Experiential Marketing and Cultural Routes The Case Study of the Routes of the Olive Tree Experiential Marketing and Cultural Routes The Case Study of the Routes of the Olive Tree Eugenio Conti Ioanna Pechlivanidou Master of Arts in Tourism Master Thesis Supervisor: Jenny Hviid Holm July 2016 Page 1 | 169 AKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, we would like to express our gratitude to Jenny Holm Hviid, who has been there as our supervisor throughout the course of our Master in Tourism. She has been guiding us both during our two semester projects in Aalborg University and our final master thesis and has been always assisting with her constructive critique. Thank you for your encouragement, support and patience. We would also like to thank the personnel of the Routes of the Olive Tree, who welcomed us so warmly, trusted us and helped us conduct this research. Without their cooperation, this work would not have been the same. Page 2 | 169 Abstract Given the increasing attention put on the experience economy and the market of experiences, on one hand, and on cultural routes as an emerging, alternative form of tourism, on the other, in this master thesis researchers set out to explore the use that a cultural route makes of experiences to market and differentiate itself, and what related challenges and issues can be identified. As the researchers were particularly interested in generating in-depth data, a single case study was chosen, with the case being one of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, the Routes of the Olive Tree. Theoretical propositions were developed in order to guide the analysis, in advance, on the basis of some of the most discussed concepts in experiential marketing for tourism, such as experiential realms, theming, representation and conveyance of the experience, staging of the experience and experiential marketing tools. Primary data was collected on the field from four different sources of data: participant observation, interviews, texts and netnography. Data from these different sources was consequently triangulated in order to generate multifaceted findings, which could help the researchers in their aim of gaining an in-depth understanding of the case. Although this research does not aim at generalizing the findings on other cultural routes, it is argued that it can provide useful, exhaustive context-based knowledge in what remains, today, an underdeveloped area of research. Findings indicate that, although the Routes of the Olive Tree develops, indeed, a route experience that is used to differentiate itself, many issues and challenges arise that need to be considered: particularly, the cultural route’s lack of direct control of the environment in which it is situated, a lack of funding and finally a lack of expertise can undermine the capacity for the cultural route to market and differentiate itself through experiences. In addition, peculiarities of the management of the route, such as its non-profit nature, need to be better considered and acknowledged in the literature, as these usually affect, in a similar vein, the capacity of the cultural route to market experiences and differentiate itself. Keywords: cultural route, experience, Routes of the Olive Tree, challenges, differentiation, experiential marketing Page 3 | 169 Table of Contents 1. ΙNTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 7 1.1. Towards an alternative kind of tourism ............................................................................... 7 1.2. Cultural routes ..................................................................................................................... 7 1.3. Marketing cultural routes for tourists ................................................................................. 9 1.4. Problem Formulation ......................................................................................................... 10 2. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 12 2.1. Philosophy of Science ........................................................................................................ 12 2.1.1. Ontology and epistemology ........................................................................................ 12 2.2. Case study as a research method ...................................................................................... 13 2.2.1. When to use case study as a method ......................................................................... 14 2.3. Case study design and preparation ................................................................................... 16 2.3.1. Using theory in the design of the case ....................................................................... 17 2.3.2. Deductive theory ........................................................................................................ 18 2.4. Designing Case Study ......................................................................................................... 19 2.4.1. Initial criteria ............................................................................................................... 19 2.4.2. Unit of analysis ............................................................................................................ 21 2.5. Preparation for the case study .......................................................................................... 23 2.5.1. Developing a protocol ................................................................................................. 24 2.5.2. Organize data gathering ............................................................................................. 25 2.5.3. Database ..................................................................................................................... 26 2.6. Data collection ................................................................................................................... 27 2.6.1. Participant observation............................................................................................... 27 2.6.2. Interviews.................................................................................................................... 33 2.6.3. Collection of texts ....................................................................................................... 39 2.6.4. Netnography ............................................................................................................... 40 2.7.Data analysis ....................................................................................................................... 41 2.7.1. Triangulation ............................................................................................................... 41 2.7.2. General analytic strategy ............................................................................................ 44 2.7.3. Interpretation ............................................................................................................. 45 3. THEORY ..................................................................................................................................... 49 Page 4 | 169 3.1. The ‘experience’ concept ................................................................................................... 49 3.1.1. The ‘Experience Economy’ .......................................................................................... 49 3.1.2. Experiential tourism and cultural routes .................................................................... 50 3.2. Experiential marketing: a differentiator ............................................................................ 51 3.3. Aspects of the experience .................................................................................................. 52 3.3.1. Authenticity................................................................................................................. 56 3.4. Theming ............................................................................................................................. 58 3.4.1. Considerations about theming ................................................................................... 59 3.5. Message(s) of the route experience .................................................................................. 60 3.5.1. Visitor’s interpretation ................................................................................................ 60 3.5.2. Use of language........................................................................................................... 62 3.5.3. Storytelling .................................................................................................................. 63 3.5.4. Visual devices .............................................................................................................. 63 3.6. Staging of the experience .................................................................................................. 64 3.7. Marketing tools .................................................................................................................. 66 3.7.1. Word of mouth ........................................................................................................... 67 3.7.2. Events .......................................................................................................................... 68 3.7.3. Social Media