Creating themed experiences for your customers
Are you familiar with themed experiences? You probably are because nowadays themed experiences can be found almost everywhere. There is a good reason for it:
Don’t you sometimes wish that you were in a different place or could visit a different time period? How about exploring the Amazon rain forest, walking through a haunted Scottish castle or having dinner on an undersea coral reef? Consumers can do all these things without high costs and without the time required for overseas travel. The architectural-theatrical method that allows all escapists to experience their favorite adventures is called theming.
Themed experiences as an experiential marketing technique
Theming is an important experiential marketing technique employed by many stores, malls, and service businesses. In themed environments, most of the elements are designed to tell a story in which the visitor plays a part. The physical attributes of the environment, all emotional and cognitive stimuli, the staff, and the products sold should be part of the theme. Through theming, exciting, out-of-the-ordinary artificial worlds are created in which consumers participate. Theming gives the institution or place a unique meaning. It differentiates it from the competition and makes it more attractive and interesting in the eyes of the consumer.
Because of these benefits, many examples of themed environments exist in the service industry. They include theme parks, hotels, restaurants, casinos, museums and even entire towns.
In retailing, both individual stores and entire shopping malls can be themed. While any type of store can be themed, theming is particularly popular in flagship stores. But theming is not just for the big players. Small stores can successfully use theming as well.
Theming can help attract customers and differentiate a company from its competition, but not all attempts at theming are successful. In order to be successful, theming must be done right. Many factors contribute to successful theming, but some are particularly important. I call them the 4 As of successful theming. In this video you will learn how to apply them to your store or service business.