Creating Brand Experience Based on Brand Equity in Tourism Destinations

Introduction

The most important strategic goal of modern marketing practices is to create sustainable consumer value and gain loyal customers. It can be said that value is created for consumers who are passionately attached to a product, celebrity, city, service, restaurant, hotel, or bank and have no intention of giving up. For example, for wine, which is a popular drink in many Mediterranean countries, what makes Italy's Venette, Piedmont, Lombard, and Tuscany regions a more popular wine tourism route than other regions? What could be the reason why some of the ski resorts in the USA, Finland, and Australia are more recommended or preferred, even if they show similar characteristics? What could be the determinants of the competition between popular ski resorts that show similar characteristics only in France? According to researchers, there is no single answer to this (Moilanen, 2008; Maizza & Rosato, 2008; Frochot et al., 2009). While factors such as quality, customer satisfaction, awareness, image, personality, competitiveness, and capacity to use their talents are necessary for a destination to become a brand first; As a result creating a good experience and creating tourist loyalty, it ensures that a destination is a place that can be preferred, recommended and can create loyalty compared to its competitors.

From the past to the present, similar definitions have been made about the brand. According to Kotler & Armstrong (2016), a brand is defined as a name, concept, word, symbol, design, and a combination of these, which serves to promote and define the goods or services of manufacturers or sellers, and to differentiate them from competing products or services in the market. The common aspect of the definition of the brand is that the brand is a concept that makes a difference, attracts attention, and symbolizes trust and power. On the other hand, in consumer behavior, brand, product, and service options are considered concepts that the consumer evaluates with the effect of various external environmental factors or the advertisements are exposed. In the process, the individual wants to remember the same product or service in their future purchases by giving meaning to them and facilitating the purchasing decision process (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010).

Brand definitions are generally handled under two approaches (Ambler & Styles, 1996). The first of these approaches is to the brand; while it is a traditional product-oriented approach that looks at the product as an add-on, the other is a holistic approach that considers it as a whole, including the marketing mix, and focuses on the satisfaction that the individual gets from the product consumer buys. According to the holistic approach, a brand, in addition to any product, is created by the elements of the marketing mix surrounding it; real or imaginary, rational or emotional, visible or invisible. According to this approach, the brand also includes experiential attachments such as symbol, personality, emotional benefit, and personal benefit.

While brands take place in the market with elements such as symbols, logos, and names, they must have certain features to create competitive leadership and increase market share (Kapferer, 2008). Accordingly, brands must first present big ideas and be attractive, provide them with experience at the points of contact with the consumer, become active due to various actions or behaviors, and be an asset that can be communicated and distributed. It would be appropriate to emphasize that the brand is a three-axis process in this context. Brands should create value for the consumer and the company with their intangible and concrete ideas, have assets that are hard to change, such as names and symbols, and provide product or service experience.