The nature of the brand experience

The objective of this research is to better understand the nature of the brand experience and how brand, experience, and (brand) meaning relate to each other in forming the brand experience. Furthermore, by investigating these concepts and their relations, this research hopes to find support for the fact that brand experience cannot be evaluated based on a spectrum of good and bad, but it can only be evaluated based on the (brand) meanings evoked by the experience. This research includes a literature review and a qualitative research design (phenomenology), of which the latter investigates brand identity and brand image of five companies in the airline industry. Qualitative research suits the purpose of this research as it attempts to uncover the brand meanings that emerge in the experience and how customers evaluate their experience in relation to the brand. The findings of the literature review and empirical research provide support for the fact that a brand is a meaning that is communicated to customers through their experiences (embodiment of the brand proposition). Brand experience is perceived as meanings and cannot simply be evaluated along a good/bad spectrum; and thus, the nature of the brand experience is grounded on these meanings. These findings provide companies with an increased understanding of how to better their branding strategies and academic research with a foundation to further build on research regarding (the nature of the) brand experience. Limitations of this research are concerned with the fact that (a) only one industry has been analysed (one that offers homogeneous services); (b) the establishing of brand propositions is affected by subjectivity; (c) the analysis was limited to customers, and did not analyse meaning that emerged for non-customers; and (d) this research did not elaborate the role of service design in brand experience. These limitations could be addressed in future research.