Brand experiences in engaging marketing campaigns

Abstract

This research examines the effects from engaging marketing campaigns on brand experiences and the potential outcome on affective commitment and loyalty. In doing this, it also test the validity of the brand experience scale in a new setting during a short term marketing campaign. The research was conducted as a natural experiment during a marketing event arranged by Litago. Data were collected from participants and a control group, and the survey was sent out through the online survey tool Qualtrics. After collection, the data were analyzed in the statistics software STATA to reveal effects and explore causal relationships between the various marketing constructs. The findings lend some support to the suggestion that brand experiences can be enhanced through engaging marketing events. However, the experience construct is multi-dimensional and not all dimensions were significantly affected. This emphasizes the possibility to create events that stimulate specific brand experiences. Engagement in the situation is enhanced by degree of participation, and it is found to be a mediator of the impact from participation on event, on the brand experiences. This point out the importance of creating fun and interesting marketing campaigns, which consumers enjoy and are willing to engage in. The positive effect from engagement to affective commitment and loyalty is found to be mediated by brand experiences. Brand experiences are good predictors of loyalty and it also predicts affective commitment through some dimensions. Marketers should emphasize the affective and sensory experiences, since these have the strongest impact on loyalty and affective commitment. However, they need to be aware of, that even thought their campaigns create engagement and strengthen the brand experiences, this does not necessarily translate into effects on the attitudinal and behavioral variables.