Following the Theme: Conceptualizing Value as a More-than-Human Achievement

Theming is used as a powerful tool in the domain of marketing. Themes structure and regulate the rhythm of consumption experiences by facilitating the interplay between human and non-human entities. Trails such as the international ‘Silk Road’ or a local ‘wine trail’ use theming as a tool to connect multiple destinations, services, institutions and products in a geographic region and guide tourism consumption, providing meaningful experiences to travellers. However, how value emerges for the traveller from such a socio-materially constituted marketplace remains unclear. The agentic capabilities of non-human entities such as landscapes, roads, vehicles and other ‘things’ challenge existing conceptualisations of value, revealing a gap in the understanding of value on themed routes with regard to its substantial ontological framing in marketing.