Nostalgic Advertisment

I. Introduction

"Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were."

Marcel Proust

For years now, the world has been going through an economic crisis. It seems that during difficult times, people are looking for reassurance, comfort and support.

For example, in the 30's and the 40's, during the Great Depression and at the dawn of the world war, the USA saw the birth of superheroes - such as Superman in 1938 - simply because its people needed to escape the actual world or to find a solution to make their life better.

To look at the future and find reassurance could be a good solution. But it seems that nowadays, people tend to look back on their past, and reminisce about what brought them comfort at various times in their lives.

Do you remember how comfortable you were as a child? Watching your favorite cartoon such as Albator or Captain Future on TV in the morning, right before going to school? You were eating your favorite chocolate cereals and your mom was telling you to be ready faster because "you are always late". Tying up your new Nike sneakers and putting on your Batman backpack, you remember going in that old Citroën your mom always used to drive and to arrive so fast and so proud at school, after receiving a kiss on your cheek. And you still can smell her perfume that you like so much... It was a simpler time.

You have just experienced nostalgia. You might have felt how soft and sweet the old days were, or perhaps you were sad, knowing you cannot go back in time to relive those great moments. So now...

What would you do to get back in time and experience again these moments?

We live today in a world of mass communication. Media are omnipresent and numerous: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the internet, mobile phones. The rise of social media has created a new relationship between the companies and the clients. Indeed, a dialog is now needed. And despite all the means at disposal, marketers have to find a new way to talk to their client, to touch them deeply in their lives and make them feel involved in whichever decision they take.

This is where the notion of nostalgia comes into play. Because we are struggling with an economic crisis, because we need to be reassured, we would like to come back to what we know is good and to what we have already experienced. Marketers have understood it, and are using the concept of nostalgia more and more in their advertising strategy, in order to establish a contact.

The purpose of this report is to give an insight into how effective the use of nostalgia is in marketing: its characteristics, its effect on consumers and its different possible use in advertising.

II. Theoretical part

A. The memory structure

1. Its general structure

The memory consists in 3 different stages:

1) "The encoding stage" where the information enter one's mind

2) "The storage" when the information are retained in one's mind

3) "The retrieval" when one would try to remember the information learnt previously

(M.Solomon & G.Bamossy, 2006)

But there are also 3 different types of memory:

1) The sensory memory (memories of what we have sensed)

2) The short-term memory (STM)

3) The long-term memory (LTM)

(ibid.)

We collect everyday a large amount of information in our head. And consciously or not, we store all of this information in one of the memories mentioned above. When faced to a decision-making situation, we obviously use them. Although sometimes, it appears that "retrieving" (ibid.) them can be difficult.

As a result, marketers always try to find the "right trigger" (ibid.) to make this process easier for the consumers. However, in the context of nostalgia in advertising, one of the most interesting points of memory to focus on is the LTM.

2. The long-term memory (LTM)

Information in the LTM cannot be forgotten easily as they remain there for "a long period of time" (ibid.). A main goal for marketers is to enter the LTM in order for the consumer to remember the brand or the product when needed (e.g. purchasing decision). For this to be accomplished, "elaborative rehearsal is required" (ibid.) which means, advertisers and marketers have to find a way to connect "the meaning of a stimulus" (ibid.) to what already exists in the consumer's memory.

When we absorb information, we do not just take them raw, we interpret them, we give them a meaning, and there are two ways to do it:

1) The semantic meaning (general assumptions or knowledge)

2) The episodic memories

The last one could be easily linked to the concept of nostalgia as it refers to past experiences, but moreover one would be more "motivated" (ibid.) to remember something personal than impersonal. Thus, it "tends to be remembered better than other information" (K.Braun-Latour, K & M.Latour, 2004). We therefore easily enter into the LTM. Some commercials would effectively try to target the episodic memories "by focusing on experiences shared by many people" (M.Solomon & G.Bamossy, 2006) in order to touch the most people as possible. Advertisers would also advise to accompany the ads with some "narrative story" (ibid.), as it encourages consumers to imagine and recreate the situation in their minds. This could indeed lead to very strong and "detailed mental representation" (ibid.) and therefore make them feel even more evolved.

3. The retrieving process

We are not equal in front of the concept of memory. Indeed older people, for example, struggle more to remember some piece of information (remembering what they have to shop once they are in the supermarket for instance) (M.Solomon & G.Bamossy, 2006). But surprisingly, they would more likely remember something "that happened to them when they were younger" than something more recent (ibid.).