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Experiential marketing and augmented reality (AR) are the two important terms that have close and strong connections with each other for years. Therefore as an AR company that has active operations regarding both terms, we would like to provide information about this connection through our article.
In order to indicate this relationship, we first look at the definitions of experiential marketing as well as its benefits and continue with AR experiential marketing to also specify how SENSAPE aligns with AR experiential marketing.
What is Experiential Marketing?
Experiential marketing has been studied through many publications for more than 40 years. In this section, you can find the definitions of experiential marketing made through different researches and studies around the world.
The concept of experiential in marketing was introduced by Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) that highlights its focus on consumer’s experiences, feelings, and enjoyment. They emphasized how experiential marketing involves engaging consumers through various aspects, including playful activities and aesthetic enjoyment.
According to Kavran and Trstenjak (2021), experiential marketing in its broadest scope was first discussed by Schmitt (1999) and it is defined as the view that consumers have about the firm after they engage with their products and purchase them. Over the years, many definitions have been given for experiential marketing by various researchers.
You-Ming (2010) defines experiential marketing as a mode of communication that mainly deepens the emotional connection of the customers. Wood (2009) proposed that the experience must be crucial and memorable to become experiential marketing.
According to Davey et al. (2024) experiential marketing:
• Is a clearly differentiated but interconnected marketing strategy
• Uses intentional, individual, emotion-based experience to make an impact
• Includes the connection between brand and user(s)
• Allows immersion with various brand and message elements
• Builds strongly maintained associations towards the brand through message development
• Strengthens the relevance of the brand in memory
• Influenced by the user’s ability and willingness to engage
AR solutions powered by SENSAPE integrate physical and virtual elements, enabling users to interact with brands in real time, rather than just consume content. You can contact us to activate your project through impactful experiential marketing: SENSAPE contact form
5 Benefits of Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing makes various contributions to businesses and we would like to indicate 5 of these contributions for you. 5 benefits of the experiential marketing are as follows:
• Customers are eager to spend more on events or products that will enrich them with new experiences (Schmitt, 2010).
• Unlike traditional marketing, which indicates functional advantages, experiential marketing interacts with customers on emotional levels, generating unique and unforgettable experiences (Hwang and Seo, 2016; Schmitt, 1999).
• Experiential marketing provides consumers with memorable experiences through an integrated marketing approach with components supporting each other (Schmitt, 1999).
• It offers businesses a competitive advantage and a positive consumer experience is strategically crucial for a business (Schmitt, 1999; Maklan and Klaus, 2011; Luigi et al., 2012).
• It has the core values that entertain consumers and delight the senses to foster brand loyalty (Batı, 2013).
What is Augmented Reality Experiential Marketing?
Popularity and significance of augmented reality experiential marketing is continuing to grow in the global competitive markets. Therefore the focus of the researchers and professionals on this area is also increasing especially for the last several years. In this section, we highlight different perspectives on AR experiential marketing.
According to Carmingniani et al. (2011), the use of the first AR experiential marketing application went live in 2008, when a global car brand created a 3D model of their car, which would appear on the screen when the user positioned a white paper sheet in front of the camera.
Since 2008, numerous activations about AR business innovation models have arisen (Javornik, 2014). AR experiential marketing user experience leads to a crucial positive change in the user perception towards the specific offering by the brand, which in return generates a higher purchase intention and satisfaction through the changes in consumers’ behavior.
Kazmi et al. (2021) defines AR's role in experiential marketing as offering integrated consumer experiences that go beyond service delivery, considering the whole user journey. On the other hand, Eru et al. (2022) describes AR experiential marketing as a strategic marketing approach that combines virtual and real-world elements to advance business goals and enrich consumer experiences, highlighting it as a game-changing innovation in the marketing field.
SENSAPE solutions elevate AR experiential marketing to maximize consumer engagement, it enables businesses to deliver immersive events that today’s audiences expect. You can contact us to immerse your project through influential AR experiential marketing solutions: SENSAPE contact form
10 Benefits of AR Experiential Marketing
After indicating the definitions made for AR experiential marketing, it is essential to disclose some of the substantial advantages that AR experiential marketing delivers for the businesses to gain competitive edge. Here are the 10 of these advantages:
• AR experiential marketing empowers the ability of businesses to attract consumer attention, affect buying decisions, and encourage innovative engagement (Irgui et al., 2024).
• Employs the power of digital innovation to build lasting and meaningful relationships with their target audience (Irgui et al., 2024).
• Enables customers to engage with virtual items, harmoniously merging physical and digital environments and maximizing the shopping experience to make it enjoyable, unforgettable, and thrilling (Kim et al., 2024).
• Not only advances practical usefulness but also increases the overall consumer experience, potentially enriches loyalty and satisfaction (Haumer et al., 2020).
• Allows consumers to get more information and encourages a deeper engagement, which results in highly realistic experiences and positively engaging consumers (Kim et al. 2024).
• Enriches the consumer's experiential value through personalized AR experiences tailored to meet individual consumer needs and preferences (Javornik, 2016; Sung, 2021).
• Goes beyond its role as a promotional instrument to build a brand-customer relationship, and due to this many companies use it to promote their new product as well as engaging with their current customer with their existing product (Jin and Yazdanifard, 2015).
