Brand experience manual: bridging the gap between brand strategy and customer experience

The importance of customer experiences in developing strong brands is broadly acknowledged in the Branding literature. Yet, the divide between the functions managing the brand and those responsible for devising the interactions through which customers experience the brand persists. This paper aims to bridge the gap between Brand Strategy and Customer Experience by introducing the concept of the Brand Experience Manual. Through practice-based design research, this paper describes the development of a Brand Experience Manual over four iteration cycles. Throughout this process, this paper explores ways of conveying the experience proposition made by the brand, developing a framework for defining and a tool for communicating the Brand Experience Proposition to the teams responsible for the New Service Development. Additionally, this paper offers a theoretical basis for the advancement of a customer experience-centric approach to Branding.