JIFAM Special Issue on Experiential Marketing: Perspectives from the International Agro-food Sector

Globalization in the food sector has increased over the past few decades, resulting in consumers finding little differentiation between food products, and consumers who are less loyal to the brand. To help overcome this problem, food companies are trying to shift the consumer’s attention from the product itself toward other elements, such as the experience they have with the brand/product and the emotions that derive from it, through Experiential Marketing. The rise of Experiential Marketing has led to businesses advertising and selling their offerings based on experiences rather than just the characteristics and quality of the product, meaning consumers are increasingly motivated by emotional factors in their purchasing decisions. Experiences are not self-generated but induced by different stimuli that consist of preand post-purchase marketing initiatives. Businesses need to recognize that a good experience should be embedded in the “value proposition” of every product, as the consumer wants to buy an enjoyable and engaging experience, and this will help consolidate a successful brand. Experiential Marketing has the potential to be effectively applied in the Agro-food sector and significantly influence consumers’ food purchasing choices. In the Agro-food sector it is easier to think about sensorial experiences when talking about the experience, and often Sensory Marketing is used by food businesses. In fact, the sensory characteristics of food are the primary drivers of liking for consumers when they make their purchase choices. Experiential Marketing in the Agro-food sector can receive valuable inspiration from different fields. For example, it can use information from advances in food processing technology; that is, it may evoke emotions through sensorial stimuli of an experience in an agricultural environment in which food becomes an eco-systemic agro-environmental service. This special issue encompasses contributions from Experiential Marketing researchers, and covers topics such as, consumers sensory and emotional experiences, brand experience, and consumer perceptions of food quality. The papers that compile this special issue explore Experiential Marketing in the Agro-food sector and provide insights of its effects on consumer engagement through an international perspective. The special issue starts with an exploratory study that investigates consumers’ sensory acceptance and willingness to pay for coffee drinks in a real caf e in Germany. Contrary to laboratory studies, consumers’ experience was studied in a natural consumption environment under blind conditions, in order to gain knowledge on sustainable food choice behavior in a real-life situation. It was based on the assumption that context can influence consumer perceptions and daily habits are valuable for reflecting a multi-faceted decision environment, reducing consumer cognitive burden and other empirical biases. Following this is an original study based on empirical data that highlights how presenting a wine strongly characterized by its production territory, and in a coherent context with its sensorial traits, may influence consumers’ preferences, consumption occasions and purchasing intentions, due to the positive emotional experience that the coherent context aroused. A blind sensory test by a large sample of experts of four Spumante wines originating from an important Italian wine region was conducted. In addition, focus groups with a blind wine tasting both out-of-context and in a coherent context (a Gulet moored