Designing for meaningful experiences : a look into the organized road racing industry

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Designing for Meaningful Experiences:

A Look into the Organized Road Racing Industry

By: Julius van Leeuwen

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Submitted on: 22-03-2018 (Final v.2)

MSc. in Business Administration – Marketing Track

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Abstract

Service commoditization paired with ever-changing customer needs are disrupting industries, resulting in a surge of interest to design for meaningful experiences. So far however, scholars have overlooked the participative sports industry, specifically the road racing industry, when it comes to researching the effects of experience design elements. The road racing industry, with an attractive demographic- high income and highly educated households- is seeing a sharp decline in participants, making it an interesting field of research. By means of case studies, this paper looks at what Dutch road racing organizations can learn from their experience-centric, innovative peers in designing for meaningful experiences. Building on previous research on CEM this paper looks at how experiences can be filled in by looking at a total of three design elements- each incorporating one or more experience design principles: 1) The Process: a) dramatic structure; b) themed experience, 2) Relational Context: c)

volunteer engagement; d) customer interaction; e) backstage influence, 3) Physical Context: f) sensory design. In total seven road racing organizations were interviewed to investigate how the six design principles are currently being implemented, including ‘innovations’ as a seventh topic. The results were analysed using a three-step process, starting by designating the 10 cases into one of four event categories based on grounded CEM patterns, after which the currently implemented design principles were compared. This resulted in the creation of experience design “toolboxes”, which can be used by organizations wanting to provide runners with meaningful experiences. Academically, this paper builds on an empirically and theoretically grounded framework in demonstrating how customer experiences can be filled in and designed for.

Keywords: Customer experience, CEM, customer engagement, road racing industry, design elements, design principles, meaningful experiences, customer loyalty

Statement of originality

This document is written by Julius van Leeuwen, who declares to take full responsibility for the content of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

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1. Introduction

Increasingly over the past decade, creating “experiences” for customers has become an interesting topic for research. Commoditization of service offerings have made service

organizations place even more emphasis on offering unique and memorable experiences to its customers (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009). At the same time, through innovations in information technology (IT), better and more personalized services can be offered, potentially deepening relationships (Rust & Huang, 2014). Walt Disney World was one of the first organizations to implement this “thinking in experiences”. Disney’s Magic Bands for example, embed every aspect of this IT revolution, streaming real-time data about each guest which reduces frictions while ensuring a consistent, customized experience. Since then many other organizations such as Zappos and Southwest Airlines have adopted this modern approach to marketing. These experience-centric originations constantly manage, measure and improve the customer experience and take service excellence one step further by aiming to create moments of magic with their customers.

Customer experience, which is a holistic concept that encompasses every aspect of a

company’s offerings can be defined as the internal and subjective response customers have to any contact (direct or indirect) with a company (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009; Meyer &

Schwager, 2007). Many authors studying this relatively new concept have looked at outcomes of customer experience such as customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Homburg, Jozić & Kuehnl, 2017; Srivastava & Kaul, 2016; Mascarenhas, Kesavan & Bernacchi, 2006; Pullman & Gross, 2004). However, less emphasis has been placed on the tangible and intangible experience design elements which enable the delivery of experience-centric services (Pullman & Gross, 2004).

Predecessors interested in optimizing service design elements have primarily studied the world of theme parks by analyzing the physical and virtual contexts in which the

consumption of customer experiences take place (Min, Hyun, Kim & Lee, 2017; Dong & Siu, 2013; Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009, Geissler & Rucks, 2011). These scholars look at successful experience design elements within theme parks and analyze how they can be generalized more broadly to the service industry.

Notably however, scholars tend to overlook the sports industry, more specifically organized road racing, when it comes to examining the relevance of design elements (Yoshida & James,

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2010). The academic archives only mention long-distance racing when it concerns advice related to how companies should approach customer experience as a marathon rather than a sprint. This is concerning, especially due to the magnitude of the sport. IBISWorld (Running USA, 2017) in 2015 estimated organized road racing to be a $1.4-billion-and-growing industry, attracting big name sponsors such as Tata Consultancy Services (e.g. Amsterdam and New York) and Tag Heuer (e.g. London and Berlin). Nevertheless, Running USA this year noted a decline in road race finishers for a third straight year after having seen an increase from five million road race runners to over 19 million between 1990 and 2013. As a result, sponsors are becoming harder to attract. Race participants are no longer content with just a medal but expect satisfying experiences throughout the entire customer journey (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). This is concerning since the demographics are quite favourable: The median household income of a runner is $112,000, and at least 79% are

college-educated, meaning that organizations will need to take on a different approach (Wahba, 2015; Sorrells, 2012).

Thinking in experiences rather than services will be crucial for these organizations, if they want to stay relevant among twenty-first-century runners.

In this paper, current knowledge on experience-centric services and design elements will be used as a foundation to explore how customer experiences can optimally be designed for by looking at the participative sports industry. This leads to the following research:

"How can the organized road racing industry adopt a more experience-centric approach by looking at how the design elements are currently being implemented by their innovative peers?"

In answering this question, this article hopes to prove the importance of adopting an

experience-centric approach, and the role design elements play in designing for experiences. Furthermore, this article hopes to contribute by exploring the experience design opportunities for an until now relatively new field of research, namely organized road racing events. A declining runners market, an increase in competitors and ever-changing consumer needs all ask for a different approach to service offerings- improving the quality around a service instead of improving the quality of the service itself.

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This article first seeks to understand what is currently known about customer experience, customer engagement and whether it’s possible to design for experiences. After analyzing the theory related to customer experience, the article takes a qualitative approach, in the form of case-studies, in order to explore how innovative road race organizing organizations currently implement the various design elements.

