Brands use nostalgia marketing to attract new customers and also win over loyal ones. This is a strategy that goes unnoticed. When done right, this can result in a resurgence for dying brands. In this essay, we will look at how candy brands are using nostalgia to promote their products. It will also aim to explore the psychological experience involved in nostalgic feelings and what effect this has on the consumer–determining how they build relationships with brands over their lifetime.
The definition of nostalgia is “A positively-toned evocation from a lived experience” or “A sentimental yearning or bittersweet for an old product, service, or experience”. Similar to nostalgia marketing, it is designed to trigger a sentimental longing for a happy time or place in the past.
The Greek word for nostalgia, algos, is the translation of nostos. Johannes Hofer adopted the term “nostalgia” in 1688. The word is a combination of two Greek words, nostos meaning – returning home, and algos translating to pain. The term was so well-known that its origins were forgotten. Most commonly, Homesickness can be used to describe nostalgia.
This strategy is often used by brands to build bonds with their customers and create attachments to certain products or ranges. This usually means that brands withdraw a product and then reintroduce it later to create these feelings. Thus, increasing sales as well as advertising. It could be that the customer is feeling like they missed the product. Customers can remember the past when they see it again in shops. As a result, the memories attached to the product are brought back. This builds a relationship between the brand and the customer.
Holbrook discusses the psychological attribute of nostalgia proneness in his book Nostalgia & Consumption Preferences. Although nostalgia is easy to describe, it has a deep mental foundation. We must first understand how nostalgia affects consumers and then explain its origin.
Recent research suggests that people tend to be more attached to brands and products that bring back memories. It means that past and current memories are linked in a way that creates a feeling of nostalgia. Holbrook’s consumers have shown a preference for past products when it comes to nostalgia.
Brands play a role in constructing an individual’s identity, in terms of the products they consume and the way they use them in personal and social situations. This can apply to adulthood. The research shows that the products a person consumes throughout their life are related. It is more likely that they will continue to buy the same brands as adults and pass them on to future generations than if they had no emotional attachment to a brand.
Take Cadburys Wispa, for example. The Wispa bar was first introduced in 1981 in the North East England as a pilot version. The success of the product led to its national launch in 1983. Cadbury replaced the Wispa bars with Dairy Milk Bubble in 2003. It had the same taste, but was packaged differently. A social media ad campaign was launched to restore the product after customers complained about it.
Many products can be compared to the past. Confectionary products are a good example as they have likely been in our families for years and even passed down to our parents. This is the case when a brand has been passed on from generation to generation, which encourages them to also use that brand. This is the way bonds form between brands and people. It usually happens during childhood when parents or guardians are in control of our budgets and purchases.
Look at Kinder or similar names. They are using nostalgia as a tool to connect generations and expand their market. You can tell this by their slogans. Haribo and Kinder are both aimed at children, but also adults. Their advertisements often feature both adults and kids, and show adults as they bring out their ‘inner children’. Online marketing and advertising has made it easier to do this. Nutella offers a chat room for consumers to share their childhood memories. Encourage your customers to share their childhood memories. Then find ways to promote them.
Kessous & Roux talk about the brand’s ability of using nostalgia as a tool to create an authentic image, which is durable and a guarantee of high quality for the consumer, and recreate past emotions. Proust, a French writer, understood that nostalgia is a quest for time lost. It is easier to understand nostalgia when you put it in such a direct way. This is the reason why we want to have what we no longer possess or what we used to own.
Remember that each person has a different memory and that we have a unique way of attaching emotions to both people and things. It is possible to remember something differently from a brother or sister who experienced it at the exact same time. Hyperreality refers to the inability or unwillingness to distinguish between reality and simulation. Hyperreality describes a state in which fiction and reality blend seamlessly. This allows the cohabitation with physical and virtual realities.
When our memories don’t match those of others with similar visual representations, it can be said to be a sign that we are not able to relate to a product or brand. Hyperreality and stimulated memories can be used to help create a connection between the brand and the customer. This will create loyalty. Even though this version is in their world, consumers choose to adapt or interpret it according to their needs.
Nutella is a good example. This brand was part of their childhood and they still love it. This brand has negative connotations for another person who grew up in the same household. This could be due to the fact that they realized the financial burden Nutella, or other luxury goods, would place on their family. Theoretically, this is what happens. But it’s not always something we understand. It’s just not the case that they don’t enjoy it. Their memories are based on their individual perception.
Hyperreality can be very powerful, in that it allows us to experience a wide range of emotions and experiences. This is why the brand association may be based on feelings that are not real or may no longer exist. This bond will still exist because we are nostalgic and this makes us want things from the past.
