Our Byzantine heritage: consumption of the past and its experiential benets

Athinodoros Chronis
Department of Management, Operations, and Marketing, College of Business Administration, California State University, Turlock, California, USA
Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers attraction to the past and the experiential benets associated with past-related consumption practices. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive study was undertaken using a heritage exhibition in Greece as an appropriate context. A total of 49 interviews using the central premises of phenomenological research were conducted in which 82 individuals participated. Informants were asked to elaborate on their consumption experience. Verbal data were analyzed and interpreted using theoretical guidance by Lowenthals pioneering work on peoples attraction to the past. Findings Six experiential benets are found that are prevalent among consumers in their contact with the past: the experience of knowledge, cultural identity, cultural values, escape in time, aesthetic appreciation, and narrative connection. These benets are embedded on existing cultural narratives that are further enriched through consumption practices. Moreover, the benecial consumption outcomes of the past are mediated by imagination that functions as a linking glue and a creative force in the construction of narrative vignettes. Research limitations/implications Although this discovery-oriented study provides insight into the consumption of the past, its exploratory nature does not guarantee generalizability beyond the convenience sample employed and the specic context. Further research should also investigate the extent to which the specic consumer benets are prevalent in other consumption experiences. Practical implications This research provides orientation for the management of experiential products. Marketers can facilitate consumer experiences through the appropriate staging of the servicescape in both substantive and communicating ways. Specic direction can be taken by paying attention to each of the identied experiential benets. Originality/value As experiential consumption rises in consumer research, it is of paramount importance to elucidate what drives consumers in participating and enjoying various consumption experiences. This study provides theoretical guidance to researchers in the area of experiential consumption by elaborating on the benets associated with the consumption of the past. It also offers suggestions to practitioners for the appropriate management of an experiential servicescape. Keywords Consumption, , Heritage, Consumer behaviour, Imagination, Experiential learning, Greece Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
The past is everywhere. All around us lie features which, like ourselves and our thoughts, have more or less recognizable antecedents. Relics, histories, memories suffuse human experience. Each particular trace of the past ultimately perishes, but collectively they are immortal. Whether it is celebrated or rejected, attended to or ignored, the past is omnipresent (Lowenthal, 1985, p. xv).

2001; Brown et al., 2000; Goulding, 2000, 2001), the marketing implications of these consumption behaviors that are associated with the past have been largely ignored in consumer research.

Consumption of the past

During the late twentieth and early twenty-rst centuries, we are witnessing an increasing popularity of the past that directly involves marketing, selling, and consumption of various products, services, and experiences. This trend has been identied as a contemporary quest for history (Goulding, 1999) and involves various consumption practices that result in the commodication of history (Barthel, 1996). Consumption practices related to the past can be expressed in many different ways that are presented in Table I as pastrelated consumption categories. Notwithstanding the importance and multiplicity of these consumption categories, past-related consumption phenomena are lacking a theoretical viewpoint that will assist in better understanding and facilitating the experience of the past.

As Lowenthals (1985) introductory quote states, no matter what our attitude is towards the past, it is more than certain that the past is omnipresent. The contact of the moderns with traces of the past comes in various forms that range from a $5 historical novel to the purchase of a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air for $183,600 (Eldridge, 2002). With few exceptions (Brown,
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Journal of Consumer Marketing 22/4 (2005) 213 222 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761] [DOI 10.1108/07363760510605326]

Purpose of the study

This paper is concerned with the role heritage objects play in the consumption of the past. The focus is on the odd 213

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Table I Consumption of the past

Consumption category Retro-style objects Collectibles Past narratives Historical societies Family histories One-of-a-kind artifacts Heirlooms Genealogies Heritage events Heritage sites (retroscapes) Object of consumption Cars, furniture, radios, cameras, toasters, refrigerators Antiques, coins Books, movies State Historical Societies, History Book Club Albums, photos, videos Personalized memorabilia, unique reminders Jewelry, old furniture, cars Historical records, web sites, book references Re-enactments, crafts demonstrations, games, festivals National monuments, landmarks, military forts, battleelds, historic houses, historic towns, landscapes, museums, open-air museums

