Nostalgia Marketing: Seeing the future through the lens of the past
Old is Gold. Dig in to find out how to dig it out!
Welcome to the 5th Issue of The Funnel Chemistry! There are two changes that I am going to make from this Issue onwards!
(A) I am going to make the content more visual and share my sketch notes instead of long prose!
(B) I am also going to include links to a few interesting articles so that I can present a wider perspective of the subject matter.
So, without wasting much time, let's get to it!
Background and Context
We humans connect strongly and respond aggressively to emotional stimuli. This is exactly why Emotional Marketing has become more popular these days! This is such an obvious fact that it has been quite easy to ignore it! Read this article from HubSpot that gives a neat introduction to the concept of emotional marketing!
Nostalgia Marketing
One of the most powerful emotions that can be evoked is "Nostalgia". The sweet recollection of past events from one's life!
When used appropriately, Nostalgia can create positive emotional flows that can be redirected to the present branding effort resulting in higher trust and loyalty!
Nostalgia Marketing is the process of using Nostalgia (the sweet memories of the past) for creating brand impression and interaction! 2020 has been quite a year for creating that nostalgia! Remember all the old TV Series that were replayed! Many of them gathered good TRPs and despite not much of a new content being created, business on TV went on quite well.
Top brands like Coke, Adobe, Asian Paints and other prominent brands have successfully used this emotion and run powerful branding campaigns that made their brands more popular than not!
Here's my sketch note on Nostalgia Marketing which summarizes what I want to say!
You can download a PDF version of this sketch note here
Here are some awesome articles that you can read related to Nostalgia Marketing that will enhance your perspective!
The 2020 Boom Of Nostalgia Marketing
2020 knocked everyone's life upside down! It was but natural to remember the "good old times". It was of course a great time for Nostalgia Marketing. Here's what this article has to say!
The more frantic, complex and responsibility filled our lives become, the more we yearn for simpler times. Nostalgia’s lens often makes products and services seem more down to earth, and therefore more achievable or affordable. Research shows that the nineties is currently the most fondly remembered decade, closely followed by the eighties, seventies and sixties.
Read the full article here.
3 Ways to Incorporate Nostalgia in Marketing
It's not just the age old companies that can use Nostalgia Marketing, but the new ones can do that as well! Here' an excerpt that makes this article valuable!
If you can make people feel good about themselves, you can make them feel good about your brand. As Mr. Davaney says, “When it comes to growing a loyal following of folks who love your business, creating content that makes them feel good seems like a winning strategy.” Start by reinventing a nostalgic marketing or digital vehicle that builds your brand, but doesn’t hit the consumer over the head with commercialism.
Read the full article here.
The Power of the Past: Why Nostalgia Marketing & Emotional Copywriting Works
The positive past experiences can be powerful anchors to build brand loyalty and trust in the present. Here's why you should read this article!
What the Pepsi and Jack Daniels campaigns have in common is that they position consumers as “time travelers” who, by drinking a particular product, can enjoy positive past experiences in the present (and, in the case of Pepsi, the future).
Read the full article here.
Nintendo and the magic of nostalgia marketing
The Japanese company Nintendo used Nostalgia Marketing quite effectively to evoke positive emotions of their classic products and direct them towards their future brand release! Seems like a superb strategy to me! Here's an excerpt that may help you to click and read this article!
Japanese video game giant Nintendo's 2016 decision to rerelease mini versions of its vintage gaming systems, including 1980s and 1990s classics Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Super NES gaming systems, seemed like an odd strategy when first considered. In a 2017 corporate briefing, Tatsumi Kimishima, then the company's president, acknowledged that the rerelease of those systems was in part a means to an end. "We also see the nostalgic interest in these products as an opportunity to draw consumers' attention to our latest game system, Nintendo Switch."
Read the full article here.
How to use this knowledge
By now you would have understood that Nostalgia is a powerful emotion and can work wonders for your brand! The good news is that it doesn't work only for well established brands with a history. Even though you are a new brand, you can still use Nostalgia Marketing provided you know how to use it. Here are the steps that I have outlined to use Nostalgia Marketing!
Step-1: Identify a trigger point!
Nostalgia can be powerfully triggered during specific events such as a graduation day! The end of something is a very conducive time to trigger nostalgia! You will find more such occasions in my sketch note! I challenge you to find more such "end points" so that you have a wider spectrum to choose from. You must keep in mind the age group of your audience, if you want your trigger to be relevant to the audience!
Step-2: Map out the journey!
What are the most important points from the beginning of the journey to the end! What challenges did your audience face? What kind of victories they had? What emotions they went through?
Step - 3: Connect your brand to the journey!
Think creatively and see how your brand was/could have been a part of that journey. If your brand solves a past pain point, present it as a solution! If it doesn't solve the pain point, then simply celebrate the endurance customers show without a solution!
Step - 4: Word your copy using nostalgic vocabulary
Find words that are related to nostalgia and use them in your communication. You will find 10 such words in my sketch note!
Next Steps
Take time to think about how your brand can use Nostalgia Marketing. Use my sketch note and the above 4 step process to come up with content ideas relevant to your brand. If you want my help, hit the reply button and let’s start a conversation!
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Book of the Week
This week, I began reading Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz, but didn’t finish up much. I will present an outline in the coming week!
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