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2. Theoretical Background

2.1 Experiences

The term “experience” is commonly used to describe an event which was meaningful or memorable, but the process of becoming one of meaning happens subconsciously. The first part of the process relates to how our senses perceive our surroundings. These sensory perceptions lead to emotions such as joy or anger (Boswijk, Peelen & Olthof, 2011). These emotions are the result of how our mind perceives that which we see or hear, which is mostly why people visit concerts- to let our emotions become positively impact by the perceptions of our senses. These emotions do not always make sense, as our mind is constantly evaluating the situation in specific socio-cultural contexts and the rules which apply there (Boswijk et al., 2011). An experience then is: “An immediate, relatively isolated event with a complex of emotions that leave an impression…” (Boswijk et al., 2011). Following this logic, traveling to a neighboring town will less likely leave a memorable impression than a vacation to southeast Asia, as the perceived emotions will not be that complex due to familiarity. Whereas the previous example of a personal experience can be categorized as a primary experience, social media and conversations result in secondary experiences: experiences which are experienced by others and subsequently shared (Reed, 1996). This distinction of primary and secondary experiences is especially relevant nowadays where people are

continuously searching for authentic and new experiences. Another distinction which is made is that of experiencing things and remembering them. The difference, according to Daniel Kahneman (1999), lies in the fact that people remember experiences based on the memorable elements. A neutral experience can for example be remembered as a negative one, if an up to that point enjoyable day at a theme park ends with an unfriendly remark by an employee. The fact that one comment can ruin the memory of an entire experience shows how important it is for organizations to be aware of how their product or service offering is being perceived by the customer. In this case, we can make a distinction between the single negative experience at the end, and the impact it had on the overall theme park experience. This confusion around the word experience usually comes from the fact that the word has two distinct meanings in certain languages whereas it only has one meaning in other. The Dutch and German language for example, distinguish between “a lived experience” and “experience in its entirety”, while the English language combines both these meanings under one word: experience (Boswijk et al., 2011). To avoid further confusion, this paper accepts the holistic definition of Snel (2011):

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“Experience is a continuous, interactive process of doing and undergoing, of action and reflection- of cause and effect- that is meaningful to the individual in (more than one) different contexts of his life. An experience causes an individual to change his perspective on the world and/or himself”.

This does not mean that individual experiences are not important, but it shows that all relevant experiences are reflected upon and combined in order to create an overall

experience perception. In the case of the family visiting the theme park; If the single negative experience would have been preceded by many meaningful positive experiences it could be that the overall experience, and eventually the memories of this experience, would be positive.

It is thus important for organizations to understand where and how their customers consume experiences while also looking at the strength and favorability of these experiences.

2.2 Customer Experience

Organizations today acknowledge that relationships are built from a series of encounters with a firm, and are expanding their strategies accordingly in order to manage the entire process the customer goes through to have a good experience (Voorhees, Fombelle, Allen, Bone & Aach, 2014; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). In order to strengthen these relationships, firms should take a holistic view of the customer experience by focusing on the pre, core and post experience. This is consistent with other scholars who claim that the customer experience is a customers’ journey with a firm over time during the purchase cycle across multiple

touchpoints (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). Homburg et al. (2017), take this idea even one step further and claim that customer experience (CE) is the: “evolvement of a person’s sensorial, affective, cognitive, relational and behavioural responses to a firm or brand by living through a journey of touchpoints.

Due to the multidimensionality of the broad construct that is CE, Lemon and Verhoef (2016) set out to differentiate it from similar but more focused constructs. Customer satisfaction for example, is one of the components of customer experience focusing on cognitive evaluations whereas service quality can be seen as an antecedent of customer experience. The authors also make a distinction between the emerging construct of customer engagement and customer experience in that customer engagement focuses on the extent to which: “the customer reaches out to and initiates contact with the focal agent, whether attitudinally or

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behaviourally” (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). In this case, reaching out refers to the engagement which results in cognitive, behavioural, emotional and sensorial responses on the part of the consumer.

In a nutshell, the design, delivery, and management of the customer experience can be viewed from multiple perspectives: Either from the customer’s point of view (responding to experiential cues), through co-creation of experiences or through the eyes of the organization (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). In the latter case, organizations are consciously thinking about experiences as being designable, resulting in an interest for a new type of marketing: experiential marketing.

Schmitt (1999) was one of the first scholars to make the transition from transitional

marketing to what he called “experiential marketing”: creating experiences for customers.

2.3 Origin

Schmitt (1999) claimed that it was necessary to shift from the features-and-benefits approach to creating customer experiences. This interest in creating experiences has also resulted in a number of authors arguing for a switch from the service economy to the experience economy (Pine & Gilmore, 1999).

In the service economy, where commoditization of service offerings rises, organizations must find new ways to achieve a competitive advantage particularly by focusing on design and management of customers’ experiences (Pullman & Gross, 2014). A company creates a potential experience by intentionally using services as the stage, and goods as props, to engage individual customers in a way that creates a memorable event (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). This sentence can be deconstructed into two parts: 1) designing an experience and 2) engaging with the customer. The following chapters will elaborate on the practice of

designing for experiences after which this paper looks at the dimensions of customer engagement.

2.4 Can you design for experiences?

This view of orchestrating or designing an experience has received its fair share of criticism from authors who claim that not all elements can be controlled for as each experience is perceived differently. However, even though these experiences are inherently emotional and personal, a service provider can facilitate an environment for experience by manipulating key elements (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009). If we look at the continuum in figure 1, on which the

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organization increasingly orchestrates the experience as it moves to the right, we see that organizations have many options when it comes to how they wish the experience to be perceived. A fully orchestrated experience for example, takes place when an organization leaves nothing to chance, and manipulates the tiniest elements in order to achieve the desired experiences. However, since organizations and especially road race organizers, almost always have to do with external factors, this form of designing for experiences is highly unfeasible.

Figure 1 - Experience Design Continuum

Consequently, an experience occurs when a customer has any sensation or knowledge acquisition resulting from some level of interaction with these designed elements, which are part of a broader context created by the service providing organization (Gupta & Vajic, 2000). What this means is that no two people can have the same experience as each experience is an interaction between an individual and the experience elements (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). This statement confirms the unfeasibility of fully orchestrating experiences, and will be further elaborated on later.

2.5 Unfolding the experience

The context in which the experience takes place consists of both physical and relational elements and includes every manipulable element (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009). These experience elements are similar to what Lemon & Verhoef (2016) call “touch points”: individual contacts between the firm and the customer at

distinct points in the experience. According to Teixeira et al. (2012), this means that context encompasses the elements of each touchpoint, while activities unfold the experience. In this regard, the physical and relational elements can be seen as the figures in the playing field whereas the process can be defined as the overarching series of actions holding everything together (storyline). Pine and Gilmore (1998) adequately dissect experiences across two dimensions: customer participation (passive vs. active) and connection with the event (absorption vs.

Unconstrained Middle ground Orchestration

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immersion). Someone watching the UEFA Champions (passive participation), and is fully absorbed in the action is experiencing entertainment, whereas the more active and immersed an individual gets, the more the experience becomes one of an escapist nature (e.g. running the Berlin Marathon). Visiting the Grand Canyon is an example of an esthetic experience in which the participation is low, but the individual is very immersed. Ideally, an organization encompasses aspects of all four realms (entertainment, educational, esthetic and escapist) making it the richest experience (Pine & Gilmore, 1998).

2.6 From experience to experience design

As previously mentioned, customers co-create unique experiences through their interactions with a service provider across different touchpoints. In doing so they respond to the different designed elements, along with other elements that are not under the control of the

organization such as the social environment (Verhoef, Lemon, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros & Schlesinger, 2009). A crying baby on an airplane for example has the ability to nullify all of the organization’s designed elements. Since customer experiences cannot be fully designed, organizations should design situations that better support customers in the process of co-creating their desired experiences (Forlizzi & Ford, 2000). Similarly, McLellan (2000) emphasizes owning as much of the entire experience by designing experiences that are functional, purposeful, engaging, compelling, and memorable and enjoyable. This extreme form of designing is essentially about continuously finding the sweet spot for a particular goal and context. This means putting in place supporting design features while eliminating or redesigning features that detract from the purpose (Pine & Gilmore, 1998; McLellan, 2000). Virgin Atlantic for example, constantly disrupts the status quo within the airline industry by offering more personal and memorable experiences than its competitors. Instead of focusing on loyalty programs, Virgin Atlantic relies on customer data insights to develop unique and new experiences such as free Wi-Fi available on-board (Ward, 2015).

Almost twenty years ago, Pine and Gillmore (1998) expected that experience design would become a business art and accordingly identified five key experience-design principles: theme the experience, harmonize impressions with positive cues, eliminate negative cues, mix in memorabilia and engaging all five senses. Over the years, authors interested in customer experience design have hardly veered from these initial principles.

Zomerdijk and Voss (2009) for example, tested the strength of a set of propositions for experience design of experience-centric services- especially the design of their context. The

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greatest level of support was found for the designing of customer journeys and touchpoints, sensory design, and the designing of the dramatic structure of events. Less evidence was found for the propositions that employees should be required to engage with customers, that firms should manage the presence of fellow customers and that backstage employees should be linked to the frontstage experience. One year later, Boswijk et al. (2011), supplemented the existing principles with their own findings to come to the following 10 design principles: 1) Theme the experience; 2) Harmonise impression; 3) Eliminate intrusional elements; 4) Pay attention to mood and atmosphere; 5) Add memories and memorabilia; 6) Involve all the senses; 7) Pay attention to authenticity; 8) Dramatize the structure; 9) Deploy staff as most important actors; 10) Work towards realizing the well-being of individuals. Looking at the design principles of these scholars, many similarities can be found. For this reason, all design principles are grouped into 6 themes; One in a physical context, three in a relational context, and two in the process which brings everything together (Figure 3).

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Figure 3 - Experience consumption

Figure 4 helps explain the relationship between the three design elements. The image portrays several small circles within a larger circle, with the orange circles signifying the relational cues, and the blue circles the physical cues. If we think of the inner circle as the event terrain, the circles signify the position and size of their respective cue (e.g. Cheering zone or Pick-up point). The outer circle, or the overarching process, is neither physical nor relational in nature as it aims to create cohesion between all elements.

2.7 Experience design elements

Based on previous work by authors, the following chapters will seek to define and analyse the themes above in their respective element: The Process, Relational context, and Physical context, after which we look at how these elements impact customer engagement.

The Process

1) Dramatic Structure •Engineer encounter to enhance

recollection

2) Thematized Experience •Creating a clear theme around

the concept

Relational Context

3) Volunteer Engagement •Authentic interactions between

employees and customers 4) Customer Interaction •Managing customer interactions

with each other

5) Backstage Influence •Coupling backstage employees

to the frontstage experience

Physical Context

6) Sensory Design

•Influence sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch

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The Process

Road racing organizations, in planning for the day of the event, usually think in a storyline. Where do the runners come from in the morning? When does the event come to an end? This process of events should form a coherent structure, and consist of physical and relational cues. Research on the topic of event structures has shown that through manipulation of the sequence and strength of events (location and size of circles in figure 5), moods, feelings and emotions can be impacted (Gentile et al, 2007; Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009). Because runners rarely remember every single experience, organizations can choose to manipulate the most memorable cues. Especially the beginning (e.g. ease of parking, accessible entry) and end (e.g. closing ceremony, ease of exiting the venue) are memorable moments for consumers, which is why the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam offers guests two complimentary “fluitjes” (slim 20cl beers) before departure. External factors play an important role in how an event is perceived, so organizations anticipating bad weather or heavy traffic should have a plan B ready in order to ensure the “story” ends on a positive note.

Whereas the dramatic structure of an event talks about the manipulation of events (in order and size), theming an experience concerns the harmonization of cues under a common theme. With over 2.000 events being organized in the Netherlands on a yearly basis, it is important for an event to be recognizable under a certain theme. Coherence can be achieved in how an event is decorated (e.g. matching colors), how it communicates (e.g. language use) or even by the warmth of the volunteers. Ideally, runners get a clear idea of what the organization is about, and recognize a clear event philosophy (Boswijk et al., 2011).

In sum, the questions an organization should first ask itself is: what is our storyline (theme), and how does it go (dramatic structure)?

Relational context

Pullman and Gross (2004) make a distinction between two types of relational context: service provider-guest and guest-other guests. In experience-centric services where the organization has many frontline employees, employees play a crucial role in creating engaging and enjoyable experiences for its customers (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009). Boswijk et al. (2011), agree by stressing the importance of deploying your staff at the most important actors. This is especially the case in theme parks where food service staff, ride operators, maintenance crews, and other employees play a vital role in ensuring an enjoyable and satisfying park experience (Geissler& Rucks, 2011). The same goes for the airline industry where

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experiences are for a great deal dependent on the knowledge and friendliness of ground staff and cabin crew. Southwest Airlines is an example of a company offering excellent customer service, by taking an employee-centric approach. Even though their employees are paid less than at other airlines, employees love to work at Southwest Airlines because the company frequently states that: “Our people are our single greatest strength and most enduring long-term competitive advantage” (Customer Value Creation, 2017).

Another aspect of the relational context is the interaction between guests and the potential impact of fellow customers on customers’ emotions. This is especially relevant in experience-centric services that tend to get crowded such as cruise ships, theme parks, and sporting events. For these industries, the combination of preplanning and technological capabilities reduces critical friction areas such as crowding, avoiding possible frustration and indecision (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016).

Physical context

Finally, cues can also be designed in a physical context. These tangible service elements can be implemented by means of sensory design (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009).

As we saw in the previous chapter, runners tend to engage with an event or organization when absorption and attention is high. These dimensions can be enhanced by manipulation of the senses. This sensorial component of the customer experience, which draws on

environmental psychology, relates to the physical alteration of the environment in order to evoke emotions and responses (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009).

By stimulation the senses, an offering can address sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell in order to arouse feelings such as aesthetical pleasure, excitement, satisfaction, sense of beauty (Gentile et al., 2007). In order for physical context to be effective, it needs to be concise, compelling and engage all senses (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). Starbucks is a prime example of an organization implementing “sensory marketing” to create deeper relationships with their customer. In a saturated coffee industry, Starbucks decided that a visit to Starbucks should be an “experience for the mind and heart”, and realize this by manipulation of the senses

(Advertising and branding, 2017). The pleasant smell and taste of freshly ground coffee, accompanied by relaxing music while sitting on comfortable aesthetic armchairs result in feelings like satisfaction and comfort. Even though the importance of sensory design for

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experience-centric services is clear, the concept is relatively new and its use currently low in practice (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009).

The previous paragraphs talked about design elements as controllable factors to enhance the customer experience. But then how do these elements affect participants? The following chapter looks at the concept of customer engagement, which is the result of positively filling in the previously mentioned design elements.

Customer engagement

In their paper on Customer Engagement (CE), So, King and Sparks (2014) talk about various dimensions that constitute a customer’s engagement with an organization. Several

dimensions that, collectively, constitute a comprehensive understanding of the Customer Engagement concept, are: enthusiasm (or vigour), attention, absorption, interaction and identification. Customer engagement (CE) is a psychological state that occurs as a result of interactive, co-creative customer experiences with a main agent/object (e.g. an event organizer) in service relationships. The level of engagement between consumers and organization thus depends on how these dimensions are perceived by the consumer of the service.

An enthusiastic individual represents a strong level of excitement towards the focus of engagement when the individual has positive affectivity. This affect is similar to dimensions of vigour and activation as these dimensions characterized an individual as having high levels of energy while interacting or identifying with the focal agent/object.

Attention has been defined as the duration of focus on, and mental preoccupation with, work (Rothbard, 2001). The more engaged an individual is, the more attention this person,

consciously or unconsciously, is willing to spend on the focus of engagement. A highly engaged individual is also likely to pay a greater deal of attention towards news, advertising or information.

Absorption is characterized by being so concentrated on something that you get absorbed or engrossed with it (Scholer & Higgins, 2009). In this state of absorption, the individual is fully concentrated, happy, and perceives times as passing quickly. According to So et al. (2014), a deep level of absorption, or immersion, into a firms’ offering signifies a strong level of

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customer engagement. However, whereas So et al. (2014) describe absorption and immersion as being the same, this paper follows the work of Pine and Gilmore (1998) by placing these two terms on polar opposites of a continuum (Figure 1). On this continuum absorption relates to an individual being entertained or educated, whereas immersion links to the concept of “flow”. Runners taking part in long distance running events often experience flow: an optimal psychological state in which a person is totally immersed in an activity and has positive experiences like freedom of self-consciousness and enjoyment of the process (Jackson & Marsh, 1996). Csikszentmihalyi (2000), says that the experiences that end in a state of flow involve the realization that a task is accessible to the individual, yet challenging and skill demanding. As a result, Csikszentmihalyi identifies two dimensions which an individual goes through during an experience: 1) skills used by the individual to frame the experience and 2) the level of challenge that the experience presents. High levels of both dimensions result in flow and consequently an optimal experience.

Pine and Gilmore’s (1999) typology of experiences is somewhat similar in that the “escapist” quadrant partly concurs with Csikszentmihalyi’s idea of flow, while the active-passive

continuum is relatively close to Csikszentmihalyi’s skills typology (Roederer & Leclercq, 2013).

Interaction, or the customer’s online and offline participation with the rand, involves sharing and exchanging ideas, thoughts, and feelings about experiences with the brand (Vivek, 2009). These forms of interaction can take place between customers and a given organization, but also between customers. This concept is relevant because the more engaged an individual becomes, the more likely this person is to participate actively (versus passively). High levels of interaction can also result in social relationships, which in turn increases the intensity of engagement.

Finally, identification can also lead to high levels of engagement. According to, this dimension helps explain the strong consumer-company relationships, in that consumers strongly identify with companies that help them satisfy one or more important

self-definitional needs (Bhattacharya, Rao, & Glynn, 1995). An organization identifying as young and hip is more likely to attract an audience with these characteristics. These identifying individuals also feel motivated to engage in extra-role behaviours (e.g. promote an organization among friends).

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2.8 Customer Experience Management

The previous chapters speak of customer experience as something which is designable when certain elements are in place in which help engage with the creation of engagement.

However, a study by Homburg et al. (2017), argues that in order for experiences to be designed for, a firm-wide management approach needs to adopted, containing three main categories. a firm’s 1) cultural mindsets towards customer experiences, strategic directions for designing customer experiences, and 3) firm capabilities for continuously renewing customer experiences. This approach, called Customer Experience Management (CEM), proposes that the goal of achieving long-term customer loyalty can be achieved when the marketing concept is employed firm-wide, and when all the resource types are equally acknowledged. However, the authors found that a firm’s individual emphasis on these resources depends on certain contingency factors: exchange continuity (C1) and size (C2). Exchange continuity in this scenario relates to whether the firm’s transactions are either short-term with a distinct beginning and ending (transactional), or linked over time, representing an on-going process (relational).

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Table 1 shows the four CEM patterns the authors discovered, and how they can be classified. Pattern C1: Exchange continuity C2: Firm size Conclusion 1 Transactional Small-medium

SMEs that build on executives’ vision of an outstanding CE, convey a consistent touchpoint journey, and stress the continual monitoring and optimization of customers’ experiential responses. Main focus: Cultural mindset

2 Relational

Small-medium

SMEs that mainly leverage their focus on experiential customer responses to continually design and adapt touchpoints in purposeful cooperation’s.

Main focus: Cultural mindset and Firm capabilities

3 Transactional Large Large enterprises that leverage the opportunities of touchpoint ubiquity by proposing thematically cohesive touchpoint journeys and frequently prioritizing new, promising touchpoints.

Main focus: Strategic directions and firm capabilities

4 Relational Large Large enterprises that highlight the continual (re)design of elaborate and potentially firm-spanning touchpoint journeys in mass market networks.

Main focus: Equal emphasis Table 1 - CEM Patterns

With the state of research regarding customer experience being fairly young, it is not

surprising that research on the designing of customer experiences is fairly limited. The paper by Homburg (2017) and the CEM patterns they discovered, provides a solid theoretical and empirical conceptualization of CEM, and its applicability. However, the article leaves some questions unanswered by failing to mention how these experiences can be filled in by organizations in order to achieve customer loyalty. As a result, this paper seeks fill this gap and take the research by Homburg et al. (2017) one step further by looking at the impact of the established CEM patterns on designing for customer experiences.

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3. Data and Method

Organizations, understanding the importance of adding extra value around their services, are currently looking at other industries offering “experience-centric services,”. These are

services in which firms craft the customer experience proactively to create distinctive product and service offerings (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009).

Customer experience, as a marketing concept of creating unique, pleasurable and memorable experiences is fairly new which is why to date, scholars have rarely looked at how

organizations can optimally design for experiences. Recently, Homburg et al. (2017) took a major step by proposing certain CEM patterns in which organizations can build and expand their customer experiences, by looking at the relative importance of cultural mindsets, firm capabilities, and strategic directions. In doing so, they fail to mention how this knowledge on CEM can help organizations fill in the customer experience. This paper seeks to take the research by Homburg et al. (2017) one step further by researching the impact of these CEM patterns in designing for experiences, looking at the experience design elements in figure 3. As scholars have tended to focus on experience design within theme parks and other service-related settings (Min, Hyun, Kim & Lee, 2017; Dong & Su, 2013; Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009, Geissler & Rucks, 2011), the research of this paper will take place in a participative sport setting, specifically the organized road racing industry.

For this reason, the central question in this thesis is: "How can the organized road racing industry adopt a more experience-centric approach by looking at how the design elements are currently being implemented by their innovative peers?"

To narrow the scope, this research will look at opportunities within the road racing industry, especially looking at innovative organizers of long distance road racing events. In this research, long-distance road racing events are considered to be longer than 8 kilometers (5 miles).

The research question was chosen as long-distance runners are no longer satisfied with events that do not engage with their senses or ignore the social aspects. Also, due to the novelty of the topic, this research is explorative in nature and will seek to discover what is currently happening and gain valuable insights (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016).

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3.1 Case study description and research design

In finding road racing organizers, the calendar of yearly Dutch long-distance running events was browsed (Loopagenda, 2017). Based on this list of yearly events, contact was established with 6 innovative companies that have organized long-distance running events in the

Netherlands for at least three consecutive years. Furthermore, organizations of all sizes were added in order to research the impact of size as contingency factor. Figure 5 shows 5 other criteria which were used to filter out the less innovative organizations.

Figure 5 - Criteria for selection

These criteria were set so that organizers would have a clear view of the most important factors within their respective event(s) that contribute to an enhanced experience. Within each chosen company, one of the people most closely involved in the organization of the event were interviewed for approximately one hour, by means of a semi-structured interview. Desk research in the form of online research was used as a method to triangulate the findings. Furthermore, a multiple case strategy (companies)was adopted as it has the capacity to

generate insights, leading to rich, empirical description and the development of theory (Saunders et al., 2016). All companies were carefully chosen so that the findings could be replicated across cases as good as possible.

Access to each individual within the firm was established by first sending an e-mail, and consequently following up with a phone call.

The participative sports industry has been chosen for two reasons. First of all, for its huge number of participants, surprisingly little research has been conducted about the relevant experience design elements during long distance road racing events (Running USA, 2017). Second of all, participative sports can be considered as more immersive which means that participants go through different thought processes, and experience these events differently than a visit to a football match. However, even though runners are seen as consuming

Clear theme

Different experiences each year Engaging website Advocated by participant(s)

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experiences in use, the new wave of runners is demanding more entertainment around this experience. This research seeks to delve into this new wave of demand for more memorable and unique experiences.

3.2 Research instruments and procedures

Semi-structured interviews were conducted based on the approach by Saunders et al. (2016). This method allowed for flexibility due to the lack of structure while offering exhaustive amounts of data. Questions were centered around the following themes: customer needs, sensory design, dramatic structure, event theme and congruity, volunteer engagement with the customer, customer engagement with each other, role of backstage staff and

(technological) innovations.

Each individual interview will be audio-recorded while also taking notes when this is beneficial for the data collection (e.g. facial expressions). Furthermore, upon request interviewees are supplied with interview themes beforehand. According to Saunders et al. (2016), this may help promote validity and reliability as it allows the interviewee to think about the subject and gather supporting documentation.

Interviewees will be informed about their anonymity beforehand in case sensitive data is discussed. Interviews are transcribed as soon as possible in order to make sense of the tone of voice and why certain things were said.

A limitation of this research is that it does not take into account the perceptions of participants regarding an optimal experience design. This mainly has to do with the

exploratory nature of the research. Whereas the perceptions of participants and 3rd_{parties are} regarded as important, the main goal of this research is to explore how customer experiences are currently being designed, while also looking at possible improvements for the future. Furthermore, it might prove difficult to generalize this study’s findings to countries outside of the Netherlands due to differences in culture, capabilities, resources and expertise. However, this research contributes by academically investigating the relevance of previously

established design principles in a relatively new area of research. The managerial relevance of this paper consists of recommendations to organizations in the road racing industry, in order for them to combat the decrease in event participations Finally, this research can be considered valid and credible due to the semi-structured interviews being conducted carefully, adequate probing and by having analyzed responses from a variety of angles.

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4. Results

4.1 Data description

In total, seven interviews were conducted of which six were held with road race organizers. Of these six participants, four organizations talked about at least two running events whereas two participants spoke about a single running event. For the sake of this research a maximum of two separate events was chosen per event organizer, resulting in a total of ten road racing events. To triangulate the data, the final interview was held with an organization

(Kenniscentrum Sport) focused on researching the current state of sports in the Netherlands. The main purpose of this final interview was to seek an unbiased opinion about the effects of experiential cues currently in use by road racing event organizers.

The organizations, which were chosen based on their experience in the field, vary greatly in size: both in the number of events they organize as in the average number of runners each event consists of. To illustrate, the largest event organizer in the Netherland attracts around 240.000 participants to its events each year, whereas the smallest organization attracts a maximum of 5.000 participants per event. This accomplishes the goal of this paper, which is to establish the various tools being used by organizations to design for optimal experiences, regardless its size.

During the six interviews held with road racing event organizers the same structure was maintained. The final interview with the Knowledge Institute for sport had a similar structure, while differing slightly. This structure, which can be seen in table 1, ensured that all

participants spoke about the same topics. All of the interview data, resulting from the seven interviews, is analyzed in the following chapters.

1 - Organization

2 - Sensory design: sight, smell, sound, taste, touch 3 - Dramatic structure

4 - Volunteer engagement 5 - Customer interaction 6 - Backstage influence 7 - Innovations

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4.2 Data analysis

The next few chapters take a three-step approach in analyzing the interview data. The first step consists of dividing the cases into event categories, whereas the second step looks at how the innovative event organizers currently implement the various design principles. Finally, the final step combines the results of the first two in order to create a “toolbox” for each event category, consisting of the most important design principles for that category. 4.2.1 Event categories

Having picked the 10 cases, each was assigned a two-letter code to protect the identity of the organization in question. Subsequently, the first step in the analysis process was to categorize the various events into subcategories. The reason this was done is because it would be

inaccurate to claim that all events are the same, and that their participants are all the same. To give an example, not all events try to be the most entertaining nor do all participants desire to be entertained while running a race.

The process of categorizing was done by first thoroughly reading all interview transcripts, in order to distinguish differences in event characters. This resulted in the creation of four types of subcategories: Authentic, Professional, Sensorial and Social (Table 2).

These subcategories, which were created based on the analysis of given quotes, can be seen as the main character or goal of an event. As most events usually identify with more than one subcategory, each event was placed in the category that best describes the goal of the event.

Event MR for example, claims that: “The priorities are distance and safety…”, whereas EH describes its event as being: “… more about the battle against the elements. It’s more about the run itself than anything else…”. Various quotes like these were used to adequately assign each event to designated subcategory.

One event organizer claimed that “event X is all about having fun together and being entertained”. As this quote does not fully describe one main character of the event, the data was enhanced by using quotes from the triangulation interview. When asked about the event, this final participant said: “I still think that the social aspects are the biggest triggers for people to run in event X”.

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Subcategory Description Amount Events Authentic These types of events are characterized by

having genuine relationships between all stakeholders. Runners participating in these events seek and value these relationships

1 LM

Professional Professionalism on the side of the

organization regarding safety and regulation priorities. These events tend to attract more professional runners seeking to be

immersed- experience by running

3 MR,

EH, SZ

Entertainment These events focus on entertainment by

means of implementing sensorial cues. Runners tend to be less athletic but highly demanding when it comes to visual and audial cues- experience by observing

4 UT,

HG, AC, UM,

Social Events that that mainly focus on the social aspect tend to connect runners and

supporters with each other. Participants at these events seek interaction and joint celebration

2 DD,

AM

Table 3 - Event Categories

Having categorized each case, the next step was to rate them based on how they are expected to fare on each of the five dimensions of customer engagement. Figure 3 shows how five events scored on two axes: Absorption versus Immersion; and Individual versus Social. These polar opposites can be seen as extreme ends where, for example, a fully absorbed individual is participating in an easy race solely to be entertained, whereas a fully immersed individual has lost complete track of time due to the battle against the elements.

The difference between a purely individual and purely social event lies in the amount of interaction between runners and between the runner and the organization. The ultimate social event would engage with its runners year-round, while providing runners with countless opportunities to connect with each other. On the other end, a purely individual event consists of a professional relationship between runner and organization where the sole purpose of the organization is to provide the logistics for participants to achieve a previously established personal goal. One event organizer sees a shift on this continuum by saying that: “…running used to be more result-oriented. People ran for time and personal records. And on average people also ran faster than they do now. The social aspect has also become more important. People go to events to meet others or to have a nice day out with friends. It has become more about a sport festival than running from A to B”.

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Figure 3 backs up this statement by showing four out of five events on the right side of the interaction spectrum. Five events were chosen as these show the “extreme” cases.

The next step of the analysis will take all 10 cases into account in order to fully capture the richness of the obtained data.

Looking at figure 3, event UT is an example of a very absorbing (versus immersive) event where runners are entertained rather than physically challenged. The organization claims that: “It is more about the experience than the accomplishment.”. They are placed on the right side of the interaction because the organization claims that runners: “… don’t care about their time but just want to have fun with friends from start to finish”.

Event SZ on the other can be characterized as being individual and immersive. To illustrate this the organization downplays the importance of entertainment and interaction by saying: “It’s less about the supporters alongside the route than it is about the experience and the battle with yourself.”. The course of this event, which consists of a straight 42-kilometre line along the coast, makes it difficult for supporters to cheer on runners. Runners don’t

participate in this event expecting to be wowed by visual effects.

On the lower right side of the spectrum events MR and LM can be categorized as moderately immersive and moderately social events. Even though, the organizers of these two Marathons are placed on the lower side of the spectrum, runners still expect to be entertained during their race. MR notices the earlier mentioned shift in runner expectations by saying: “… we understand that people want to be entertained, and that it is our job to provide them with this experience.” However, in both cases, the experience is still primarily consumed in use, while the implemented cues serve to make the experience more memorable and unique.

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Figure 3 - Event character

The following chapters looks at the six design principles and how they are currently being implemented by innovative organizations in the road racing industry.

4.2.2 Sensory design

As mentioned previously, an organization can stimulate the senses of its participants by addressing sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, which arouse feelings such as aesthetical pleasure, excitement, satisfaction, sense of beauty (Gentile et al., 2007). In order to trigger these feelings, the cues need to be concise, compelling and engage all senses (Pine &

Gilmore, 1998). Among the interview participants, not a single one mentioned smell as being important. The other four senses varied in perceived levels of importance among the

participants. 4.2.2.1 Sight

Road racing event organizers are increasingly realizing the importance of what a runner gets to see along the route. Whereas runners used to be very functional, they increasingly

participate for the social and sensorial aspects that an event has to offer. In order to distinguish themselves from other events, event managers want to arouse feelings of

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Choosing the course

One way events try to add value is by displaying the beauty and highlights of the city. An organizer of an entertainment-focused event claims that: “Especially the route choice is one of the most important aspects to distinguish yourself from other events.” An organizer in the same category backs up this statement by saying that: “An interesting route is a must, and this differs per event. But if we take the HG run for example. People see where it gets its name from: water, canals, the centrum of city X and lots of supporters. But also, the presence of DJ’s, while running through historic old Harlem.”

What you also see is that a lot of events start and finish at iconic squares or landmarks. The Rotterdam Marathon for example, finishes on the Coolsingel, whereas the Leiden Marathon starts and finishes in the historical city center. Besides offering aesthetical value, these locations are also frequently chosen for logistical reasons. First of all, these big squares can usually contain many people at once, and secondly these squares are usually in close vicinity of a major train station. Organizations wanting to enhance the experience of the runners try to reduce possible friction points before arriving. One interview participant stressed the

importance of simplifying directions by saying that: “People arriving at the train station should be easily guided to the start, and think: wow this looks nice, fun, we know where to go”.

Whereas this need for differentiation is especially relevant for events in the “Entertainment” category, events of a more “Professional” character, place the importance of sight in second place behind regulations.

An organizer of a marathon for example, thinks that: “…even though we want to choose a route with the most iconic landmarks, in the end its about logistics, reaching the necessary number of kilometers, and making sure the potential nuisance of our event is minimized”.

What the data shows is that event organizers are extensively thinking about ways to differentiate themselves from other events. The route choice, consisting of historic landmarks, aesthetical treasures and green landscapes plays a compelling role in arousing feelings of pleasure and excitement among runners, enhancing their engagement.

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Road side entertainment

Besides triggering the sense of sight through an eye-catching course, organizers are

increasingly innovating with regards to roadside entertainment. This form of entertainment consists of on-cheering supporters and volunteers, music stages and occasionally an after party. The effects of volunteers will be elaborated on later, after the visual forms of road side entertainment have been analyzed.

When asking long distance runners about their most memorable event experiences, chances are high that they will mention either the supporters or the music. Organizations noticing the impact of the supporters increasingly try to motivate them to actively cheer on all

participants. The organization of event LM for example, passes each fifth house along the route of the event, handing out a supporter-package consisting of flags and horns. These recipients are persuaded to come together with their neighbors in order to create a big party alongside the route. Another organization takes this one step further by organizing

competitions between neighborhoods to see which part of the course had the most memorable impact, according to the runners.

Event AM even offers its supporters: “… an online application on which they can find, and be guided to different cheer zones”.

These cheer zones, usually organized together with event sponsors, are another memorable aspect of running events according to participants. There are many different types and sizes but the main purpose of these zones is to stimulate the visual (and audial) senses of the runner through a variety of colourful cues such as: banners, fireworks, flags, balloons, outfits,

etcetera.

For professional long-distance events, this form of sensorial entertainment can motivate runners to find that last bit of energy, whereas for more entertainment-focused events, these cues can help differentiate an event from other events.

4.2.2.2 Sound

Sound, in the form of music, plays an incredibly big role in the customer experience of running events. If implemented successfully it can be one of the elements that is most strongly remembered by participants.

Based on the conducted interviews, there are different ways sound can be implemented as a marketing tool for your event.

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One of the more prestigious events chooses to have bands play music alongside the entire course of the race, while smaller events only implement sound through cheer zones, every few kilometers. The main purpose of sound is to engage with the runners by letting them get absorbed. As we saw earlier, absorption leads to the individual being fully concentrated, happy, and perceiving times as passing quickly. If time is perceived as passing quickly, this reduces the mental and physical struggle, resulting in a positive experience. Both audial and visual entertainment can thus be seen as a distraction from the battle against the elements. This theory of entertainment as a distraction is especially applicable to professional long-distance events, whereas for entertainment-focused events, audial and visual entertainment is seen as a prerequisite for participation. What this means is that runners applying for these types of events most likely favor entertainment over the feeling of accomplishment post-race.

How the music generating bands are acquired also differs per event. One frequently occurring statement is that bands simply enjoy playing at running events. LM, for example mentions that: “… some of the bands want to perform because they sincerely love the event. But we do have a small budget for bands, even though runners are quick to pass most places.”. Another organization backs up this statement by saying that: “… a lot of bands just think it’s fun to do, and fun to say that they played at these events. Others you hire. All based on a budget, if not we would hire famous DJ’s”. Whereas the previous statement is in line with the thoughts of most organizations, one participant expletively mentions the type of music as being crucial in designing for the customer experience.

This organizations works with a fixed team of DJ’s spread across the race course, playing previously determined catchy songs targeted at a younger audience. This strategy, of only playing Top-40 style songs shows that this manager strongly believes that music choice influences how an event is perceived, while even joking that: “A DJ can pack his stuff and go home if he decides to play a Dutch hit”.

Organizations also emphasize the importance of music towards the end of the course. Especially at professional events, where the average runner is struggling towards the end, music can serve as a motivational boost. One participant had this to say on the topic: “At the finish, we have particular accumulating tunes, similar to the final miles of the tour de

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as the runners get closer to give them that extra motivation, and chills, as they reach the finish”.

The final interview participant, having ran countless marathons, strongly agrees with the importance of music by saying that “…when I’m asked about my most memorable Marathon, I immediately think of Frankfurt. The event ended in a big hall, with a DJ playing famous songs. It was the perfect ending”.

4.2.2.3 Touch

To design for the sense of touch is to make runners come in physical contact with memorable and unique objects, which enhance the perceived experience of an event.

Surprisingly, the organizations do not differ much from each other when it comes to designing for this sense. The mentioned objects that are offered to the consumer mostly consist of: the medal, a media package, a t-shirt, a bib and pre- and post-event magazines. The Knowledge Institute of sport in the Netherlands believes that this lack of innovation is the main reason why running events increasingly struggle to stimulate repeat participations. The interviewee notices that: “The route stays the same, the medal stays the same, so the experience remains the same as well”. Of all interviewed organizations, only one claims to innovate in the design of the medals.