attraction of antique objects that are displayed in a heritage exhibition. Antique objects are considered by Baudrillard (1968) in his work The System of Objects. The questions that he raises are what lies behind the persistent search for old things for antique furniture, authenticity, period style, rusticity, craftsmanship, hand-made products, native pottery, folklore, and so on? What is the reason for the strange acculturation phenomenon whereby advanced peoples seek out signs extrinsic to their own time or space, and increasingly remote relative to their own cultural system? (p. 75). Grounding the point of departure in the above questions that Baudrillard raises for antique objects, this research seeks to understand consumers attraction to the past at a heritage exhibition. More specically, it tries to answer the questions: what are the benets consumers derive at a heritage exhibition? and how do consumers relate with the specic heritage that is represented at a heritage exhibition? The goal in this endeavor is to provide a better theoretical account of how the past is consumed. To this extent, we anchor our past exploration at Lowenthals (1985) pioneering work The Past is a Foreign Country.

(3) Identity. The past is essential to both personal and group identities. Ability to recall and identify with our past gives existence meaning, purpose, and value (p. 41). (4) Guidance. The past can be also benecial because of the lessons it teaches. We have to know the events of the past in order to make a better future. (5) Enrichment. The past is capable of enriching the present. An existing past history provides present individuals and groups with a family and national history. (6) Escape. The past offers one way of escaping the present. In this regard, the past possesses certain benets that the present lacks. In yesterday we nd what we miss today. And yesterday is a time for which we have no responsibility and when no one can answer back (p. 49). According to Lowenthal, the above benets of the past do not have sharp boundaries; a sense of identity, for example, is also a mode of enrichment, while familiarity provides guidance. There is also the case that some benets conict with others: using the past to enrich present-day life is at odds with wanting to escape from the present (p. 38). Furthermore, the above list is not exhaustive. Nevertheless, the benets provided by Lowenthal can assist our exploration of the benets derived from the past and can give us an initial guidance in order to interpret our ndings as to how consumers articulate their experience at a heritage museum. The opportunity for data collection came in the context of a Byzantine exhibition in Thessaloniki, Greece. Before the presentation of the ndings, more details are provided about the context of the empirical investigation and the adopted methodological approach.

Theoretical background
What is appreciated in the consumption of the past depends on a variety of factors, including cultural background, prior knowledge, nostalgia proneness, and personal involvement (Chronis and Hampton, 2002a; Goulding, 1999, 2001; Holbrook, 1993; Holbrook and Schindler, 1991, 1994). Notwithstanding the specic conditions that operate in each consumption situation, Lowenthal (1985) conceptualizes six major benets that are related with peoples attraction to the past: (1) Familiarity. Knowledge of the past assists people in understanding the present. Without habit and the memory of past experience, no sight or sound would mean anything; we can perceive only what we are accustomed to (p. 39). Without historical knowledge and the memory of things said and done, the present day would be aimless and tomorrow without signicance. (2) Reafrmation and validation. The past offers a standard for judgment. Historical precedent legitimates what exists today; we justify current practice by referring to immutable tradition (p. 40). 214

Methodology
Data collection took place at the White Tower of Thessaloniki, Greece. During a large part of its past life, the White Tower was used as a defensive structure and as a prison. Today, it is the most representative landmark of the city of Thessaloniki and part of its cultural identity. It is used as a permanent museum that contains various collections of sculptures, frescoes, fragments of mosaic oors and wall mosaics, icons, coins, inscriptions, pottery, glass and metal items. At the same time, it is used for temporary exhibitions of special interest, like the one dedicated on the Byzantine life, called Byzantine Hours: Works and Days in Byzantium that provided an appropriate context for this study.

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Permission for data collection was taken by the Museum of Byzantine Culture, one of the co-organizing institutions. Data was collected through personal interviews. With the exception of four interviews that were conducted in English, the rest of the interviews were in Greek. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated in English, and double-checked for transcription and translation mistakes. A total of 49 interviews were conducted during the period December 2001-January 2002. Since most of the visitors were in groups of two or more people, each interview was not restricted to one person; rather, any person from a group of visitors was able to participate in the discussion. This tactic resulted in 82 individuals whose voice was recorded as part of the verbal data (Table II). The age of the informants ranged between eight and 65 years, while the average age was 39. Out of a total of 82 informants, 45 were females and 37 were males. Interviews with visitors followed the basic premises of the phenomenological tradition (Chronis and Hampton, 2002b; Husserl, 1931, 1970; May, 1969; Moustakas, 1994; Polio et al., 1997; Schmitt, 1967; Thompson et al., 1989, 1990) that, in its most general sense, explores the essences underlying a particular phenomenon. Phenomenology refers to knowledge as it appears to consciousness, or to the immediate awareness and experience. It emphasizes the living immediacy of experience as the individual lives it, and thus, it is the most appropriate approach for the exploratory purpose of our research into consumers lived experiences in a heritage museum. We asked visitors broad questions derived from our research purpose in order to elicit rich verbal data (Loand and Loand, 1995) in the form of consumer-generated narratives representing the visitors experience of the past. As Stern et al. (1998) stated:
The use of narrative text as data is justied in the interpretive paradigm as a contribution to better understanding of the consumers perspective (pp. 196197).

