Brand Lands Hot Spots and Cool Spaces

To successfully establish an emotional bond with the customer, marketers have to access the mind and heart. Linking the desire for entertainment with emotion is the key. Nobody wants to visit a place that makes them feel stressed or uneasy. Put the customer in the right mood, make him feel good and he's likely to spend money. In this riveting book, Mikunda analyses how this is achieved. From the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, from Swarovski's Crystal Worlds in Austria to the Guinness Store House in Dublin, we're taken on an exhilarating voyage of today's spectacular 'third places' - the new 'experience worlds' - and how they are created. The crucial point of Mikunda's observations is 'mood management', i.e. how a visitor's emotions are influenced through light, colour, shows, core attractions and sensory experiences. We learn how themed, or rather staged, marketing has become de rigueur in today's leisure-entertainment business. This is where art means science: where sophisticated design and cognitive psychology interweave to provide a massage of the soul for customers in stunning shopping malls, flagship stores, inspiring museums, hip hotels, trendy bars, themed restaurants, city centres events, wellness zones, virtual rooms, leisure parks, historical sites, nature trails - in fact, anywhere we choose to spend our free time.