Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Beyond nostalgia: using childhood memories as a means to emotionally connect with consumers

By: Braun-LaTour, Kathryn. International Journal of Advertising, 2007, Vol. 26 Issue 3, p402-405, 4p; (AN 26250680)

Reminding consumers of their past experiences have been a forte of advertising since many years. Some of advertisements suddenly transports consumers to their cultural and symbolic roots.There are some brands using these type of advertisements very successfully. Nostalgia is something that which makes us feel good and something that which we use to escape the reality and fly away to our imaginary world, many people generally compress their traumatic experiences & memories and try to remember their nice and happy moments. It is generally thought that if the brand can connect to that positive emotional state associated with remembering the past, there is a lot that the brand can benefit. But there is also a potential risk that consumers will get tired of this approach when the brand overuses it.
Scientists had proved that as the consumers age and progress through their life cycle ,there is more to remember their own good old days. Some parents find themselves buying their children the same games that they grew up. The feeling of remembering past events from early childhood is more powerful. Brands using the right nostalgic themes in their advertisements gets into the brains of consumers with strong remembering which person relates to “ re-experiencing” the past event. There are also some important physical effects happening one’s personal memories such as changes in heart rate and blood pressure.
Understanding how and when consumers were exposed to certain product can help the advertising companies and advertisers for relating of their brand to consumer’s lives.With associating a brand with its consumer’s significant memory , a good brand manager can create the impression that the brand is “like a friend” or “ like them” to consumer and the brand was with them throughout consumers lives. For example if one has a session with psychologist of his/her childhood memories, usually “father” is referred as “hero” with a feeling of being protected and safe. This shows that a brand can portray these attributes to consumer and guide the advertisers that best develops with brand’s myth.

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