Nostalgia
What is nostalgia? In 'Consumer Behaviour: a European perspective' nostalgia is described as a bittersweet emotion where we view the past with both sadness and longing. References to the 'good old days' are increasingly common, as advertisers call up memories of youth - and hope these feelings will translate to what they are selling today.
In class we discussed why nostalgia is so effective as a marketing tool for treats. We decided it was because treats were usually given as a reward or, as the name suggests, a special treat; perhaps for a birthday or day out. As these events were usually happy ones, when they have the same treat in the present day their memory of the original consumption of the treat is recalled and all the emotions that accompany it.
Nostalgic memories can be exaggerated because we long for them so much or in some cases we remember them to the extreme of being bad. This is due to events being memorable because they are either great or terrible - we tend to not remember the details we just focus on the overall picture.
Nostalgia can affect any age from 12 onwards, but occurs most strongly for the period of time in the early 20s in an adult's life. This is perhaps because this is when most people are truly free and have the money to do what they want as well as making their own decisions.
Nostalgia is a good tool to use in marketing because it makes people long for past times and gives the impression that buying a product can make everything familiar and like the way it used to be. However, using nostalgia alone is not enough, many brands are slightly updating the brand message to show the technological advances that have been made, but still using the same underlying message. Such as Persil's tough on stains message.This helps build consumer trust, even if people have never used Persil before. If a product has been around for 100 years there must be a reason why and with the added 'Colour Care' consumers are more likely to give it a try as it appears to be an advanced and modern product.
My nostalgia mood board:
The effects of Nostalgia can be seen in the reintroduction of the Wispa chocolate bar. Wispa was created in 1980 and taken out of production in 2003. However, there was a large group of people that wanted it to return, who created a Facebook group (mainly made up of the adults who had enjoyed Wispas when they were younger). After seeing the support from their customers Cadbury reintroduced the Wispa with an advert created by the fans.
Another example of nostalgia in advertising can be seen in the Revels advert below which features a spoof of a scene from the 1978 film The Deer Hunter. In the original scene they are playing Russian roulette, a very dangerous game based on chance, but in the advert they are eating revels instead of playing Russian roulette. The ad highlights the fact that eating revels can be risky business; which is what people remembered about eating Revels from their childhood. Also highlighted in the advert is that people like different flavours; in the advert he said "orange" and they thought he had lost, but it turns out he likes orange. The advert also has a shot of a Colonel Kurtz spoof character (originally played by Marlon Brando) from another oscar-winning film Apocalypse Now (1979) saying 'the horror, the horror' which was a tag line for the film.
Learning & Memory
The two types of learning we are concerned with in marketing are:
Learning can be defined as: "acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values or preferences. It may involve processing different types of information" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learn
Observational learning, also known as social learning theory, occurs when an oberserver's behaviour changes after viewing the behaviour of a model and how they are treated (whether the model is rewarded or punished). This was famously demonstrated by Bandura in this study.
This can be seen in action in this great ad below:
The message behind the advert is: If you use Lynx body spray, like the man in the advert is; women will flock to you (what many would think is a positive thing - or reward) but, if you do not buy your glasses from Specsavers and end up with bad ones they will run from you (a negative thing). This advert is brilliant because it's also referencing another well known series of adverts (the Lynx adverts).
The other type of learning is classical conditioning, or operant conditioning, this occurs when a stimulis that elicits a response is paired with one which does not. This was discovered by Ivan Pavlov, who rang a bell (the stimulus which does not elicit a reponse) at the same time as squirting dry meat (the stimulus that elicited a reponse) into the mouths of dogs which made them salivate. Over time the dogs learned to associate the bell ringing with the dry meat; and so whenever it rang they would salivate.
An example of this in advertising is PG tips teabags. Whenever I think of PG tips I think of monkeys because they have traditionally used chimpanzees or monkeys (currently a knitted one). Although seeing a pack of PG in the shops is not going to make me want to go out and buy a monkey, it might make me think of the advert and make me more inclined to buy PG tips.
We can find out our preferred style of learning by taking the VARK test.VARK is a model that shows our preference towards a learning and recalling style. People may have a strong preference for one style or may have a preference for multiple styles, this is known as being multi-modal.Study strategies are available here for all of the different VARK learning styles. Knowing this can help you become a better student and study better.
Memory
Google definitions defines memory as: "the power of retaining and recalling past experience" http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:memory&sa=X&ei=fd4wTc-iNpCC5AaqyJTmCg&ved=0CCIQkAE
The memory process involves:
External inputs> Encoding: The information is placed in memory in the way consumed (this can be in any of the VARK formats)> Storage: Information is retained in memory> Retrieval: Information stored in memory is found as needed.
Memory is important in marketing because we need to know how to make advertisements memorable so they can do their job; which is to make people buy products. People are more likely to remember adverts they see at the cinema, JFC Informatique & média found that the rate of total memorisation of adverts after one viewing at the cinema was 55%, followed by 13% for TV, 10% for print and 5% for radio.
Memory recall reduces as we age, but there are many ways to reduce the deterioration. If you would like to improve your memory you can find many ways here. In fact, one of the ways is to write your own blog!
What is nostalgia? In 'Consumer Behaviour: a European perspective' nostalgia is described as a bittersweet emotion where we view the past with both sadness and longing. References to the 'good old days' are increasingly common, as advertisers call up memories of youth - and hope these feelings will translate to what they are selling today.
