ABSTRACT
There has been much talk in recent years about “experiential marketing”. It is widely regarded as a radical, some say revolutionary, approach that’ll change the face of business forever. This may be so, but experiential marketing is not new. In fact, it’s been around since the earliest days of organised trade. The Elysium it envisages is not really attainable either, though it’s nice to have something utopian to aspire to. Most importantly perhaps, the experiential marketing “paradigm” ignores the brute reality of everyday service encounters. The experiences most consumers experience are anything but pleasant. As this chapter shows, many “memorable” customer experiences are memorable in a very bad way. Consider, for example, the less than enthralling everyday experience of hanging on a menu-driven customer helpline – premium rate, naturally – which eventually connects to a functionary with a script in a benighted call centre several thousand miles distant. Please hold? My call is important? Yeah right!
