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Articulo - The Concept of Brand Experience
Articulo - The Concept of Brand Experience
My association with the Journal of Brand branding much more than analytically and
Management began in 1997 as an author cognitively oriented brand concepts such as
with a rather strange article on SOOP brand equity, brand value, brand associa-
branding.1 tions, brand attitudes and brand personality.
‘SOOP,’ you may ask. ‘What is that?’ What ultimately matters to consumers is
Here is how I began the abstract of this whether brands can provide attractive
paper: ‘SOOP branding – ‘superficial out- experiences for them. To be sure, con-
of-profundity’’ – focuses on the seemingly sumers are also looking for value, and for
‘superficial’ world of sensory, affective and the right features, associations and brand
creative experiences, which have been personalities. But this is true for products
largely ignored by marketers and brand as well. From brands, consumers expect
managers.’ And I concluded by saying, something more distinct. They want some-
‘SOOP branding thus proposes to treat thing that engages their senses and touches
consumers as living human beings with their hearts. Something that excites or
experiential needs rather than as rational intrigues them. They want marketers to
price – and attribute-driven information provide them with an experience. They are
processors.’ looking for something real and authentic,
By now, in 2009, the term ‘SOOP and not just ad slogans and messages that
branding’ is not well established in the are supposed to target cognitions in their
branding literature. Nowadays, I and others mind.
refer to the approach outlined in this paper You can thus read my 1997 SOOP
as ‘experiential branding.’ The term ‘expe- branding paper in this Journal as a pas-
riential branding,’ on the other hand, has sionate plea to go beyond mere function-
definitely caught on. In business practice, ality and utility, and to transcend the
‘experience’ is one of the ‘hottest’ move- cognitive information processing paradigm
ments. Numerous trade writings on experi- by incorporating sensory, emotional and
ence have appeared over the years,2–4 and creative concepts into our thinking about
I have contributed a couple on my own.5,6 brands.
There are experience projects in a variety I was not the first to argue that main-
of industries, ranging from telecom to auto- stream analytical and cognitive model,
motive to retailing businesses. Most impor- which define most of the marketing and
tantly, companies have created new branding literature, are incomplete. I was
executive positions that are exclusively standing on the shoulders of giants. The
focused on managing customers’ experi- giants in this case were my colleague
ences with brands. at Columbia Business School Morris
I firmly believe that the concept of brand Holbrook and his co-author Elizabeth
experience captures the very essence of Hirshman who, years before, had written
www.palgrave-journals.com/bm/
Editorial
418 © 2009 Palgrave Macmillan 1350-23IX Brand Management Vol. 16, 7, 417–419
Editorial
showed conceptually and empirically, that (3) Shaw, C. and John, I. (2002) Building Great Cus-
tomer Experiences. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
brand experiences are distinct from some (4) Smith, S. and Joe, W. (2002) Managing the Customer
key cognitive, motivational and affective Experience: Turning Customers into Advocates. Upper
constructs such as brand attitudes, brand Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
(5) Schmitt, B. H. (1999) Experiential Marketing: How to
involvement, brand attachment and Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate to Your
customer delight. But clearly there must be Company and Brands. New York: The Free Press.
some empirical relation between brand (6) Schmitt, B. H. (2003) Customer Experience Manage-
experience and motivational and emotional ment. New York: Wiley.
(7) Holbrook, M. and Elizabeth, C. H. (1982) The
brand concepts, especially when we examine experiential aspects of consumption: Consumer fan-
their impact on consumer behavior. What tasies, feelings, and fun. Journal of Consumer Research
is that relation? Are certain concepts more 9(September): 132–140.
(8) Examples of papers in the Journal of Brand Management
basic or primary than others? Which ones from this year alone include the following two
are most useful for formulating brand papers: Raggio, R. D. and Robert, P. L. (2009)
strategy? Chasing brand value: Fully leveraging brand equity
to maximise brand value. Journal of Brand Management
As these questions illustrate, research on 16: 248–263, and Casidy, M.R., Yelena, T. and
brand experience offers a rich area of Alastair, A. (2009) The big five and brand personality:
inquiry. Experience is a profound concept Investigating the impact of consumer personality on
focused on one of the most important preferences towards particular brand personality.
Journal of Brand Management 16: 234–247.
aspects of our lives: the seemingly superfi- (9) Brakus, J. J., Schmitt, B. and Lia, Z. (forthcoming)
cial world of brands. Brand experience: What is it? How is it mea-
sured? Does it affect loyalty? Journal of Marketing
73(3): 52–68.
REFERENCES
(1) Schmitt, B. H. (1997) Superficial out of profundity:
The branding of customer experiences. The Journal Bernd Schmitt
of Brand Management 5: 92–98.
Center on Global Brand Leadership,
(2) Pine II, J. B. and James, H. G. (1999) The Experience
Economy: Work is Theatre and Every Business a Stage. Columbia Business School,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press. New York, USA
© 2009 Palgrave Macmillan 1350-23IX Brand Management Vol. 16, 7, 417–419 419