Fundraisers often witness how successful campaigns bring a tear to the eyes of donors and prospects. In How Emotional Marketing Can Save the World, author Nick Thomas explores the world of emotions that trigger donors to give. A fundraising and marketing expert in the U.K., Nick describes and shares graphics from dozens of successful campaigns he created, which he sorts by the emotions they elicit.
Nostalgia
I’d trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday.
-Kris Kristofferson
Nostalgia refers to sentimental feelings that surface when you recall significant experiences and relationships of the past. It involves the cognitive process of remembering events and emotions attached to them. Often the feeling is bittersweet, recalling happy instances of a bygone age, but knowing they’re gone forever.
Why is nostalgia important?
Often, nostalgia inspires positive emotions—a sense of connection and optimism. There are positive effects of being nostalgic, which include calmness, creativity, and inspiration. Retro is a theme that brands can incorporate into their marketing and strategies because the consumer market loves nostalgia.
As someone who is constantly looking to his past, I know nostalgia is an emotional force to be reckoned with. I have a nagging desire to return to my carefree, fun-seeking, tree-climbing, pre-pubescent years. To maintain an emotional bridge with this perceived golden age, I have re-purchased the toys and board games I once enjoyed and re-collected the bubble gum cards, football programmes, and comics I used to love. My study is testament to this near obsession, it is full of my then rather than my now, the eternal and unblemished “good old days”.
Nostalgia is useful for marketers too, because it is an emotion that unifies. It can give a sense of who we are, remind us where we have been, and bring people together in common purpose to preserve what we perceived as a better time or situation.
When we researched Wildlife Trust donors to help formulate a motivating legacy proposition, we discovered that above all other considerations, people lamented the loss of nature as they remembered it. Many recalled earlier times of “lanes lined with thick hedgerows”, “fields teeming with wildlife”, and “skies filled with birdsong”. They yearned to return to the countryside of their childhood where the spectre of climate change didn’t exist.
The concept we produced reflected this powerful sentimental urge, managing to simultaneously direct people to think about past and future. Its success proved that we managed to hit the mark.
Nick Thomas’s “How Emotional Marketing Can Save the World” is a treasure for nonprofit marketing, communications and fundraising professionals who seek to inspire donors to give, and then give more by triggering their deep feelings about your organization's work. A fundraising and marketing expert in the U.K., Nick describes and shares graphics from dozens of campaigns he crafted for charities that raised millions of pounds. He sorts them by the emotions they elicit.
Want to dive into the emotions that drive generosity? Click here or go to Amazon to order Nick’s book today.
