Experiential marketing, a decidedly turn-of-the-millennium form of corporate persuasion that strives to elicit a powerful sensory or cognitive consumer response, is rapidly superseding the stodgy features-and-benefits approach generally in vogue since the gray-flannel '50s. In fact, says Bernd H. Schmitt, a professor of marketing and director of the Center on Global Brand Management at Columbia Business School, leading enterprises ranging from Gillette and Martha Stewart to Amtrak and Oprah Winfrey are already using such emotionally loaded techniques successfully to develop new products, communicate with customers, create business partnerships, build innovative cyberspace and brick-and-mortar sales outlets, and boost profits. Experiential Marketing presents Schmitt's insightful and thought-provoking examination of this growing trend, along with a series of suggestions (for example, how to create an "us vs. them" atmosphere) for implementing similar efforts. By dissecting a series of relevant campaigns undertaken at the leading-edge firms mentioned above, along with those at other major players such as Harley-Davidson, Volkswagen, Celestial Seasonings, and Taster's Choice, Schmitt demonstrates its effectiveness while deftly pointing out salient techniques that readers might adopt. --Howard Rothman

Engaging, enlightening, provocative, and sensational are the words people use to describe compelling experiences and these words also describe this extraordinary book by Bernd Schmitt.

Moving beyond traditional "features-and-benefits" marketing, Schmitt presents a revolutionary approach to marketing for the branding and information age. Schmitt shows how managers can create holistic experiences for their customers through brands that provide sensory, affective, and creative associations as well as lifestyle marketing and social identity campaigns.

In this masterful handbook of tools and techniques, Schmitt presents a battery of business cases to show how cutting-edge companies use "experience providers" such as visual identity, communication, product presence, Web sites, and service to create different types of customer experiences. To illustrate the essential concepts and frameworks of experiential marketing, Schmitt provides:

SENSE cases on Nokia mobile phones, Hennessy cognac, and Procter & Gamble's Tide Mountain Fresh detergent;

FEEL cases on Hallmark, Campbell's Soup, and Häagen Dazs Cafés in Asia, Europe, and the United States;

THINK cases on Apple Computer's revival, Genesis ElderCare, and Siemens;

ACT cases on Gillette's Mach3, the Milk Mustache campaign, and Martha Stewart Living;

RELATE cases on Harley-Davidson, Tommy Hilfiger, and Wonderbra.

Using the New Beetle and Sony as examples, Schmitt discusses the strategic and implementation intricacies of creating holistic experiences for customers. In an intriguing final chapter, he presents turn-around techniques such as "Objective: To Dream," "Send in the Iconoclasts," and "Quit the Bull," to show how traditional marketing firms can transform themselves into experience-oriented organizations.

This book will forever change your perception of customers, marketing, and brands -- from Amtrak and Singapore Airlines to Herbal Essences products and Gwyneth Paltrow.