Communicating brands through engagement with ‘lived’ experiences

As the recent years saw the rapidly decreasing effectiveness of traditional brand communications, event-marketing has emerged as a new breed of communication strategy, which involves target audiences as active participants on a behavioural level. By using a participatory case study method, this paper demonstrates the nature, scope and benefits of event-marketing in differentiating and enhancing customer–brand relationships in relation to a German university. The study concludes that event-marketing facilitates customer engagement with the brand through informal dialogues and personal first-hand brand experiences. Implications for managers are discussed and avenues for further research offered.