The Royal Experience
How Retail Experiences
Influence Corporate Brand Perception
Camilla Elming Hansen
05-05-2010
Marketing and Management Communication
Aarhus School of Business
Supervisor: Line Skjødt
Total characters of Bachelor Thesis without spaces: 56.210 / 2200 = 25, 55 pages
Executive Summary
During the past decade, three major changes have altered the society we as consumers live in, and
as originations do business in. The omnipresence of information technology, supremacy of the
brand and the ubiquity of integrated marketing communications has lead to new ways for marketing
communication to reach customers, introducing the concept of experience. Experience has become
the superior conduct for organisations to build durable long-term relationships with their customers,
ensuring improved business performance.
This thesis has set out to gain insight into the definition and construction of a customer experience,
specifically in a retail setting. The experience concept has therefore been discussed, predominately,
from the perspective of Pine and Gilmore’s Experience Economy and Schmitt’s Experience
Marketing. It was found that an experience is in its basic form is a cognitive process triggered by
sensory engagement. Pine and Gilmore differentiate customer experiences along the spectrum of
two dimensions; customer participation and immersion level. Schmitt, however, emphasises the
communicative appeal to senses, emotions, cognitive thinking and behavioural lifestyles and need
for affiliation and self-improvement (relate). However in the retail setting it was found that
customer experiences are generated from the static and dynamic elements constructed in the mind
of the consumer based on the individual prejudices and preconceptions.
Key components classified as superior conduct in constructing retail experiences have been
identified to ensure greatest probability of creating static and dynamic elements that foster positive
brand perception. These components are:
-
Sensory engagement – mentally and physically
-
Coherence between static and dynamic elements and the corporate brand identity
-
Consistency in communicated message across all customer-brand touchpoints, (within the
retail setting and across all marketing communication efforts).
Royal Copenhagen’s newest retail initiative The Royal Cafe has been used as a case study example
to examine the nature of The Royal Cafe’s customer retail experience. A visual analysis was
employed in order to test the key components and gain insight in to their likelihood of producing
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positive brand perception and improved business performance. The limitations of this thesis have
unabled the construction of a reception analysis, hence the visual analysis builds on theory from
predominately Kress and van Leeuwen, Peirce and Barthes through the interpretation of the author.
It was found that the static elements of The Royal Cafe experience communicate a consistent
message in coherence with the new corporate brand identity of Royal Copenhagen. The visual
communicated theme illustrate several style clashes appealing to the cognitive engagement,
however it was found based on Pine and Gilmore’s model of Experience Realms that The Royal
Cafe experience lack physically engagement in order to assure a customer-brand relationship that
will generate customer longevity for Royal Copenhagen, hence improved durable business
performance in the long run. Therefore it can be recommended that The Royal Cafe should
construct experience more along the notion of Experience Economy than Experience Marketing as
they do now.
Total characters of Executive summary without spaces: 2825/2200 = 1,28 pages
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Tabel of Content
1
2
3
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
1.1
Objectives ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
1.2
Significance of Thesis ............................................................................................................................................ 7
1.3
Methodology ........................................................................................................................................................ 7
1.4
Theoretical framework ......................................................................................................................................... 8
1.5
Structure ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
1.6
Delimitations ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
The changing business and society ......................................................................................................................... 10
2.1
The supremacy of the brand ............................................................................................................................... 10
2.2
Integrated Marketing Communication ............................................................................................................... 11
2.3
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 11
The Conceptual Experience ..................................................................................................................................... 12
3.1
3.1.1
Setting the stage ....................................................................................................................................... 12
3.1.2
Experience Construction ........................................................................................................................... 13
3.1.3
Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 14
3.2
5
Experience Marketing ......................................................................................................................................... 14
3.2.1
Creating experiences ................................................................................................................................ 15
3.2.2
Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 17
3.3
4
Experience Economy ........................................................................................................................................... 12
Definition of experience ...................................................................................................................................... 17
Experiential Retailing .............................................................................................................................................. 19
4.1
Previous Research within Experiential Retailing ................................................................................................. 19
4.2
Customer-brand Touchpoints in a Retail Setting ................................................................................................ 19
4.2.1
Static Design Elements .............................................................................................................................. 20
4.2.2
Dynamic Elements .................................................................................................................................... 20
4.3
Retail Experience ................................................................................................................................................ 21
4.4
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 21
Empirical Model ...................................................................................................................................................... 22
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6
Royal Copenhagen................................................................................................................................................... 24
6.1
Corporate Brand Identity .................................................................................................................................... 24
6.2
Royal Copenhagen’s Flagships Store .................................................................................................................. 24
6.3
The Royal Cafe .................................................................................................................................................... 25
6.3.1
Visual Communication .............................................................................................................................. 25
6.3.2
Description of The Royal Cafe ................................................................................................................... 26
6.3.3
Customer-Brand Touchpoints ................................................................................................................... 26
6.4
The Royal Cafe Experience .................................................................................................................................. 32
6.4.1
The Theme-atrical Experience .................................................................................................................. 34
6.4.2
Identification of Sensory Engagement ...................................................................................................... 34
6.4.3
Comparison ............................................................................................................................................... 34
6.4.4
Evaluation of Customer Response ............................................................................................................ 35
6.4.5
Reflections upon Business Performance ................................................................................................... 36
6.4.6
Theoretical Recommendation .................................................................................................................. 37
6.5
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 37
7
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................... 39
8
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................ 41
9
8.1
Articles: ............................................................................................................................................................... 41
8.2
Books: ................................................................................................................................................................. 42
8.3
Websites ............................................................................................................................................................. 43
Appendices .............................................................................................................................................................. 45
9.1
Appendix 1 - Sensory appeal............................................................................................................................... 45
9.2
Appendix 2 – Perceptual process ........................................................................................................................ 47
9.3
Appendix 3 - Product Description ....................................................................................................................... 48
9.4
Appendix 3 – Monocle Interview ........................................................................................................................ 49
9.5
Appendix 4 Peirce’ Triadic model........................................................................................................................ 51
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1
INTRODUCTION
“Tell me and I’ll forget, Show me and I might remember, Involve me and I’ll understand “
– Benjamin Franklin (Lindstrøm, 2006)
The retail industry of today is a hyper-competitive environment where organisations are
participating in an ongoing battle to ensure customer1 preference and loyalty (Healy et al.; 2007). In
this brand orientated consumption consumers are experiencing an over exposure of marketing
stimuli, hence they have developed complex webs of filtration in relation to which stimuli they
allow themselves to be affected by (Pickton and Broderick; 2005).
Creating memorable retail experiences is one of the ways that retailers today are trying to break
through the filtration and fostering strong relations with their customers. By developing branded
experiences that engages and emotional involve consumers, organisations has the possibility of
bringing the brand to life and enhance the consumers’ positive perception of the brand.
On the Danish retail scene, experiential retailing is only showing hints of visibility. Royal
Copenhagen is one of the Danish companies that are demonstrating its understanding for the
importance of engaging customers in an experience of the brand; hence they initiated The Royal
Cafe as a space of brand exploration.
Thesis Statement:
Seen form an experiential retailing perspective, how will the visual communicated customer
experience of The Royal Cafe affect the corporate brand perception of Royal Copenhagen?
1.1
OBJECTIVES
Four objectives have been defined in order to specify the scope of this thesis:
1
-
What is a customer experience?
-
What characterise the criteria for success in creating customer retail experiences?
-
Theoretically, how can customer retail experience impact brand perception?
The terms ‘consumer’ and ‘customer’ are used interchangeably throughout this thesis, as it is operating within the B2C
market.
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1.2
Theoretically, what affect might experiential retailing have on business performance?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THESIS
There is an intensified challenge for organisations to differentiate themselves in today’s everchanging business environment. Branding and marketing efforts are moving towards more creative
ways to obtain the customers’ attention. “[...] you have to look for other dimensions with which to
attract consumers: not the functional aspects of products, because you don’t own those any more,
but the emotional aspects, which is really what branding is about” (Pickton & Broderick; 2005)
Experiential marketing has become the leading application to obtaining this emotional
differentiation. A successful experience is however highly depended upon consumers’ perception,
hence, crafting and implementing an experience is difficult for organisations to control.
Furthermore, it is important that everything an organisation does is supported by the corporate
identity in order to create a perceived relevance and authenticity for the customer.
Characteristics
of expereince
Impact on
concumer
Result in
businees
performance
Therefore, how do we characterise experience so they create the desired customer impact ultimately
delivering improved business performance. These factors of experiential marketing demonstrate an
interesting and complex task for any organisation; hence this thesis sets out to uncover the
theoretical best practice for organisation to successfully create customer experiences.
1.3
METHODOLOGY
This thesis takes on the scientific method of philosophical hermeneutics in answering the thesis
statement. This methodology emphasises that understanding is not a method but a premise of
existence (Skinner, 1986). Our prejudices and preconceptions, as receivers of communicated
messages, are what make understanding possible. Hence customer experiences are created
individually and no two experiences are alike as human being does not possess exact same
preconceptions. This perspective however entails that there exist no method to distinguish reality,
hence what is good and bad interpretation! As cause of this fact, this thesis will theoretically
substantiate an analytical strategy from which the analysis will be compared and contrasted in
gaining insight into the affect of customer experiences on corporate brand perception.
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1.4
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical framework is a vital element in the answering of thesis statement, thus the employed
theoretical foundation will be addressed when dealt with respectively.
