thedma.org. (2017). Integrated Marketing Definitions – Definition of
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Accessed 8 Nov. 2017.

 

Sandy McKee, S. (2015). How To Collect Consumer Insight With A
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Accessed 8 Nov. 2017.

 

matmi. (n.d.). Take a look at the new ride at Alton
Towers – The Smiler. image Available at: http://www2.matmi.com/blog/take-a-look-at-the-new-ride-at-alton-towers/
Accessed 8 Dec. 2017.

 

Roberts, J. (2014). Mapping your customer journeys across
touchpoints: Examples and techniques. online MyCustomer. Available at:
https://www.mycustomer.com/experience/engagement/mapping-your-customer-journeys-across-touchpoints-examples-and-techniques
Accessed 8 Nov. 2017.

Macleod, I. (2013). Alton Towers teams
with Fudge Urban to promote launch of The Smiler. online The Drum.
Available at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/04/10/alton-towers-teams-fudge-urban-promote-launch-smiler
Accessed 27 Nov. 2017.

 

Lemon, K. and Verhoef, P. (2016).
Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey. Journal
of Marketing, online pp.80 (6), 69-96. Available at:
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Accessed 8 Dec. 2017.

 

Fill, C. and Turnbull, S. (2016). Marketing
Communications discovery, creation and conversations. 7th ed. PEARSON
EDUCATION LIMITED, p.77.

References:

 

 

 

·        
(matmi., n.d.)
 

 

 

 

For Alton Towers to improve
their service I would recommend creating more gamified campaigns especially for
its upcoming ride ‘The secret weapon 8’ which is said to be launched in the spring,
AR gamification has been applied to past promotions including; The Smiler and
the ground-breaking ride Galactica. Which was a fun and effective way of
improving customer engagement, the marketing campaigns for the new ride would
be supported through window posters, in store POS and digital channels (Macleod, 2013). If Alton Towers Resort increase
engagement at the first point of contact through ticket giveaways as part of
promotion, it’s going to have a positive impact throughout the middle and end.

Recommendations

From
understanding the infographic and demonstrating how customers interact with the
business directly and indirectly it has helped me identify that customers are
engaged throughout the start, middle and end. Customers begin their journey
with ‘Awareness’ where they become aware of the business through launches such
as radio broadcasts, brochures, online/tv advertisements and for many
millennials social media via twitter and Instagram. The second part of the
journey is ‘Considerations’ where customers take careful though before the
purchase, they’re occupied with social media interactions, blogs and reviews
which is a powerful way to increase on-site engagement. Next step is the
‘Purchase’ customers can make digital or physical engagement at this stage for
instance purchasing tickets either at the resort, online, or even through the
Alton Towers App. The mobile app works incredibly well for the business as it
engages and increases mobile customer interaction. The business also gains
information about their customers behaviour as-well as increasing loyalty.
Later, is ‘Service’ which involves communication between B2C through social
media e.g. Twitter, Alton Towers Resort respond to any communication gaps
whether negative or positive. Lastly is ‘Loyalty Expansion’ where Alton Towers
Resort attempt to boost customer loyalty through integrated marketing which is
an approach to creating customer interaction with the brand by melding all
aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, PR,
direct marketing and social media (thedma.org, 2017). For example, direct emailing proposing offers,
and recommendations based on the customers history with the business (Fill and Turnbull 2016). The image shows an email I received after my
trip to the resort. The marketing technique is used to gain reviews on
TripAdvisor another example is the launch of Santa’s Sleepover it creatively
uses a range of online broadcasts and printed media, this campaign is effective
to increase visitors to the resort.

Insightful Critique

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Customers
interact with firms through multiple channels and media (Lemon and Verhoef,
2016). The
purpose of the customer journey-map is to capture and collect customer insights
to help identify any gaps between the consumer and the service delivery that
Alton Towers Resort provide. When developing a customer journey-map a good place
to begin with is the various touchpoints consumers have with the organisation,
this is where customers interact and engage with the business (Roberts, 2014).
This journey is told from the consumers perspective.

Customer
Journey

 

 

Wang, X. and Dunston, P. (2006). Compatibility issues
in Augmented Reality systems for AEC: An experimental prototype study.
Automation in Construction, online 15(3), pp.314-326. Available at:
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Accessed 3 Nov. 2017.

 

TEGTMEIER, T., NEOFOTISTOS, S. and NOORMOHAMED, N.A.,
2013. How Gamification Rewards College-Aged Consumer Loyalty: One Click at a
Time. Competition Forum, 11(2), pp. 177-184.

 

Payne, M. (n.d.). The
Gamification Behind Loyalty Cards – Bplans Blog. online Bplans Blog.
Available at: http://articles.bplans.com/the-gamification-behind-loyalty-cards/
Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.

 

Panchal, j. (2016). Is Wearable
Tech The Future Of Digital Marketing?. Blog businesszone. Available
at:
https://www.businesszone.co.uk/community/blogs/jaypanchal/is-wearable-tech-the-future-of-digital-marketing
Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.

 

Mirror (2016). Top 10 loyalty cards to
help save you money brought to you by The Coupon Kid. image Available at:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/family/top-10-loyalty-cards-help-4020713
Accessed 8 Dec. 2017.

