The power of experiential marketing: exploring the causal relationships among multisensory marketing, brand experience, customer perceived value and brand strength

Providing customers with unique and memorable experiences to establish a positive customer–brand relationship has become one of the key challenges for brand managers. Hence, approaches to experiential marketing that appeal to all senses have increasingly gained attention. However, little is known about how to design multisensory brand experiences that lead to high and sustainable brand strength and provide the customers with a high perceived value. To better understand the causal relationships among multisensory marketing, brand experience, customer perceived value and brand strength, we conducted an empirical study in a distinctive service industry, luxury hotels that provides a good role model for learning about an approach that targets all senses. The results of our study support the assumption that multisensory marketing is an important means to establishing brand experiences. Both are key drivers of customer perceived value and significantly influence the brand strength. Moreover, the identified causal structure reveals relevant insights into the question of which components of customer perceived value (financial, functional, social and individual) are particularly influenced by multisensory marketing and brand experience, establishing brand strength. Hence, the findings provide interesting clues for the design of promising experiential marketing.