The Role of Fantasies in the Arts: A Call for Better Understanding and Management

Bernd Schmitt

Bernd Schmitt is Robert D. Calkins Professor of International Business at Columbia Business School in New York. He conducts academic research on customer experience, branding and new technologies. Schmitt has published in the major marketing journals and written nine books.

ABSTRACT
The article serves as a call for exploring the nature of fantasies and their role in the arts. Using phenomenological introspection, the article identifies three core features of art fantasizing: goal-directedness, the inclusion of ideologies, and self-involvement. By using the unique characteristics of art fantasizing as a basis, the author suggests that scholars may create a fantasy-based framework to gain a better understanding of the role of consumer fantasies in the arts. The article concludes that such a model might also provide guidance to arts managers on how to leverage the fantasizing phenomenon. 
KEYWORDS
Fantasy; Experience; Experiential Consumption; Arts Management