Nostalgia, Learning and Memory

'Nostalgia isn't what it used to be'......

Nostalgia describes a bittersweet emotion where we view the past with both sadness and longing. In other words it is looking back on emotional memories. References to 'the good old days' are increasingly common as advertisers call up memories of youth and hope these feelings will translate to what they are selling today.

It can be thought 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.' (dictionary.com)

For example these items are memories of my childhood

Nostalgia hit the chocolate world to great effect in 1999, when Cadburys Flake went on air with old advertising and witnessed a dramatic increase in sales. Mars then created Revels which was a bag containing a variety of chocolates. It was also was a dormant brand however Revels found trouble in the market for some time unable to find a specific target audience. Revels differentiated in the market than other chocolates as they provided a variety of sweets from orange to coffee which some people hated, whilst other loved them This specific brand worked due to taking people back to their childhood when they were playing eeny, meeny, miny, mo..



























There are still a variety of ads today that try to take the audience back to their childhood memories by using certain themes. The reason why advertisers do this is to make consumers link the good feelings at that specific time with the products they are trying to sell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tFzuFGUOI- Hovis advert- depicting the last 122 years. This advert is especially effect due to different people experiencing these certain events such as the war and the miners strikes.

World War Two

Miners Strike

 CocaCola advert

Present Time

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jAeqQwY1xdE&feature=related- Coca-Cola advert


There are 5 senses that can act as a trigger to take consumers back to a nostalgic moment or a time in their past which has involved happpiness.
1) Music- sounds can trigger these emotions for example if heard a certain tune when growing up
2) Images- photos or paintings

3) Smells- perfume
4) Touch- silk
5) Taste- cider


Learning and Memory

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

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



Lynx- Unconditional Stimulus





Lynx- Conditional Stimulus




























Bounty- Unconditional Stimulus



Bounty- Conditional Stimulus

Red Bull- Unconditional stimulus

Red Bull- Conditional stimulus


























Memory

“learning is the acquisition of knowledge & memory is the storage of internal representations of that knowledge” (Blakemore, 1988)

“without memory we would be servants of the moment …… relying on reflexes …. Civilisation itself is the distillation of human memory”

Learning is a change in behaviour caused by experience, it can occur thorugh simple associations between a stimilus and a response. Before the term broke up, we viewed a shopping list of items that we needed to learn in the correct order and discovered by saying each item in a sentence that rhymed whith the number of the order you were supposed to name them in it was almost impossible not to remember them!

Cognititve learning occurs as a result of metal processes, e.g observational learning takes place when the consumer performs a beahaviour as a result of someone else perfomring it and being rewarded.

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)

Paco Rabbane Case Study- Perception and Packaging

The first step in the perceptual process for men’s aftershave is ‘primitive categorization’, which appeals to a man who wants to improve his image by choosing the aftershave.

The next step after that is ‘cue check’, meaning that everyone has their own unique categories for aftershave such as stylish, mysterious or macho and the use of colour allows the customer to interpret which aftershave belongs in these categories due to the colour and design of the bottle. Different colours are used in marketing to target or suit their potential customer. In this case Paco Rabbane’s ‘1 Million’ has the appearance of a gold brick, which indicates it belongs to the upmarket and more expensive category of cologne. The reason why they use gold is that it has many positive symbolic meanings. It can symbolize wealth, power, strength, happiness and perfection. It is a highly valued colour in society and it was chosen for this packaging not only to stand out from other aftershave bottles on the shelves but to identify their true target market, the higher social class of male customers.

Gold is expensive so possible purchasers seeing the colour of the aftershave identify with its target market and its appeal as luxurious, formal and elegant. The bottle is infact a modern and masculine reinterpretation of a gold lingot. Paco Rabbane use the tagline ‘simple and elegant, it becomes a genuine object of desire’. They are trying to make it appear as if the bottle is actually a real gold brick and therefore highly desirable. Paco Rabbane want to be distinctive in selling a bottle of cologne packaged completely differently to others, differentiating it from the usual bottle of aftershave is just a clear glass bottle, which is then perceived as rather dull and insignificant. They are in a market that is always changing so rely on innovative products standing out and looking attractive, meaning more people are inclined to buy them.

The third step in the perceptual process is the confirmation check, which is how the customer decides the brand suits their image and personality. The target market is between the ages of 18-30 comprising males who appreciate the way they look and enjoy expensive tastes. This customer base buys it to embrace and be part of celebrity, wealthy lifestyle.