1.5
STRUCTURE
Part 1:
This thesis take outset in a clarification of the change society and customer needs
that has paved the way for new business conducts, increasingly employing
experiences in their customer-brand communication. This section serves the purpose
of putting the experience concept in to perspective within an integrated marketing
communications context.
Part 2:
The thesis will move on to a discussion of the experience concept from
predominately the perspective of Experience Economy (Pine & Gilmore, 1999) and
Experience Marketing (Schmitt, 1999) in theoretically substantiating a definition of
customer experience.
Part 3:
Part three narrows the customer experience perspective in focusing solely on the
customer experience created in a retail setting. It will be argues that the retail
environment, i.e. consumption situation, is the still the most ideal communicative
customer-brand touchpoint, hence the ideal experiential touchpoint. The thesis will
gain insight into the construction of experiential retailing (Healy, et al, 2007), based
on the previous defined definition of experience.
Part 4:
Based on the theoretical insight the thesis will propose an empirical model
illustrating a standard, i.e. the analytical strategy, from which to
evaluate the
effectiveness of customer experiences in a retail environment.
Part 5:
The following part will set out to test the empirical model through a case study of
Royal Copenhagen’s integration of The Royal Cafe as an experiential element of
their retail environment. An introduction of Royal Copenhagen including a definition
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of their external communicated corporate brand identity will be made in order to
make a comparison with the interpreted experience.
Part 6:
Part five will conduct a discourse analysis on the visual language present in The
Royal Cafe, drawing upon Kress and van Leeuwen, Barthes and Peirce’s theoretical
perspectives in clarifying the theme-atrical experience. From the defined customer
experience, sensory engagement will be identified, an evaluation of customer
response will be theoretically presumed and a comparison will be made to the
corporate brand identity of Royal Copenhagen. Lastly, the thesis will reflect upon
Royal Copenhagen’s business outcome from constructing customer experiences as
derived from The Royal Cafe.
1.6
DELIMITATIONS
When working within the scientific tradition of philosophical hermeneutics it implies that scientific
understanding is created through reception analysis. Hence it would have been ideal to research the
holistic perceive experience from customer interacting with The Royal Cafe, thus, both the static
and the dynamic elements. Similar it would have been plausible to research the attributes connected
to the sensory experience of dinning at The Royal Cafe to fully elaborate on the perceived
experience. However, deriving theoretical understanding from this type of reception analysis lies
outside the theoretical scope of the author’s field of study. Furthermore this thesis has chosen to
accentuate the theoretical construction of an experience in order to fully comprehend the nature of
experiential retailing and how it from a managerial perspective can be used, thus limiting the thesis
scope due to limitations of pages.
For the same reasons as above the thesis have been limited in its details of relating concepts such as
Customer Relationship Management, Customer Loyalty and Branding, theoretical areas that
contains extensive depth however narrowly represented in the thesis.
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2
THE CHANGING BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
Over the recent decades, extraordinary changes in the marketing environment have altered the way
in which organisations do business and build lasting relationships with their customers. StuartMenteth et al. (2006) argues that our present society is built on a consumption-driven economy, in
which value is created during consumption, which defines the identity of the consumers as
possessing attributes such as active, cynical, knowledgeable, time-constrained, tribal, individual,
demanding and experience seeking – a combination that has been labelled as ‘the new consumer’.
These new consumers are setting new standards for the conduct of building customer relationships
by demanding a consumption process that fulfils their need for integrity, meaningfulness, relevance,
social justification, customisation, excellence in expectations and participation – hence they demand
an experience. Consumers seek to become part of an experience, rather than merely encountering
finished products or images, i.e. they seek inclusion through participation (ibid).
Schmitt (1999) clarifies three key changes in society which he argues to be the reason for the new
conducts of customer relationship management; the omnipresence of information technology, the
supremacy of the brand and the ubiquity of integrated marking communication.
2.1
THE SUPREMACY OF THE BRAND
A brand is “the totality of what the consumers take into consideration before making a purchase
decision” (Pickton & Broderick, 2005). Hence, branding strategies builds on differentiating
products and organisations, and to build economic value for the consumer and the brand owner.
Branding structure has moved beyond the primary concern with products and services and since the
mid 1990’s the focus has been on the organisation in its totality which has heralded the introduction
of the corporate branding concept (Balmer, 2009). The increasingly short product life-cycle and the
fact that product brands are easily copied results in a handicap for many organisations. Balmer
(2009) argues that corporate branding is not subjected to such pitfalls as values associated to a
corporate brand can be distinct and enduring through the corporate personality, -identity and image, thereby providing a superior basis for brand differentiation.
The value of a brand from a customer perspective is not only about distinguishing a better brand
from the rest, but about which brand fits me (the customer) the best (Pickton & Broderick, 2005) .
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As consumers we are searching for products that define us. “Choosing a brand becomes a way for
one group of consumers to differentiate themselves from another.” (Miller & Schenitz, 1990). Our
consumption is turning into a communicative statement of identity – portraying our personal brand
through the brands we associate ourselves with (ibid). Our brand oriented society have reach a point
where a strong brand position is expected, thus consumers now look beyond, to the values and
beliefs of the organisational identity as the differentiation factor (Balmer, 2009). However, branding
only really works if everything an organisation does support what they stand for, hence their
corporate brand identity is expressed across all brand touchpoints.
2.2
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Communication take place even if unplanned or unconscious, thus constantly impressions and
images are being formed (Bernstein; 1984). Thus, it essential for an organisation that the same
message of identity is communicated across all touch points, to obtain the greatest impact on its
customer through a consistent reference point (Pickton & Broderick; 2005).Integrated marketing
communication is “the management process of integrating all marketing communications activities
across relevant audience points to achieve greater brand coherence” (Pickton & Broderick, 2005).
The developments in information technology have opened up for an almost endless range of
communication channels characterised by the potential for rich, interactive, location-independent
dialogue (Stuart-Menteth et al., 2006). This has among others made the distinctions between
communication and sales channels blurry, given rise to the concept of integrated marketing
communications in acknowledging the need to provide consistency in the diverse ways
organisations interact with customers (Balmer, 2009).
2.3
SUMMARY
Customers, society and industry are telling organisations that their external communication2 should
always be in coherence with their corporate brand identity for especially to reasons; one being the
fact that customers today are valuing the corporate brand higher than product brand, secondly
because the authenticity and integrity of an organisations communication and actions will be
diminished if customers detect disruptions from the core identity. Hence the need for integrated
marketing communication is vital to any organisational conduct in present time.
2
Vital for internal communication as well, however not address in this thesis
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3
THE CONCEPTUAL EXPERIENCE
This following section will set out to clarify the concept of an experience and discuss how it is
being employed in different context. Conclusively a general definition and pattern of construct will
be made upon the concept of experience.
3.1
EXPERIENCE ECONOMY
The idea of customer experiences has its origins in the work of Joseph Pine and James Gilmore
(Buttle, 2009), they discuss customer experience from the perspective of experience economy,
arguing that an experience is as real an offering as any service, good or commodity, i.e. a stage
experience should be viewed as the next stage in the economic value. In order words, when
businesses are charging for the time customers spend with them, first then are they in the experience
business and operating within the concept of experience economy (Pine & Gilmore, 1999).
Customers have always had experiences, but Pine and Gilmore recognises a new form of valueadding economic activity that has previously been hidden or embedded in the service economy
(Buttle, 2009).
Pine & Gilmore define experiences as being a staged and planned event similar to a theatre or
movie. “An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and goods
as the props, to engage individual customers in a way that creates a memorable event” (ibid). Their
definition of experience accentuate the process of interaction and engagement, thus, experiences are
inherently personal, existing only in the mind of the individual who has been engaged on an,
emotional, physical, intellectual or even spiritual level.
Figure 1 The Experience Realms
3 . 1 .1
SETTING THE STAGE
ABSORPTION
Within Pine and Gilmore’s (1999)
framework of thought, four broad
Entertainment
categories of experiences have
emerged; entertainment, education,
esthetic and escapist. These four
Education
PASSIVE
PARTICIPATION
ACTIVE
PARTICIPATION
Esthetic
Escapist
realms, is a result of an interplay
between two dimensions; customer
IMMERSION
Adapted from Pine and Gilmore 1999
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participation and connection as visible in Figure 1. Hence, an experience is characterised in relation
to the level of customer participation (horizontal) from being an observer or listener (passive
participation) to being an actor on stage (active participation), so to speak. The second dimension
(vertical) is the level of connection, or environmental relationship, which unites the consumer with
the experience, ranging from absorption, i.e. occupying a person’s attention by bringing the
experience into mind, to immersion, i.e. becoming physically of virtually a part of the experience
itself.
Entertainment is a passive absorption experience and general occur when you watch TV or listen to
music; hence the participation level is fairly low. Educational event, being a lecture or dance class,
involves a higher level of participation in comparison to entertainment, however Pine and Gilmore
argues that the customer is still somewhat outside of the action process. Escapist experience can
both educate and entertain but involve a create level of immersion, e.g. climbing Mount Everest, or
something less extreme, participating in a 3 mile race. Minimizing the customers’ participation
level, the event becomes an esthetic experience, i.e. the customer is still immersive in the activity or
environment but transformed to a role similar to a tourist where everything is seen from a distance
but not affect in any way. Conclusively, Pine and Gilmore state that the richest experience
encompasses aspects from all four categories. Applying these types of experiences is useful when
setting the stage for any experience it gives direction to which kind of experience is desired and
guidelines for how to engage customers in the process.