reafrmation/validation benets are included into one category that was coded as knowledge. Similarly, Lowenthals benets of guidance and enrichment are merged into the theme of value. Furthermore, Lowenthals benet of identity is combined with the notion of myth of origin that is borrowed from Baudrillard (1968), in order to better express the informants assertions related with their collective ethnic identity. In addition to the above benets anchored on the extant literature, the experiential benet of narrative connection is introduced that has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of the experience of the past and the consumers active engagement. Knowing the past Curiosity is a motivating force behind various consumption practices (Belk, 1997) and it has been characterized as worldopenness (Stagl, 1995). For many people, a visit to the Byzantine exhibition was motivated by curiosity, in order to learn more about the Byzantine period (female, 15). Knowledge emerges in the data as a signicant benet of the Byzantine heritage exhibition, a nding that parallels education and learning as a major function of museums in general (Falk and Dierking, 2000; Kotler and Kotler, 2001). Visitors, again and again, conrmed that what they got out of their experience was information (female, 15) or knowledge (female, 40) that was very interesting (male, 58). As an informant said, his payoff was an acquaintance with the day-to-day life of a period that was unknown (male, 57). The gain of knowledge from the exhibition shows certain advantages over the knowledge that is gained through other sources, like going to school or reading books. Even though the exhibition was not overwhelming, a visitor could leave full of knowledge (male, 58) and learn a lot of details about how it was in the house, how it was at work (female, 34), how people were living in all aspects, their social life, economic life, burial customs (female, 44). This knowledge is gained much easier, it is more accessible (male, 16) and it is more permanent than the elusive nature of what somebody can learn at school:
The rst [benet] that we supposedly aim is knowledge. One of our goals. Knowledge that stays though. So, it is not [like] the material of a day [at school] that will go after a while, as it usually happens (female, 33).

Examples of the broad questions that were asked are: can you please describe what did you have in your mind during the time you were in the exhibition? What were your thoughts and feelings during the time you were in the exhibition? What was the motive to visit this exhibition? What was your reward for visiting the exhibition? What benets did you get? Verbal data were read and re-read in order to gain familiarity with the text (Arnould, 1998), while the analysis process followed the basic steps of categorization, abstraction, comparison, dimensionalization, iteration, and refutation, suggested by Spiggle (1994, 1998). Interpretation was a more abstract, synthetic, and illuminating experience of the researcher that resulted to an emergent, holistic, extra-logical insight and understanding (Spiggle, 1994). In addition, a great assistance to the interpretation stage of the research was the benet categories provided by Lowenthal (1985).

Findings
Although Lowenthals (1985) benets of the past formed the basis for the analysis and interpretation of the data, especially during the categorization (coding) stage, at a deeper level of analysis and sense-making (abstraction) a diversion from the six benet categories was decided in order to better encapsulate the contextual richness and the actual experiences of the consumers. Thus, in presenting the ndings in this section, Lowenthals familiarity and 215

Cultural identity and the myth of origin To a large number of visitors, the Byzantine exhibition offered the opportunity to realize that there are remarkable similarities between life in the Byzantine years and contemporary life in modern Greece. As our informants conrmed, the everyday life in Byzantium . . . was very close to facts of our own (female, 47) and so an outcome of the exhibition was that you get a clear perspective about their life that is not very different from our own eventually (female, 42). A stroll among the exhibits within the White Tower reveals a large number of commonalities in various aspects of life between the Byzantines and modern Greeks. For example, Byzantine merchants were trading their products at locations designated by the state, called emporion, similar to the modern emporiki agora (trade market). The currency used in the market transactions was commonly called nomisma, a term that is unchanged in contemporary Greek life (Christoforaki, 2001). Religious icons were placed in a niche in the wall (iconostasis), creating a domestic shrine to serve the familys religious needs, a practice that remains unchanged in Greek

