Brand Co-Creation Tourism Research

Book excerpt: Responding to the rapidly changing business landscape (including advances in social media and information technology) and the COVID-19 pandemic where customers, visitors, or tourists have become more connected, accessible, and informed than ever before, many brands and firms are investing in brand management and brand co-creation. This new volume provides an enlightening perspective on brand co-creation, brand management, and branding through contemporary conceptual discussions and empirical research studies from thought leaders. Providing a step-by-step guide to the brand co-creation and branding process in the hospitality and tourism industry, the volume identifies cutting-edge measurements, strategies, and metrics for capturing and measuring brand co-creation and highlights best practices in implementing brand management marketing strategies. Starting with a basic understanding of brand (value) co-creation, the volume then explores deeper by defining the concept, describing the ways to measure it, and providing several strategies to capitalize on it. The authors emphasize the interrelationship of these concepts and how they manage brand co-creation. The book illustrates the concepts with examples from around the globe. Topics cover the impact of social media on brand co-creation during the COVID-19 outbreak in the tourism industry, co-branding emerging tourist destinations, analysis of the content of hotel websites, creating better customer value, brand co-creation in e-sports gaming events, post-COVID-19 educational tourism, and more. The volume also presents a chapter on the state-ofthe-art role of augmented reality and virtual reality in improving the customer experience. A synthesis of a decade-long effort in brand co-creation, the book will be valuable to academics, practitioners, consultants, destination management organizations (DMOs), and managers looking to improve brand co-creation pre-, during-, and post-pandemics.