3 . 1 .2
Figure 2 Experience Economy Approach to Construction
of Experience
EXPERIENCE CONSTRUCTION
Pine and Gilmore (1999) proposes a
Experience
framework for creating unique and
Memorabilia
memorable experiences, evident in Figure
Impressions
2. An experience takes outset in building
a
themed
foundation
that
is
the
Cues - sesnory appeal
Theme the
Experience
organisational principle of an experience,
driving cues such as design elements and
staged events towards a unified storyline which in its totality captivates the customer. These cues
serve the purpose as vibrant source of connotations along the spectrum of the five senses – sight,
sound, touch and smell (see appendix 1 for elaboration. The stimulation of senses evokes
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customers’ cognitive interpretation and generates various impressions - the memories a customer
take away. Pine and Gilmore argues that memorabilia should be added to any experience in order to
prolong the impressions within the mind of the costumer.
3 . 1 .3
SUMMARY
Experience Economy considers experience as being the next economy value; “instead of relying on
our own means to experience the new and the extraordinary – as has been done for ages – we will
increasingly pay companies to stage experiences for us, just as we now pay companies for services
we once delivered ourselves, goods we once made ourselves, and commodities we once extracted
ourselves” (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Experience Economy accentuates the key element of actively
customer participation and engagement in the experience in order to live up to the demands of
economic value for an organisation. According to Pine and Gilmore, such experiences is
constructed by using service as the stage and goods as the pops to orchestra a true theatrical
performance.
3.2
EXPERIENCE MARKETING
Despite the fact that the industry are confirming the presence of experience economy in connection
with more and more organisations questioning their ways of conduct by evaluating what they would
do differently if they charged their customers admission - most theorist and academics argue that
experience still primarily exist within the context of marketing (Schmitt, 1999; Healy et al., 2007;
Yalch & Spangenberg, 2000; Kotler & Keller, 2009; Brakus et al., 2009; van Tongeren, 2003, to
name a few).
Customers want “[...] products, communications, and marketing campaigns that dazzle their sense,
touch their hearts, and stimulate their minds. They want products, communications and campaigns
that they can relate to and incorporate into their lifestyles – they want products, communications
and marketing campaigns to deliver an experience.” (Schmitt,1999). The change in customers’
needs have paved the way for experiential marketing, a concept that in its simplicity focuses on the
customer experience.. According to Schmitt (1999) “Experiences are private events that occur in
response to some stimulation, e.g. as provided by marketing effort before and after purchase.
Experiences involve the entire living being. They often result from direct observations and/or
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participation in event – whether they are real, dreamlike, or virtual”.
As marketing
communication means customer experiences are used to enrich the brand equity3a customer hold for
a brand or an organisation (Kotler & Keller, 2009).
3 . 2 .1
Figure 3 Experience Marketing Approach to Constructing
Experiences
CREATING EXPERIENCES
Schmitt
(1999)
experience
is
proposes
build
on
that
an
components such as visual and verbal
identity,
communications,
presence,
co-branding,
Experience
tactical
product
spatial
environments, electronic media and
Brand-related stimuli
Sense, feel, think,
act, (relate)
Tactical
components
people, to name the more general
headings
(Schmitt,
1999).
These
components are used integrated or separately to create brand-related stimuli through sensory,
emotional, cognitive or behavioural appeal in generating a positive and memorable experience as
evident through Figure 3.
3 . 2 .1 .1
Types of experiences - Strategic Experiential Modules (SEMs)
Schmitt (1999) argues that the mind is constructed of specialized functional parts, providing a
perfect framework for the different types of experiences a marketer can appeal to. He defines these
types as strategic experiential modules; Senses, Feel, Think, Act and Relate.
Senses
The purpose of sensory experiences is to provide aesthetic pleasure, excitement, beauty and
satisfaction through sensory stimulation. Creating sensory experiences entails planning the
sensory (visual) identity elements which are the properties, product, presentation and
publications of an organisation. In more detail it is the physical locations and cars, the physical
product and its core service, packaging, uniforms and shopping bags, brochures, business
cards and advertising. The communicated message at each of these touchpoints is created
through primary elements which relates to the five senses, e.g. colour, shape, loudness, pitch,
material and texture. These elements are the building blocks of style which create
distinctiveness and consistency in the communicated message. The theme adds meaning and
content to the style and serves as a mental anchor and reference point for the customer.
Aaker (2002) defines Brand equity as following: “Brand equity is a set of assets (and liabilities) linked to a brand's
name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm's
customers. The major asset categories are: Brand name awareness, Brand loyalty, Perceived quality and Brand
associations"
3
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Emotion
Emotional experiences refer to act of affecting the customer’s emotions. The feel experience
range from mild moods to strong emotions, triggered primarily by communication and people,
hence the consumption situation is critical for emotional experiences as well as the
communication prior to consumption has influential power. It is a tricky experience to create
as many emotions are thought of as bipolar, e.g. being satisfied opposing dissatisfied, there is
no in-between, thus the emotional appeal should be carefully planned to make sure it does not
evoke negative emotions.
Cognition
Think experiences are the creation of cognitive and problem-solving experiences that engages
the customer creatively through the “think principle”; a sense of surprise, a dose of intrigue
and a smack of provocation. These types of experiences appeal to the customer’s creative
thinking about an organisation and its brand, however, appealing to think through surprise
even provocation might not be a given success for every context, as well as not every type of
customer would be compelled to invest the time an effort of figuring out the message.
Behaviour
Act experiences are the enrichment of customer’s lives by enhancing their physical experience,
showing them alternative ways of doing things, alternative lifestyles and interactions. Hence act
experience appeal to the modification of behavioural patterns and demonstrating new, or
enhancing existing long-term lifestyles, most often occurring from private or public
interaction.
Relate
Relate experiences includes aspects of all of the above types of experiences in relating the
individual to his or her ideal self, other people and cultures. The primary objective is to build a
relationship between the social meaning of the brand and the customer, hence these
experiences appeal to the desire for self-improvement, social recognition and affiliation
(Schmitt, 1999).
3 . 2 .1 .2
Constructing tactical components in accordance to experiential modules
From a holistic perspective, an experience will
Table 1 Experiential Grid
tactical
components are coordinates to make the best fits,
see Table 1. The dark turquoise squares in the
grid are indicating which tactical components
within the marketing communication mix are
People
the
Electronic Media
and
Spatial
Environment
appeals
Co-branding
experience
Product Presence
of
MODULES - SEM
following an experience grid in which the types
STRATEGIC EXPERIENTIAL
that experience marketing should be planned
Verbal and
Visual Identity
TACTICAL COMPONENTS
above described types. Schmitt (1999) proposes
Communication
most often be a combination of several of the
Senses
Feel
Think
Act
Relate
Adapted from Schmitt 1999
Page 16 of 51
most plausible in communicating each experience module. Thus, the model accentuating the best
fit, however, Schmitt (1999) recognises that from a certain view point everything we do and do not
do communicates a message.
3 . 2 .2
SUMMARY
Experience Marketing has evolved as the newest direction within the marketing field as a direct
effect of the omnipresence of information technology, the supremacy of the brand and the ubiquity
of integrated marketing communications and entertainment in today’s industry as well as society.
Experience is used as an affective marking communication means created through sensory,
emotional, cognitive, behavioural or relatable appeals which are communicated through the tactical
components of marketing communication plan. Experience Marketing effort focuses on influencing
the customer prior to consumption, and primarily during the consumption process with the purpose
of engaging customers in an emotional bond forging a relationship that may lead to increased
purchase, premium prices and hopefully continues purchase.
“The degree to which a company is able to deliver a desirable customer experience – and to use
information technology, brands, and integrated marketing communication and entertainment to do
so – will largely determine its success in the global marketplace of the new millennium” (Schmitt,
1999).
3.3
DEFINITION OF EXPERIENCE
According to Brakus et al. (2009), brand experience, in its conceptual context, is the subjective,
internal consumer response, and behavioural response evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part
of a brand’s design and identity, packaging, communications, and environment. Hence it is the
cognitive process of generating satisfaction, pleasure and preference, leading to an approach
behaviour towards an organisation, a brand or a retail store. This process is among others argued for
by Donovan & Rossiter (1982) in a discussion of the Mehrabian-Russel environmental psychology
model (Figure 4), similar to the Stimuli Organism Response (S-O-R) framework (Figure 5), among
others discussed in Thang & Tan (2002) and lastly, as argued from in Yalch and Spangenberg
(2000) framework for integrating environmental factors, nonverbal responses and shopping
behaviour (Figure 6).
Page 17 of 51
Figure 4 Mebrahiam-Russel Model
Environmental
stimuli
Figure 5 S-O-R model
Stimulus:
Store Image
Organism:
Consumer
perception
Emotional state:
Satisfaction, arousal
and/or pleasure
Appraoch or
Avoidance behaviour
Figure 6 Yalch and Spangenberg 2000
Nonverbal
Response:
Preference for
store
Store Environment:
responses:
Pleasure, Arousal and
dominance
Shopping behavioour:
These cognitive outcomes are triggered by the sensation and stimulation of our senses. From a
marketing point of view different types of experiences are created by appealing to a customer’s
senses, emotions, cognition, behaviour and relation. However the actual cognitive process is
initiated by the stimulation of the senses, and then, depending upon the message that organisations
what to communicate, the appeals within the marketing communications are created accordingly.
