Nostalgia Marketing

Overview

Definition

• The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the

past, often in idealized form. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia

• A Standard Life study suggests 28 to 40-year-olds

don't plan for the future because they prefer to

reminisce about past times. Yet experts say

nostalgia can give meaning to our seemingly dull

lives.

• This represents a huge marketing opportunity in

nostalgic products and services.

A Nostalgia ‘Workout’

• List your cherished memories

• Find photos or mementos from happy times

• Close your eyes and think about what is outside

the "picture frame" to conjure subtle details

• Reminiscing with people from your past

strengthens relationships

• Take mental snapshots and save mementos of

happy times for future nostalgia

Source: Psychology Today

Key Facts

• Businesses and advertisers have known for years

that nostalgia sells, that the products popular

during a person's youth will influence their buying

habits throughout their lifetime.

• "But they didn't know why, and they perhaps didn't

care - that was their endgame, to figure out how to

sell things," says psychologist Clay Routledge, of

North Dakota State University.

Key Facts

• In recent years, psychologists have been trying to

analyse the powerful and enduring appeal of our

own past - what Mr Routledge calls the

"psychological underpinnings of nostalgia".

• "Why does it matter? Why would a 40-year-old

man care about a car he drove when he was 18?"

he asks. It matters, quite simply, because

nostalgia makes us feel good.

• Nostalgia pervades cars, music, fashion and IT

products.

Nostalgia - Cars

Nostalgia - Music

• Past Perfect Vintage music is an

independent record label founded in

1993. They remaster original 78

rpm records; old music with the

characteristic crackle removed; and

then produce them for a new life on

CDs, MP3 players, iPods, media

cards and USB flash drives.

• They have only 50 albums of the

most popular music from the 1920s,

30s and 40s. From classic jazz and

swing, to amazing big bands and

dance bands, and French chansons

and vintage love songs. Roaring 20s Memorabilia Pack

A replica pack containing quality reproduced paper

memorabilia. Perfect for themed parties along with our

1920s music CDs - Fascinating Rhythm and Charleston.

Nostalgia - Fashion

• Fashion looks to the past

for inspiration, but in the

late 1960s and through the

1970s, fashion was

inspired by a nostalgic

view and perception of the

1920s through the 1940s.

Nostalgia - Technology

• The vintage Commodore 64

personal computer is getting a

makeover in 2011, with a new

design and some of the latest

computing technologies, as the

brand gets primed for a comeback.

• The Commodore 64 was a home

computer running on an 8-bit

processor released by Commodore

International in 1982. The computer

was one of the most popular models

of all time, selling close to 17 million

units between 1982 and 1994,

according to the Computer History

Museum.

You are welcome to contact Nigel Bairstow at B2B

Whiteboard your source of B2B Asia / Pacific

marketing advice

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nigel-bairstow/6/41b/726

http://twitter.com/#!/b2bwhiteboard

Nostalgia Experiments

• In one experiment, the participants played a ball-tossing game on a computer in which some people were excluded soon after beginning.

• "Those people who were excluded after just a couple of ball tosses not only said that feeling like they belong is more important to them than people who were not excluded did, but they also chose more nostalgic than contemporary products in a variety of categories, including movies, TV shows, food brands, cars, and even shower gel," the authors write.

• In a final experiment, the authors discovered that when participants were excluded (from the same ball game as in the previous experiments) they not only felt a higher need to belong, but their need to belong was "cured" by eating a "nostalgic cookie" -- a brand that had been popular in the past.

Source: Katherine E. Loveland, Dirk. Smeesters, and Naomi Mandel.Still

Preoccupied with 1995: The Need to Belong and Preference for Nostalgic

Products. Journal of Consumer Research:, October 2010