In class we discussed why nostalgia is so effective as a marketing tool for treats. We decided it was because treats were usually given as a reward or, as the name suggests, a special treat; perhaps for a birthday or day out. As these events were usually happy ones, when they have the same treat in the present day their memory of the original consumption of the treat is recalled and all the emotions that accompany it.
Nostalgic memories can be exaggerated because we long for them so much or in some cases we remember them to the extreme of being bad. This is due to events being memorable because they are either great or terrible - we tend to not remember the details we just focus on the overall picture.
Nostalgia can affect any age from 12 onwards, but occurs most strongly for the period of time in the early 20s in an adult's life. This is perhaps because this is when most people are truly free and have the money to do what they want as well as making their own decisions.
 |
| An example of nostalgia advertising. |
Nostalgia is a good tool to use in marketing because it makes people long for past times and gives the impression that buying a product can make everything familiar and like the way it used to be. However, using nostalgia alone is not enough, many brands are slightly updating the brand message to show the technological advances that have been made, but still using the same underlying message. Such as Persil's tough on stains message.This helps build consumer trust, even if people have never used Persil before. If a product has been around for 100 years there must be a reason why and with the added 'Colour Care' consumers are more likely to give it a try as it appears to be an advanced and modern product.
 |
| Persil advert from 2007 stating 'Tough but gentle' on their Colour Care product. |
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| An advert from 1950 stating 'Persil washes whiter' |
My nostalgia mood board:
The effects of Nostalgia can be seen in the reintroduction of the Wispa chocolate bar. Wispa was created in 1980 and taken out of production in 2003. However, there was a large group of people that wanted it to return, who created a Facebook group (mainly made up of the adults who had enjoyed Wispas when they were younger). After seeing the support from their customers Cadbury reintroduced the Wispa with an advert created by the fans.
Another example of nostalgia in advertising can be seen in the Revels advert below which features a spoof of a scene from the 1978 film The Deer Hunter. In the original scene they are playing Russian roulette, a very dangerous game based on chance, but in the advert they are eating revels instead of playing Russian roulette. The ad highlights the fact that eating revels can be risky business; which is what people remembered about eating Revels from their childhood. Also highlighted in the advert is that people like different flavours; in the advert he said "orange" and they thought he had lost, but it turns out he likes orange. The advert also has a shot of a Colonel Kurtz spoof character (originally played by Marlon Brando) from another oscar-winning film Apocalypse Now (1979) saying 'the horror, the horror' which was a tag line for the film.
Learning & Memory
The two types of learning we are concerned with in marketing are:
Learning can be defined as: "acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values or preferences. It may involve processing different types of information" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learn
Observational learning, also known as social learning theory, occurs when an oberserver's behaviour changes after viewing the behaviour of a model and how they are treated (whether the model is rewarded or punished). This was famously demonstrated by Bandura in this study.
This can be seen in action in this great ad below:
The message behind the advert is: If you use Lynx body spray, like the man in the advert is; women will flock to you (what many would think is a positive thing - or reward) but, if you do not buy your glasses from Specsavers and end up with bad ones they will run from you (a negative thing). This advert is brilliant because it's also referencing another well known series of adverts (the Lynx adverts).
The other type of learning is classical conditioning, or operant conditioning, this occurs when a stimulis that elicits a response is paired with one which does not. This was discovered by Ivan Pavlov, who rang a bell (the stimulus which does not elicit a reponse) at the same time as squirting dry meat (the stimulus that elicited a reponse) into the mouths of dogs which made them salivate. Over time the dogs learned to associate the bell ringing with the dry meat; and so whenever it rang they would salivate.
An example of this in advertising is PG tips teabags. Whenever I think of PG tips I think of monkeys because they have traditionally used chimpanzees or monkeys (currently a knitted one). Although seeing a pack of PG in the shops is not going to make me want to go out and buy a monkey, it might make me think of the advert and make me more inclined to buy PG tips.
We can find out our preferred style of learning by taking the VARK test.VARK is a model that shows our preference towards a learning and recalling style. People may have a strong preference for one style or may have a preference for multiple styles, this is known as being multi-modal.Study strategies are available here for all of the different VARK learning styles. Knowing this can help you become a better student and study better.
VARK = Visual (seeing), Aural (hearing), Read/write (processing/semantic meaning), Kinaesthetic (doing) and Multi-modal (all of the above)
The data from VARK suggests that there are differences in the preferences between men and women. Men have more Kinaesthetic responses and women have more Read/write responses to the VARK survey. This may explain why more boys are bored and disruptive in class rooms and can also be used in digital marketing communications (in which adverts can be interactive and satisfy the doing part) to capture the attention of men.
Memory
Google definitions defines memory as: "the power of retaining and recalling past experience" http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:memory&sa=X&ei=fd4wTc-iNpCC5AaqyJTmCg&ved=0CCIQkAE
The memory process involves:
External inputs> Encoding: The information is placed in memory in the way consumed (this can be in any of the VARK formats)> Storage: Information is retained in memory> Retrieval: Information stored in memory is found as needed.
Memory is important in marketing because we need to know how to make advertisements memorable so they can do their job; which is to make people buy products. People are more likely to remember adverts they see at the cinema, JFC Informatique & média found that the rate of total memorisation of adverts after one viewing at the cinema was 55%, followed by 13% for TV, 10% for print and 5% for radio.
Memory recall reduces as we age, but there are many ways to reduce the deterioration. If you would like to improve your memory you can find many ways here. In fact, one of the ways is to write your own blog!
Awesome! Shows great understanding of the topic and of the marketing application
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