CIM program on Experiential Marketing

The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Sri Lanka Region (CIM) organised a program titled "Co-Creating Value Through Experiential Marketing", recently at the Hotel Galadari.

Dean of the Academic Senate of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK Prof. Caroline Tynan conducted the program.

It was organised under the patronage of HSBC - the Principal Sponsor of the CIM Talking Point Series since its initiation. Prof. Tynan elaborated on the emergence of Experiential Marketing, creating the marketing experience, service-dominant logic and also their various practical implications.

The increasing difficulty of differentiating the offer, the importance of "experiences" in developing customer advocacy, the need to embark on cost effective alternatives, the emerging fantasy and pleasure seeking consumers, technological advancements which facilitate real and virtual world interaction were among the key drivers of Experiential Marketing which she identified.

Prof. Tynan said, "Many customers are now members of brand communities who act as the living manifestation of the brand's personality and relationship with consumers". Sharing some of the well-known definitions, she identified that actively participating in an activity or an event; and accumulating skills or knowledge by doing so were the two key elements in the Experiential Marketing domain.

Talking of Creating Marketing Experience, therefore, she said it may take different approaches such as educational, entertainment, aesthetic and escapist.

Analysing the customer's world; building dynamic, multi-sensory and multi-dimensional experience platforms; designing the brand experience; structuring customer interfaces addressing all touch-points and continuous innovation; were the important stages which she highlighted in this process.

Prof. Tynan is also the Head of the Marketing Division and a Professor of Marketing at the Nottingham University Business School; and the Vice President of the Academy of Marketing. She is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Chartered Marketer.

She is also on the faculty of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and is a Member of the ESRC Research College.

She is a Visiting Professor of Marketing and an Associate Faculty Member of Henley Management College.

Nearly fifty participants attended the program. To encourage members to avail themselves of these programs, CIM Sri Lanka Region has made the CIM Talking Point series free for all the Chartered Marketers, and a 50 per cent discount offers to the first 50 CIM Members to register.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world's largest and most prestigious professional body for marketing, present in over 80 countries. CIM Sri Lanka Region is the first international branch; and the largest and the fastest growing CIM body outside the UK.

In recognition of its contribution towards uplifting the profile of the marketing profession in the country and for the value created towards the membership and the local community, CIM Sri Lanka Region was awarded "The Best Region Award" for four consecutive years since 2005 at the CIM International Chairmen's' Conference.