transaction that involves some type of interaction between a firm and its customers.

Strategic Marketing Logics

To understand what constitutes experiential marketing and memorable customer experiences, it is helpful to examine the underlying logic of this particular form of marketing in relation to the other proposed strategic marketing logics. One way to distinguish between marketing logics is to examine their assumptions regarding resources, transactions, and value.6 Generally, resources refer to anything utilized by producers and consumers to generate an effect.7 Transactions refer to the process by which producers and consumers engage in exchanges.8 Value refers to the relative worth, utility, or importance of something to someone.9 Some scholars have suggested though that these concepts only apply to traditional, economic-based conceptualizations of marketing and do not really capture the essence of alternative forms of marketing that are socially and culturally based such as experiential marketing.10 Using the schema of one form of logic to explain another form inevitably restricts the explanation to the domain of the schema; however, this chapter uses the concepts of resources, transactions, and value to provide a consistent framework for comparing the different logics. At the same time, we acknowledge that other concepts may help explain this new form of logic better.

The strategic marketing logic of goods is based on tangible (operand) resources, discrete transactions, and exchange value.11 The goods marketing logic focuses primarily on the use of material resources in the production and distribution of physical offerings.12 During the production process, goods are embedded with value by being imbued with qualities that are sought by the market.13 According to this logic, goods constitute the fundamental unit of exchange.14 As a result, the main foci of the goods marketing logic are managing costs, optimizing time and place utility, and providing reliable and dependable products.15 For example, firms using this logic to manufacture home appliances (e.g., toasters, microwaves, washing machines) focus primarily on the cost of raw materials, the efficiency of the manufacturing process, and the effectiveness of their channels of distribution. The main assumption underlying this logic is that if the firm meets customers’ needs at a low cost, customers will continue to purchase the products. The inherent focus on the firm underlying this perspective is captured by the marketing mix (i.e., product, price, place, and promotion).16

In contrast with the goods marketing logic, the strategic marketing logic of service is based on intangible (operant) resources, relational transactions, and use value.17 Although not confined to what is traditionally considered services marketing, the service marketing logic focuses primarily on the use of specialized knowledge and skills to produce value propositions that are useful to customers.18 As Vargo and Lusch explain, service is defined as “the application of specialized competences (operant resources – knowledge and skills), through deeds, processes, and performances for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself”.19 The main focus of the service marketing logic is to understand customers in order to provide them with the proper instrumental resources needed to help them accomplish their goals.20 The use of knowledge and skills, rather than their exchange, constitutes the source of value for the customer. For example, automobile repair businesses provide specialized mechanical knowledge and skills as instrumental resources to help customers resolve problems with their vehicles. These operant resources are customized to the specific problem of the automobile and the customers’ desired level of repair. To institute this logic, firms can develop relationships with customers and involve them in the production process,21 an option especially prevalent with automobile repairs, in which customers rely on the relationship with their mechanics to mitigate their fear of being taken advantage of due to their lack of mechanical knowledge. These types of transactions are important because they ultimately lead to value creation for the consumer.

In keeping with the structure of the other logics, this chapter proposes that the strategic marketing logic of experiences is based on the assumptions of symbolic resources, engaging transactions, and internalized value.22 Unlike the goods marketing logic, which is focused on satisfying customers’ needs through material products, or the service marketing logic, which is focused on helping customers reach their goals through instrumental knowledge and skills, the experiential marketing logic focuses on fulfilling customers’ desires through symbolic practices. The experiential marketing logic is based on utilizing, integrating, and instantiating a wide range of symbols in creative and imaginative ways to create stimulating offerings and generate positive customer memories.23 Thus, it is not the type of resource that is important (i.e., operand or operant); rather, it is the perspectives and meanings that the resources present to the consumer that lie at the heart of the experiential marketing. Likewise, it is not simply the duration of the transaction or the level of involvement of the parties that is important but rather the degree to which the offering stimulates the customer and leaves a lasting impression. For example, the value of a visit to Disney World is not reducible to the tangible souvenirs and food that the “guests” purchase or their interactions with the “cast members”. Rather, it lies in the perspective and meanings that these resources stimulate in the guests. As Pine and Gilmore write, “However, while the work of the experience stager perishes upon its performance, the value of the experience lingers in the memory of any individual who was engaged by the event.”24 In addition, we argue that customers do not have to be directly involved in the material production of the offering (e.g., co-production) for it to have this effect. Instead, customers simply need to be involved in the symbolic appropriation and interpretation of the offering in order for it to become a memorable customer experience.25

It is important to note that we are not arguing that the goods or service logics are inherently incorrect or that they cannot be used to great effect. If anything, this chapter challenges the idea that the goods marketing logic has evolved into the service marketing logic and that the service logic is, or should be, the dominant paradigm in marketing.26 Moreover, we do not argue, as do some experiential marketing researchers,27 that the experiential marketing logic is the next step in the marketing evolutionary ladder. Instead, this chapter takes a more postmodernism stance against grand marketing narratives and argues from a critical relativism position that there are multiple logics in marketing, each with its own specific assumptions, that firms may utilize.28 For firms to be successful, they need to understand these different logics and their assumptions and decide which one fits their objectives and goals. In fact, it may be the creative incorporation of multiple logics into a single venue (e.g., Disney World) that can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage.29

If producing memorable customer experiences is the primary goal of a firm’s strategy, we argue that the firm needs to utilize a strategic marketing logic that is directly focused on achieving this goal. That is, the goods and service marketing logics are based on assumptions that are not focused on the specific dimensions and characteristics of experiences. If the firm wants to produce memorable customer experiences, it needs to utilize a logic that addresses the creation of a symbolic experiential offering, the management of an engaging interface between the offering and the customer, and the facilitation of personal meaning and enjoyment. From a managerial perspective, the proper strategic mix depends on the creative resources and capabilities of the firm, the ty...