I’m feeling nostalgic …

The "high-tech" world using memories of dating and mix tapes! Great!

Nostalgia marketing asks us to consume more than just products, but also the signs and meanings we attach to them. When we consume commodities we do more than purchase a product- we aim to acquire the meanings with which the product is encrypted. When we make decisions, we typically make use of previous memories that we have associated with past experiences (good and bad). Ad campaigns that utilize these past, nostalgic memories are smart- I mean, when I see elements ofpopular culture or advertising that utilize memories of my childhood, I typically feel warm and fuzzy inside. Our long-term memory is very powerful, and typically evokes many emotions. Nostalgic marketing, thus, taps into these powerful emotions that were once felt during our original experiences. The smartest aspect of nostalgic marketing is the fact that it makes the most sense financially- not having to recreate a brand image by simply tapping into previously created images and remembrances. We associate memories of the past directly with products; in essence the more associations we can tap into the better.

But this may not always be the case, a disadvantage of this kind of marketing could potentially be the fact that our knowledge and memory are being used against us?! Memories of the past could also be used to make inflated statements about products that are no longer as reliable as they were 30 years ago. Or tap into negative memories of the past thus reinforcing them.

The only product I imagine nostalgia marketing strategies could be a challenge for is the high-tech world, which has emerged from modernity. I don’t really see Apple tapping into this type of marketing….but maybe companies such as Microsoft could even re visit some of their original campaigns, but I can’t imagine them having much success.