Consumer–Brand Relationships: A Contrast of Nostalgic and Non-Nostalgic Brands

International audienceThis research examined how consumer–brand relationships change when one contrasts brandsperceived as nostalgic with brands perceived as non-nostalgic. Paired comparisons of brands in sixproduct categories revealed that brand attachment, self-brand connections, and storytelling, as wellas, the propensity to offer the brand as a gift and collect brand-derived products, depend on thenostalgic status of the brand. On a sample of 606 consumers, the results showed that a brand’snostalgic status has a positive effect on attachment, self-brand connections, and storytelling. Theseeffects had not previously been considered in nostalgia research. Furthermore, the nostalgic statusof a brand has positive effects in terms of intention to purchase the brand as a gift and collectbrand-derived products. Moreover, ANOVA results illustrate that consumer relationships withnostalgic brands are systematically stronger than with non-nostalgic brands. Finally, resultsindicated that product category moderates all of the dimensions of brand relationships while genderdoes not. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc