Exploring the Concept of the Experience Economy and Customer Experiences

Consumer engagement and/or journeys

Overview

The aim of this assignment is for students to critically explore the concept of the experience economy and customer experiences. Over the past decade within leisure and tourism, attention has shifted away from product and service delivery to the customer’s experiences as the added value element. This shift has been coined by Pine and Gilmore (1998) as the ‘experience economy’. Simply, the experience economy is one in which consumers are in search for extraordinary and memorable experiences. Therefore, organizations must develop and market memorable events and activities for their consumers, and that memory, or experience, becomes the fundamental element of the product or service offering. Companies stage an experience when they engage consumers and connect with them in a personal and memorable way. Experiences are developed over the various touchpoints which are developed by the organization and are inherent through the consumer consumption stages (Arnould et al., 2004). 

Essay Topics:

You should select one of the five essay titles below. The bullet points below each essay title are to give students some idea of what they ‘could’ address in their essay. You do not need to cover every point!

Consumer engagement and/or journeys: A critical discussion of the consumer engagement and/or journeys within the leisure experience Students may cover the following elements in their essay: 
? Defining consumer journeys and/or engagement
? Different typologies of consumer journeys and/or engagement 
? Antecedents of consumer journeys and/or engagement
? Possible outcomes of consumer journeys and/or engagement 
? Differences between consumer engagement, involvement and participation 

Experiential consumption: A critical discussion of experiential consumption within the leisure experience Students may cover the following elements in their essay: 
? Defining experience economy
? Defining and exploring experiential consumption
? Defining and exploring sociality within the leisure experience 
? Defining and exploring servicescape within the leisure experience 
? Exploring the antecedents of experiential consumption
? Exploring the experiential marketing and the aspects which need to be considered when developing such marketing approaches 

Sharing economy: A critical discussion of sharing economy within the leisure experience  Students may cover the following elements in their essay: 
? Defining sharing 
? Defining sharing economy and related terms 
? Exploring different examples and theories of sharing economy

Dark Tourism: A critical discussion on the ethical/moral debates relating to marketing the consumption of leisure experiences around suffering.  Students may cover the following elements in their essay:
? Defining dark tourism.
? Discuss the various motivations for visiting dark tourism sites.
? The marketing and managerial implications of marketing dark tourism experiences.
? Discuss how promoting and developing experiences around sites characterized by death and suffering can be morally right or wrong