As previously clarified, the experience originates from the interaction or contact with tactical
components as argued for by Schmitt (1999), whereas Pine and Gilmore classify these points of
contact as cues. Buttle (2009) accentuates a general umbrella concept which encompassed the
aspects of both tactical components and cues in his definition of touchpoints4, thus the characteristic
of the sensory experience depends upon the brand touchpoint a customer encounter and customers’
individual line of sense-making as argued for by the perceptual process within consumer behaviour
theory (Solomon et al. 2007) (see appendix 2 for elaboration).
In a more abstract version, experience is a differentiating value-add, a marking tool, or may be the
core offering of an organisation. Within this thesis experience will predominately be employ ad a
means of marketing, creating awareness of a brand, differentiation, linking the right associations to
the brand in the mind of the customer, eliciting positive brand judgement and/or facilitates a
4
Buttle’s terminology will be employed throughout the rest of this thesis and defined as websites, service, centres, warehouses,
contact centres, events, exhibitions, trade shows, seminars, webinars, direct mail, e-mail, advertising, sales calls and retail stores.
Page 18 of 51
stronger customer-brand relationship (Kotler & Keller, 2009). Experience is marketing
communication tool used to enhance the brand equity a customer holds for a brand by extending
communication beyond the functional benefits and actively engage the customer in an experience
surrounding the brand.
4
EXPERIENTIAL RETAILING
Initially the retail store was built on the concept of direct selling to private persons. It was, and still
is, a physical outlet that allows customers to sensorial evaluate products prior to purchase.
Experiential Marketing accentuates the consumption situation as it is an organisation’s main
consumer touchpoint, thus the ideal setting for evoking experiences. This notion is supported by
van Tongeren (2003) in arguing for the retail store environment as a more ideal communicator of
values than commercials; hence the consumer has chosen to be there and is therefore more receptive
to its stimuli. In the following section, this thesis will elaborate on the construction of experiences
evolved from the interaction with a retail touchpoint and accentuate the experience providers in this
branding setting.
4.1
PREVIOUS RESEARCH WITHIN EXPERIENTIAL RETAILING
With few exceptions, the existing experiential retail literature has focused mainly on the isolated
testing of static design elements, i.e. the tangible features, of retail stores. Often research examines
the effect of different styles of music, crowdedness, number of ails, selection of products, colours,
and olfactory on store or product quality perception, rather than how consumers holistically
experience the static elements in a branded space (Healy et al., 2007; Miller, 2009; Yalch &
Spangenberg, 2000). The holistic environment is of significant interest to researchers of experiential
conditions, hence the lightning, odours, displays, activities, arrangement of merchandise, size and
style of the interior design/architecture, the personal interaction, each impact on the rate and
willingness of consumers to make purchases (Healy et al.; 2007).
4.2
CUSTOMER-BRAND TOUCHPOINTS IN A RETAIL SETTING
In the retail setting the brand touchpoints a customer encounter from interacting with the store
environment can, according to Healy et al. (2007), be distinguished as the static elements and
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dynamic elements. These elements represent the only managerial control of customer experience
and the main source from which the customer interpret impressions, hence it becomes vital to link
the “right” associations to the “right” channel of touchpoint.
4 . 2 .1
STATIC DESIGN ELEMENTS
Static design elements are characterised as the cold, hard, tangible features of the store that
facilitates the functional characteristics of the products, and the sensual and psychological benefits
that derives from the stores hard design features. Schmitt (2003) further details the characteristic of
the static elements in describing them as aesthetic qualities counting the physical goods, i.e. it
functional attributes, the look and feel of a store, which include the logos and signage, packaging,
brochures and advertising that help to establish the store’s identity and brand experience, and the
experiential theme. Healy et al. (2007) adds to the notion of static elements by arguing that the they
are represented through the atmospheric conditions of the store, thus the visual, aural, olfactory and
tactical cues corresponding with Pine and Gilmore’s (1999) notion of appeal to the five senses and
similar to sense experience within Schmitts’s (1999) strategic experiential modules. The static
elements create a store environment and communicate a message though the persuading sensual and
psychological themes which allow the customer to deduce product qualities and make informed
consumption decisions (Healy et al., 2007).
4 . 2 .2
DYNAMIC ELEMENTS
Contradictory, dynamic elements relate to the exchange of dynamic information with emphasis on
the human interaction through the customer-staff-store interface (ibid). In correspondence with the
last strategic experience module, i.e. Relate, dynamic elements could be defined as the relational
context in a retail store facilitating the customer’s relational connection to a retailer via interaction
(Schmitt, 2003). Healy et al. (2007) substantiate that themes and theatrics is equally a constituent
within dynamics, creating a symbolic narrative that runs throughout the retail store generating
design consistency and a story that may reflect a period, place or fantasy. Pine and Gilmore (1999)
similar accentuated the need for consistency in symbolic design elements supporting a broad
planned theme throughout the store. They argue that a theme is the foundation for any experience
and extends the concept in encouraging to a theatrical store setup as a vital component in
constructing a successful engaging, rich and memorable experience. Healy et al. (2007) employs the
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terminology; retail theatre as a concept for using the dynamic interaction in a way that diffuses the
boundaries between the service provider and the customer. This type of interaction will enable the
customer to gain a sense of organisational citizenship and perceive a degree of control over the
operations of the store and the generated values.
4.3
RETAIL EXPERIENCE
The retail experience occur in the flow between static and dynamic elements and demands that
customer actively participate in the experience; taking cues from the static environment of the store
in order to produce the dynamics of the retail experience (ibid), hence the customer’s perception,
decision-making, consumption and satisfaction is directly connected to the message they derive
from both elements of the store.
4.4
SUMMARY
The art of experiential retailing lies in the planning and execution of which associations to link to
the brand encounter, hence ensuring that the stimuli evoked through static and dynamic elements
communicates the right message and is in consistency with the identity of the organisation. The
retail setting is the main direct channel an organisation has with its customers and the ideal setting
for bringing the brand to life through experiences. However as well as the retail store becomes the
ideal setting for positive influence, the chances of having a negative effect on customers are just a
big, thereby setting high standards for the research and planning prior to such constructs.
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5
EMPIRICAL MODEL
The thesis will now summarise its obtained insight concerning the construction of customer
experiences in a retail stetting in an empirical model, integrating the key components of superior
organisational conduct which was found vital in business today.
Analytical Strategy for Constructing Customer Experiences in Retail Environments
Coherence and consistency in communicated message
Static elements:
Physical product
Look and feel of
the store
The experiential
theme
Dynamic elements:
Customer-staffinterface
Interaction
Retail Theatre
Corporate
Brand Identity
Cognitive
process
The Retail Experience
Sensory
stimuli
Customer experience
satisfaction
Cognitive Response:
Satisfaction, Pleasure
Behvioural and
Attitudinal
Customer Loyalty
Impressions and
Perception
Business Performance
This thesis has narrowly accentuated the retail setting as the customer touchpoint from which
experience is created. Experiential retailing is composed in an interaction of several touchpoint
generally classified as static and dynamic elements (indicated by the first two square boxes). These
touchpoints are experienced in a cognitive process through the customer’s sensory system creating a
cognitive response that forms the impressions and perception of the consumer (the red process in
the empirical model).
The customer’s perception and impressions are cognitively weight against ones expectations,
prejudices and preconceptions in the process of developing a cognitive response. From the cognitive
evaluation an attitude towards the experience is form such as satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
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The key notion for any retail experience is to create coherence and consistency throughout the
communicated message at each touchpoint a customer interacts with. Transparency and cognitive
links is created by using the corporate brand identity as the guiding principle for all activities
(illustrated by every arrow leading towards corporate brand identity). Experiences are used as a
means of accentuating and bringing the brand identity to life in order to enriching customer’s
perception of the brand through the creation of cognitive ties between customer and brand. A retail
experience that is constructed, and fulfilling the components of superior conduct, as proposed
through the empirical model, will obtain greatest probability of generating positive brand identity
perceptions of the organisation, thus improve business performance in the long-run through the
longevity of customer loyalty.
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6
ROYAL COPENHAGEN
This thesis will now move into the case study analysis, in which the theory discussed in part one to
four will be applied to a case in verification of the empirical model presented in section 5. This
thesis will employ Royal Copenhagen for its case study with specific interest in the Royal Cafe.
6.1
CORPORATE BRAND IDENTITY
Royal Copenhagen is a world-famous brand known for its exclusive, high quality porcelain
products and faultless design and craftsmanship. The organisation pride itself on its Danish
nationality and royal genes that has created the foundation of the company and still is, as the
organisation has moved beyond the boundaries of Denmark with operations in the USA, EU and
Asia, and employs more than 500 employees (RC’s corporate Website5).
RC has been going through a
transformation the last 6 years.
The process has focused on
leveraging
the
historical
organisation
into
a
more
modern era under the motto
“Rethink History”. Branding
and storytelling has been the
Picture 1 Royal Copenhagen's Elements collection
essential factors in leading the
organisation towards a younger and wider target group supported by the introduction of new
products such as the Element (see picture), Contrast and Function tableware collections (ibid) (see
appendix 3).
