Stories as Emotional Drivers

Our upcoming chapter in the book Memorable Customer Experiences (Gower Press) called "Balancing Act" looks at the balance between rational and emotional customer experiences. Wachtman & Johnson's article in Jan/Feb 2009 Marketing Management offers an interesting perspective on the emotional side of a customer experience, in terms of the use of story as a means of communicating the emotional side of a brand. The connection here is trying to blend a customer's personal story with the company's story. We've been investigating this in one project in terms of the customer's desired "lifestyle" as the root source of customer's emotional needs.