The first part of the course outlines a framework for understanding consumer experiences. Additionally, we explore the meaning of aligning and developing ‘an experience perceptive’ on the value, the brand and the relationship equity concepts. During the second part of the course, measuring, monitoring and evaluating the results of different experience oriented strategies is emphasized. The course consists of a few workshops where is expected, that the students prepare both theoretical readings and empirical work by observations and experiments. Thus, we return to the issue of marketing’s influence on the creation of shareholder value, as discussed in the first course. However, our scope and level of analysis is different. In short, the course deals with the following themes:

- Understanding consumer experiences as a basis for market creation
- Adopting an experience and transformation perspective in the design of new concepts
- Monitoring and evaluating experience oriented strategies and concepts
- Understanding the meaning of embodiment in practical crafting

Progression
This course is related to the courses ‘Marketing, Creativity and Innovation’ (in the first semester) and ‘Strategic Leadership and Brand Management’ (in the second semester) in that it present and discuss a new perspective on consumers’ experiences and interaction with firms’ market offerings.

In the business world a growing amount of innovative companies are now building portfolios of experiences to support their products and services, and above all, to build brands. There seems to be a growing penetration where even SME’s build experiences into their services, while larger and more innovative companies are prepared to attempt to transform their customers and user; that is change the character of need satisfaction It is becoming more and more recognized that experiences create strong emotional ties and that managing experiences is important for brand equity and differentiation. According to ‘the experience logic’, the equity of a product, a brand, or a relationship is assessed by the consumers on the basis of value experienced and defined in various use as well as non-use situations. One implication of adopting this view is that marketing, product and brand managers need to incorporate consumptions and post-purchase situations in their field of attention, learning and action. In particular, companies in the cultural industry, culinary experiences, travels and education attempt to build a platform of acquired taste, where the users and customers are educated and expected to climb a ladder of more superior quality perception of the offerings. Other implications are that consumers (whether they are end-users in a household or in a company) are regarded as co-creators of experiences, and that their assessment of value relates to situations and events that engage not only their cognitions but also their sensory experiences. This course rests on basic assumptions of consumers are living “embodied experiences” where body and mind or cognition and emotions are integrated and where every experience is “embedded” in physic and cultural environments that make them authentic, local and global at the same time. In accordance with the other courses, the objective is here to develop the students’ abilities in initiating theoretical concepts and frameworks, and in making them work in various consumer and company contexts.

Design - A Very Short Introduction

John Heskett

Oxford University Press

ISBN: 978-0-192-85446-9

Plus: a selection of articles