Remember that day when...! (Nostalgia)

Definitions

“A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to ones name or homeland, to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time e.g. a nostalgia for his college days.” (dictionary.com)

“When a stimulus is capable of recreating a personal event, even after many years, there often follows a bitter-sweet sentiment known as nostalgia” (Dubois, 2000)

“Nostalgia has been described as a bitter sweet emotion, where the past is viewed with both sadness and longing” (Solomon 2000)

Advertisers can use many things to trigger nostalgia such as the 5 senses. Music, images, smells, touch and taste can all trigger memories from the past. I asked mum to think of a few things I loved when i was a little and from this I have made a collage of pictures. It's amazing how many memories came rushing back when putting this together!

As you can see, I was a huge fan of characters such as Noddy, Gordon the Goffer and Lamb Chops and I loved bands such as steps and Spice girls. The pictures of Micky and Minni mouse represent my favourite childhood holiday to Disney World, Florida and the kitten was my first pet named Sooty. (Unfortunatley she got taken to a ‘cat farm’...!) My favourite food as a child was boiled egg with soilders which kept my energy up for Irish dancing!

You may be wondering about the photo of the middle aged man with the moustache… well, aged just two, I was a huge fan of racing (hence the collection of toy cars!) and my first peoper sentence included the words ‘Flat out’ (in a little kid's voice!) and ‘Nigel Mansell’ so I have the potential to be his youngest ever fan!

Making this collage with Mum was great fun, sparking a lot of uncontrolable laughing and story telling. If an advertiser were to use some elements of my childhood (1990’s) in an advert I know I would be very interested in the product and would talk a lot about the advertisement to others. This in itself would create publicity for the product and spark interest amount others around the same age as myself.

Learn and recall! (Memory)

“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier


“If only there could be an invention”, I said impulsively, “that bottled up a memory, like a scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.”

Imagine if memories could be like this!

Definitions: Marketing objectives
“Every time an advertisement or commercial appears, the objective is to have the reader or viewer to learn something… and remember what he learned.” (Brit 1955)

“… our ultimate aim is to teach them brand loyalty” (Rice, 1997)

“to get the brand into the evoked set” (Ruth Hickmott)

This class focused on memory and nostalgia and how advertisers can use this to encourage us to buy their product. Memory involves a process or acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when needed. Some approaches to the study of memory employ an information processing approach. They claim that the mind is in some ways like a computer; data is input, processed and output for later use in revised form. The diagram below was used in class to explain this further.

If a consumer is familiar with a product then they are more likely to recall it in the future, this forms the fundamentals of marketing where by awareness of a product is built. The more attention we pay to a particular product, the more likely we are to remember it. A great example of this is the most recent Cadburys advertisement which is inserted below. This seems to be a case of ‘love it or hate it’ and many people remember it and talk about it because of their dislike of the advert, this therefore raises awareness of the product.

A consumer may process a stimulus simply in terms of its sensory meaning, such as its colour or shape. When this occurs, meaning may be activated when a person sees a picture of the stimulus. This relates to ‘episodic memories’ which are those that relate to events that are personally relevant and as a result, a person’s motivation to retain these memories will be strong. Commercials sometimes attempt activate episodic memories shared by many people. Recall of the past may have an effect on future behavior, this leads us on to nostalgia and the effect it has on consumers.

Are you an expert decision maker? (Heuristics)

Fast and frugal heuristics

“Making quick decisions when there is a lot of choice” (Williams, 2001)
“The mental rules of thumb that leads to a speedy decision” (Solomon et al, 2006)

This class began with a few minutes reflection on whether we actually perform complex mental calculations (such as those in the diagram on the right) each time we make a purchase. The general consensus was that we definitely do not. We as consumers often employ decision rules that allow us to use some dimensions as substitutes for others. The diagram on the right shows the stages we subconsciously go through when purchasing a product.

One of our core texts: ‘Consumer Behavior, A European Perspective, 3rd Edition, 2006’ uses the following example to explain exactly what is meant by Heuristics. “Daniel relied on certain assumptions as substitutes for prolonged information search. In particular, he assumed the selection at the big out of town retailer would be more than sufficient, so he didn’t bother to investigate any of its competitors.”

This assumption served as a short cut to more extended information processing.

Consumers often fall back on heuristics, especially when limited problem solving occurs prior to making a decision. This in turn will lead to a speedy decision rule, E.g.
· ‘Higher prices products mean higher quality’ (General rule)
· ‘Buy the same as last time’ (General rule)
· ‘Buy silver spoon sugar because my mother does’ (Specific rule)

Although you may not realize, these rules are used each time we go shopping. Can you think of any specific heuristics you use when purchasing a product? One that sticks out in my mind is Colegate toothpaste. I only ever buy this brand and until now I’ve never thought about why that may be but it because this is the brand my Mum always buys. (It definitely isn’t down to this advert anyway!!) It has just become habit that I would go straight for this brand rather than any other.

Although we make these short cuts on a regular basis, they may not always be in our best interest. For example, you are planning on buying a new television and seen a Philips one you like. You then find out that two of your friends have Philips televisions, both of which have been faulty. Are you more likely to buy the Philips TV or look for another brand?

Despite the fact that Philips has an excellent reputation, chances are you will look for another brand for fear of your Philips television being faulty as well. This should not be the case because according to ‘Top10links.com’, Philips is the overall number one television manufacturer. Sometimes heuristics may not be in the consumer’s best interest, so have a good long think about the product you wish to purchase if it is an expensive one such as your lovely Philips television!

Another limitation of heuristics is forming assumptions. When forming assumptions, there is of course the possibility that we can be lead to the wrong decision. For example, would you expect a large electronic store to have more competitive prices than a small, specialist store? I know I would but this is not always the case. In the Poll section of my blog I have added a poll about this, please take a minute to complete it as the results may prove very interesting.