Experiencing Tradition Anew: Brand Experience in Leisure Consumption at Keroncong Plesiran

Abstract

This study examines how Keroncong Plesiran, an open-air keroncong festival first held in 2016 and now marking its tenth anniversary, is constructed and experienced as a contemporary leisure brand that reinterprets a heritage music genre. Analysis followed the steps of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to describe the sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral dimensions of the brand experience. Documentary evidence of Generation Z attendance shows the brand experienced primarily through aesthetic repackaging: youthful performers, contemporary arrangements, and an outdoor, informal staging that make a once "old-fashioned" genre feel relatable, corroborating prior findings that Keroncong Plesiran has renewed youth appreciation of keroncong. For small families, a repeat visitor described the festival as the most family-friendly concert she knows, an orderly, seated audience that makes bringing children feel safe and welcoming while still allowing her to enjoy a beautiful orchestral performance on a family holiday. The study contributes a phenomenological, practitioner- and visitor-grounded account of brand experience in a heritage-leisure context and offers implications for cultural event branding and heritage tourism management.