6.2
ROYAL COPENHAGEN’S FLAGSHIPS STORE
In December 2006, Royal Copenhagen reopened their flagship store in the shopping centre of
Copenhagen with an integrated shop, museum, florist and cafe, hence The Royal Cafe. This
This thesis is relying on the communicated message of the corporate website in determining RC’s corporate brand
identity.
5
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integrated retail environment was created in the hope of making a vibrant, inviting shop that
provides a rich experience and world-class service – some call it a lifestyle oasis.
6.3
This
THE ROYAL CAFE
thesis
will
now
move on to an analysis of
The Royal Cafe with the
aim of uncovering the
nature and characteristics
of
the
Picture 2 The Royal Cafe name at the entrance to the court yard
customer
experience created from interaction with the cafe. The analysis will focus on examining a
representative selection of touchpoints connected to the cafe with the purpose of uncovering the
presumed customer perception of the communicated message from a visual perspective.
6 . 3 .1
VISUAL COMMUNICATION
Visual communication is always coded. It seems transparent only because we know the code
already, at least implicitly – but without knowing what it is we know, without having the means for
talking about what it is we do when we read an image (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006). As visual
interpretators we as human beings are biased by history, values, society and culture, hence our
perceived meaning of visual communication will never be identical. However, like linguistics,
visual structures point to particular interpretations of experience and forms of social interaction.
What is expressed in language through the choice between different word classes and clause
structures, may, in visual communication be expressed through the choice between different use of
colours or different compositional structures.
According to Pilditch (1970), human beings have learned how to make associations between things
and use this learning to help us understand our world – to create meaning for ourselves. Marketing
communicators are able to put an understanding of such things to good use in developing brand and
corporate identity (ibid).
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The analysis will draw on general assumptions based on theoretical viewpoints within visual
semiotics from predominately Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) in evaluating if the message derived
from the experience is in accordance with the model proposed in section 5. From the result of the
analysis the thesis will discuss the potential customer and organisational outcome of TRC
experience in clarifying its complimentary effect on Royal Copenhagen’s corporate brand
perception.
6 . 3 .2
DESCRIPTION OF THE ROYAL CAFE
The Royal Cafe is a concept cafe creatively
created
by
Lo
Østergaard
and
Rud
Christiansen in corporation with Royal
Copenhagen. They opened the doors in April
2007 (visitcopenhagen.dk) with the hopes of
creating a “[...] unique space to promote the
best of traditional Danish food and Danish
design. The result is a pure anti-Starbucks
Picture 3 Inside The Royal Cafe
experience”, according to Rud Christiansen
(RC’s corporate website). The theme of the store builds on Danishness, design, our royal heritage
and humour, and has according to Rud Christians in an video interview for Monocle, created a “[...]
Danish funky, baroque clash of styles and some modern designs[...]”, he further states that he calls
it “[...]sort of a mini Danish royal castle”(see appendix 4).
6 . 3 .3
CUSTOMER-BRAND TOUCHPOINTS
But which elements create this feeling of a mini Danish royal castle? and how is the theme
expressed in the store? From a holistic impression what are the connotations form the cafe
expressing about Royal Copenhagen’s corporate brand identity? These rhetorical questions are
leading the next section in analysing the customer-brand touchpoints within The Royal Cafe. The
analysis will focus on the static elements within TRC, more specifically the food, paintings,
furniture and tableware6.
6
See delimitations section 1.6
Page 26 of 51
6 . 3 .3 .1
Lo g o
The logo is the brand element that is frequently communicated through
symbols and pictures than words. Generally, the logo is a strong
indicator of brand identity; hence it is feasible to include TRC’s logo in
analysing the brand identity communicated in the cafe. The Royal
Cafe’s logo depicts a frog with a crown on its head, from its bubbly
aura rise six flowers. On top of the frog stands a girl with her leg
bended like if she was a ballerina and a butterfly is flying next to her.
Picture 4 The Royal Cafe logo
The logo is all in white, with the exception of the bottom statement; “THE ROYAL CAFE”, written
in very bright red bold letters. The logo is craved in one piece and added to the white board, the
adaption of purely white, except for the title creates a very simplistic expression. Based on Peirce
(1894) triadic model of interpretation the analysis will attempt to assign meaning to the logo (see
appendix 5).
The figures in the logo connotes to the fairytale universe in more than one
way. The frog, being the signifier, show striking resemblance to the Frog
Prince, the object of reference, in Brother Grimms fairytale of a spoiled
princess who kisses the frog and he then turns in to a lovely prince, thus the
crown. The girl standing as a ballerina, (the signifier) in the upper part of the
logo, connotes strong resemblance to H.C Andersen fairytale of Tommelise,
the object of reference (in English Thumbelina); a little girl at the size of a
Picture 5 Royal
Copenhagen's porcelain
figure of Tommelise
thump who, at some point in the story, is saved by a butterfly,
as in the logo. If looking for meaning outside of the fairytale
universe, RC has several porcelain figures as part of their
collection, many of which take outset in fairytales and fantasy.
One look at for example the figure of Tommelise and the toad,
and RC’ collection of Good Luck Frogs, illustrates very clearly
Picture 6 Royal Copenhagen's Good Luck
Frog
the possible source of inspiration. These elements within the logo take on iconic sign identity in
creating meaning through resemblance (Peirce,1894). TRC’s logo encourages cognitive links
between the cafe and the universe of fairytales, thereby transferring characteristics of fantasy, joy
and colourful scenery but also connotes a link to H.C. Andersen, the famous Danish writer behind
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many of the fairytales and stories we heard as children. H.C Andersen is part of the Danish legacy
and a good representation of Danishness7.
6 . 3 .3 .2
Smushi
The foundation of the Royal Cafe builds on being Danish, illustrating Danish royal heritage,
traditions and quality design. Therefore it is no wonder that the food served in the cafe similar seeks
to represent a flavour of Denmark. TRC has positioned themselves in a distinct position through
their innovative creation of smushies; a clash between our Danish traditional Smørebrød (openfaced sandwich) and the Japanese sushi.
Picture 7 Images of three versions of TRC's smushies
This signature dish as illustrated in three variations above, have become a brand-recognisable
touchpoint embedded in the essence of The Royal Cafe. Rud Christiansen characterises the choice
of food style as a breach from the traditional rules of Danish smørebrød by mixing the taste and
presentation of the dish with elements from the Japanese kitchen. The specific selection of food
menu demonstrates the embedded international perspective of the cafe by forging the traditional
7
http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/
Page 28 of 51
Danish with new and modern food (at least a relative modern food type in the Danish kitchen8) (see
appendix 2). By not vowing solely to Danish the concept opens up for a broader target audience
domestic and international by creating a bridge between two or more cultures. This fact influences
the tourist-attraction value, again, both in Denmark but also abroad enhancing the possibility of
success when expanding to other countries. By now The Royal Cafe exist in Singapore and Tokyo
and soon in Seoul as well, focusing only on geographical areas where Danish and Scandinavian
designs in generally have been meet with great interest and success; namely the Far East as Rud
Christiansen phrases it (Monocle interview, see appendix 4).9
6 . 3 .3 .3
Images in the cafe
On the entire back wall of the cafe, on top of the pale
pink wall is painted a collage of various elements such as
flower prints, a Royal Copenhagen teacup, Kai Bojesen’s
wooden monkey, diamonds in various colours, a pair of
sumo wrestlers, a horse, a cow and a pig, to name a few.
Picture 8 Image of the wall collage
The most salient elements in the collage are the flower
prints and the teacup. The flowers illustrate a direct
connection to Royal Copenhagen’s first-class series;
Flora Danica, which is worldwide renown for being of
excellent handcraft. Various flower prints have been
incorporate into the collage in a rather large scale and
Picture 9 RC teacup, Kaj Bojesen wooden monkey
and elements from Flora Danica collection
immediately bring forward memories of your grandparents’ old books of “plants and flowers you
can find in the Danish nature” based on their iconic resemblance (Peirce, 1894- see appendix 3).
The Blue Fluted Half Laced teacup is part of the very first porcelain series within Royal
Copenhagen dating back to 1775 and has become a somewhat synonym with Royal Copenhagen.
The teacup is the only element strongly saturated in colour where other elements are illustrated in
A general assumption based on just-eat’s blog http://blog.just-eat.dk/: “Sushi er inden for de seneste par år blevet et
kæmpe hit i Danmark […] sushi er populært som aldrig før. Dette har også fanget mediernes opmærksomhed:”
Translated: Within resent years, sushi has become a major hit in Denmark […] sushi is popular like never before. This
has also caught the media’s attention:”
9
See delimitations
8
Page 29 of 51
more pale, almost see-through saturation. It is situated in eyelevel perspective for customer in the
cafe and recognisable even from the opposite end of the cafe (the entrance).
The wall collage illustrates clear elements relating to Royal Copenhagen through their symbolic
meaning. It could be argued that, especially, the teacup provides a connection through its symbolic
suggestive relation with Royal Copenhagen (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006). The object connotes a
meaning and identity as coming from within, as deriving from the qualities of the teacup itself,
hence the highly recognisable pattern and shape – an unmistakable product of Royal Copenhagen.
