Enhancing the Experience of the VIP customers of Ilosaarirock Festival
Klein, Denise (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023120433911
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023120433911
Tiivistelmä
This product-based thesis intents to enhance the experience of VIP customers of Ilosaarirock Festival. The commissioning party, Ilosaarirock Festival, is an annual music festival taking place in the Finnish city Joensuu. The objectives of this thesis are to investigate how the experience of VIP customers of Ilosaarirock Festival can be enhanced and propose changes to the currently offered VIP services as part of a guidebook. During this process, the author aims to develop a thorough customer understanding through observations and interviews.
As part of the literature review, the concepts of experiences, customer satisfaction, and customer journey were studied. The framework of this thesis was built using experience design tools such as the Experience Realms, the Experience Pyramid, and the Prestige Framework of Managing VIP Experiences, laying the groundwork for developing suggestions to improve the current VIP product.
The author gained an understanding of the customer experience at the festival and how it can be improved by conducting a non-participatory observation of the festival's and competitors' VIP related communications on the social media channel Instagram, a participatory observation from the perspective of a VIP customer during the festival weekend, a semi-structured interview with one of the festival organisers, and six semi-structured interviews with VIP customers of the festival.
As a result of this thesis work, the author has created a guidebook, including suggestions on how the VIP services offered during the festival edition of 2023 should be changed. By implementing the suggestions of the guidebook, the organisers of the festival have the chance to enhance the festival experience of their VIP customers for the following years.
The thesis work was taking place between May and December 2023. Evaluating the created guidebook, the author can state that the thesis objectives are met. A customer understanding has been developed through the conducted observations and interviews. Based on all collected insights, the guidebook has been formed, containing suggestions that can help the festival organisers to enhance the experience of their VIP customers. The theoretical framework can be utilised for the enhancement of other VIP products in the live music industry. However, the guidebook is created entirely for Ilosaarirock Festival and based on their VIP product offered during the festival hosted in 2023, making most of the suggestions irrelevant for other live music event organisers.
As part of the literature review, the concepts of experiences, customer satisfaction, and customer journey were studied. The framework of this thesis was built using experience design tools such as the Experience Realms, the Experience Pyramid, and the Prestige Framework of Managing VIP Experiences, laying the groundwork for developing suggestions to improve the current VIP product.
The author gained an understanding of the customer experience at the festival and how it can be improved by conducting a non-participatory observation of the festival's and competitors' VIP related communications on the social media channel Instagram, a participatory observation from the perspective of a VIP customer during the festival weekend, a semi-structured interview with one of the festival organisers, and six semi-structured interviews with VIP customers of the festival.
As a result of this thesis work, the author has created a guidebook, including suggestions on how the VIP services offered during the festival edition of 2023 should be changed. By implementing the suggestions of the guidebook, the organisers of the festival have the chance to enhance the festival experience of their VIP customers for the following years.
The thesis work was taking place between May and December 2023. Evaluating the created guidebook, the author can state that the thesis objectives are met. A customer understanding has been developed through the conducted observations and interviews. Based on all collected insights, the guidebook has been formed, containing suggestions that can help the festival organisers to enhance the experience of their VIP customers. The theoretical framework can be utilised for the enhancement of other VIP products in the live music industry. However, the guidebook is created entirely for Ilosaarirock Festival and based on their VIP product offered during the festival hosted in 2023, making most of the suggestions irrelevant for other live music event organisers.