Service Marketing and Relationship Marketing: A Case Study on Gangnam Style and Hilton Hotel

The report summarizes the title ‘Service and Relationship marketing’. The report is divided into two parts. The first part of the report focuses on the Gangnam case. It includes the concept of IMC Model and focuses on the 5W’s of the Gangnam style with respect to its success. The second section suggests that communication content of the Gangnam style video also has a high role on its overall success. The second part focuses on the aspect of Hotel Hilton with respect to service marketing and relationship marketing. It states that service and relationship marketing has high importance in the overall performance of the business organization. It includes organizational information of the Hilton hotel and the flow chart of its front stage and backstage operations. It recommends that Hilton Hotel is a highly recognized service organization. It suggests that elements such as marketing, customer service and Maintenance attain high importance in the Hilton hotel. It also determines their role in the Hilton hotel. The managerial implication analysis suggests that any deviation in any of the element of front stage and backstage operations can lead to heavy loss. The given recommendations are based on Customer service element and marketing of the Hilton Hotel operations. It includes practically applicable suggestions like aligning incentives with guest ratings and developing training for hospitality staff. The suggestion focuses on the betterment of Customer service and marketing element in Hilton hotel.

RUNNING HEAD: MARKETING
Service marketing and Relationship marketing

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Executive summary
The report summarizes the title ‘Service and Relationship marketing’. The report is
divided into two parts. The first part of the report focuses on the Gangnam case. It
includes the concept of IMC Model and focuses on the 5W’s of the Gangnam style with
respect to its success. It provides a detailed analysis of the success of the Gangnam
style. The second section suggests that communication content of the Gangnam style
video also has a high role on its overall success. The second part focuses on the aspect
of Hotel Hilton with respect to service marketing and relationship marketing. It states
that service and relationship marketing has high importance in the overall performance
of the business organization. It includes organizational information of the Hilton hotel
and the flow chart of its front stage and backstage operations. It recommends that Hilton
Hotel is a highly recognized service organization. It suggests that elements such as
marketing, customer service and Maintenance attain high importance in the Hilton hotel.
It also determines their role in the Hilton hotel. The managerial implication analysis
suggests that any deviation in any of the element of front stage and backstage
operations can lead to heavy loss. The given recommendations are based on Customer
service element and marketing of the Hilton Hotel operations. It includes practically
applicable suggestions like aligning incentives with guest ratings and developing
training for hospitality staff. The suggestion focuses on the betterment of Customer
service and marketing element in Hilton hotel.

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Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................3
Integrated Marketing Communication model.................................................................3
Communication content..................................................................................................5
Significance of service encounter......................................................................................9
Front stage operations...................................................................................................9
Back stage operations..................................................................................................10
Analysis of managerial implications.................................................................................11
Summary..........................................................................................................................12
Recommendations...........................................................................................................13
Bibliography.....................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
The research report is prepared on the title ‘Service Marketing and Relationship
Marketing’. Service marketing is used to market a service to the customers. It includes
marketing of personal services. It is almost used by all the companies and brand that
provides some sort of services to the customers. It assists the company to enhance its
customers and overall monetary gains. Relationship marketing emphasizes on
customer loyalty and long-term customer engagement. It does not takes into account
short term goals of customer acquisition. It aims at developing customers that attains
strong connection with the brand as it results in free word of mouth promotion.
Relationship marketing helps the company to retain customers and generating satisfied
customers. Thus, it helps in strengthening relationship with the customers (Baines et al.,
2011). These are the branches of marketing. The first part focuses on the given case of
‘Gangnam style’. The second part emphasizes on the service organization named as
‘Hilton Hotel’.
The key purpose of the report is to pour light on the aspect of service marketing and
relationship marketing. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to upgrade the knowledge
based on the given title.
Part 1
Integrated Marketing Communication model
Integrated Marketing Communication Planning process includes strategic planning. It is
a customer centric approach and aims at getting higher returns within a short span.
Gangnam style video was also relied on the IMC model and gained massive success
(Koekemoer, 2010). The success of Gangnam style can be described by using the 5W’s
concept.
Who: Gangnam style is a pop song sang by the South Korean musical artist named as
Psy (Fox & King, 2013).
What: A massive viral music video includes dance performance. It has acknowledged
the world with the Korean culture, language and lifestyle. Gangnam style represents the

