Do you often get a funny or a strange feeling whenever you hear Disney Channel’s intro?
Upon hearing this intro, most people get reminded of their childhood’s favourite movies. It serves as a representation of the simpler times where everyone was happy and had zero worries about the future and what it entails.
Such effect could be created through different sensory inputs such as the smell of your mother’s cooking, an old note from your best friend in high school, or an old package of your favourite candy bar.
All of these feelings could be depicted as “Nostalgia”; longing for the good old days. Nostalgia occurs when you get sentimental over past memories, it happens when you’re longing for the past.
Due to nostalgia’s powerful impact, many marketers have taken advantage of it and turned it into a form of marketing called “Nostalgia Marketing”.
Like other types of marketing, nostalgia marketing aims to grab the consumer’s or the audience’s attention. It does so by triggering affections that resulted from events or trends that occurred with them in the past.
Nostalgia marketing is present all around us in various forms. Some brands utilise it in their advertising, product packaging, or in their brand persona. They mostly use elements from pop culture, different celebrities who were famous a long time ago such as Bill NYE, old fads or trends which everyone knows about, old music or classic colours and fonts, or historical events that have shaped our world and societies as we know it.
It is part of the reason why Disney keeps remaking its older animated movies using live-action features.
One of the brands which have successfully integrated nostalgia with its identity and brand persona is Benefit Cosmetics.
Benefit capitalises on its retro pink colour from the 1970s and manages to incorporate it in its packaging and advertising. It does so by combining it with its trademark humour which allows its messages to resonate with its audience and to stand out.
Nostalgia marketing is also used by numerous social media platforms. Have you ever received a notification from Facebook reminding you about a post you wrote nine years ago?
That’s right! We’re talking about Facebook memories. It has made people re-post and share old memories. Interestingly, Facebook is actually using the “memories” feature to train their A.I. to detect the type of memory whether it’s pleasant or sad.
When it comes to advertising, one of my favourite campaigns which had nostalgia written all over it was done by the one and only ketchup brand, Heinz. Heinz paid a tribute to the iconic show “Mad Men” in their “Pass the Heinz” ad campaign.
The ad campaign was first introduced and rejected on the show almost 50 years ago to be later approved by Heinz in real life. The key idea behind it is not showing any ketchup or Heinz bottles in the ads which should supposedly initiate a craving for the product.
Moreover, every now and then, we see many products from our childhood relaunching.
If you’re a 90s kid, then you might remember the most beloved cookies-and-cream snack, “Dunkaroos”. General Mills has announced that the product is relaunching after it was discontinued back in 2012. This has resulted in many people posting about their excitement for this news on social media.
Nostalgia can happen on an individual, cultural, or on a generational level.
When used deliberately, it could create positive outcomes for brands and allow them to achieve their goals. However, it is important that marketers understand the key motivator of their audience before using it in any of their efforts.
As inferred by research, one important thing about nostalgia is that it allows people to feel good and optimistic. Such feelings get later associated with the brand which is using nostalgia to communicate its message. It would affect their purchasing decisions and make them spend more.
Nostalgia makes people feel inspired and react positively to ads. This allows brands to evoke certain affections and emotional responses from consumers which later get transformed into trust.
When used on social media, nostalgia is more likely to make the posts go viral. For example, the #throwbackthursday created a lot of buzz. Many brands and users still use it to get more traffic and visibility to their pages.
Nostalgia marketing has the power to trigger memories which are often linked to the individuals’ values. This allows brands to utilise it and to tap into their consumers’ values and characteristics.
It allows for better and deeper connections with them on a more personal level.
In advertising, nostalgia serves as an authentic component which resonates more with the audience. It allows brands to create shared memories with their consumers and to make their message more memorable and shareable.
It is important that nostalgia gets incorporated within multi-dimensional branding initiatives to achieve desired outcomes and to avoid unwanted confusion. It has to be in line with the brand identity as a whole.
Whether we realise it or not, nostalgia plays a huge role in our lives.
This is one of the reasons which made marketers leverage it for their own advantage. However, it is important that nostalgia is used strategically so that it wouldn’t distort the message or shift the focus from the product itself.
Although nostalgia marketing could incur some costs, but if it was used correctly, it could definitely be worth all the expenses. It only has to feel true enough.
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