Transcending reality: Introducing mental time travel experiences and their ability to influence brand outcomes

Abstract

This research introduces the concept of mental time travel experience (MTTE) to the experiential marketing literature as a new type of experience that marketers can evoke to prompt consumers to mentally travel to a different time in one's personal past or forwards in time to one's personal future. Although research indicates that experiences are a cornerstone of building positive brand equity for firms, and that humans are rarely mentally in the present moment, there is a distinct gap regarding experiences that take place in consumers’ minds. We address this gap with the introduction and examination of MTTEs with two between-subjects studies with 1,879 participants. Results identify three factors important to the elicitation of MTTEs and mental time travel to the past as a key factor to influencing behavioral intentions. Finally, findings indicate that lower states of immersion have the propensity to strengthen mental time travel's effect on behavioral intentions.