 

Looyestyn, J., Kernot, J.,
Boshoff, K., Ryan, J., Edney, S. and Maher, C. (2017). Does gamification
increase engagement with online programs? A systematic review. PLOS ONE,
online 12(3), p.e0173403. Available at:
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002=RESULT_LIST=SingleTab=BasicSearchForm=1=GALE%7CA487976425=Report=Relevance==AONE=GALE%7CA487976425=R2=uce=true=1=uce#
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Leswing, K. (2017). This is the top free app using the
technology Apple says is the future. online Business Insider. Available at:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/top-free-augmented-reality-apps-apple-ar-dragon-2017-10?r=US=T
Accessed 3 Nov. 2017.

 

Lambie, A. (2015). Directing Attention in an Augmented
Reality Environment: An Attentional Tunneling Evaluation. Masters. Rochester
Institute of Technology Department of Psychology College of Liberal Arts.

 

Javornik, A. (2016). Augmented reality: Research agenda
for studying the impact of its media characteristics on consumer behaviour.
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, online 30, pp.252-261. Available
at:
https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/augmented-reality-research-agenda-for-studying-the-impact-of-its-media-AjnkHhihoK
Accessed 3 Nov. 2017.

 

Jary, S. (2016). Fitbit
Charge HR review. image Available at:
https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/review/activity-trackers/fitbit-charge-hr-review-3585633/
Accessed 8 Dec. 2017.

 

Jackson, M. (2015). what does
wearable technology mean for digital marketing?. Blog branded3.
Available at:
https://www.branded3.com/what-does-wearable-technology-mean-for-digital-marketing/
Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.

 

Holland, J. (2016). Wearable
Technology and Mobile Innovations for Next-Generation Education. United
States of America: IGI Global, p.chapter 1.

 

Holder, G. (2017). 7 Important
Changes in the World of Digital Marketing Read more at https://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/7-important-changes-world-digital-marketing-01833221#bCjxbJTdG480qWcD.99.
online business2community. Available at:
https://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/7-important-changes-world-digital-marketing-01833221#g0wwdrU7tb7I8jMd.97
Accessed 6 Nov. 2017.

 

homeklondike
(2017). IKEA and Apple Are Joining Forces in Creating Augmented Reality App.
image Available at:
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Accessed 8 Dec. 2017.

 

Hofacker, C., Ruyterb, K., Lurie,
N., Manchanda, P. and Donaldson, J. (2016). Gamification and Mobile
Marketing Effectiveness. online sciencedirect. Available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S1094996816300019
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Hammis, E. (2014). How
Wearable Technology Will Impact Digital Marketing. online
business2community. Available at: http://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/wearable-technology-will-impact-digital-marketing-01106832#1YsER44FSDAHPDpM.97
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Gilmore, J. (2016). Everywear:
The quantified self and wearable fitness technologies. New Media &
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Gallina, S. (2017). Top Digital Marketing Trends to
Watch in 2017 – Augmented Reality. Blog perficient. Available at:
https://blogs.perficient.com/adobe/2017/01/19/top-digital-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2017-augmented-reality/
Accessed 3 Nov. 2017.

 

Gaff, B. (2015). Legal Issues
with Wearable Technology. Computer, online 48(9), pp.10-12. Available
at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/document/7274415/ Accessed 31
Oct. 1997.

 

Fill, C. and Turnbull, S. (2016).
Marketing Communications. 7th ed. Edingburgh: Pearson Education Limited,
pp.7-8.

 

Fill, C. and Turnbull, S. (2016).
Marketing Communications discovery, creation and conversations. 7th ed.
PEARSON EDUCATION LIMITED, p.629.

 

Choi, H., Lim, S. and Jeong, C. (2014). New promotional
video technique utilizing augmented reality and popcode. Multimedia Tools and
Applications, online 75(23), pp.15311-15326. Available at:
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Charara, S. and Sawh, M. (2017). The
world’s most hotly anticipated wearable tech. online Wearable. Available
at: https://www.wareable.com/internet-of-things/the-worlds-most-hotly-anticipated-wearables
Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.

 

Birkner, C. (2017). 3 Ways
Wearable Tech Will Change Marketing. online Ama.org. Available at:
https://www.ama.org/publications/eNewsletters/Marketing-News-Weekly/Pages/wearable-tech-will-change-marketing.aspx
Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.

 

Bacon, J., Rogers, C. and Chahal, M. (2016). Trends for
2017: AR and VR, agency relationships & diversity. online Marketing Week.
Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/12/14/trends-2017-ar-vr-agency-relationships-diversity/
Accessed 3 Nov. 2017.

References:

 

 

(homeklondike,
2017)

 

Augmented
reality is an interactive technology that enables people to see virtual
elements in the real world (Leswing, 2017). It provides a fulfilling sense
of reality, because it combines the actual world with virtual objects (Choi, Lim and Jeong, 2014). In, order
to gain the experience that augmented reality provides consumers must be
engaged, since
augmented reality gained mainstream attention back in 2016 with the release of
Pokémon Go (which as of today has 1,680 ratings on the app store). It comes to
no surprise to see consumers walking around with their eyes glued to their
phone trying to catch a Pikachu (Bacon, Rogers and Chahal,
2016). It’s now perceived as the
social norm to do so. The Pokémon Go app generated large amounts of attention
and marketers become aware of that as it’s highly important that they keep up
with the latest trends. Today there are many more consumers who are engaged
with a wide variety of augmented reality. Augmented reality, has many
applications from computer-aided surgery, interior design to modelling and
entertainment (Lambie, 2015). Interactive technologies have an
impact on consumers behaviour as it’s considerably transformed retail marketing
and the way consumers engage in shopping and brand activities (Javornik, 2016). For instance, the IKEA Place
app via App store/play store the app that allows the buyer to virtually place
Ikea furniture products such as chairs, tables etc in a specific space enabling
consumers to stop wondering what it’ll look like in their home and to start
doing (Gallina, 2017).
Consumers are engaged with
these interactive augmented reality apps as they deliver value and
entertainment. Within augmented reality there
are attention-related issues, as augmented reality-make the use of explicit
cuing to support the performance of visual search it can also cause perceptual
issues such as attention tunnelling (Wang and Dunston, 2006).

Augmented
Reality

(Gaff,
2015). This data has the capability to better shape their marketing efforts,
with the user’s valuable information such as their real-time location and
activities (Panchal, 2016). These insights give digital marketers various
advantages specifically, the ability to deliver modified marketing messages to
the wearer of the smartwatch and a better sense of how to engage with consumers
(Hammis, 2014). However, for marketers they are much
more than just a fitness gadget that keeps track of folk’s daily routines and
hobbies, these technical devises provide large amounts of information which
collects all types of highly personal data about the wearer which is exploited
for marketing purposes (Gilmore, 2016).  It also has
smartphone applications that can record information such as steps taken,
distance travelled and how many calories burned (Birkner,
2017). Fitness devises such as Fitbits are used by
consumers for many different purposes typically used for health-related
indicators, such as excises and diet-tracking or even used for tracking blood
pressure, and heart rate (Jackson, 2015). Wearable technologies have made an
impact on digital marketers, as well as consumers everyday life (Charara and Sawh, 2017). watches, Google glasses, Fitbits,
Samsung galaxy gear and everything in between, these are just a small few that
have become a social standard and ultimately gamechangers (Holland, 2016). AppleWearable fitness technology is rapidly growing
as everything wearable is becoming smart (Panchal, 2016). become
increasingly popular and is undoubtedly the future of digital marketing (Holland,
2016). It hasIn today’s modern world wearable
technology is changing the way people live, play, work and even interact, it is
causing highly significant progress affecting businesses, education and
personal health

(Jary, 2016)

 

Wearable
Technology

 

Marketers are always looking for new methods
in which they can develop to reach brand engagement through the revolutionary
trend gamification which is becoming a brand favourite for marketers, many are
incorporating interesting and compelling technologies such as, gamification to
their marketing strategies. Neofotistos and Noormohamed (2013). Believe it can
gain attention, create loyalty and long-lasting relationships with their
customers. According to Fill and Turnbull (2016). The development of game
technology has promoted enormous growth in the number of consumers who play
online games. Gamification incorporates elements of game design into a brand
loyalty system, the most common gamification elements consist of; points,
badges and leader-boards these features aim to have a huge impact on the users
(Looyestyn et al., 2017). Which are used to enhance non-game goods and services
by increasing customer value and encouraging value-creating behaviours for
instance; increased consumption, greater loyalty, engagement, and product
advocacy (Hofacker et al., 2016). To put it simply, using loyalty cards to
collect points and receive rewards whilst shopping like Boots advantage
card/app rewards customers for shopping with them with points to spend on
treats instore and online. The whole idea behind this interaction with brand
and card is to try and ‘gamify’ consumers actions and secure a repeat purchase
(Payne, n.d.). This then creates opportunity for
marketers to connect with their loyal customers, Hofacker et al., (2016). Implies
that gamification executed on mobile platforms has the potential to affect an
important set of retailing outcomes, to entertain customers, to accelerate
repurchase, to retain customers, and to contribute in-store engagement.

(Mirror, 2016)
 

 

Gamification

 

Based on recent
research findings this essay will explain and justify how gamification,
wearable technology and augmented reality impact the digital marketing
landscape. Digital marketing is an industry that’s constantly reshaping and
improving at a phenomenal pace, it’s been around for a period of years, decades
even (Holder, 2017). Before the world of digital marketing and smartphones there were
just a few digital marketing communication tools in which were used to reach
and engage consumers for instance; display ads, direct mail, the yellow pages
(if you’re old enough to remember), radio broadcasts, magazines, face-to-face,
telemarketing and so on. With the successful progress within technology it
continues to evolve to this present day, the word ‘engage’ is used in the
previous sentence this referrers to the communication that occurs between
people, and between people and technology. Organisations such as Apple, Tesco,
Santander, Facebook and Google use a variety of different communications to
reach and engage with various audiences (Fill
and Turnbull 2016).

Digital
Communication