The relationships among brand experience, brand resonance and brand loyalty in experiential marketing: Evidence from smart phone in Taiwan

1.IntroductionExperiential marketing has become the main stream of marketing strategy in Taiwan during the last decade. Nevertheless, most of Taiwanese companies are used to taking the low-price competition or discounting marketing strategies to attract more consumers. During Taiwan economic development early stage, almost all the marketing strategies only emphasized delivering price information not the shopping experience of the customers. Over the past two decades, a plenty of studies have pointed out that the shopping experience has significant effect on consumer behavior [e.g. Kerin, Jain & Howard 1992; Swinyard 1993; Donovan et al. 1994; Sherman, Mathur & Smith 1997; Turley & Milliman 2000; Mattila & Wirtz 2001; Menon & Kahn 2002; Michon, Chebat & Turley 2005; Carpenter 2008; Jang & Namkung 2009; Darley, Blankson & Luethge 2010]. The study tries to analyze the strategic experiential modules and employs the SEM model to build brand of experiential marketing. We adopt the definition of experiential marketing proposed by Schmitt [1999] to explore the relationship between brand experience and these dimensions in event marketing. Furthermore, we examine how brand experience affects customers to reach brand resonance and brand loyalty.The study aims to test the relationships among brand experience, brand resonance and brand loyalty in experiential marketing, we choose HTC as the empirical target company. There are two main reasons to explain why we choose HTC. First, undoubtedly HTC is one of the symbolic, representative Taiwanese globalized companies. HTC ranked Interbrand's annual ranking of the World's Most Valuable Brand in 2011, and was first and the only Taiwanese brand that listed The Ranking of The Brands Top 100. Besides, as usual, HTC was criticized for its brand marketing strategies. After struggling for years, HTC started to adopt all entirely new marketing strategy. This is another reason for selecting HTC as the targeted brand.The present study is structured as follows: firstly, we present a literature review; secondly, we describe the methodology used and specify the empirical model; then, we present analysis of the data and variables of the model; subsequently we present the empirical results; and, finally, we discuss the main conclusion and implications, limitation of the study.2. Literature review2.1. Experiential marketing and event marketingExperience, as defined within the realms of management, involves a personal occurrence with emotional significance created by an interaction with product or brand related stimuli [Holbrook & Hirschman 1982]. Holbrook and Hirschman [1982] pointed out that the consumer value is an experience that does not exist in the products purchased, on chosen brands nor on the ownership of the product, but in the process if consuming experience. Pine & Gilmore [1998] stated their view of experiential marketing in the manner: "when a person buy a service, he purchase a set of intangible activities carried out on his behalf. But when he buys an experience, he pays to spend time enjoying a series of memorable events that a company stages to engage him in a personal way". Experiential marketing is about taking the essence of a product and amplifying it into a set of tangible, physical, interactive experiences that reinforce it. Schmitt [1999] introduced a strategic framework for managing experiences called strategic experiences module including sensory experience (SENSE), affective experiences (FEEL), creative cognitive experiences (THINK), physical experiences, behaviors and lifestyles (ACT), and social-identity experiences that result from relating to a reference group or culture (RELATE). In a new era, it's critical to shift from the features and benefits approach advocated by traditional marketing to customer experience. Schmitt [1999] also suggested marketers or called experience providers employ experiential hybrids that combine two or more strategic experiences modules in or to broaden the experiential appeal. …