Marketing Nostalgia

These throwback boxes from General Mills are a lot of fun. They are nostalgic and full of retro kitsch. Plus you get a shirt out of the deal. You walk away smiling and probably carrying a box of something you haven't had since you were a kid. That's what nostalgia does. As a marketer you can't go to this well too often but every now and then, after just enough time has passed, you can get out some artifact that will make your customers smile with childlike delight as you tug on their heartstrings and subtly remind them that your brand has been with them through it all.

Got some old signage or advertisements collecting dust in a closet or storage facility? Get them out and take them to your next meeting. Put them up in your business. Pretty soon your team will be smiling and together you'll come up with a great way to re-introduce these memories back into your brand's quilted tapestry.

Favorite Things: Direct Mail Done Right

"You've got to see this," said my friend and colleague Don as he slid one of the most engaging pieces of direct mail that I've seen in a long time across the table ... Hear my quick take in the video above. Here is the PURL (Personalized URL) used in the campaign – www.AcceptTheInvitation.com/DonaldCarstensen. An interesting takeaway? With campaigns like this, direct snail mail is almost becoming a boutique media for very small personal campaigns.

The Back of the Box

No, this isn't an excuse to show off pictures of my kids. When you have little children you eat fast food a whole lot more than you normally would. Last weekend on a trip to the golden arches I found my gaze wandering across the table to back of my son's Happy Meal box. There on the box before me was depicted what a Happy Meal should be. A Utopian offering composed of a grilled chicken wrap, sliced apples and a cool inviting glass of milk. Mmmm.

The problem? This is the first any of us saw of it. No commercials (we watch a lot of kids TV too) and no in-store signage or menu call-outs. So — as you can see above — our gang ordered up our usual vittles. This is something about the Mickey D's brand that we would actually like to know and it's no where in the barrage brand impressions constantly pelted at families like ours. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that it was planned this way. The folks at McDonald's want to be able to say that they offer something healthy in response to the heightened awareness of the post-Super Size Me world we live in but at the end of the day they don't want anyone ordering it. Offer it and under-promote it and all of a sudden ... We have a healthy Happy Meal on the menu but no one orders it ... I digress ...

Why should this matter to you? Is there something important that your customers should know or want to know about your brand that you have relegated to the back of the box?