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Gangnam’s people class and trendy nature. Gangnam is a district of Seoul with a
wealthy population. In the song, Psy describes a man that is trying hard to adopt the
Gangnam style (Fox & King, 2013).
How: In order to gain high popularity for ‘Gangnam style’ music video YG Entertainment
has assisted the Psy to make his music video reach to a number of channels. It has
promoted the song on multiple social media network including Facebook and twitter.
The success reasons of Gangnam style was divided into three stages.
1. YG entertainment has a major role in Gangnam video success. This is because it
has formed partnership with various artists to push the video into the United
States and United Kingdom music industry.
2. Gangnam style Song and the video content was the second reason for its
massive success. It has uses the eye-catching colors that made kids highly
attracted towards the video. It has used the easy language and catchy lyrics to
gain the attention of youngsters. Thus, it states language has laid a major role in
its popularity. Additionally, the video content was free from any malcontent that
makes it easy to share on various social media networks by the individuals all
across the globe (Fox & King, 2013).
3. It is examined that Media has also assisted the Gangnam video to gain mass
views by giving it high coverage. It was also included in the articles in Billboard
and in the post of Huffington. It marketing was also covered by CNN and Sky
news. Further, it has received support from the celebrity like Katy Perry (The
Drum , 2012).
It has become the first music video to gain the popularity of two billion users view on
YouTube. It has achieved the 100 million views within the 51 days (Goyette, 2012).
Thus, it states that high marketing is performed to gain mass popularity from the initial
day of music video launch. As per the case, it is analyzed that ‘Gangnam style’ high
fame and popularity was not a mere accident. This is because it has performed a
tremendous integrated communication strategy.
Where: It was launched on the YouTube network.

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When: A South Korean music artist released it on 15 July 2012 (Cheah & Kim, 2014).
Communication content
No copyrights: The Gangnam style song lacked the copyright. The main aim behind no
copyrights was to encourage people to create their own online parodies. Individuals
used ‘#Gangnam style’ hash tag on their self-generated videos. This has also made the
video viral on Instagram and Facebook.
Controversy: ‘Do you know Gangnam style’ was became the controversy in the media
world. This ultimately makes the individuals wonder about what Gangnam style actually
is. (Soranews24, 2013).
Invisible horse dance: It was also one of the moves or gaining the attention of the
viewers.
Social media: Gangnam Style high popularity was shared on various social media
channels; it has developed peer pressure among the remaining people to watch the
video song.
Memes: There was multiple memes developed on the video that has also It has also
enhances the curiosity level of the people that has not watched the video leading to
more views.
Availability: The song was not limited to a few channels or music sites. Its high
availability on various has helped the Gangnam style song to spread like a fire.
Celebrity’s preference: It has also received the likes of major celebrities and positive
preference from them on the social media channels. Thus, all these communication
content acts as strategies that adds to the value of the Gangnam style video (Venkat,
2013).
As per the research, it is examined that video content has a high impact of the success
of Gangnam video. The content includes Psy that was performing interesting and easy
dance steps that makes the video more enjoyable to watch. There was high degree of

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synergy between the music and the content that makes it more interesting to watch. The
video features bright colour that eradicates any chances of dizziness (Lee, 2015).
The video content includes ambiguity that makes the viewer’s wonder and develops
curiosity among them about the content. It content focuses on a cool and charming guy
that makes silly moves. It develops engagement among the viewers as it lacks boredom
content. The video content was based on the lifestyle of the Seoul people. Thus, it
makes the people relate to the content leading it to more engagement. Youngsters of
high lifestyle were mainly covered in the Gangnam style video. Thus, it makes the
viewer’s more attracted towards the video. Additionally, its content includes highly
catching pop music that makes the video more energetic to watch. Thus, all these
factors have assisted in raising the enjoyment level of the viewers (Jung, 2014).
The Gangnam style song was full of positivity, motion and energy. It is frank that
positive energy attracts individuals. Thus, its positive energy and high beat has made
the viewer’s more enthusiastic towards the Gangnam style video song.
Thus, it suggests that the content has a major role in the success of the Gangnam style
video’s success. It has ultimately led the music video to go viral on the global channel.
Because, it has gained the attention of the global world, it has become the first video on
YouTube to cross the 1 billion viewers and was also listed in the Guinness world record
(Han, 2013).
PART 2
Organization overview
A service organization is a company that earns that primarily earns revenue by
providing intangible products and services. In the field of service industry, Hilton Hotel is
a major brand.
Hilton hotel is a U.S. based hospitality service organization founded in the year 1919. It
is a recognized multinational hotel service organization. It operates in the form of chain
hotels and has its hotels in various countries including Australia and India. In Australia,
there are seven Hilton hotels (MacKinnon, 2018). Globally, it has 4856 hotels (Lock,

