Schulich School of Business

Schulich School of Business York University Course Outline MKTG 6800 3.00: Customer Experience Design <Class day[s]>, <Time> Fall 2014 Instructor Markus Giesler (647) 274-4807 N304C Seymour Schulich Building mgiesler@schulich.yorku.ca Office hours: before and after class, and by appointment Brief Description Customer Experience Design represents the discipline, methodology and/or process used to comprehensively manage a customer's cross-channel exposure, interaction and transaction with a company, product, brand or service. This course offers an integrated framework for designing customer experiences and for learning how to create successful experientially based market strategies that leverage any organization's products and services. Prerequisite MKTG 5200 3.00 -------------------------------------------------------------- Course Objectives Customers always have an experience - good, bad, and often indifferent - whenever they interact with a company s product or service. The key is how effectively the company manages the experience. Experiential bonds between companies and customers are difficult for competitors to sever. To compete successfully in this territory, a growing number of organizations are systematically applying the principles and tools of customer-experience management to strengthen customer loyalty. Unlike many product or service enhancements, the integrated nature of these experiential designs makes them very difficult for competitors to copy. The experiential marketing knowledge and skills gained in this course will help students with careers associated with product management, advertising development and assessment, new product design, marketing research, promotions, public relations, Internet marketing, healthcare marketing, media and entertainment, consulting, the financial sector, or various not-for-profit contexts. in this course, you will... 1. understand the crucial role of emotional, identity, material, and political dynamics in the design, development, and sustenance of successful customer experiences; 2. be able to construct, analyze, and evaluate products, services, and marketing campaigns that integrate 1

all customer-experiential levels to create strong and enduring customer-brand bonds, identity value, and personal relevance within the global marketplace; and 3. gain practical experience investigating, reporting on, and presenting findings on focused, cutting edge experiential marketing concerns in a business context. By the end of this semester, you will be able to deal with the range of important decisions implicit in the experiential design process. Each of you will have to deal with the most fundamental practices involved in the management of customer experiences. Organization of the Course This course deploys an effective mix of engaging lectures, class and group discussions, case analyses and presentations, and experiential marketing exercises. Materials have been chosen for their strength in embodying experiential marketing fundamentals. Assigned Reading Required reading for this course includes the following books. They are available for purchase from the York University bookstore. Pine, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. (1999), The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Schmitt, B. (1999), Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, and Relate to Your Company and Brands, New York, NY: Free Press. The course website will offer links to all copyrighted case and reading materials via the York library access. Please use your Passport York username and password for full access to all papers. General Expectations Please note that this course is structured around self-directed learning, which essentially means that what you get from the course will depend on you and what you bring into each class. I expect you to be prepared every class (including catching up on classes you may have missed) and also to be prepared to lead a discussion when called upon to do so. I will "cold call" to even out and encourage widespread class participation. Evaluation of Student Performance The course grading scheme for Master s level courses at Schulich uses a 9-value grade-point system. The possible course letter grades for a course (and the corresponding grade points awarded for each grade are: A+ 9 grade points A 8 A- 7 B+ 6 B 5 B- 4 C+ 3 2

C 2 C- 1 F 0 (Students are reminded that they must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 4.2 to remain in good standing and continue in the program, and a minimum of 4.4 to qualify for their degree. Schulich grading guidelines mandate a section grade point average [ GPA ] of between 5.2 and 6.2 for electives. The final grade for the course will be based on the following items weighted as indicated: Individual Topic Chapter 30% Final Project Poster 20% Final Project Report 30% Class Participation 20% Grades and assignment deadlines are non-negotiable. Late submissions will not be accepted. Should you anticipate an issue that would prevent you from completing an assignment on time, please schedule a meeting with me and we will discuss how you can complete it by the class deadline. Emergency situations will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Assignment A: Individual Topic Chapter (30%): A lottery draft approach will be used to assign specific customer experience design topics to individual students. You will prepare, print, and submit a 10-15 page written chapter on your topic according to the specifications provided on the course material database. Up to 5 extra pages for reference and appendices are allowed. You will submit the full chapter as a Word file including appendix electronically, double-spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman. The summary will be graded on both theoretical (experience design theories and models grounded in the literature, e.g., management, marketing, consumer behavior, sociology, and psychology) and practical (real-world examples, analytical and strategic instruments, tools) value. The summary should be developed from the perspective of a customer experience design expert giving theoretically sound, actionable recommendations to the practitioner. You will be expected to link theory and practice in your summary and to provide tools that marketing managers can use to successfully develop and implement a customer experience design. The deadline for this assignment is week 12. After week 12, all classroom slides, student project posters, and individual student chapters will be compiled in Customer Experience Design 360, this course s very own Customer Experience Design Practice Guide. Students will be able to consult this guide in their future experiential marketing projects. Assignment B: Customer Experience Design Project (50%): As the major deliverable from this course, you will conduct a two-stage customer experience design and management project in groups of up to three students. Two options are available. Either you analyze an existing customer experience, formulating refined principles for practice. Or you design a customer experience for a new product or service of your choice, formulating an array of managerial recommendations for unlocking sustainable customer experiential value. The assignment will be delivered in two phases. Assignment B, Phase 1: Poster Presentation and Summary (20%): You will prepare, print, and present a project poster outlining your customer experience design topic of choice using the template provided on the course material database. All posters will be presented during a special in-class poster session in week 6. 3

