Experiential Marketing in the Age of Immersive Technologies
摘要
Experiential marketing is the creation of interactive brand encounters that enable customers to learn and engage through direct participation. Grounded in the Service-Dominant Logic (SDL), which defines the consumer-brand relationship as a co-creation of value, experiential marketing prioritizes holistic and sensory-rich brand encounters. This chapter explores the intersection of experiential marketing and immersive technologies. As digital and physical realities converge, the architectural framework of Extended Reality (XR) facilitates high-fidelity experiences that transcend geographical and physical limitations. Immersive technologies offer sensory-rich environments that foster deep emotional resonance and consumer engagement by providing a profound sense of telepresence. In this context, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) acts as a critical catalyst. AI enhances immersive environments through sophisticated personalization, real-time adaptation, and intelligent interactivity by mimicking human behavior through agents like chatbots and generative models. By analyzing vast datasets, AI ensures that experiences are contextually relevant and tailored to individual psychological profiles, thereby increasing competitive advantage. This chapter delineates the conceptual trajectory of experiential marketing and illustrates the mechanics of value co-creation in immersive spaces leveraged by AI. The chapter explores examples across diverse sectors, including retail, education, sports, and tourism. With virtual tours to accessible experiences for those with physical restrictions, for example, these innovations also promote social inclusion, though they are constrained by the critical digital divide. The chapter argues that marketing is no longer about communicating value but about continuously and intelligently facilitating lived experiences that empower and include a global consumer base.