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2019). It major competitors are Marriot International hotels and Andaz hotels. It has also
won several awards including ‘Fortune change the world award’ for providing exclusive
service to its customers (Fregonese, 2015).
Flow chart
Figure 1: Front stage operations of Hilton Hotel
FRONT STAGE
FUNCTIONS
Reservation
Marketing
Controlling
Security
Customer service
Hilton hotel

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FIGURE 2: Backstage operations of Hilton Hotel
Hilton hotel
BACKSTAGE
FUNCTIONS
Human resource
management
Supply chain
management
Maintenance

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Significance of service encounter
Service encounter refers to the transactions in which one individual provides services to
another individual. Similarly, service is also provided to the individual. It is reoccurring in
nature as every time customer interacts with the service, some form of service is
delivered. It attains high significance, because it results in satisfied customers.
However, rendering the service alone is not a single task but it should be delivered in
the right manner and it must result in customer engagement and better customer
experience. Without encountering the customer with the service, a satisfied customer
cannot be raised (María de la O Hernández-López, 2015).
Front stage operations
These activities are visible to the customers. The people operating in the front stage
often interact with the customers. The customer can also view the setting of this
department, as the operations are not performed behind the closed doors. In the Hilton
hotel, it mainly includes activities such as making reservations; security, marketing,
controlling and customer service (Ebert, 2011).
Reservation: It is one of the operations performed at the initial stage. In the hotel
industry, it involves making the room booking for the guest. It is done as per the concern
of the guest before his/her arrival in the hotel. It is mandatory for the Hilton hotel to
make reservations because it is a renowned hotel and it has large customer base. Thus,
to maintain proper allotment of room and remove any form of chaos, it is highly
essential for Hilton hotel to make reservations for the guest.
Security: It is the key priority of the management to lay high emphasis on the security
of the guest. Similarly, hotel Hilton also prioritizes customer’s security. Like other brand
hotels, it also makes sure that its customer will not face any form of security or privacy
concern. It attains a high importance because if the customer privacy will not be
respected, it will ultimately results in loss of customer (Heizer, 2017).
Marketing: In the current competitive world, it has become mandatory for the service
organizations to promote their brand and the services they rendered. It attains a high

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importance because in the absence of marketing, Hilton hotel cannot acknowledge its
customers with the latest discounts, events and offers in the hotel (Michael J. Baker,
2016).
Controlling: It is the process of comparing the actual performance with the planned
performance. It is mandatory for every business organization to lay high attention in the
controlling process. This is because in the absence of controlling, Hilton hotel cannot
determine its reasons for better or poor outcome. Thus, it is highly important as it
assists the management in taking corrective measures (Reichmann, 2012).
Customer service: It is the assistance provided by the organization to its customers. In
the service organization, customer service lays a major role in generating satisfied
customers. In the hotel industry, it includes all those services in which hospitality worker
directly deals with the guest. It includes delivering snacks and timely delivering their
suitcase. It is highly important to deliver best service to the guest because any
discontentment among the customer may result in loss of loyal customers. Thus, Hilton
hotel should prioritize in providing its customers with the customer (Haksevar & Render,
2017).
Back stage operations
Backstage operation includes all those activities that support the process of the front
stage. These activities are performed behind the closed doors. These actions are
generally not visible the customers. Any form of error and mistakes occurred in the
backstage could directly affect the front stage operations. It includes elements such as
Human resources management, supply chain management and maintenance (Kumar,
2011).
Human resource management: it is the managerial approach taken by the
management of an organization to enhance the performance of the employees and
retain best outcome from them. It is done to ensure orderly arrangement of work by the
human resource. As discussed above, Hilton hotel is a renowned global hotel brand.
Occasionally, specific events occur in this chain hotel. Thus, it requires managing and
guiding the hospitality workers as per the event requirement. As the organization