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Table II Informant characteristics

Interview 1 2 Informant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Sex F F M M M M F F F F F M F M F F F M M F F M F M F M F M M M M F M F M M F M F M F F F M F M M F M M F F M F M Age 24 25 16 17 18 34 45 40 42 39 41 32 29 39 32 21 22 61 58 52 16 34 33 39 38 37 34 37 34 58 39 34 47 47 16 58 43 57 49 58 15 40 10 36 35 44 43 42 38 42 19 44 57 57 59 Residence Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Cyprus Cyprus Thessaloniki London Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Australia Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Romania Romania Athens Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Germany Germany Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Zakynthos Zakynthos Zakynthos Greeks Abroad Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27

28 29 30 31 32

(continued)

216

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Table II Interview 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

Informant 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82

Sex F M F M F M M F F M M F M F M F M F F F F F F M F F F

Age 34 53 42 37 32 63 51 48 49 56 29 28 52 49 58 56 26 26 41 43 38 29 59 25 24 57 39

Residence Athens Switcherland Thessaloniki Cyprus Cyprus Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Chios Mytilini Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Australia Thessaloniki Athens Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki

houses of the twenty-rst century. These similarities foster a sense of historical continuity among visitors that is valued as a benet resulting from their visit to the exhibition:
These [things] constitute a continuation. Inside the present we see the past, because these are continuity in history. You see many things that they were valid back then, they are valid today too. Consequently, there is the continuity of this culture (male, 58).

more because it is a font [kolimbithra ] we passed through as Greeks and we are what we are today (male, 34). Values of the past From a social point of view, cultural values represent widely shared beliefs about what is desirable (Lai, 1995). It is not rare that many contemporary people of the twenty-rst century feel alienated from the modern life that lacks the pure ideals and the worth of bygone eras. These missing values are projected onto various encounters with the past, one of which is heritage exhibitions. Informants expressed a conviction that the Byzantine past guides and enriches the present (Lowenthal, 1985). They were also impressed by various achievements of those people:
I was impressed by what it says about the neighborhoods. That there was a law that the houses should be constructed so one does not prevent the light of the other, so that the balcony does not project out (female, 44).

Even though recognition of a historical continuity was evidenced by almost all visitors, for a signicant number of Greeks historical continuity was taking a deeper meaning related to their current identity. These Greeks see their present identity as an evolution from a common ancestry. In this respect, many visitors value origin as a signicant benet of the heritage exhibition:
[My benet] was that many things in present life have their origin in that period (male, 58).

Indeed, the myth of the origin (Baudrillard, 1968) is a symbolic value associated with all remnants of antiquity. The myth of origin emerged as a salient payoff for our informants. The multiple commonalities between the Byzantine and the modern Greek life, various indications of historical continuity, and previously acquired historical knowledge, all combine to offer an interpretation of one of the most signicant benets of the past. A Byzantine heritage provides a point of origin, cultural roots, and an anchoring point for the contemporary Greek. As one informant stated, her experience was valuable because you learn your roots, your history, your culture (female, 28), while for another one, it is signicant to know 217

Obviously, accomplishing all these achievements back then is admirable. For this reason, they should be honored:
It is good to honor something; the old; we saw what they did with their hands (male, 34).

In addition to guidance and enrichment (Lowenthal, 1985), admiration of the past is an additional articulation expressing values of the past:
Admiration from me; about how they accomplished what they made with the means that they had available (female, 24).

Furthermore, not only a sense of admiration and preservation of past values is evidenced, but a desire to transmit these values to younger generations:

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It was very important to see where the world is coming from; to know exactly this treasure and to appreciate it and to leave to our world something that our children will have later (male, 39).

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Escape into the past Frequently visitors characterized their contact with the past as an escape from the present:
It was like we escaped from our everyday life (female, 48).

