My husband and I recently celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary. According to him, only 15 more years until we get to go back to our honeymoon spot in Greece!
That day he brought home a gorgeous bouquet of purple and white flowers, which was a big deal since it was only the second time that’s happened in the nine years we’ve been together. He even attempted to match them to our wedding flowers (without a photo and without knowing the names, of course). He later told me he described what I informed him was hydrangea to the florist as “a white lilac, but bigger.” Hilarious and adorable.
To document this milestone in our relationship—the flowers, not the anniversary, per se—about a week later I brought out my mom’s old flower press. When I was little, my mom and I did all sorts of projects together, from handcrafting tiny worry dolls with toothpicks and embroidery thread to refinishing the dining room table. Those are some of my greatest childhood memories.
In the springtime, one of my favorite activities was hunting for wildflowers outside our cabin in Northern Wisconsin and bringing my treasures back inside where my mom and I would carefully layer them inside her coveted flower press. As a child, the anticipation of opening that press after what seemed like years of waiting was exhilarating.
As I pulled out the old flower press the other day to show my daughter, I explained how Nanna had taught me how to dry flowers on the same exact press when I was about her age and how much I loved it. She was all in, and we got to work.
Now we wait—for likely what will seem like years to Nora.
Yes, this story could just be considered a simple family tradition. But what it made my marketing mind think of is something called nostalgia marketing, an increasingly popular tactic the past few years. Nostalgia is a way for brands to connect with consumers by referencing the past using beloved real-life figures, mascots, taglines and products, but while also incorporating these elements in updated ways to form new connections with younger audiences.
Nostalgia enables consumers to relive memories, and, the idea is to in turn create positive brand associations. In the case of the flower press, I relived one of my childhood memories and passed along those sentiments my daughter. In terms of marketable products, perhaps a better example is the old school Nintendo system that recently got a reboot, uniting 30-somethings and their young children across the country.
Now excuse me as Nora and I scour the gas station for candy buttons and cry babies.
Marketing Like a Mother 