Memory and nostalgia

Memory and nostalgia is defined in a marketing context by Britt (1955) as 'Every time an advertisement or commercial appears, the objective is to have the reader or viewer learn something...and remember what he learned'. Rice (1977) suggests that marketings 'ultimate aim is to teach them brand loyalty'.

Memory

Blakemore (1988) states that 'learning is the acquisition of learning and memory is the storage of internal representations of that knowledge'
'without memory we would be servants of the moment......relying on reflexes.....Civilisation itself is the distillation of human memory.'





Memory Process

External inputs-----Encoding Information-----Storage Information------Retrieval Information
is placed in memory is retained in memory is stored in memory
and is found as needed
There are three types of memory: Sensory, short-term, long-term.

Sensory memory - Is the storge of information we recieve from our senses. However, this only last a few seconds.

Short-term - This is very limited. This can also be known as working memory and this holds information we are currently processing.

Long-term - For a person to store information in their long term memory, elaborative rehearsel is needed, which involves thinking about the meaning of the stimulus and relating it to other information already in memory. Marketers use catchy slogans or jingles that consumers can repeat on their own.



Nostalgia

Nostalgia is defined by the dictionary.com as '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'






Using nostalgia in a marketing strategy is a very effective way of engaging with potential customers. Everyoone remembers the 'good old days' and as restaurants and other companies have proven, 'the good old day' can pay of in customer loyalty, sales and exposure. An good example of nostalgic marketing is of 'Henry Hippo'. With a smaller audience as the billboards were just located in Northern Ireland, it appealed to the late 20's to early 30's age range who lived in ireland at the time of 'Henry Hippo'. It generated renewed interest in 'Henry Hippo' and also more interest from people in there late 20's early 30's age range in the ulster bank.