Rocking around the christmas tree..... oh not that one again!

Now I will warn you I am listening to Christmas songs whilst writing this blog about nostalgia which thinking about it might actually help however I apologise now for a few dodgy festive references along the way.

Now down to business, Nostalgia is defined by Solomon as 'A bittersweet emotion when the past is viewed with sadness and longing'. It goes on to say 'many 'classic' products appeal to consumers' memories of their younger days'. Now this basically is the way we feel when we look back at previous times and often the way we yearn for those times to come back. Now being Christmas in a few weeks the festive tunes are being played to death in shops and on radio. This has a nostalgic effect on most people as the majority view Christmas as a fun holiday with many fond memories of previous Christmases and how great they were 'back in the day'. This is why for me personally when I hear the opening bars of 'All I Want For Christmas' I get all nostalgic and happy.

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


I have Nostalgic memories of fantastic big family christmases of years past and it makes me want to relive those moments. This is why the same christmas songs come back around every year as it makes those nostalgic memories re-surface and puts us in a reminiscent mood. Now obviously 'All I Want For Christmas' is the best christmas song in my opinion but some people like the Pogues; Wham and for some unknown reason even Noddy Holder. Whatever your favourite song is it doesn't really matter the one thing that all of these songs have in common is that they were recorded years ago. There's history to these songs and they can be associated in our minds with certain things that happened in the past. Christmas has so much tradition that a song like All I Want For Christmas which was recorded 16 years ago is considered a 'new' Christmas classic unlike Chris Rea and co who have been around for 'donkeys' as my nan would say.



So we know what Nostalgia is but the definition provided also mentioned the fact that 'classic' products are often bought back and sold again. Why are they successful? Because of Nostalgia of course. Let me explain..



When you hear your nan saying 'it was better in my day' this is not necessarily a fact; to be honest its probably complete rubbish but she's saying it because she feels nostalgic and comforted when she talks about when she was younger and care free. Companies are aware of this and tap into it by bringing back products that were popular when she was young and care free making her think about happy times when she see's her beloved sherbet lemons on the supermarket shelves, what does she then do? Buy them of course. Another example would be the Cadburys 'bring back Wispa' campaign where customers used social media to communicate with Cadbury's that there was a demand for the Wispa bar to be bought back. This is because of the happy memories that people had of the Wispa bar and therefore they wanted to relive those moments again. Sure enough Wispa bars were put back into production and they were a roaring success and are still on our shelves today all because of Nostalgia. Clever isn't it.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLf8E9Hd4Dstube.com/watch?v=lLf8E9Hd4Ds

Now I work in Next and retro sweets are flying out of the door at the moment. Yes I know what your thinking 'I didn't know Next sell sweets now'. Well yes they do and they also sell chocolate which is far too nice but I'm digressing... Why is this though? I'll tell you why it's because Mr CEO of Next wants a piece of that delicious Nostalgia pie. The chocolate is not just chocolate but chocolate slabs with swirls and packaging that is suppose to resemble a home-made product. Now many moons ago on average more home cooking was done, that's therefore what the modern consumer is yearning for however they obviously haven't got the time so they pay poeple like Next to do it for them. The sweets are not just the latest flavour of the month but are white chocolate mice and strawberry bon bons complete with flying saucers. (Totally just ripped M&S off) I have personally walked past people in the shop as they look at the sweets and they say 'ooh I remeber those' then they turn to their husbands who are bored out of their skulls and say 'Mick look at these which ones should we buy'. They then can't decide and buy lots and lots. So who's the Winner? Mr CEO of Next obviously. Genius......

Nostalgia buying is a comfort to consumers and it is thought to be one of the leading sales areas during the recent recession. According to Laetherhead Food Research The classic products and 'retro' items that are available were big sellers during the tough economic times as these types of products comfort people. Ever wondered why when you pick up the latest edition of the Argos catalogue you question whether it is in fact the latest edition and not the 1970's version. Everywhere you look there's a 'retro' kettle or a 'retro' toaster or even 'retro' radio's. Of course these items aernt really retro at all. Oh no because back in the day kettles werent electric but this one is and dear old gran wouldn't dream of having a piece of wire mesh to put over her toaster so she could warm a croissant or two but obviously now it's part of the package. The 'retro' radio is obviously DAB digital allowing the modern consumer to listen to anything he or she likes from accross the country. I kind of miss the crackle when the little old wireless is trying desperately to find signal dont you? So really it's a load of old tosh that is just clever marketing that us Nostalgic fools are taken in by; the 'retro' effect is really all in the mind. Just like Nostalgia really.




Businesses don't try and hide the fact that they are using Nostalgia on consumers either. The retailer Past Times actually sells a book called 'Remember When' here's the best bit it is described as 'a nostalgic trip through the consumer era'. And people are seeing this and paying £9.99 of their hard earned cash to sit there and read about what they use to do, and what they use to like, then have telephone conversations about it to Mary down the street and Bill at the pub. The power of Nostalgia is quite astounding.

I might sound as though i'm having a go at people for this but I have to admit I am not immune. I am looking forward to Christmas so much that I can't stop talking about it. My flat mate and I were discussing our various rituals on christmas day in so much detail that on the day I shall look at my watch at 12.01 precisely and think 'Neils mum's basting the turkey'. Why do we have these conversations? Because it makes us feel good, reminiscing about what we or family members have done in the past - it just makes you feel good and comforted. That's why when I went down to Sainsbury's to buy some Christmas biscuits (it has to be done) I was bombarded with Nostalgia. The boxes werent just Sainsbury's biscuits but were 'j Sainsbury' biscuits. Now we all know that Sainsbury's hasn't been known as that for years however there is a history to that name which makes us think 'oh I remember that' and we buy the biscuits.

Nostalgia can be triggered by any one of our five senses so it's almost impossible to avoid it. Retailers are on to a winner with this as there is no limit to the amount of people that are affected by Nostalgia. There is no specific target market for Nostalgia as anybody can feel Nostalgic by anything or product on the supermarket shelf.

I was set a task in which I had to create a Mood Board full of things that make me feel Nostalgic. This was easy and of course I filled it with Food, (obviously extremely bad for you but oh so good) TV programmes (real kids TV from back in the day that did not feature someone dressed as an idiot whilst having a TV on their tummy). These were things that made me feel Nostalgic and are personal to me. They remind me of happy times when I was growing up and I must admit when I was carrying out this task I did have the biggest grin on my face imaginable. Here are some of the images I used in my Nostalgia Mood Board:

BN BN do dooo do doo doo BN BN........ No just me then

Simply the best Kids TV show of all time....

♫ 'Its the Circle of Life' ♫...... The best Disney soundtrack in the history of the world.

To illustrate the point that Nostalgic memories are individual I asked my Nan to come up with images that are Nostalgic to her. Here is what she came up with.

This came after a push. Apparently this is a nice film that puts my nan in a good mood. To be honest we were struggling to understand Nostalgia and this was followed by and i quote 'what about a gas mask'. Now I am aware that Nostalgia is personal however I'm not sure we've fully come to grips with the term Nostalgia. This is why I moved on to My Grandad where he came up with The War. He visited Cologne in Germany where he use to be based and he said that he felt very Nostalgic and lots of old memories came flooding back when he visited his old base.

These things mean nothing to me at all and I personally cannot think of anything worse than hearing about the War and it feels me with dread rather than happy memories but this just illistrates the point that Nostalgia is personal and whether you're old or young you have your own Nostalgic memories that are personal and apply only to you.

Now I'm nearly done and so is the christmas album I'm listening to but I think I've just run into another great example of Nostalgia. Now Mariah Carey has the best Chritmas songs right. So when she's getting old and we are bored with her dog squeals but she needs a hit album, what does she do? Release a Christmas Album. The album features a new version of All I Want For Chritsmas which is labelled 'extra festive' after a listen I can safely say that a few extra squeels does not mean 'extra festive' in my book and therefore I'll stick to the original however it's a brilliant idea from a marketing point of view as even if people don't like the new version it will remind people of the old version and therefore people will go onto i tunes and download it. Nostalgic feelings will be in abundance and everyones a winner. You feel great because you've listened to a great christmas song; I tunes does great and capitalises on the mad holiday that is Christmas and Mariah bags herself another hit.

So there you have it now I'm done but I've got to finish my christmas shopping and I'm off to Morrisons to buy myself some Chocolate coins. I use to love those as a kid, apparently they've bought the white ones back..... I'm going to buy loads.