Similar to other escape routes, heritage too is a free area where consumers can act out their fantasies (Cohen and Taylor, 1976). Free areas like hobbies, games, gambling, holidays, and art share a similar escape meaning: they are routes out (Cohen and Taylor, 1976, p. 96). In the case of heritage and antique objects though, this escape is an escape in time. Baudrillard (1968) refers to the anachronistic property of antique objects, that, in addition to their reference to the myth of origin, and their historicalness as an atmospheric value, they also provide the benet of escape. Thus, anachronism offers a way of escaping from everyday life, and no escape is more radical than escape in time, none so thorough going as escape into ones own childhood (p. 80). Aesthetic appreciation Quite often, aesthetics surfaced as an additional benet valued by visitors of the Byzantine exhibition, that was aesthetically very good (female, 24). According to existing models of aesthetics, a positive impact on consumers occurs even before the entrance in the internal space of the exhibition, while consumers are still approaching the servicescape (Ching, 1996; Wagner, 2000). In this sense, our data show that their aesthetic benet is not restricted to the exhibits themselves but include the building where the exhibition was hosted. Indeed, the White Tower is undoubtedly an impressive structure that some people were visiting for the rst time (male, 26). Overall, our informants saw the whole building as being very well preserved and clean (male, 37). In addition to the building hosting the exhibition, the aesthetic benet is related to the whole environment surrounding the White Tower. The city of Thessaloniki itself was not accidentally named The Nymph of Thermaikos. It is not unexpected then, that our informants liked the environment (female, 33; Female, 34; Male, 59) or simply the place (female, 41), while another woman admits that she admired the space of the White Tower, and the view of the sea from the top (female, 47). While the whole environment contributed to the aesthetic pleasure of the visitors, the exhibits were also mentioned as having an aesthetic value. Indeed, while talking with one visitor about the benets she derived from the exhibition, she admitted:
All the previous, plus the aesthetics. But it is a lesson of aesthetics . . . Not only because of the environment. The exhibition itself is a lesson of aesthetics; of the period of course, or better the periods we are discussing (female, 43).

and Dierking, 2000) and this is a benecial experience by itself (Chronis and Hampton, 2002a). In fact, connection with the past has been characterized as the essence of the heritage experience (Brown et al., 2000, p. 175). Similarly, in their analysis of the museum experience, Falk and Dierking (2000) say that museums are places . . . where the public can seek and nd meaning and connection (p. 2). In all heritage sites the visitor will face various artifacts, pictures, reenactors, and literal descriptions of the past and, according to Urry (1996), seeing certain scenes or artifacts functions to reawaken repressed desires and thereby to connect past and present (p. 55). Barthel (1996) characterizes this benet as getting in touch with history (p. 345), while Masberg and Silverman (1996) refer to a feeling for what it was like to live in that time period (p. 24). Connection with the past is dened as a deeper cognitive and emotional understanding of life in the past according to which someone vicariously experiences what must have been like to live in the past. Connection with the past is a state where the visitor is personally involved and engaged with the objects, information, people, and other material presented in a certain heritage site. Connection with heritage is an immersion experience or a revelation (Tilden, 1977). The state of what it really was like may take the form of a mental picture or an imaginary narrative vignette that depicts a specic slice of life in the past. In fact, the notion of a narrative picture came up in various forms during our discussions with visitors. As one informant stated, the exhibition brought in his mind a picture of the Byzantine period (male, 63), while another one was more specic in his visualization: I see a picture about the everyday life (male, 52). Some visitors refer to pictures from everyday life (male, 39) that were able to generate feelings: There were scenes coming to me that . . . pictures rather, from everyday life of the Byzantines and from [their] houses; we didnt have until now this feeling (male, 39). Overall, the exhibition was characterized as one that gives a complete picture and much easier someone takes a lot of information with the minimum effort (female, 45). However, it is worth mentioning not only the amount of information that a narrative picture can hold, but its intensity too:
What did I have [in mind]? What I expected. To see a picture of everyday Byzantine life. Namely, elements that constituted it. Things that even today in many cases, gures that we see even today . . . It was intense, lets say, the presence of today (male, 47; emphasis added).

The intensity with which the past is experienced is fostered by visitors imagination:
And also this imagination, how do we imagine it would be in the past, how they were living (male, 39).

Narrative connection When a visitor was asked about his payoff during the visit, his answer was brief, but illuminating:
The connection. The connection with Byzantium! (male, 36).

Therefore, the interaction of the story that was offered in the exhibition with the visitors effort to follow the Byzantine story by engaging their imagination and forming more complete narratives, results in the enlivening of various aspects of the specic historical period. When consumers connect with the past, that period becomes more alive (male, 34). This state is not only a cognitive conviction, but rather it is a felt one:
An enlivening of the period. This is what I felt, that the period becomes alive very characteristically and very easily (female, 45).

