Nostalgic marketing is one of the most powerful forms of advertising for a good reason:  it gets people emotionally involved in your product or service.

A few days ago I came across an old friend on TV.  He’s short, fuzzy, blue, and has a CRAZY obsession with cookies.  Yes, I’m talking about the Cookie Monster!  He was my favorite character on Sesame Street, and I love him almost as much as I love fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies.  (Almost.)

This video is exactly why nostalgic marketing works:  I was reunited with my childhood friend, who has just about as much patience as I do when I’m waiting for something really good…and the addition of “Time in a Bottle” on the “waiting playlist” was a nice touch.  I was immediately drawn into the commercial just by seeing my old friend, and Cookie Monster’s ad left me in a happier place than before I watched it.

And that’s nostalgic marketing…it captures your attention with familiarity, and stirs up your emotions.

But that’s not my only encounter with nostalgia this weekend…

Every Sunday my husband and I cook breakfast together and enjoy our food, a view of the lake, and music from the smooth jazz station.

And that’s when it happened.  We were served a healthy serving of nostalgia.

Somewhere between the smooth jazz versions of Pharrell Williams’ Happy and Aretha Franklin’s Chain of Fools we heard…

…the Love Boat Theme…

And suddenly my head was spinning with memories.  Memories of watching the Love Boat.  Memories of all the celebrity guest stars on the show.  Memories of wanting to BE the cruise director, Julie McCoy.

And memories of all the cruises I’ve taken…which never ended in a love connection.  🙁

I admit it…I loved the show!  I even looked into applying for a job with Princess Cruise Lines.  But after talking with some people who worked for various cruise lines I came to the conclusion it wasn’t quite as glamorous as it was portrayed on TV.  (TV lied to me?  Shocker!)

OK…now fast forward to the 1990s.  I’m working as the marketing manager for an audio-visual company, and had to spend some marketing dollars we earned from Shur microphones.  I found a keychain voice recorder that was shaped like an ice cream cone mic (remember…it was the 1990s, and voice recorders were a novel idea…we didn’t have smartphones back then).  The team from Shur loved the idea, and all our employees loved the keychains…so much so that I’m not sure a single client ever got one!

One day, I hear singing and laughter coming from the kitchen so I go across the hall to find out what’s going on.  And what do I find?  My coworkers singing the Love Boat theme into the voice recorders and playing it back.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who loved the show, because my coworkers knew all the words to the theme song.

To this day, whenever I hear the Love Boat theme it brings back a slew of memories and smiles.  The nostalgia grabs my attention and gets me emotionally involved.

And that’s the power of nostalgic marketing.

P.S.  Did you know that nostalgic posts on social media are one of the best ways to get people engaged?  Check out this post for 11 more ideas to create engagement on social media.