The last point of the perceptual process is ‘confirmation completion’, in which the consumer decides whether it was the right product for them, considering the colour of the bottle and the interesting name of the aftershave. In this case ‘Paco Rabbane’ is a very elegant name so it suits the brand image very well and reinforces its customer base, the name ‘1Million’ echoes wealth as well as the saying ‘one in a million’, meaning this product is very significant and special. A consumer evaluating their decision to purchase this product will appreciate it and respond positively if they fall within the target market required. The engraved logo on the bottle takes the inspiration from the Far West style typography which is a very formal font, backing up which target market it specifically belongs to.

 Paco Rabbane is one of the most fashionable colognes for men, however,not the most expensive. It is currently in a good position in the market with a strong brand image and a loyal customer base. If they were to lower the price of their aftershave due to the conditions in the market, such as the economic crisis I think it would lose their brand image and stylish qualities. Aftershave is a luxury good, not a necessity good, however consumer confidence has increased, resulting in more spending. The price suits the type of product because it is a significant high valued item in the cologne market targeted towards those with high disposable income and they should continue focusing on competing with brands such as Georgio Armani, Emporio Armani, Hugo Boss and Yves Saint Laurent to maintain rapid growth.

Personality and Self-Concept

Personality is 'those inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment' Schiffman and Kanuk (2004)



Consumers' self concepts are reflections of their attitudes towards themselves. Whether these attitudes are positive and negative, they will help to guide many purchase decisions, such as self esteem or reward the self.

Self-concept: the beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes & how he or she evaluates those qualities” (Solomon, 1999)

        “People see themselves as they imagine others see them” (Solomon, 2001)

Products of social props

These items are purchased in order to increase an individuals social status as with these items they can feel happy with themselves and thus more confident in socially in a group. Today it seems essential, especially for teenagers to equip themselves with these social props in order to remain in a popular social status such has owning an iPhone or the latest pair of Nike trainers. Kids as young as 12 and 13 are now smoking and drinking which shows how desperate people are today about what others think of them that they will go to all measures and waste hudreds of pounds in order to make it happen. Ten years ago it wasn't as important to have the latest products as there is one main reason for this, the media. The media was not as tecnhological and could not be accessed as well as it can today so not everyone knew the lastest products to buy, now-a-days you can see an advert for an iPad almost anywhere you go or some weblink on the internet to an advert that people deem it necessary to have one as everyone knows about it.

Selling Colour

Different colours are used in marketing to target or suit their potential type of customer. For example red can reach out to men and women.


The colour red symbolises blood, luxury, fire and passion as well as having its own physical properties, e.g. red catches the eye more than any other colour.The ancient dynasties of China chose red shoes to indicate status and wealth and the Popes red slippers in the Vatican shows that red shoes are recognised as special. Red originally was an expensive dye so to wear anything red you would have had to be wealthy.

As you can see the brand L'Oreal has used red to signify beauty, passion and luxury and possibly wealth in this advert.

Here you can see Cheryl Cole in a red dress, and a red vase and lamp in the background 

The red here catches the eye immediately and shows the consumer the beauty of this car.

The initial marketing tool for this Mercedes SLS AMG was a billboard with this image on it and underneath it said 

'THE AVERAGE PERSON LOOKS AT AN ADVERT FOR 2.6 SECONDS'.

This is all it said but people waiting in traffic or passing by this billboard got drawn in by the colour of the car which then made them think how spectacular the car was and by the time they read this, they had been looking at the billboard for about 10 seconds, and by the time they realised how long they were looking at it, 20 seconds had gone by which is very clever how they got their consumer interested in this product.

Perception and the 5 Senses

What is Perception?


Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli. Through the perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us; it allows us to act within our environment. Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, taste smell and taste.

The perceptual process

The perceptual process is a sequence of steps that begins with the environment and leads to our perception of a stimulus and an action in response to the stimulus. This process is continual, but you do not spend a great deal of time thinking about the actual process that occurs when you perceive the many stimuli that surround you at any given moment.

The process of transforming the light that falls on your retinas into an actual visual image happens unconsciously and automatically. The subtle changes in pressure against your skin that allow you to feel object occur without a single thought.

Here is each step of the perceptual process

The Environmental Stimulus

The world is full of stimuli that can attract our attention through various senses. The environmental stimulus is everything in our environment that has the potential to be perceived.

This might include anything that can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled or heard. It might also involve the sense of proprioception, such as the movements of the arms and legs or the change in position of the body in relation to objects in the environment.