Existing literature shows that connection with the past can be a powerful and attractive force for visiting heritage sites (Falk 218

At the same time, things became clearer now to some extent (female, 22). When the last informant was asked why

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the enlivening of the past was valuable to her, she replied, Because you see alive the objects that they were using. It is another contact. Visitors imaginative (re)constructions were not restricted in bringing to the present those who had lived in the past, but they were also experienced as a personal travel in the past (Anderson, 1984). Thus, when we asked one visitor about her thoughts, she succinctly replied, To live in that era! (female, 49) while another said that the exhibited objects transfer you to an old period (female, 57). During this short-lived experience, the visitor participates more fully and sees more clearly how life was in the past. In more detail, the vignette of what it really was like has been expressed as a short-lived personal transference of the visitor in the past, where he/she imagines using tools, making clothes, or simply living under certain conditions (Chronis and Hampton, 2002a). Similarly, one of the informants said: I was imagining to be in the life when these things were made, how they made them with their hands, how they were making them (male, 37), while another one recognized the ability of various artifacts to facilitate this experience: We were looking how they were living. There is something that passes to the objects lets say. You enter a little bit in their everyday life (male, 59). Similarly, another visitor was transported to the past, where he could witness how those people were living and dying:
You are transported to some other eras, very old . . . I was imagining how those people were living in that era . . . How they were living and also how they were dying (male, 39).

Figure 1 Conceptual framework of consuming the past as an experience

In short, visitors at the Byzantine exhibition were able to connect with the past. This connection was facilitated by the creative use of their imagination and the construction of heritage narratives. When at this state, certain aspects of the life in the past were becoming alive and, at its extreme, visitors where traveling back in time at the Byzantine period. Time travel renders itself as a signicant payoff for consumers and as a source of hedonic pleasure.

Discussion
The lessons to be learned from our exercise in the past are manifold. First, there are multiple and often overlapping benets of the past. The past is not similarly perceived and consumed by all its attendees. Consumers of heritage assign their own meanings to their encounters with the past; and in this way, they turn inanimate matter into monuments and meaningful experiences (Horne, 1984). Each person focuses on, and thus consumes, different aspects of the same product: an adventure of knowledge, a dive into a mythical ancestry, a legacy of values, an escape from the presence, an aesthetic beauty, a glimpse of human life. Second, as it is illustrated in Figure 1, these benets are embedded on a cultural narrative that is formed by the information provided in the exhibition and is enriched and completed by the consumers historical knowledge and their personal struggle to follow this narrative through imagination. In this process, visitors prior knowledge about the specic historical period will play a facilitating role in narrative construction and will moderate their ability to follow the story. At a deeper level though, consumers might achieve a certain state of connection with the past. This connection constitutes a valuable outcome by itself and it can be characterized as the essence of the heritage experience. Future 219

research should also examine the extent to which the heritage benets identied here hold in different contexts and types of consumption experiences. Third, the benecial consumption outcomes of the past are mediated by imagination. Imagination seems to be a necessary condition for connecting consumers with a narrative and in this role it is a source of pleasure. According to Campbell (1987), modern individuals employ their imaginative and creative powers to construct mental images which they consume for the intrinsic pleasure they provide (p. 77). In this sense, consumption pleasures are based on the emotions aroused by the manipulation of external symbols by consumers themselves. In our context, visitors to the heritage exhibition appropriate the symbols offered by the exhibited objects and use them to construct imaginary heritage narratives and in this way connect with the Byzantine past. More generally, connection with a narrative comes in the form of what it really feels like to live in the story. Marketers can perceive this connection as a major payoff for the consumption of products associated with stories. Managerial implications Heritage sites, as well as other consumption experiences, take place in servicescapes (Bitner, 1992). Marketers can facilitate these experiences through the appropriate substantive and communicative staging. Substantive staging refers to the physical creation of contrived environments (Arnould et al., 1998, p. 90). Marketing managers can substantively stage a servicescape through the use of objects that are congruent with the narrative context. In the case of heritage spaces, for example, the use of antiques is preeminent. Substantive staging can be also advanced through the appropriate design of the surrounding environment. Communicative staging refers to the ways in which the environment is presented and interpreted (Arnould et al., 1998, p. 90). To this end, marketing managers can enrich their communication messages by elaborating the multiple consumption benets discussed in the present study. Managerial concerns can be also focused around the narrative construction of the experiential product. In the case of the present research, elaboration of the Byzantine

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history can provide a linkage of modern Greeks with their Byzantine heritage. More broadly, presenting an experiential product in narrative terms can assist consumers deeper connection with the story and underpin their active participation.