• Increases revenues by encouraging demand by the creation of “wow” factor (Jin and Yazdanifard, 2015)
• Leads to greater consumer interaction and favorable brand attitudes and enhances brand differentiation in competitive markets through unique and personalized experiences (Kim et al., 2020).
• Has a positive impact on brand equity through the aspects of brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand associations (Haumer et al., 2020).
How SENSAPE Aligns with AR Experiential Marketing?
SENSAPE pioneers smart and eye-catching technologies that combine augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI). These innovative technologies are developed to strengthen physical environments with virtual interactions, which is an essential component of experiential marketing.
3 key alignments between SENSAPE solutions and experiential marketing include:
1. AR Experiences:
SENSAPE’s AR solutions enable brands to create interactive environments where users can become part of their favorite team by virtually posing with the players through Allstars solution, step into immersive digital worlds through Phantastic Portal solution, actively take part in gesture-controlled gaming experiences through AR Games solution, access augmented reality experiences directly through a browser via WebAR solution, and virtually try products through TryOn solution in real-world settings, such as events and fairs.
2. Immersive Activations:
From trade shows to various types of events, SENSAPE installations can be implemented to attract attention from the visitors through gamified experiences and dynamic content which make brand interactions more immersive.
3. Smart Attention Systems:
Through AI-driven eye tracking and audience engagement analytics, SENSAPE allows brands to customize experiences in real time and enhance personalization and emotional connection, which is crucial for influential experiential marketing.
Let’s talk about the possibilities of AR and do something great together.
Contact SENSAPE:
hello@sensape.com
+49 341 - 392 98 552
References
Holbrook, M. B., & Hirschman, E. C. (1982). The experiential aspects of consumption: Consumer fantasies, feelings, and fun. The Journal of Consumer Research, 9(2), 132–140. 10.1086/208906
Kavran, A. K., & Trstenjak, B. (2021). The Impact of Augmented Reality Experiential Marketing on Tourist Experience Satisfaction. In Handbook of Research on Applied AI for International Business and Marketing Applications (pp. 432-454). IGI Global.
Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential marketing. Journal of marketing management, 15(1-3), 53-67.
You-Ming, C. (2010). Study on the impacts of experiential marketing and customers’ satisfaction based on relationship quality. International Journal of Organizational Innovation 3(1): 189–209.
Wood, E. H. (2009). Evaluating event marketing: Experience or outcome?. Journal of Promotion Management, 15(1-2), 247-268.
Davey, A., Sung, B., & Butcher, L. (2024). Revisiting experiential marketing: A Delphi study. Journal of Brand Management, 31(1), 16-37.
Schmitt, B. (2010). Experience marketing: Concepts, frameworks and consumer insights. Foundations and Trends® in Marketing, 5(2), 55-112.
Hwang, J., & Seo, S. (2016). A critical review of research on customer experience management: Theoretical, methodological and cultural perspectives. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(10), 2218-2246.
Maklan, S., & Klaus, P. (2011). Customer experience: are we measuring the right things?. International Journal of Market Research, 53(6), 771-772.
Dumitrescu, L., Stanciu, O., Tichindelean, M., & Vinerean, S. (2012). The importance of establishing customer experiences. Studies in Business and Economics, 7(1), 56-61.
Batı, U. (2013). Reklamın dili: dilbilim, strateji, mesaj, retorik, göstergebilim. Alfa.
Brakus, J. J., Schmitt, B. H., & Zarantonello, L. (2009). Brand experience: what is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty?. Journal of marketing, 73(3), 52-68.
Carmigniani, J., Furht, B., Anisetti, M., Ceravolo, P., Damiani, E., & Ivkovic, M. (2011). Augmented reality technologies, systems and applications. Multimedia tools and applications, 51, 341-377.
Javornik, A. (2014, September). [Poster] classifications of augmented reality uses in marketing. In 2014 IEEE international symposium on mixed and augmented reality-media, art, social science, humanities and design (ISMAR-MASH'D) (pp. 67-68). IEEE.
Kazmi, S. H. A., Ahmed, R. R., Soomro, K. A., Hashem, E. A. R., Akhtar, H., & Parmar, V. (2021). Role of augmented reality in changing consumer behavior and decision making: Case of Pakistan. Sustainability (Basel), 13(24), 14064.10.3390/su132414064
Irgui, A., Qmichchou, M., & El Haraoui, I. (2024). A Systematic Review of Augmented Reality Experiential Marketing: Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda. AI and Data Engineering Solutions for Effective Marketing, 87-113.
Eru, O., Topuz, Y. V., & Ruziye, C. O. P. (2022). The Effect of Augmented Reality Experience on Loyalty and Purchasing Intent: An Application on the Retail Sector. Sosyoekonomi, 30(52), 129155. 10.17233/sosyoekonomI.2022.02.08
Kim, J., Lee, K., & Kim, J. H. (2020). Understanding brand loyalty through experiential marketing and augmented reality. Journal of Business Research, 123, 345–357.
Sung, E. C. (2021). The effects of augmented reality mobile app advertising: Viral marketing via shared social experience. Journal of Business Research, 122, 75–87.10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.08.034
Jin, O., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). The review of the effectivity of the augmented reality experiential marketing tool in customer engagement. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 15(8), 13-17.
