Summary and Recommendations for Action

Abstract

As Paul Watzlawick puts it: “One cannot not communicate.” (Watzlawick, Helmick, & Jackson, 2007, p. 275). As soon as a company enters the market with a product, the product communicates, whether intentionally or unintentionally, on many different channels and levels. Communication between companies and their customers has become a real-time dialogue, while at the same time the number of touchpoints increases. Customer experience and user experience play an important role in the credible communication of a corporate identity. Accordingly, in addition to corporate communication, the design of products and services must also be consciously and specifically aligned with the values of a brand. The story that marketing tells as well as the experiences that a consumer has with a company must match the images, emotions, associations, and memories that the consumer perceives explicitly and implicitly in every interaction with a company’s products.