References
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modern Greek consumers elicit knowledge and understanding from and examination of their Byzantine past. This understand is important for us as marketers not just because of the massive and growing heritage industry but because an appreciation of the past helps to explain and position different consumer behavior. What is interesting here is that the past is not overtly important but is critical to determining the narrative we present and the conversation we have with consumers in a given market. Indeed we know that there are considerable differences between different cultures even when they are found in close geographical proximity. To understand the importance of history in Northern Ireland, for example, we cannot simply take a Unionist or Nationalist narrative we have to consider both. What does the past mean to the consumer? Chronis focuses on the way in which consumers in one Greek city (Thessaloniki) react to an experience of their shared Byzantine past. This exploration takes place in the context of endeavouring to understand what drives our fascination with old things. Chronis draws on Lowethals identication of six benets relating to peoples attraction to the past: (1) Familiarity: the past informs the present since without history . . . the present day would be aimless and tomorrow without signicance. (2) Reafrmation and validation: the past offers . . . a standard for judgment. (3) Identity: history gives us our group identity. (4) Guidance: we need to know the lessons of the past to . . . make a better future. (5) Enrichment: knowledge of the past enriches the present. (6) Escape: nostalgia and escaping to better times These six benets merge with each other but overall present a way for us to understand how, as marketers, we can make use of history in developing strategies and tactics. Knowing history matters for the story we tell The central advantage that derives from an appreciation of history comes in helping to determine the narrative the story we tell to the consumer. Since the consumer uses the past and an understanding of the past to help make sense of the world, we have to be careful in considering the impact of our message (for most of us Orange are a mobile phone network, the word has rather different meaning in Belfast). Clearly this need for our narrative to coincide or at least not contradict the target consumers understanding of the world, explains some of the difculties faced by marketers of products with complex messages. Global marketing relies on either technocratic communications or else on a simple universal message. Once we move away from this simple message and develop a richer narrative we have to work with the grain of the consumers historical appreciation. We will lose impact and risk loss of markets if we jar with this historical narrative. History helps explain tastes and preferences One of the most notable things about historical understanding is that is shows the evolution of unique cultural preferences that are often critical to the marketer. Historians may see the development of a given cuisine or style of interior decoration as a sideline but for marketers seeking the right narrative and appropriate imagery, such understanding is central. 221

Executive summary and implications for managers and executives

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benets of the material present.

Using the past in marketing When I think back to my history lessons at school, I remember wondering what the point was in learning history. Not that I did not enjoy the lessons and I found (indeed still do nd) history fascinating. The past is interesting but is not much help in dealing with the every day job of getting on in life. Or is it? Chronis sets out here to explore the relationship between the consumer and the past in this case looking at how

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Cultural history has been growing in importance and it is here that we can begin to appreciate the way in which consumer understanding of history affects the way in which they assess and select the products offered to them in the modern market place. The consumer draws on those unwritten cultural traditions and places them in the context of identity dened by the historical narrative. We do not make choices that are incongruous and, again, historical context is valuable in understanding what may prove difcult or jarring. Chronis talks about aesthetics, observing that aesthetics are derived from history and signal certain expectations from the consumer. This places greater importance on the servicescape where local aesthetics come to the fore we want the right ambience as well as the right product. This does not militate against the modern but does suggest that design must relate to traditional as well as to form. The heritage industry Although much of Chroniss focus is on the wider implications that come from an appreciation of history, we should not overlook the importance of the heritage industry. While it is good to examine why it is we are so fascinated with heritage (ours and other peoples), we should also consider how to market the heritage offering.

We know from experience that it not sufcient to open up our heritage attraction of make our heritage product. And we need to develop an offering that is in tune with the historical narrative that dominates. Now this can present some problems where there are two very different traditions but is a prerequisite to successful heritage products and services. Even where we are introducing new information or a different take on the past, this is best done in the context of the dominant narrative. To do so opens the marketer (or whoever) up to the charge of rewriting history. Chronis reports that marketers can use the actual story (even through using real story tellers or actors) and symbols or props to convey the message within the right cultural context. We are all fascinated by old things and by our history. The heritage industry uses this fascination (as do businesses such as the antiques trade and the ne art business) to develop successful products. But the wider lesson is that the narrative we use to communicate our brand message has to t in with (or better still, draw upon) the broader historical narrative. cis of the article Our Byzantine heritage: consumption of (A pre the past and its experiential benets. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)

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