A case study of bubble tea shops in an American college town: Value of the ‘transcensemantic’ in transcreative strategy for development of intercultural consumer experiences
The surge in popularity of bubble tea, a product of Asian origin, throughout the United States in locations such as the college town of Urbana-Champaign, contributes to increased saturation in the market for intercultural goods and experiences. In this thesis, I approach this through the marketing concept of transcreation. The term ‘transcreation’ was coined as a portmanteau referring to the intersection of translation and copywriting. Here I build on this original meaning to highlight the creative value-producing potentialities of copywriting as a means to “context switching.” Focusing on the use of Chinese script in marketing a product to an English-speaking audience, foregrounds the way language barriers to cultural exchange enable the production of novel values. I show how transcreative practices use this language barrier to generate new forms of “exotic” experience by enabling context-switching through creation of something that is not inherently of one culture or another, but authentically new. To emphasize the way two languages are involved in this creative process which draws on modes of meaning-making that do not require semantic comprehension, I propose a new word: “transcensemantic.” This word refers to the way transcreative context-switching produces novel intercultural values, by using foreign language text to generate positive feelings of therness. I illustrate this by reference to the bubble tea shops of Urbana-Champaign, on the basis of an archive of primary data including logos, slogans, store interiors, and physical materials from these stores circa 2024. I analyze this archive through the lens of the transcreative, showcasing the “transcensemantic” use of Chinese characters and related symbolism. On the basis of this analysis, I argue that bubble tea shops which use both Chinese and English language in their marketing and design, have created new intercultural value in contribution to intercultural consumer experiences through the transcensemantic effect. In conclusion, I suggest that incorporation of the opportunities for imagination and creativity through transcreative strategies can serve as a fount of potential value creation.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign