Don't you just love that trip down memory lane once in a while?
Nostalgia: a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days. (Dictionary.com)
To this day I still check whats on the channels i used to watch as a kid just to see if there is anything on that would take me back my childhood... Sadly the channels are filled with boring new shows that make no sense... Such as Ben10. What happened to all the old classics???
Above is my nostaliga board that shows my childhood happiness... This was slowly taken away as I grew older, to a point where Christmas just felt like another day...
I remember when I was younger and ill I always used to ask my mum for Calpol (not the orange one - I didn't like that) I still sometimes wonder if that stuff would cure me today. Therefore my nostalgia of being ill was looking forward to my next dose of calpol.
Solomon describes Nostalgia as 'a bittersweet emotion where we view the past with both sadness and longing' (P264, Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010) This is a very good statement as it says that people are able to look back on their life and reflect on a certain period with a positive or negative thought depending on the event.
The Hovis bread advert is a perfect example of how nnostalgia can be used in advertising. The advert shows how the boy runs through the town with his bread and see's his life before him... From watching the soilders marching off to war to being in the middle of an inner city riot. The advert ends by saying 'As good today's as its always been' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADrsqat4j1M)
The nostalgia behind the advert is showing that the boy has gone to get the bread and took the scenic route through history.
The coca-cola Christmas advert brings back a lot of memories for a lot of people as it is represented with the start of Christmas. For many people this advert helps them get into the Christmas spirit, therefore they will be able to make the link to their childhood where they were excited by Christmas.
Having Read a WARC case study on Revels it was found that the initial advert in 1999 was scrapped as did not have the required emotions to trigger nostalgia. The report says that at first people were commenting on the flavours that they really didn't like, but after venting this hatred they were just as keen to point out the flavours that they liked. (Warc,2001). This lead to a change of flavours taking out the coconut, peanut and the galaxy counter sweet. This means that each bag could contain up to four flavours and luck will choose which revel you will eat! As the WARC report says its like playing eeny, meeny, miny, mo! (http://www.revels.co.uk/home/default.aspx)
'Targeting memory is something that is very important for marketers today. If the marketing comity are able to targeting the memory, by appealing to one of the five senses, they maybe be able to trigger a nostalgic reaction thus, enticing the prospective customer into purchasing the product. They best way for marketers to succeed in this is by doing face to face tests. As the public are able to feel the product and can think about if they have felt anything like that before.'
There are many types of learning that are used, which are very complex. The different types are cognitive, observational and behavioral; below I will explain each of the three;
There are many types of learning that are used, which are very complex. The different types are cognitive, observational and behavioral; below I will explain each of the three;
- Cognitive Learning Theory: This theory looks at people as problem solvers, who use all information possible in order to be the best that they can. This means that what we think we know may not actually be what we think it could be.
- Observational Learning: This is where people conduct themselves by thinking about what they have seen. For example people who watch a film may act like a character if they really feel affected by this person. Below is a table of components of observational learning.
(P250/251, Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010)
Reference List:
Solomon M R, Bamossy G, Askgaard S, Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behavior a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson's Education LTD
WARC, 2001, Revels, eating revels is a risky business [Online] Warc, Available at:
http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=c8874131-c414-4066-aeb4-e4989970a420&q=revels [Accessed 14th January 2010]
