Have you ever experienced hearing your favourite song from a couple of decades ago, and suddenly, you sour mood just evaporated? Or walking down the grocery, and finding out that your favourite snack from childhood is being made available again, after 20 long years. Both situations bring about good and positive feelings, and both involve things from the past.
Marketing is about successfully tapping into human emotions, and tapping into fond and happy memories can be an effective way to engage your audience and leave a lasting mark. This is called nostalgia marketing, and strategic brands have been engaging people through their past and their roots. From childhood cartoon characters, songs, computer games, favourite snacks, drinks, and old movies, we all develop a degree of nostalgia for the good old days of our childhood.
Nostalgia marketing is fast becoming a powerful marketing trend. Let us take a look at why walking down memory lane is becoming a popular and effective marketing strategy.
Nostalgia takes us back to simpler and happier times.
Everyone is so busy nowadays. We all have so many responsibilities on our plate that it’s easy to simply wish for the days when all we had to worry was school and the latest arcade game.
Marketing that employs nostalgia takes us to those stress-free, good old days. It takes us to a place where our current problems are irrelevant and non-existent. It connects to its intended audience by bringing a sense of freedom, warmth and security. Reliving those simple days through beloved icons brings strong and positive emotions, which enhances and enforces brand recall. The happy feeling induced by the advertisement has the power to sway target customers to buy the product.
Nostalgia transforms even the negative emotions into something positive.
Negative emotions like loneliness, sadness, and stress, can be transformed through nostalgia to have good psychological effects. These emotions bring forth increased self-esteem, even enhanced mood.
One example of such negative triggers that can have positive effects are stresses caused by exams during your younger days – terrible to live through, but often recalled fondly. This is what makes nostalgia such a powerful marketing tool; it can literally transform negative feelings to positive ones.
Nostalgia builds social connections.
This is the age of impersonal digital media. Marketers bombard us with ads 24/7 through television and the internet. With the influx of information and brand advertisements, people are becoming experts in tuning out marketing messages.
Employing nostalgia can humanise a brand’s marketing. It sends a message that says, “We were there. We know how it felt.” It forges a meaningful link between the past and the present, and builds a feeling of connection with the intended audience. It builds a feeling of trust, and if used effectively, can evoke loyalty to the brand.
Nostalgia marketing satisfies a need.
Nostalgia is a yearning for the idealised past. It is a longing for a time and place in our memory, when things are not yet as complicated. Taking a walk down memory lane can bring warm and giddy feelings, and can help us feel better in the present.
In a nutshell, nostalgia can be a defence against loneliness, as it brings about positive emotions and makes you feel good by reminding you of happier times.
Jezweb helps you create a successful digital marketing strategy
A marketing strategy can only be effective if it is relevant and timely. It must also be authentic with a strong emotional appeal to the heart. Nostalgia marketing is commonly targeted at the millennial audience, but it works with every age.
Successful marketing campaigns can be achieved through diligent research and careful planning. However, it can fall flat without the right mix of emotions sprinkled on it. For your company’s or brand’s marketing campaign needs, call Jezweb! From WordPress web design to social media marketing, Jezweb can do it all for you.