Nostalgia’s role in retromarketing

Consumption related to the past is trendy. The successful new retro products are often modified to fit today’s taste and functional and performance standards. Many product categories including those that traditionally focused on innovation and creativity, such as cars and music, are influenced by the retro movement. Despite its popularity, few empirical studies (Brown, Kozinets and Sherry, Jr (2003a, 2003b) have embraced the consumers’ reactions toward a retromarketing offer. Retromarketing is a wise marriage between the past and the present in a way to offer the best of both worlds (Brown, 2001; Brown, Kozinets and Sherry Jr, 2003b). Nostalgia and retromarketing look like concepts that are interlinked but few studies have assessed how nostalgia can impact the consumers’ reaction toward a retro product. Therefore, the objectives of this study are twofold: to assess how the mix of the old and the new in a retro product influences consumers’ behaviours and specifically, if nostalgia ever plays any kind of role. An experiment, comprised of four different scenarios that blend stimuli referring to the past and the current era, was administered to 181 subjects. Two variables regarding the Led Zeppelin rock band were manipulated: list of songs (retro or contemporary) and band members (retro or contemporary). The scenarios were presented under the mindset that the this 70’s legendary rock band could hypothetically tour again. Based on the results of two focus groups, this band was selected because it is the one that was the most reminiscent of the music of the 70’s. Furthermore, this band has all the six features that a brand should have to do retro branding (Brown, Kozinets and Sherry Jr., 2003b). Nostalgia proneness was measured with the Southampton Nostalgia Scale (SNS) (Routledge et al., 2008). The nostalgia index (Holbrook and Schindler, 1994) was used to measure the construct « belief in decline ». The scale is made of two dimensions: the belief in overall decline and the belief in musical decline. Our findings support the general assumption that a blend between the past and the present for a retro product has an impact on the consumers’ responses. Our findings are consistent with the belief that retromarketing is not an age related issue since neither nostalgia proneness, nor belief in decline are statistically linked with the age of the respondents. Regarding more specifically the blend of the past and the present, the past is preferred to the present when it comes to the song selection and the composition of the band members. This leads us to argue that the features of the products that have evolved over the years should continue to do so and be updated. The other elements that did not significantly changed over a period of time, should stay as permanent as possible. Finally, nostalgia proved to have a bond with retromarketing. More specifically, nostalgia proneness is a moderating variable between a retromarketing product and the behavioral intentions