The essence of the teacup creates a rub-off effect upon the entire collage thereby generating
meaning to other elements through a collected representation within the frame of a wall painted
collage taking on identity as indexical signs (Peirce , 1894 – see appendix 5). It could be argued that
the teacup anchors the meaning of elements, hence facilitating the connection of flowers to the
Flora Danica series, animal depicturing to Danish agricultural history and Kaj Bojesen’s wooden
monkey as a magnify the essence of quality (Barthes1977). However there are elements that seem
out of place form the general interpretation of the image such as, the sumo wrestlers and the
diamonds, they disrupt form the somewhat classical presence. Nevertheless, by representing all
elements in a connected context they come to share same meaning (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006).
The holistic view of the collage; the composition and colours create a more contemporary feel and
look (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006), where sumo wrestlers and diamonds become natural elements.
Taking in imagery of different styles and time, creates a third meaning, not classical design, not
contemporary, but a combination of both – creating a new style, a new time.
6 . 3 .3 .3 .1
The Royal Portraits
The Royal Cafe employs other
means of visual communication
such as a large portrait of Countess
Danner and King Frederik VII
looking down upon the customers
with serious eyes. However, it has a
humours tone, because a witty mind
has added a new object to the copy
of J.V. Gärtners famous portrait
Picture 10 Portrait comparison between original and copy hanging in TRC
Page 30 of 51
from 1861, thus painted a Royal Copenhagen Mega Mussel teapot in to the painting. These images
above, demonstrate the little added detail, even though a bit blurry. The portrait belongs to the
Baroque art style developed in Europe from the early 17th to mid-18th century, emphasizing
dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, and elaborate ornamentation10.
However, as the baroque style is represented in The Royal Cafe customers once again experience
the humoristic twist to the communicated classical theme. The portrait adds to the royalistic
connotation of the cafe, while being a strong representation of the baroque style. “The meter high
royal portrait [...] testifies of a vivacious fantasy and a loving eye for the royal legacy” (RC’s
corporate website). The portrait creates an object sign connotation, according to Barthes (1977),
drawing meaning form the object imposed upon the portrait. Hence the royalistic and classical
theme of the portrait is disrupted by the act of humour creating an unconventional expression while
demonstrating the royal of Royal Copenhagen.
6 . 3 .3 .4
Royal Copenhagen Tableware
The food and drinks served in TRC are all beautiful presented by the use of Royal Copenhagen
tableware. Every collection is represented and customers are even allowed to chose, themselves, on
which plates they want their food served. Enactment of the products allows customers to touch, feel
and sense the product. The plate is no longer an object on display but a product that demonstrate its
usage through the offering of food. The presentation of the food draws upon the connotations from
the tableware based on the invisible vector connecting food and plate. Thereby the cognitive mind
draw parallels between qualities of Royal Copenhagen’s tableware and the attributes of the food,
hence enriching the customer perception of the presented food.
An experience is created from the sensory interaction with the tableware, generating an appeal to
customers’ behavioural lifestyles. The Royal Copenhagen tableware is brought to life though the
usage as presentation and serving of food, creating a vivid image of how the customer can use the
product themselves. By enacting the product through such experiences TRC are appealing to the
customers’ behavioural lifestyles, a lifestyle where value and status are derived from the
materialistic possessions one can show others, or a lifestyle where quality food are highly valued
thereby the presentation becomes equally important as a supporting factor of the holistic impression
(Schmitt, 1999). By taking the tableware out of its traditional presentation and making it more
10
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=baroque
Page 31 of 51
tangible through an experience enhances the customer’s motivation for purchase. The product
becomes easier to cognitively enact into their private home environments, hence it becomes more
relatable and alive for the customer (Schmitt, 1999).
6 . 3 .3 .5
Interior design
When dining in The Royal Cafe customers are seated along wide, long buffet tables encouraging to
conversation among customers, while relaxing in the famous chair; “ANT” which was customized
in a bar height version just for TRC. At the end of the room, beautiful artistic deign chairs surrounds
a big old wooden table as King Arthurs’ round table of knights. In the sealing two enormous glass
chandeliers are shedding light into the room reflecting on the silver birch-leaf patterned paper. The
interior have been especially designed and made by Holmegaard, Bang & Olufsen and Fritz
Hansen, some of Denmark’s most famous design houses, giving evidence to extensive product
placement integrated into the cafe. For especially tourist and visitors from abroad the interior will
stand as a clear representation of Denmark as the chosen elements are renowned Danish design.
Furthermore the strong presence of the interior adds to the tone of the cafe in being an expression of
quality and contemporary design thus reflecting upon the general impression of The Royal Cafe.
The cafe balances between being a cafe environment representing an experiential customer
interaction and being a capitalized tourist attraction (visitdenmark.dk). From a discussing angle, the
strong Danish product presence strongly indicates, the perhaps hidden agenda that the cafe actually
is build with the purpose of expansion into the Far East markets as a marketing tool to promote
Denmark.
6.4
THE ROYAL CAFE EXPERIENCE
The following section will set out to clarify the characteristics of the experience a customer will
derive from interacting with The Royal Cafe. Based on the above analysis the clarified experience
will solely be characterised from the perspective of visual and tangible touchpoints within the cafe.
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As a visitor, guest or customer at Figure 7 The Four Experiential Realms
The Royal Cafe, ones participation
ABSORPTION
level
exists
as
normal
cafe
behaviour such as drinking coffee,
eating light food or cake and first
and foremost socialisation with
friends.
Gilmores
Following
model
of
Pine
and
the
Four
Entertainment
Education
PASSIVE
PARTICIPATION
ACTIVE
PARTICIPATION
Esthetic
Escapist
Realms of Experience indicates
that cafe behaviour is more active
then solely watching television but
IMMERSION
Adapted from Pine and Gilmore 1999
less than climbing Mount Everest,
hence indicating a participation level somewhere in between passive and active. Taking in clues
from the surrounding environment demands very little immersion, hence the customers act in a state
of absorption. However from the perspective that the act of eating becomes a way of immersion
oneself by experiencing the food served at the cafe, argues form a rather higher level of
engagement. Thus the total cafe experience is to an extend defined as a combination of all four
realms, however with closes resemblance to a combination of entertainment and esthetic
experiences as indicated by the red circle. This definition indicates that the customer experience a
high level of entertainment from interacting with the cafe, similar to the kind of entertainment we
derive from watching television. However there are indications of the customer experiencing a
higher level of engagement than simply entertainment. Nevertheless, TRC is still observed from a
distance enacting the customer in a role comparable to being a tourist, hence demonstrating interest
for TRC but not fully taking part in creating the experience (Pine & Gilmore, 1999).
This thesis have only been able to analyse the static touchpoints of the experience, nevertheless,
indications form Pine and Gilmores model demonstrate that customer might not experience
dynamic elements through interaction with the cafe based on their interpretation taking place
through observation form a distance.
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6 . 4 .1
THE THEME-ATRICAL EXPERIENCE
The static elements illustrate a theme characterised by a mix of classical design elements and newer
funkier truchpoints. The entire sensory presentation of TRC, hence the theme of the store plays with
contrasts between old and refined, and contemporary and edgy, creating a strange environment of
bipolar elements. As Mies van der Rohe, the famous German-American architect, said; “God is in
the details”
11
, and that is the case for TRC. The visual imagery is not disturbed by the many
clashes of styles but has created its own style from the clashes. It is a design jungle where customer
can explore new details each time they visit and sumo wrestlers and teapots in classical royal
paintings will suddenly appear and make the cafe experience more engaging. These types of style
twist and humour appeal to customers’ cognitive process by incorporating elements of surprise and
provocation, forcing the customer to think (cognition) outside the traditional box.
6 . 4 .2
IDENTIFICATION OF SENSORY ENGAGEMENT
The untraditional and unconventional theme demonstrates a different perspective on life - a new
young modern version of the classical Royal Copenhagen – almost like a fairytale. A message that
is communicated through the engagement of predominately, the customers’ sensory register within
sight, touch and taste in appealing to their senses, cognition and behavioural lifestyles The theme of
the store speaks to a new behavioural lifestyle (behaviour/act), cognitively embracing our cultural
and social need for self-improvement, social recognition and affiliation. The cafe has created and
experience that intrigues interest, provoke the traditional thinking and first and for most allow the
customers to visually live and feel the brand – bringing the brand to life.
6 . 4 .3
COMPARISON
The above analysis demonstrates strong cohesive links between Royal Copenhagen’s corporate
brand identity and the visual experience generated from The Royal Cafe.
11
God is in the details." Speaking about restraint in design, the New York Herald Tribune, 28 Jun 1959.
http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-mies-quotes.htm
Page 34 of 51
Table 2 Comparison of Royal Copenhagen's Corporate Brand identity and The Royal Cafe Customer Experience
Royal Copenhagen’s
The Royal Cafe Customer Experience
Corporate Brand Identity
Exclusivity
Selection of exclusive product placement
Danish
Danish design furniture, Food selection is inspired by the Danish kitchen
Craftsmanship
Danish design furniture,
International
Smushies,
Royal
The royal portrait, The name
Contemporary
Interior decoration,
Innovation
Smushies, Furniture setup, Visual presentation
Royal Copenhagen is traditionally viewed as a symbol of Danish history; craftsmanship and
exclusivity however during their brand transformation in 2006 RC’ shift focus towards a more
contemporary and innovative product development strategy under the heading of Rethink History.
