Marketing Digital
Throughout 2020 and 2021, we've seen nostalgia everywhere. It makes sense, right? There's no better time to pine for the past and relive happy memories than when we were stuck at home for so long.
Nostalgia has made its way into every area of life, from our wardrobes to our Instagram feeds. And that sense of nostalgia is being harnessed by savvy marketers with a marketing strategy that is called, appropriately enough, nostalgia marketing.
When it comes to finding a definition of nostalgia marketing , the easiest way to explain the concept is to look at it as a way to align advertising campaigns with things that elicit emotional responses from the past.
We already know that emotional marketing has power in convincing customers to take action and advocate for their favorite brands. However, leveraging strong memories can be one of the most powerful ways to elicit emotions, especially if you're targeting a millennial audience.
Research tells us that nostalgia counteracts boredom, loneliness, and anxiety. It also makes people more tolerant and more generous toward strangers. In fact, nostalgia can literally make people feel warmer on a cold day.
It is even suggested that nostalgia can be triggered as a way of coping with difficult life transitions and stressful times. In other words, nostalgia marketing campaigns are not just a sales strategy, they are a psychological phenomenon.
In today’s highly competitive market, nostalgia in advertising can allow both new and old brands to connect with their audience on a powerful emotional level. Some of the world’s biggest companies have already begun to show us just how useful this tactic can be.
Brands like Nike and Pepsi are already using designs and logos from the past, advertising them as “throwback” options or “retro” products. Shows and movies are taking advantage of old design features and strategies to tickle the nostalgic nerves of their viewers.
Tips for creating a nostalgia marketing strategy
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With nostalgia marketing campaigns, businesses of any age and background can tie their brand purpose to old ideas to evoke feelings of security, comfort, and engagement in their audience. This tactic has been around for several years, it has recently begun to see a particularly strong resurgence, as millennials seek sanctuary from the stress and confusion of the digital age.
While it’s true that any business can use nostalgia in advertising to grow their brand, it’s also worth noting that it can be difficult to achieve the right “feel” without careful planning and attention to detail. If your nostalgic strategies don’t align with your brand’s values and personality, then you’ll simply convince your audience that you’re willing to adopt any strategy in an attempt to get them to buy from you, regardless of whether it fits or not.
If you're thinking about using nostalgia marketing to gain more traction with customers , here are a few things you should think about first:
1. Identify your purpose
A good marketing strategy should always have a purpose. If you want to use retro ideas effectively in your new campaign, you need to ask yourself: What is nostalgia marketing and why is it a good selling point for the brand? How can you make nostalgia work well for your current campaign and what features should you think about to make sure you catch the attention of your audience?
Some of the best purposes for using nostalgia in advertising include:
Reviving a product or service that was discontinued in the past.
Commemoration of a company milestone or anniversary.
Giving the brand a fresh image to reestablish itself in the hearts of the audience (such as a brand refresh or rebrand).
Highlight a change in the company, such as a collaboration with a new partner, a focus on different brand goals, or a decision to change a name or logo.
Make sure there is a solid reason behind your campaign before you start exploring opportunities for nostalgia marketing.
2. Keep in mind your audience's preferences
The key to any marketing campaign is understanding the needs and preferences of your audience. Before you can engage in a powerful nostalgia marketing strategy, you need to make sure you're drawing images and ideas from the right generation to appease the right demographic. Think about the age range of your target audience and make sure you research their preferences in detail when you're putting together your plan.
At the same time, make sure that the tactics you choose blend seamlessly with the current personality and tone of the brand. Adapting to retro marketing ideas doesn’t necessarily mean giving up on the character you’ve created for your company. The more consistent it is, the more successful you’ll be in convincing customers to associate the brand with their favorite memories.
3. Implement your strategy on social networks
If nostalgia is the hook for your marketing campaign, then social media is philippines phone number example the fishing rod. It’s an ideal way to start introducing your audience to your latest strategy, as nostalgia is an inherently emotional experience. People don’t just want to bask in the memories of a nostalgic sight or sound, they want to be able to connect their friends and family to the experience and say, “Remember this?”
Hashtags like #FBF (Flashback Friday) and #TBT (Throwback Thursday) are a common way for brands to show their love for the past while establishing brand legacy and sparking old memories with their audience.
In a world where 71% of shoppers are more likely to buy a product that appeals to them on a personal level , nostalgia marketing is your chance to connect with your audience through the emotions that are tied to their deepest, most cherished memories. By bringing the experience to social media, you increase the impact of your campaign instantly, by naturally starting conversations about those memories.
4. Access the brand history (if you can)
If the company has been around for some time, then a great way to increase the impact of your nostalgia marketing strategy is to leverage a powerful brand history. For example, Sony’s 2013 video celebrating gamers across the generation is a great example of how brands can combine nostalgia with positioning.
A brand that has been around for even a couple of years can leverage its nostalgia strategies by reminding its customers of the good experiences they had with them on previous occasions. In the PlayStation example above, Sony was reminding its audience of the good memories they had created together in the past and convincing them that more great memories could be created in the future if they would just buy the latest console.
5. Combine retro concepts with new ideas