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enhances in its size, it becomes difficult to manage the working staff. Thus, as it
becomes mandatory to implement the human resource management (Noe, 2017).
Supply chain management: It includes managing the flow of goods and services in an
organization. It includes multiple activities from purchasing raw material to production
process. As a service organization, Hilton hotel supply chain includes ordering material
for hotel rooms like bed sheet, curtains and other essentials in large quantity. It is highly
important activity because it includes all the basic activities of the Hilton Hotel. Any
deviation in its activities will disturb the whole process. It will ultimately effect the day to
day to operations of the hotel Hilton (Onkal , 2011).
Maintenance: It involves preserving the physical condition of the hotel. Like other
elements, it also attains a key importance. Hilton Hotel is globally recognized for its
luxurious hotels. However, if the maintenance department lacks in its activity, it will lowe
the status of the hotel in the external environment. Thus, any effect on the status of the
Hilton hotel will directly influence its customer’s strength (Lovelock & Patterson , 2015).
Analysis of managerial implications
Any deviation in the performance of above elements will also affect the management of
the Hilton hotel. Based on front stage operations, any failure in making reservation will
result in development of chaos related to the room and it will ultimately result in
unhealthy generation between the guest and the Hilton hotel management. If proper
security is not offered to the customer, it will directly lead to loss of the customer. Thus,
management has to lay high efforts in justifying such mistakes and happenings. In the
absence of proper marketing, Hilton hotel management will face issue in attracting
guest towards their hotel brand. Poor controlling of the Hilton hotel will ultimately raise
the question on the working pattern of the management. Unsatisfied customer service
will lead to poor ratings and customer reviews on digital media (Czyzewska, 2019).
Thus, Hilton Hotel should management will be highly effected. This is because;
unsatisfied customers and poor ratings will directly lower the goodwill and brand
reputation in the market. Hence, it will require the high efforts of Hilton hotel

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management to achieve the same market position and reputation in Australia and in the
global world.
As per the backstage operations, any lower performance by the element of backstage
operations will also affect the Hilton hotel management. Poor human resource
management will ultimately disturb the working pattern. It will result in chaotic work
environment and delay in performance of the activity.
Poor supply chain management will result in delay in performance. Thus, it will delay all
the process associated with it. Thus, it will results in providing delayed service to the
guest. Thus, it will also lead to unsatisfied customer and lower reputation. Lastly, if
Hilton hotel is not maintained timely, it will result in development of poor property.
Hence, it will directly enhances the future expense of the management will respect to
the Hilton property (Czyzewska, 2019).
Summary
The second part of the discussion summarizes the operations of the service
organization named as Hotel Hilton. It provides detailed description of the back stage
and front stage operations of the Hilton hotel. It includes Reservation, Security,
Marketing, Controlling and Customer Service. In the field of backstage operations, it
includes Inventory management, Human Resource Management, Supply Chain
Management and Maintenance.
The above paragraphs provide the meaning of each operation. It also focuses on the
role and functions of each operation in the service industry. Further, it provides the
significance of each operation on the hotel success and overall performance.
Additionally, it provides the implication of each service encounter on the management of
the Hilton hotel. It suggests that high emphasis on each operations and service
rendered has to be maintained because it directly affect the performance of the hotel.
Thus, it states that backstage and front stage operations are both interdependent on
each other. Absence of any one department will disturb the smooth flow of services and

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activities. Thus, it will ultimately result in poor business performance of the Hilton hotel
and will have a bad effect on the management.
Recommendations
1. It is recommended that Hilton hotel should lay high attention in providing its guest
with the tremendous customer service. This is because; Hilton hotel is a globally
recognized hotel brand. Thus, in order to gain more loyal customers and
competitive advantage, it should focus on rendering quality service to its guest.
This could be done by linking the hospitality staff incentives with the customer
ratings. It will provide dual benefit to the hotel Hilton. Firstly, it will help in raising
more satisfied a loyal customers. Secondly, it will boost the motivational level and
morale of the employees to perform well. Thus, it will ultimately lead to better
performance (Czyzewska, 2019).
2. It should train its hospitality staff to read the guest. It should lay prior attention in
addressing its regular guest with their names. This will develop better
interpersonal relation between the guest and hotel management.
3. Hilton hotel can provide more enhanced customer service by asking its guest
with their required essentials before their check-in in the hotel. Through this
practice, Hilton hotel will be able to serve its guest better (Hoque, 2013).
4. Lastly, it is suggested that Hilton Hotel should enhance its marketing. This could
be done by the marketing technique of ‘storytelling’. It involves sharing the guest
experience on various digit media platforms. This will be best suitable for Hilton
hotel because story telling is considered as one of the economic marketing
technique. Additionally, people consider it as more genuine and trustworthy
(Brotherton, 2012).

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