TRC stands as a clear expression of the new identity of RC. The cafe conveys a message of style
clash between the old classical craftsmanship organisation and the new contemporary, humoristic
and international orientated brand identity. The thesis concludes that the static elements of the TRC
experience is founded on the brand identity characteristics of Royal Copenhagen new brand
position, thus fulfilling the requirements set forward by the proposed model in sectio5.
6 . 4 .4
EVALUATION OF CUSTOMER RESPONSE
As discussed in the methodology section, it is
Figure 8 Mehrabian-Russel environmental
impossible to determine if TRC experience will psychology model
generate positive or negative interpretation as it
depends upon the individual’s prejudices and
preconceptions. From a theoretical perspective
Environmental
stimuli
Emotional state:
Satisfaction, arousal
and/or pleasure
Appraoch or
Avoidance behaviour
The Royal Cafe’s retail experience have the
potential of being successful in generating positive Adapted from Donovan & Rossiter (1982)
perceptions of the Royal Copenhagen brand
identity. The theme of the cafe appeals to a pleasant and stimulating environment, thus according to
Mehrabian-Russel environmental psychology model (Donovan & Rossiter, 1982), generates
satisfaction pleasure and arousal. Hence the environment created through TRC experience have the
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potential of positively affecting satisfaction, the time spend, quantity, and intention to visit the store
again, hence an approach behaviour toward the store. Thus, assuming that the average customer
process positive or neutral perception of Royal Copenhagen as a brand prior to a visit at TRC, the
experience derived from physically and cognitively interacting with TRC will reinforce and/or
enhance customer brand identity perception or Royal Copenhagen through the created synergy,
coherence and consistency throughout the communicative touchpoints of the retail environment.
6 . 4 .5
REFLECTIONS UPON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
Society has changed and customers have change, hence organisations are changing their approach
to generating economic value. Therefore, organisations are building strong customer relationships
to ensure high retention rates, profitable customer lifetime value, and better customer insights. From
a customer point of view, a strong brand relationship (i.e. organisational relationship) enriches the
perceived value proposition by providing benefits over and beyond those directly derived from
acquiring, consuming or using the product or service (Buttle, 2009).
Customer insight will allow organisations to understand their customers better, hence create
improved and better customer experiences generating increased customer satisfaction. As
satisfaction rises, so does the customer intention to purchase, hence customer loyalty. This in turn
will influences actual purchasing behaviour, which has an impact on business performance (the
green process of the empirical model). Satisfaction is not enough to generate customer longevity,
i.e. loyalty. Highly engaged customers have levels of emotional or rational attachment or
commitment to a brand, experience or organisation that are so strong that they are highly resistant to
competitive influence (Buttle; 2009).
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Analytical Strategy for Constructing Customer Experiences in Retail Environments
Coherence and consistency in communicated message
Static elements:
Physical product
Look and feel of
the store
The experiential
theme
Dynamic elements:
Customer-staffinterface
Interaction
Retail Theatre
Corporate
Brand Identity
Cognitive
process
Sensory
stimuli
Customer experience
satisfaction
Cognitive Response:
Satisfaction, Pleasure
Behvioural and
Attitudinal
Customer Loyalty
Impressions and
Perception
6 . 4 .6
The Retail Experience
Business Performance
THEORETICAL RECOMMENDATION
Through the generation of satisfaction and customer engagement lies the long-term possibility for
RC to enforce brand loyalty towards the cafe, hence Royal Copenhagen. However it will demand
that RC is highly attentive to the changing needs of their customer in order to keep generating
experiences that provide benefits beyond the expected. One area where TRC is not fulfilling its
potential as experience provider is the level of engagement they offer their customer. Following the
notion of Pine and Gilmore (1999) and Buttle (2009) the key to longevity is to physical engage the
customers in an experience to ensure strong emotional bonds and rational attachment.
6.5
SUMMARY
Royal Copenhagen have created a vibrant, inviting, experiential retail environment that enables the
customers to live the brand through multiple experiential engagements that collectively creates a
synergetic impression of the brand. The visual touchpoints within The Royal Cafe create cognitive
links to the universe of fairytales, enforce international orientation, promote RC products, illustrate
royal genes and demonstrate the quality of Danish design. In the holistic interpretation of these
impressions a theme is created from the clash between classical and contemporary forging a new
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style communicating the characteristics of Royal Copenhagen’s new brand identify, hence The
Royal Cafe take the role as having a synergetic complementary effect on customers’ brand identity
perception of Royal Copenhagen. However for future evolvement and longevity TRC is lacking in
their physical engagement of their customer, an initiative that generate life-long customer loyalty,
hence further improve their business performance.
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7
CONCLUSION
This thesis set out to gain insight in the definition and construction of the experience concept
through the discussion of Experience Economy and Experience Marketing. It was found that
experience in its general form, despite context, is a cognitive process triggered by the sensory
engagement and influenced by appeals to the senses, cognitive thinking, behavioural lifestyles and
need for affiliation and self-improvement.
Experience Economy employs the cognitive experience as a interactive and engaging customer
offering form which to obtain economic value. In a marketing sense, a customer experience is a
communication means of creating positive brand perception. Nevertheless, experiences occur
whenever consumers encounter organisational touchpoints, whereas the retail environment is one of
the strongest influential customer-brand contacts as it is not forced upon the customer but a selfselected encounter.
Experiential retailing is constructed through the static and dynamic elements, accentuating the
holistic interpretation of both the tangible elements and the interactive contact. There exists no one
definition of a successful customer experience as it is individually constructed in the mind of the
customer formed by the personal prejudices and preconception. However, based on theoretical
insight, this thesis has concluded on key criteria for constructing retail experiences that have the
potential of obtaining profitable results for an organisation. These criteria entails that the
communicated experience is in coherence with the corporate brand identity, communicates a
consistent message across all touchpoints and creates sensory engagement of the customer
cognitively and physically. Are these criteria fulfilled the likelihood that customers will generate a
positive brand perception is at its greatest.
Royal Copenhagen’s newest experiential retail initiative; The Royal Cafe have been employed in a
case study to analyse how the customer experience will affect the corporate brand identity of Royal
Copenhagen. A visual analysis was made upon a selective representative of the static element in
order to uncover the communicative nature of the experience. It was found that the TRC experience
is founded on attributes such as danishness, quality, humour, contemporariness and international
orientation. Hence there exists strong coherence between the RC corporate brand and the TRC
experience.
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TRC theme-atrical experience exists in the smallest detail of the cafe engaging the customer in an
sensory exploration. The theme appeals to the cognitive interaction, whereas the hands on
accessibility of the products used for presentational purposes encourages the physically interaction.
Theoretically the TRC experience posses great probability of generating customer satisfaction as the
experience bring the brand to life – the brand is experienced not observed, thereby enriching
customers brand perception of Royal Copenhagen. However to ensure that the enriched brand
perception evolves to strong customer-brand loyalty relationships the TRC needs to affect beyond
satisfaction, hence accentuate their physical customer interaction. Conclusively, TRC experience
should in the future focus on moving closer towards Escapist experiences compare to the Esthetic
experience they provide today. The Royal Cafe should reconsider what they would do differently if
they were to charge admission for the experience they give their customer because taking leap
further might ensure them longevity as experience providers.
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8
BIBLIOGRAPHY
8.1
ARTICLES:
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Brands; the case of Hilton. In Journal of General Management. Vol. 34 NO. 4
Barthes, Roland, 1977. Image, Music and Text, chapter Rhetoric of the Image. Page 32-51 Hill &
Wang
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Hill & Wang
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it Measured? Does it affect Loyalty? In Journal of Marketing, vol. 73, may, 52-68.
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Retail Experiences - the case for ethnography in International Journal of
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Smell, Sight and Sound. Free Press, New York
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Miller, R. (2009) Consumer Marketing 2009, Ch. 40 Shoppability, p. 176-185
Peirce, S. Charles (1894) Chapter 2: What is a Sign, in Houser, Nathan, Eller, R. Jonathan, and
Lewis, C. Albert et al. (1893-1913) The essential Peirce: selected philosophical writings. Indiana
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Pilditch, James (1970), Communication by Design: A Study in Corporate Identity, McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company Limited
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Store Loyalty as Mediators in the Management of Retail Strategies. Journal of Strategic Marketing.
Vol. 17, No.1, 1-20. Routledge
Skinner, Quentin (1986) The Return of Grand Theory in the Human Science. Chapter; Hans-Georg
Gadamer. Cambridge University Press, pp. 21-39
Stuart-Menteth, Hester, Wilson, Huge & Baker, Susan (2006) Escaping the Channel Silo –
Researching the New Consumer. International Journal of Market Research Vol. 48, issue 4.
Thang, L. Doreen Chez & Tan, B. Benjamin Lin (2002) Linking Consumer Perceptions to
Preference of retail Stores: an Empirical Assessment of the Multi-Attributes of a Store Image.
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Yalch, F. Richard & Spangenberg, Eric (2000) The Effects of Music in a Retail Setting on Real and
Perceived Shopping Times. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 49, 139-147 Elsivier Science Inc.
8.2
BOOKS:
Aaker, A. David (2002) Building Strong Brands. The Free Press
Bernstein, David (1984), Company Image and Reality: A Critique of Corporate Communication.
Holt Rinehart and Winston Ltd.
Buttle, Francis (2009) Customer Relationship Management – Concept and technologies.
