Experiential Marketing in Traditional Industries: The Case of Kyoto Incense Producer Shoyeido

The purpose of this study is to show how firms in traditional craftsmanship-oriented industries can apply experiential marketing to compete in a changing environment in which service-dominant logic is ascendant. The products of traditional industries in Kyoto are made by craftsmanship honed by history. Kyoto’s traditional industries therefore tend to be craftsmanship thisted, with the craftsmen at their center maintaining a strong sense of mission and responsibility to preserve tradition. Traditional marketing views consumers as rational decision-makers who care most about the functional features and benefits of what they buy. In contrast to this approach is experiential marketing, as proposed by Schmitt (Journal of Marketing Management 15:53–67, 1999). Experiential marketers view consumers as rational and emotional human beings who are concerned with achieving pleasurable experiences. Experiential marketing focuses on getting customers to sense, feel, think, act, and relate, and it has enabled customers to increasingly participate together with companies in creating value. This research examines the shift of traditional industries of Kyoto from a “craftsmanship” orientation toward a “shared value creation” by analyzing the case of Shoyeido, a long-established incense business, from the viewpoint of value co-creation and context value, concepts which underlie experiential marketing. We also discuss the commercialization at tourist sites of traditional exquisite Japanese incense presentation.