Brands Must Innovate: Gen Z’s Perception of AI in Experiential Marketing
Gemoets, Ashley
Gemoets, Ashley
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2025-05-19
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Abstract
Exploring the impact of Generative AI (Gen AI) on Generation Z (Gen Z) consumers' brand perceptions, this research examines customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, perceived experience quality, and brand innovation, specifically within experiential marketing. A 2 X 3 factorial experiment involving 603 Gen Z participants at Texas Christian University (TCU) investigated three AI integration levels (human, hybrid, and AI) across festival and campus contexts. Participants, randomly assigned to one hypothetical scenario, responded to a 7-point Likert scale measuring key brand metrics based on their experience. In statistical data analysis, the hybrid human-AI condition enhanced perceived brand innovation compared to the human-only condition. The campus setting yielded higher brand innovation scores than the festival setting. Such findings suggest that Gen Z consumers perceive a brand as innovative when hybrid AI integration is used in experiential marketing and when taking place in a campus environment. Consequently, strategically implementing hybrid human AI experiences in experience marketing and activating in a campus setting is a potential strategy to elevate brand innovation perception among Gen Z consumers. This investigation addresses a critical gap at the intersection of Gen Z consumers, Gen AI, and experiential marketing, offering valuable insights for marketers seeking to integrate AI into physical brand experiences.