For example, imagine that you are out on a morning jog at your local park. As you perform your workout, there are a wide variety of environmental stimuli that might capture your attention. The tree branches are swaying in the slight breeze; a man is out on the grass playing fetch with his Golden Retriever; a car drives past with the windows rolled down and the music blaring; a duck splashes in a nearby pond. All of these things represent the environmental stimuli, serving as a starting point for the perceptual process.

The Attended Stimulus

The attended stimulus is the specific object in the environment on which our attention is focused. In many cases, we might focus on stimuli that are familiar to us, such as the face of a friend in a crowd of strangers at the local coffee shop. In other instances, we are likely to attend to stimuli that have some degree of novelty.

The Image on the Retina

The attended stimulus is formed as an image on the retina. The first part of this process involves the light actually passing through the cornea and pupil and onto the lens of the eye. The cornea helps focus the light as it enters the eye, and the iris of the eye controls the size of the pupils in order to determine how much light to let in. The cornea and lens act together to project an inverted image on the retina.

Transduction

The image on the retina is then transformed into electrical signals in a process known as transduction. This allows the visual messages to be transmitted to the brain to be interpreted.

The retina contains many photoreceptor cells. These cells contain proteins known as rods and cones. Rods are primarily for seeing things in low light, while cones are associated with detecting colour and shapes at normal light levels.

Neural Processing

The electrical signals then undergo neural processing. The path followed by a particular signal depends on what type of signal it is (i.e. an auditory signal or a visual signal).

Perception

In the next step of the perceptual process, you will actually perceive the stimuli and become aware of its presence in the environment.

Recognition

Perception doesn't just involve becoming consciously aware of the stimuli. It is also necessary for our brain to categorize and interpret what it is we are sensing. Our ability to interpret and give meaning to the object is the next step, known as recognition.The recognition stage is an essential part of perception since it allows us to make sense of the world around us. By placing objects in meaningful categories, we are able to understand and react to the world around us.

Action

The final step of the perceptual process involves some sort of action in response to the environmental stimulus. This could involve a variety of actions, such as turning your head for a closer look or turning away to look at something else.


source: http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/perceptproc_2.htm

Perception is the process of sensing, selecting and interpreting consumer stimuli in the external world (Wilkie 1994)


'Perception is how we see the world around us' (Schiffman)

These adverts are using humour to connect with their audiences it order to promote their product or service, this method is often in commericals althought some commercials get banned taking it abit to far and is appropriate to audineces such as kids.


For example this IKEA  and Nandos commercials below got bannedfor ebing inappropriate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjsrUTk8Jho


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE3ZB9Oz5HE






Marketing Stimuli have important sensory qualities. We all rely on colours, odours, sounds, tastes and even the 'feel' of products when forming evaluations of them.


The 5 Senses are :
HEARING





























SIGHT

SMELL

TASTE

TOUCH

In terms of marketing these 5 senses are the things that entice the potential customer.  A television advert could use between 1 and 5 of these senses to try and market there product to make it as appealing as possible. For example many car adverts, such as BMW use hearing to allow the consumer the hear the sound the car's engine to attract the likely person who would buy their car and the vision of the leather of the cars seats helps the consumer identify the touch of the car just by watching an advert or looking at a billboard.

First Step To Understanding Your Customer

The key to marketing is to identify and satisfy customer Needs and Wants, market research enables us to understand this. A business firstly can look at the way a person dresses in order to get an indication of what things they like such as hobbies, music and clothes they like as well as what lifestyle they live simply on 3 major steps.

Dress

The way people dress is very beneficial for business in

dentifying what they like so they know exactly what to sell to keep them interested in the brand and potentially entice them into being part of their loyal customer base.

• Types of Brands, give businesses an idea of what sort of social group they are from, for example the difference between someone wearing Primark and Ralph Lauren is very helpful as it is easy to identify someone from a lower class background, such as a C2 in the socio-economic class and someone who buys luxury clothing and is from a high class background such as an A or B in the socio-economic scale
• Colours- allow businesses to understand typical lifestyles of customers for example brighter colours on a person may suggest they are a happier person.
• Trends- help understand what things these customers want, for example someone who wears alot of black, has long hair is stereotyped into the gothic genre and maybe potentially like heavy metal music. It is just the way people are stereotyped helps categorize them into knowing what products the will appreciate more than others

Body Language

The body language people use defines what sort of person they are, therefore what sort of products they would buy.

• Posture- reflects what sort of background they are from. Someone who stands up straight, head back indicates that they are pompous and wealthy which would mean they would buy high income goods.
• Accents- the type of accent can indicate what background that person is from such as their social class which would then show what products they would potentially be interested in.

People are multi-layered unique and share a lot of traits.