BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The primary objectives of this course are:
- To understand the strategic importance of experience marketing: Students will gain a deep understanding of how experience marketing can be leveraged as a powerful tool to create value for both the company and its customers, fostering brand loyalty and driving business growth.
- To analyze the dynamics of the customer experience: The course will equip students with the knowledge and skills to dissect the customer journey, identify critical touchpoints, and analyze the factors that influence customer perception and satisfaction.
- To apply methodologies and tools for designing memorable brand experiences: Students will learn practical frameworks and techniques for designing, implementing, and managing engaging brand experiences that resonate with target audiences and leave a lasting impact.
- To develop managerial skills for integrating experience marketing into the overall business strategy: The course will empower students with the ability to strategically align experience marketing initiatives with the company's broader business objectives, ensuring that experiences contribute to the company's competitive advantage and long-term success.
Course Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
This course is based on a group-learning methodology, which requires cooperation among students and individual commitment. This course aims to improve students’ cognitive abilities, critical evaluation of the given task, and ability to work with others.
Students are encouraged to: Attend at least 75% of the classes to participate actively in the work group and business testimonials, to put into practice the knowledge acquired. - Participate actively in class case discussions and general discussions to develop the collective learning process - Read papers in advance and contribute to the discussion at the end of students’ presentations. - Write case study reports in groups and deliver for reviews to activate the skills related to the topics
Assessment Methods
For attending students:
- Group/individual assignments during the course (50 % of course grade)
- Final examination (50 % of course grade, based on the course textbook and the other course readings)
For non-attending students:
Written exam with closed and open-ended questions
Contents
The course begins by establishing the fundamentals of experience marketing, exploring its evolution, strategic relevance in the digital age, and its role in building brand equity and customer loyalty. Students will learn to differentiate between traditional marketing, relationship marketing, and experience marketing, with reference to key texts like W. Batat's "Experiential Marketing." Next, the course dives into customer journey mapping and touchpoint analysis, highlighting the importance of understanding the customer's perspective at every interaction with the brand. Students will learn to identify critical touchpoints, moments of truth, and opportunities for improvement, leveraging data and technology for personalized experiences. Lemon and Verhoef's "Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey" will serve as a guide in this exploration. Experience design is a central theme of the course, with students delving into the pillars of sensory appeal, emotion, meaning, and engagement. They will learn how storytelling and co-creation can be harnessed to create truly engaging experiences, drawing inspiration from Pine and Gilmore's "The Experience Economy." The course then explores the transformative impact of digital technologies on experience marketing. Students will examine the use of augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, social media, and digital platforms to create immersive, personalized, and interactive experiences. Equipped with a solid understanding of the fundamentals, students will then delve into experience marketing strategies. They will learn to develop strategies aligned with business objectives, segment the market, target experiences effectively, and create integrated omnichannel experiences. The course includes real-world case studies of leading companies in experience marketing, such as Nike, Starbucks, and Apple. Students will analyze successful strategies and tactics, discuss emerging trends like the metaverse, gamification, and experiential retail, and gain insights from Schmitt's "Customer Experience Management."
Throughout the course, students will engage in active class participation, individual and group presentations, written/oral exams, including a business project where they will develop an experiential marketing plan for a real company or case study. This hands-on approach ensures that students not only gain theoretical knowledge but also develop practical skills to effectively create and manage memorable brand experiences, contributing to the company's competitive advantage and long-term success.