Learning, Memory and Nostalgia

Learning and Memory

In order to effectively teach someone, you must adapt your teaching methods to suit the way that individual learns. If you don't, they probably won't understand or remember what it is you are teaching. This is no different for advertisers. They need to know how people learn and how they engage with advertising in order to make it effective.

Dictionary.com defines learning as "The act or process of aquiring knowledge or skill." Interestingly, it also gives this definition: "The modification of behaviour though practice, training or experience." I believe that the second definition is more applicable to advertising. Advertisers are always, in one way or another, encouraging people to change something about themselves. Whether it be where they shop, how they look or what they buy.

There are two types of learning that relate well to marketing.

Behaviourist Approach	Cognitive Learning
All behaviour is a response to stimulus. We learn to respond to stimuli in particular ways based on the environment we were in when we experienced that stimuli in the past.	The acquisition of knowledge and skill by mental processes.
·         Classical Conditioning – Pavlov A reflexive or automatic type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.	·         Latent Learning The type of learning that occurs, is not exhibited until there is some reinforcement or incentive to demonstrate it.
·         Operant Conditioning – Skinner Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behaviour. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behaviour and a consequence for that behaviour.	·         Observational Learning This occurs when an observer’s behaviour changes after viewing the behaviour of a model. An observer’s behaviour can be affected by the positive or negative consequences of a model’s behaviour.

Examples:

Classical Conditioning:

Operant Conditioning:

 

Latent Learning: If Person A drives Person B to work every day, Person B will learn the route to work without actual having driven themselves. 

 

Observational Learning:

To summarise,  "behavioural theories assume that learning takes place as the result of responses to external events" (Solomon et al, 2010, p246)and "cognitive learning occurs as a result of mental processes" (Solomon et al, 2010, p250).

 Now that it's clear what each type of learning means, how have they been utilised by advertisers?

A behaviourist learner will respond to stimuli that they recognise from another environment.

The stimuli of couples enjoying their first loves would evoke the feelings a person may have had in a personal environment. Therefore this advert would grab attention. It doesn't require cognitive learning, simply a response to something the person has previously experienced.

This next commercial, however, requires more concentration as it is basically teaching its audience about tooth sensitivity and how to find a solution.

The Memory Process:

External Inputs > Encoding > Storage >  Retrieval

Put simply = What we notice > Placing that into our memory > Retaining information > Remembering information as and when necessary

Our senses out our link to our memory. By using sensory branding, a greater emotional connection is created between the brand and the consumer.

Without memory, we would literally be living in and for the moment.

Nostalgia

 " A bittersweet emotion where we view the past with both sadness and longing." (Solomon et al, 2010, p264)

"A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the former happiness of a certain place or time." (Dictionary.com, 2011)

A marketer can always connect on a personal level with a consumer if they tap into the consumer's memory and trigger nostalgia.

My Nostalgia Collage

This is an ideal way to reach a target market, by using world events that they would remember. My grandmother would respond to a feature relating to WW2, whereas I would be more responsive to an article relating to 9/11. By using nostalgia based advertising, agencies can filter out people who don't fall into their target audience and truly grasp the attention of those they want to target.

There is a vast difference in the number of memorable occasions on my timeline when compared to my mother's. This proves how one event which is influential for my mother may provoke no reaction in me.

• Jessica - Born 1989

Although I was only 2 months old when the Berlin Wall came down, I always think of as an occasion in my lifetime. To remind myself that history isn't only in text books or that it is always in the distant past.

I realise now that I have forgotten the Clinton/ Lewinsky scandal, re-election of George Bush, inaugration of Barack Obama and the deaths of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. I have decided not to change my timeline because the 5 topics I initially thought of have clearly had more of an impact on my life. Note that the following list approximately three times longer than mine and I am about a third of my mother's age.

• Paulette - Born 1957

1963 - JFK assassination

1969 - Man walks on the moon

1973 - End of Vietnam War

1980 - John Lennon assassination

1981- Reagan assassination attempt

1981 - Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding

1982 - Invasion of the Falkland Islands

1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall

1997 - Princess Diana's death

2001 - World Trade Centre attack

2001 - Afghanistan War

2003 - Iraq War

2005 - Hurricane Katrina

2006 - Death of Saddam Hussein

2011- Japan crisis

2011 - Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding

2011 -Death of Osama Bin Laden

Surprisingly, many of the things my mother recalled occured within my lifetime but did not affect me as greatly as they did her. This is possibly a generational thing but, I think, an important piece of information relating to how each generation responds to certain events and situations.

Nostalgia based advertising in use...

This advert uses music to trigger a memory of good times. 'We Like to Party' by the Vengaboys was huge in the 1990s and odds are, people who were partying at that time have memories of this song.

Coco Cola love nostalgia based advertising. Most people I know have said to me that they know Christmas is coming when they see one of Coco Cola's ads.

This is a great example of using nostalgia based advertising yet still appealing to a range of generations. Hovis' ad enhances the point I made earlier, about how my grandmother would respond to WW2 and I would respond to 9/11. In this case, she can relate to coal strikes (and probably the entire ad) and I can relate to the millenium celebrations.

Fairy Liquid is 50 years old this year and they have used some adverts from their archive to celebrate. This old style of ad will make some people nostalgic, while others may have memories of using the bottle to make space rockets as children. It's a brand that a large number of people can relate to and have probably been familiar with since childhood.

Advertisers need to know how their consumers learn so that they recognise how best to grab the consumer's attention so that they retain it in their memory. Memory is also used to stir up feelings of nostalgia to create an immediate bond between a consumer and a brand.

• Dictionary.com (2011) Definition of learning. [online] Available from www.dictionary.com [Accessed 4 May 2011].
• Dictionary.com (2011) Definition of nostalgia. [online] Available from www.dictionary.com [Accessed 4 May 2011].
• Solomon , M. R., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, S. and Hogg, M. K. (2010) Consumer behaviour: a European perspective. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson.