Why is the traditional marketing mix dead? Towards the “experiential marketing mix” (7E), a strategic framework for business experience design in the phygital age

The marketing mix encompasses the 4Ps used to design tangible offerings and 7Ps for service design. The 4Ps and & 7Ps constitute an integral part of the company’s marketing strategy. However, there has been a surge in consumers who, rather than seeking goods, seek experiences that occur in hybrid settings, namely phygital settings. Combining physical and digital features alongside the spread of technologies and environmental changes has led companies to reconsider their marketing practices by shifting from a product-centric approach to a more experience-centric way of thinking and doing. Consequently, these changes in the marketplace have affected consumers, firms, stakeholders, and, in turn, the marketing mix. The shift has led to the rise of the ‘experiential marketing mix’. The experiential marketing mix is a strategic framework that lies at the heart of the experiential marketing movement. The framework uses the following seven pillars (7Es): experience, exchange, extension, emphasis, empathy capital, emotional touchpoints, and emic/etic process—to help firms design business experiences in the phygital age. Drawing on a holistic perspective, we define relevant areas of marketing developments by answering four key questions – who, what, how, and where – related to the novel domains companies and scholars should consider when implementing marketing strategies, tools, frameworks, and methodologies.