Most media-packages offered consist of at least a personalized photo and/or video. Innovators in this field take this one step further by posting a personalized video on the runners’ Facebook timeline. One event organizer successfully utilizes the experience of a partner in congratulating participants. The day after the event: “… every runner who shared their email, receives a personalized email with their time, and a newspaper article, which is basically a digital newspaper with the recipient on the front page, and stories and other information about the marathon on the following pages”.

A less personalized, but still useful, form of content marketing is through the use of (digital) magazines. If used effectively, these magazines are informative and entertaining while arousing feelings of aesthetical pleasure through the use of creative visuals. One organizer recently started offering digital magazines each month, starting several months before race day, in which each edition “… proactively answers all possible questions, builds enthusiasm

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through countdowns and visuals, while also promoting sponsored content”. Promoted content refers to offering deals on products or services sold by event partners and sponsors.

In sum, we see organizations taking incremental steps towards designing for the sense of touch, be it tangible or intangible. However, those wanting to survive the test of time should innovate when it comes to the tangible products that they offer.

4.2.2.4 Taste

The presence of a nice selection of food and drinks can have a positive effect on consumers’ moods, especially if presented at the right time. When it comes to designing for the sense of taste at road racing events, there are many examples. Before a race, many organizations offer a variety of fruit such as bananas, watermelon slices, oranges, etcetera. The presence of fruit is deemed important by all organizations because: “… low-carb foods digest quickly and are a quick source of energy”.

Once the race gets underway, runners encounter a variation of “aid stations”, depending on the size and purpose of the event. For smaller, more entertainment-focused event there might even be no stations or just a few fluid stations. These fluid stations do not differ much from the one described by an organization, saying that their events offer: “… water or flavored Gatorade in disposable cups on tables on both sides of the course”. One bigger event refers to these stations as provision posts, but also offers flavored sports drinks.

Long distance events offering half- and full marathons also have nutrition stations. These stations contain a mix of fruits, energy drinks and energy gels, which positively impact the physical and mental state of the runners.

After the race, runners usually receive a snack that is rich in carbohydrates to compensate for the burned calories. Afterwards, depending on the event, runners usually go home

immediately or stay and catch their breath with supporting friends and family. Increasingly, organizations work together with partners to offer these lingering participants a fitting and tasty selection of snacks. In line with many other interviewees, one organization said: “… we have food trucks to offer the runners a variety of food options, and these options are

becoming healthier based on changing consumer needs. We also have sample teams handing out tasters, but we mostly work together with companies that fit with what we’re trying to accomplish. This means that we’re willing to say no to McDonalds in favor of other options.

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Curiously, or maybe coincidentally, three out of six participants mentioned McDonalds as an example of an organization they are willing to turn down.

Finally, the only organization in the authentic category noticed that its participants are fond of tradition, by mentioning that: “… when exiting the finishing area, every participant

receives an alcoholic-free beer. We decided to not do this for a year, and people went crazy.”

What this shows is that most organizations are accurately catering to runners’ needs before and during the race. However, the current challenge is figuring out how to accommodate ever changing consumption trends post-race, and how to deal with this change if it impacts certain target groups more than others.

4.2.3 Dramatic structure.

As mentioned before, consumers rarely remember every single experience within an event. By manipulating the most memorable experiences, such as the beginning and the end, an event might be remembered quicker and more fondly.

This is perfectly summed up by an organization in the entertainment sector, stating that: “If you were to organize a soccer event, the crux is in the 90 minutes. For a running event, the start and finish are crucial”.

Because of their relative importance, this chapter discusses how organizations currently design for memorable beginnings and endings of their respective events.

The beginning

In our interview, the respondent at the Knowledge Institute for Sports noted that: “As a runner, you’re a bit nervous at the start, and easily annoyed, so everything needs to be organized perfectly at the beginning”. This annoyance, triggered by nerves, can be caused by the slightest confusion or miscommunication. What this means is that organizations should flawlessly orchestrate each controllable element before the start of the race. This sounds like a daunting task, but there are many ways to simplify this challenge. One solution, which was mentioned earlier, is to place the start of the race nearby a major train station. Knowing where most of the runners are coming from simplifies the task of crowd control. One organization reduces the possible stress participants may encounter when searching for a parking spot by offering discounts on train tickets. By doing this, the organization is assured that most participants will be arriving from the train station, and can act accordingly with the

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right amount and placement of event signs. Other possible friction points are now knowing where to pick up your race number or in which starting pen you start. Both volunteers and clear event signs play a crucial role in making sure these possible friction points are avoided. However, reducing friction points is not enough to be memorable in a positive way.

Organizations are gradually adopting new techniques to enhance the customer experience before the start of the race.

As mentioned in detail before, choosing an iconic square as a starting point is one way to positively impact on the emotions of participants. Most organizations also implement a warming-up to create a: “… we-moment” between runners before the race to physically and mentally get people in the right mood”. Other organizations follow the warming-up with “an iconic local artist singing “You’ll never walk alone””, or by “playing the national anthem followed by energizing music”. What these organizations have in common is the acknowledgement that they need to offer something unique and memorable in order to get runners in the right mood at the start of the race.

The ending

Just like the beginning of an event, participants want to either go to a resting location, an after-party terrain or back to the train station as easily as possible. Participants basically need to be “guided through a funnel to their next destination, like picking up their clothing”. Four out of six organizations realize that runners appreciate it when there is a comfortable resting area where they can catch their breath before exiting the terrain. Not all events finish in areas with easy means of transportation. In these cases, it is necessary to either provide these means, or inform the guests about their options. One event even hires: … “actors to entertain people while they are waiting in line for the busses in order to give something extra”.

However, a total of four organizations agree that: “… they get their medal, some fruit and water, get to see their time on a screen. And that’s basically the end of the event”. These organizations claim that the typical Dutch runners only participates for the race itself, and leaves immediately upon receiving their medal. One organization sums up this sentiment by saying that: “people should get their experience from the beginning and the highlights along the route, as the real runners leave as soon as the event is over”. For bigger, entertainment-focuses events, participants tend to stick around for a while if the weather is nice, but the vast majority still prefers to “find their own friends and family to celebrate the achievement

Designing for meaningful experiences : a look into the organized road racing industry