New technologies and cultural consumption – edutainment is born!
Authors: Addis Michela 
Published: June 2005

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of edutainment consumption and to analyze how new technologies influence it. It discusses a new theme, both with reference to the selected context (the phenomenon of edutainment itself and its consumption), and to the object itself (artistic consumption mediated by technological applications).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper addresses the research question previously mentioned by conducting an analysis of the marketing literature as it has been developed. The main areas of investigation are the experiential interpretation of consumer behaviour, entertainment and education. This paper is multidisciplinary in nature. An in‐depth analysis of the main object of the research and an original model of analysis of cultural experience are provided.

Findings

The use of new technologies that stimulate all the senses of the individual allows the re‐creation of the content of the message, both in terms of education and entertainment. A new form is given to the message, which is set in a new virtual environment, a “virtual edutainment environment” (VEE), where the interaction with the customer takes place. In our review of the marketing literature analysis we highlight the reasons that give rise to the VEE as a particular kind of cyberspace. A VEE is an environment in which one or more consumers experience the re‐created message. In this context, the users may interact amongst each other, but what is essential is that the information be elaborated in one complex way, utilizing multimedia tools in order to affect the consumer's senses. Hence, consumers are immersed in a deep experience of edutainment.

Practical implications

The convergence of education and entertainment, favoured by the diffusion of technology and its use, involves a very high risk for institutions that are trying to cling to their past history and their traditional managerial behaviour. Institutions like these need to use technological applications to increase the value of what they can offer to the consumer. For example, the learning process of the visitors of a museum will not be impaired by the entertaining use of new technologies. Instead, the memory of their experience will be reinforced and reinvigorated. The experiential interpretation of consumer behaviour has been one of the most innovative fields of study in the last 20 years, and it is even more promising for the future of marketing, as it is spreading into product categories that are far from being hedonistic.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is based on the proposal of an original model of analysis of cultural experience. The definition of the VEE takes its roots in other marketing concepts, such as the computer‐mediated environment and cyberspace, but it differs from them since it highlights the particular features of a cultural experience mediated through technological applications. The same is true with regard to the edutainment immersion experience, which is a particular interpretation of this kind of interaction between customers and the message.