The other day while watching the IPL on TV, I was amazed to see the latest commercial from Havells. It showed a gaunt Rajesh Khanna talking about how fans do not change — they are forever.
The pun goes unnoticed as you see the mesmerising hero of yesteryears in an advertising campaign. Nat-urally, the advertisement created a stir amongst the audience. While some of his fans who swore by his acting skills were happy to see him after such a long time, there were others who observed that he should never have made a mockery of his old mannerism.
Well, the debate can go on. But the point to be noted here is that nostalgia appeals. It is the easiest way to capture attention. Just like advertising agency Lowe Lintas did. It took the audience back to the past when Rajesh Khanna was indeed a name to be reckoned with.
Nostalgia can do amazing things — it can supplant an individual from his quirky present to a past that he may long for.
Nostalgia can evoke a powerful emotion and stimulate the imagination and that’s the reason why marketeers often resort to using it. Marketeers help audiences to relive the moment and long for a time like no other…
As human beings age, their nostalgic yearnings grow too and that makes us more receptive to marketeers who come up with ads with a dash of nostalgia thrown in.
“Yes, we relate to nostalgia big time. The Havells commercial is one such ad that takes us back to the past when Rajesh Khanna was the King of Hearts. He simply ruled Bollywood,” says Saumya Chattopadh-yay, Director, Strategic Planning, Ogilvy Africa.
Marketeers have often evoked nostalgia — the longing to return to childhood, in consumer behaviour. We often identify with movies, cars, and music that makes us go back to our childhood. Music recordings in particular bring back a flood of memories. For example, people who were in their ‘20s in 1964 were hooked onto the Ed Sullivan Show. Now this is the prime target for those who make marketing appeal.
“For marketeers who wish to make use of nostalgia, the key is finding the right image and music. These elements can be fused into making the ad. They do not even have to relate to the product directly. But they must stir the necessary emotions,” says Chattopad-hyay. After all, recollection provides the context in which we can evaluate things.
Companies like Mc Don-ald’s, Coca Cola, General Mills, and Unilever have all cashed in on nostalgia at some point or the other. Sometimes, they have revived vintage slogans and at other times, package designs. Take for instance, Diet Coke. It was promoted with the campaign, “Just for the taste of it,” the theme that was used by Coca Cola to introduce the soft drink in 1982. The campaign became a hit.
Nostalgia is particularly effective on holidays like Diwali and Valentine’s Day. After all, it’s the time when people come together and renew bonds.
Take for instance, the AT&T commercial promoting a 4G phone. It shows a couple in a restaurant arguing about how the new phone makes game downloads faster — the romance and passion is sure to transport any consumer to her dating days.
Now the question is why does nostalgia evoke such favourable moments from the past?
Well, science is yet to unravel the mystery behind it. We do not know why sounds and images from the past create a favourable attitude in us. Of course, nostalgia taps something fundamental in the human consciousness. “Every time we think of the past it evokes an early memory, it could be a song or a place which the mind re-casts into a more pleasing version. And that is what marketeers bank on,” says M. Deb, an advertising professional.

The writer is a well-known industry watcher