Assignment B, Phase 2: Written Final Report (30%): You will prepare, print, and submit a 15-20 page written report on your customer experience design strategy according to the specifications provided on the course material database. Up to 10 extra pages for appendix material are allowed. You will submit the full report including appendix electronically, doublespaced, in 12 point Times New Roman. The report is due in week 10. Class Participation (20%): Because vivid and informed discussion is a crucial element of the overall learning experience, your attendance and active participation are essential components of this elective course. However, there is no need to inform me if you are unable to attend class. All students will be graded on the insightfulness of their in-class performance, their ability to draw on concepts and theories introduced in the course, and their ability to enlighten class discussion and move it in productive and novel directions, rather than mere quantity. Academic Honesty Academic honesty is fundamental to the integrity of university education and degree programs. The Schulich School will investigate and will act to enforce academic honesty policies where apparent violations occur. Students should familiarize themselves with York University s policy on academic honesty. It is printed in full in your student handbook and can also viewed on-line on the Schulich website, clicking through as indicated: MBA/IMBA. Schulich website à Programs à Master s Degree à Learn More à Academic Policy While academic dishonesty can take many forms, there are several forms of which students should be highly aware because they are the ones that are most likely to occur in the context of a specific course. [1] Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the presentation of information, ideas, or analysis generated by other people as being your own. It includes direct quotations as well a substantive paraphrases where the course of that information or idea is not clearly identified to the reader. Students should be careful to present their written work in a way that makes it completely clear in each and every cases where a quotation, a paraphrase, or an analysis is based on the work of other people. (This includes information from all sources, including websites.) [2] Cheating. Cheating is an attempt to gain an unfair advantage in an evaluation. Examples of such violations include (but are not limited to) consulting prohibited materials during an examination or copying from another student. [3] Failure to follow limitations on collaborative work with other students in preparing academic assignments. Each class differs in the mix of assignments and group-versus-individual preparation that is allowed. The instructor will make clear the extent of collaboration among students that is acceptable among students on various pieces of assigned work. Students should abide by those limitations and, if they are unsure about whether a certain level or form of collaboration would be acceptable, to clarify that question with the instructor in advance. [4] Aiding and abetting. A student is guilty of violating academic honesty expectations if he/she acts in a way that enables another student to engage in academic dishonesty. If a student knows (or should reasonably expect) that an action would enable another student to cheat or plagiarize, that student s action constitutes an academic honesty violation. Illustrative examples include making your exam paper easily visible to others in the same exam or providing your own working or finished documents for an individual assignment to another student (even if that other student said that he/she just wanted to get an idea of how to approach the assignment or to check whether they had done theirs correctly ). [5] Use of academic work in more than one course. Generally, academic work done for every course is new work, done for that course only. If a student wishes to use some or all of the 4

academic work done for an assigned task in one course in another course, the student must get explicit, prior permission from both instructors so that they agree that the scope and nature of the overlapping use of that work is such that it can fairly be counted toward both courses. Code of Honor 1. Assignments cannot be discussed with other students prior to class. 2. You are free to gather general information for your assignments from colleagues and contacts in companies or agencies. However, for reasons of fairness, you are not allowed to solicit specific inputs on the structure, content, or presentation of your assignment. 3. Where requested by your classmates, you must keep information from projects and presentations confidential. Code of Etiquette This syllabus represents a contract between me (the instructor) and you (the student). By enrolling in this course, you are formally consenting to follow the policies and instructions provided in this contract. Part of this contract is that we both make an honest effort in creating a productive classroom experience. The heart of the classroom experience rests in enthusiasm, respect, and openness. This may sound general, so I will explain. Enthusiasm means a persistent willingness to tackle the problems that come up in the readings and assignments for each week. This does not mean that everyone always shows up happy and cheerful, but a certain readiness to make a contribution to class is a must. Respect in class means valuing each person's participation, not because their ideas are the best (although you might think so), but because they are trying to make a contribution to the group. Openness means the freedom to express your thoughts and opinions, which includes scope for debate and disagreement with me or anyone else. The closer we get to this ideal, the more the classroom will be an effective space for clarifying the issues confronted in the course. This ideal may not always be achievable, but in my view, we should always strive for it. Learning Process This course is developed around a unique 360 Degree Customer Experience Design Framework that draws on and integrates four cutting-edge experiential marketing domains commonly held separate. From the perspective, successful customer experience design is the task of creating sustainable experiential value for consumers by systematically investing the product or service in four overlapping experiential worlds: the emotional world, the social world, the material world, and the political world. Most experiential marketing courses focus only on one or two worlds at the same time. During our learning process, however, you will acquire the sensibilities and skills of a truly four-dimensional customer experience architect. Week by week, we will add more experiential marketing skills to your skillset. As a result, you will leave this course with the abilities to integrate all levels of successful customer experience delivery and to adapt your offering to changing emotional, social, contextual, and political conditions. 360-Degree Customer Experience Design Framework 5

