THE EFFECT OF NOSTALGIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate and analyse the effect of nostalgia marketing on consumer perception, attitudes and, in turn, behaviour. Nostalgia marketing is defined as a lucrative strategy used by many organisations across a range of industries, to attract and retain customers by evoking and linking rose-tinted memories to a particular brand or product. This psychological marketing strategy, which is gaining popularity and becoming a central theme for many companies, targets consumers¿ emotions and desire to feel connected to other individuals, in an effort to create benefits such as increased sales, brand loyalty and customer perception. This paper aims to better understand this recently valorised marketing tool and the emotional response of consumers, to contribute to the wider discussion surrounding the concept and use of the purchase variable. To achieve this, nostalgic triggers and proneness variables, as well as nostalgic consumption trends, will be identified by analysing secondary published literature to better understand what factors entice consumers to participate in nostalgic consumption. The conclusions will be combined with the qualitative and quantitative results of the primary research derived from a nostalgic-centred survey. Finally, the paper will summarise the application nostalgia marketing¿ using Barbie and CosMc¿s as case studies and discuss the future of nostalgia marketing.