Butterworth-Heinemann. Second edition
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Keller, L, Kevin (2003) Strategic Brand Management - Building, Measuring and Managing Brand
Equity. Prentice Hall, second edition
Kotler, Philip & Keller, L. Kevin (2009) Marketing and Management, 13th edition, Pearson
International Edition
Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006) Reading Images – The Grammar of Visual Design.
Routledge, Second edition
Pickton, David & Broderick, Amanda (2005) Integrated Marketing Communications. Prentice Hall,
London. Second edition.
Pine, B. Joseph & Gilmore, H. James (1999) The Experience Economy: Work is the Theatre &
Every Business a Stage. Harvard Business School Press, Boston..
Schmitt, H. Bernd (1999) Experiential Marketing: How to get customers to sense, feel, think, act,
relate to your company and brands. The Free Press, New York.
Solomon, R. Michael, Bamossy, Gary, Askegaard, Soren and Hogg, K. Margaret (2007) Consumer
Behaviour – A European Perspective. Financial Times Press
van Tongeren, Michel (2003) Retail Branding. Bis Publishing Amsterdam
8.3
WEBSITES
Royal Copenhagen’s corporate website (26.02.10):
http://www.royalcopenhagen.dk/Craftmanship/The-history-of-Royal-copenhagen.aspx
Designscount.dk (14.04.10)
http://www.designscout.dk/2007/06/royal-copenhagens-new-flagship-store/
Visitcopenhagen.dk (14.04.10)
http://www.visitcopenhagen.dk/content/turist/nyheder/nyhedsarkiv/the_royal_cafe
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Hcandersen-homepage.dk (02.05.10)
http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/
Mies van der Rohe quote (20.04.10)
http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-mies-quotes.htm
Monocle.com (09.03.10)
http://www.monocle.com/sections/design/Web-Articles/Yo-Smushi/
Wordnetweb – Princeton (02.05.10)
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=baroque
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9
APPENDICES
9.1
APPENDIX 1 - SENSORY APPEAL
“As human beings we’re at our most effective and receptive when operating on all five tracks”
(Lindstrøm, 2005), here referred to as our five senses. However, organisations employing all five
senses are more an exception than a common observation, more often, only sight and sound is
utilised to put the message across (ibid). Lindstrøm (2005) substantiate Pine and Gilmore’s (1999)
notion of sensory appeal in proposes his Five-Dimensional Brand model through which he argues
that every brand should incorporate elements of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell in to their
communication at each customer touchpoint, as argued by Pine and Gilmore (1999).
Sight
Sight is the most seductive sense of all. It often overrules the other senses and has the power to
persuade us against all logic. Take for example Coca-Cola who has created a brand so intertwined
with their use of colours that red and white has become a synonym with Coke and has even been the
cause of Santa Claus’ colours changing from green to red. With the use of our sight we can identify
brand logos, even if incomplete.
Sound
Sounds are directly connected to our moods and generate feelings and emotions within human
beings. Sounds can make us sad, but luckily, also joyful. Watching a movie without sound is not
nearly as emotional as with the sound off. A thriller looses it touch when there is no tune of
suspense right before the killer strikes or no grand ballade intensifying as two lovers finally kiss at
the end of a great love story. Another commercialisation of sound is corporate jingles such as
McDonalds’ “I am loving it!” campaign or Nokia’s recognisable mobile ringtone.
Olfactory
Our smell is the one sense that we cannot turn off, yet it is the sense that we take most for granted.
However, everyday most of us spay on a deliberate chosen sent of perfume to communicate a
message to ourselves and, for most, the people around us. We know the smell of our partner, our,
our home and of freshly baked buns, we value the smell of a new car and buy products to improve
the odour in our bathrooms. Several car manufactures have trademarked the smell of their newly
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fabricated cars as an important element of their brand identity and a supporting differentiation factor
Rolce Royes even made it commercial by selling it on bottles in their showrooms.
Tactile
The stimulation of touch is an important element of growing and thriving as human beings. Our
skin is our largest organ making us instantly aware of cold, warmth, pain or pleasure. The tactile
appeal is a powerful channel of communication, one that is especially use within luxury brands such
as the fashion industry communicating quality of products through the touch of the clothes or the
weight of a Harry Winston diamond ring. Bang & Olufsen has made their heavy, solid and quiet
distinct remote control a communicator of quality differentiating themselves from other electronic
organisations who neglects the quality statement of weight.
Taste
Taste is perhaps our weakest sense as it is goes hand in hand with smell and without the ability to
smell we might lose 80% of our taste, anyone one who has had a cold can relate to such
circumstances. Appealing to our taste is tricky, apart from the food and beverage industry however
Colgate has managed to do so with a patent on their distinct toothpaste taste.
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9.2
APPENDIX 2 – PERCEPTUAL PROCESS
The cognitive paradigm within Consumer Behaviour theory substantiates this line of reasoning,
according to Solomon et al. (2007). Consumers construct meaning of the exposed stimulus through
their individual interpretation which is influenced by their unique biases, needs and experiences.
First we experience sensation through an appeal to our sensory system that draws our attention, we
then attempt to construct meaning by selecting, organising and interpreting these sensations. It
results in a response, hence our perception of reality (Solomon et al., 2007) and according to Aaker
(2002) perception is more important than reality as perception will directly affect the consumer’s
actual behaviour.
Figure 9 Perceptual Process
Adapted from Solemon et al. 2007
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9.3
APPENDIX 3 - PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Product description of Royal Copenhagen’s Elements collection as supportive characteristics of
RC’s corporate brand identity.
Louise Campbell, one of the leading designers in Denmark, is the designer behind the Elements
series launched in 2008 by RC. The collection is known for its astonishing colours, simplicity and
sculptural design created for the modern home (RC corporate website). This collection is embedded
in the new modern ear and a visual statement of the new directions within Royal Copenhagen. As
described on the corporate website, Elements “are forging the contrasts between hundreds of years
of legacy with the new millenniums lifestyle in an innovative style combination, indicate modernity
and vitality” (ibid)12. The Elements collection won the Design of the Year 2008 award for Royal
Copenhagen granted by Bo Bedre13.
12
Translated from danish: Stellet lader kontrasterne mellem århundredes arv og det nye årtusindes livsstil mødes i et
innovativt stilbrud, der signalerer modernitet og vitalitet
13
Bo Bedre is Denmark’s oldest and most strongly trendsetting lifestyle magazine (RC’s corporate website)
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9.4
APPENDIX 3 – MONOCLE INTERVIEW
Monocle’s interview with Rud Christiansen, co-founder of The Royal Cafe:
Copenhagen November 2007
This definitely is not a typical Danish cafe or coffee shop and I think too many of the cafes that has
opened the 5 – 10 years have basically tried to imitate Starbucks or other chains. We have create a
Danish funky baroque clash of styles and some modern designs and so on, I call it sort of a mini
Danish royal castle, it might not be so obvious but if you look around you will see an old Danish
wallpaper in the sealing, the chandeliers are made by an old Danish glass factory, the chairs are
made by Fritz Hansen the famous Danish furniture maker.
The Danish smørebrød, which means open faced sandwich, is a 300 years old pheromone. It is way
back when the poor people could only afford to have once piece of two pieces of bread and no
butter. Then when they became a little more wealth they started to be able to put butter and meat
and stuff like that on the bread, and there is a procedure how you start and how you end up, and
what goes with what and by layer and by colour - so it is a piece of art, it is, for me it is one of the
most beautiful types of food in the world.
I felt that is was time for a change because smørebrød as you would have it served in various places
in Copenhagen it is actually a very large piece or a very large sandwich I just though why not just
do it smaller and why not try put a little artistic touch to it. Now, we have a school here in Denmark
which have existed for many years, where they teach, it is three and have year education where they
teach the girls how to make smørebrød. Today you could probably order maybe 3000 types of
smørebrød, so we just ended up with something we call smushis - we are breaking a lot of rules, and
we are not only breaking roles in Denmark but we are also breaking a lot of rules of the traditional
way that we were taught to make this type of food - and we like that.
We could take that the traditional Danish salmon on top of that we would put some roe, we would
cut a very beautiful apple flower and maybe we would put some wasabi with that. Now, right there
we broke the rule, in Denmark you would probably just have horseradish but it is related, it just give
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the contrasting colour. We are using a lot of new creative ways of designing this smørebrød and we
are also trying to incorporate some of the elements from the Far East as far as taste is concerned.
Very shortly after we opened here we were very excited to see what the reaction was, and we knew
that if the reaction was positive from the markets where Danish product traditional are sold very
well in the Far East, so we are opening up very soon in Singapore, we will in the summer in 2008
open up in Tokyo, we are trying to see if we have time enough to do this but we are going to open
up in Seoul in Korea, and then we are moving on to Taipei - so this is what’s planned at the moment
and we are doing this together with Royal Copenhagen, and Georg Jensen, and Fritz Hansen.
http://www.monocle.com/sections/design/Web-Articles/Yo-Smushi/
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9.5
APPENDIX 4 PEIRCE’ TRIADIC MODEL
Peirce argues that meaning of signs in not contained within it, but arises in its interpretation (Peirce,
1894). He defined the three most fundamental divisions of signs:
Symbol/symbolic:
fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional. The relationship must be
learned (language, numbers)
Icon/iconic:
recognisably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or smelling like it- being
similar in possessing some of its qualities.
Index/indexical:
the link can be observed or inferred.
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