Schedule of Topics and Readings The following list of lecture topics and readings indicate the material to be read, reviewed and/or prepared for the various class sessions. Date Class Topic session 1 Welcome to the Experience Economy Assigned Readings, Cases, and Deadlines Pine, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. (1999), Chapters 1 and 2 in The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Where the Customer Experience Begins: Discovering the Emotional World 6

2 The Foundations of Experiential Marketing Schmitt, B. (1999), Chapters 1-3 in Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, and Relate to Your Company and Brands, New York, NY: Free Press. Berry, Leonard L., Lewis P. Carbone and Stephan H. Haeckel (2002), Managing the Total Customer Experience, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2002. 3 Emotional Branding: Brands as Friends 4 Designing Emotional Experiences Roberts, K. (2004), Chapter 1-3, in Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands, New York, NY: PowerHouse Books. Fournier, Susan (1998). Consumers and Their Brand: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research, 24 (March): 343-373. Norman, Don (2005), Chapters 1-3 in Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, New York, NY: Basic Books Newsorn, Mi Kyong, David A. Collier, and Eric O. Olsen (2009), Using Biztainment to Gain Competitive Advantage, Business Horizons, Volume 52, Issue 2, 167-176. The BMW Experience (Case) Next Steps: How the Social World Shapes Consumers Experiential Realities 5 Populist Worlds and Cultural Contradictions Pine, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. (1999), Chapters 9 in The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Holt, Douglas (2004), Chapter 3: Targeting Myth Markets, in How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. Holt, Douglas B. (2003), How to Build an Iconic Brand, Marketing Leader, Summer 2003, 35-42. 7

6 Myth Markets and Identity Value Walker, Rob (2009), Hummer Love, New York Times Magazine, November 1, MM22. Salls, Manda (2003), Why Have Marketers Ignored America s Man-of-Action Hero?, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, June 2003, http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3499.html. Holt, Douglas (2004), Chapter 5 in How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. 7 Designing Identity Experiences!!Deadline for Assignment B1 (Poster)!! Holt, Douglas (2004), Chapter 7 in Co-Authoring the Myth, in How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 155-189. The Nespresso Experience (case) Conquering the 3 rd Dimension: Customer Experiences in the Spatial Context 8 Space, Place, Servicescapes This lecture will be held in the form of an observational field exercise at Yorkdale Shopping Centre 9 Technological Experiences Mark S. Rosenbaum, Carolyn Massiah, (2011) An Expanded Servicescape Perspective, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 22 Iss: 4, 471 490. Sherry, John F., Jr. (1998), "The Soul of the Company Store: Nike Town Chicago and the Emplaced Brandscape," in Servicescapes: The Concept of Place in Contemporary Markets, John F. Sherry Jr., ed. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books, 109-146. Oldenbourg, Ray (2001), Chapters 1, 3, and 8 in Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories About the Great Good Places, Marlowe & Company. Gorry, G. Anthony and Robert A. Westbrook (2011), Once More, With Feeling: Empathy and Technology in Customer Care, Business Horizons, Volume 54, Issue 2, 125-134. McCarthy, John and Peter Wright (2004), Chapters 5 and 6 in Technology as Experience, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Kozinets, Robert V. (2008), Technology/Ideology: 8

10 Designing Embodied Experiences How Ideological Fields Influence Consumers' Technology Narratives, Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (April), 865-881. Jump Associates (2011), 7 Steps for Creating Disruptive New Retail Experiences, Fast Company, http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665344/7-steps-forcreating-disruptive-new-retail-experiences. Borghini, Stefania et al. (2009), Why are Themed Brandstores so Powerful? Retail Brand Ideology at American Girl Place, Journal of Retailing, 85 (3), 363-75.!!Deadline for Assignment B2 (Final Report)!! Sustaining Experiential Success over Time: Managing Conflict and Contestation 11 Experiential Tensions in the Marketplace 12 Developing Cultural Countermeasures Peyser, Andrea (2009), Homeless Doll Costs $95 (Hairstyling Extra), New York Post, September 24. Pine, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. (1999), Chapters 10 in The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Thompson, Craig J., Aric Rindfleisch, and Zeynep Arsel (2006), Emotional Branding and the Strategic Value of the Doppelgänger Brand Image, Journal of Marketing, 70 (January), 50-64. Kotler, Philip (1986), Megamarketing, Harvard Business Review, March/April, Vol. 64, Issue 2, pp. 117-124. Giesler, Markus (2012), A Little Innovation Story, http://www.slideshare.net/mgiesler/a-littleinnovation-story-12832798 Humphreys, Ashlee (2010), Megamarketing: The Creation of Markets as a Social Process, Journal of Marketing, 74 (March), 1 19.!!Deadline for Assignment A (CED Chapter)!! 9