Augmented reality (AR) marketing, customer experiences and customer delight in soft drinks: an empirical study

Purpose With novel application of situated cognition theory (SCT) in interactive marketing and customer behavior, this study is conducted to investigate the effect of augmented reality (AR) marketing on customer delight in the soft drinks market through customer experiences, brand love and customer engagement. Design/methodology/approach Stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, SCT and flow theory were analyzed in parallel for the first time. Data were processed using PLS–SEM through Smart PLS4 after being gathered from 594 valid responses from young customers from 18 to 30 years old. Findings The findings show that interactivity and spatiality exert a positive effect on both entertainment and aesthetic experiences while emotionality only positively impacts entertainment experiences. Moreover, customer experiences, brand love, customer engagement and customer delight are positively impacted by AR marketing through entertainment and aesthetic experiences. Originality/value This study is the first to pioneer to apply SCT in AR marketing, to integrate SOR, SCT and flow theory simultaneously which would upgrade the significance of SOR. This study is one of the few research works investigating AR marketing and customer delight which is a tenuous variable as well.