Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of nostalgic marketing on consumer decisions, including the relation of nostalgia to perceived self-continuity, brand attitude (BA), and purchase intent (PI). Design/methodology/approach The study uses an experimental design that compares individuals’ responses to past-focussed (nostalgic) vs present-focussed (non-nostalgic) advertising across a range of three product types. Analyses include structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate direct and mediated relationships. Findings Nostalgic past-focussed advertisements (as compared to present-focussed advertisements) elicited higher perceived self-continuity which led to more favorable ratings of BA and greater intent to purchase the product. These effects held up regardless of product type. SEM showed that the relation of advertising-evoked nostalgia to BA is partially mediated by consumer’s perceived self-continuity. BA also directly predicted PI. Practical implications These findings provide two implications for marketing managers. First, the perceived self-continuity plays an important role in the success of nostalgia marketing. As such, advertising designed to directly influence perceived self-continuity should be used for framing a nostalgic marketing purposes that aims to connect consumers to particular brands. Second, evoking nostalgia in marketing communications is not just effective for one product type but appears to be useful across a variety of product type (i.e. utilitarian, hedonic, and neutral). Originality/value The study is based within an experiential marketing framework but is innovative in examining the specific experience of nostalgia and linking it to consumer’s identity (i.e. self-continuity). This area has received little attention and appears to be a promising area for future research on consumer decisions.

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Purpose This paper aims to describe the results of four studies that examine the interaction effects between locus of causality and social presence on consumers’ emotional response to a service failure and how they subsequently cope with the negative emotional experiences through support-seeking or vindictive negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). Design/methodology/approach To evaluate the research hypotheses, one online content analysis study and three experiments were conducted. Findings The results of the four studies show that when locus of causality information is not available (Studies 1 and 2), consumers are more likely to engage in support-seeking NWOM when there is social presence (versus no social presence). When a service failure is externally/internally attributed, social presence leads to less/more vindictive NWOM (Studies 3 and 4). The results clarify the underlying affective processes (frustration, anger and embarrassment) that account for the unique interaction effects involving locus of causality and social presence on NWOM. Originality/value Despite promising progress in both social presence and service failure research, scholarly attempts aiming to draw the theoretical linkages between these two streams are relatively scarce, and it remains unknown regarding whether and how social presence influences NWOM in the event of service failure. Against this backdrop, this research examines the effects of social presence on consumer NWOM in service failure. The authors further contribute to both research streams by testing the effects of an important set of emotions as mediators, as well by exploring the conditions under which a particular emotion is more predictive of its corresponding outcomes. These findings offer important insights that help service managers effectively mitigate customer NWOM at the point of service delivery.

Nostalgic advertising has become a popular means for advertisers to reach their consumers. A viewer's life satisfaction is an important factor that may influence the effect of nostalgic advertising. Positive life satisfaction is an important determinant of nostalgic advertising receptivity. Thus, the present study builds a model for the relationships among life satisfaction, nostalgic advertising, emotional response toward a brand, ad attitude and purchase intention. Life satisfaction was identified as an antecedent variable for evoked nostalgia. In addition, emotional response to the advertised brand was shown to be an important predictor of purchase intent. The findings provide insightful implications for marketers and advertisers by identifying meaningful relationships between life satisfaction and nostalgic advertising.

Nostalgic advertising uses images relevant to past periods in individuals' lives to market products. The current study examines the reminiscence bump in a new context: reactions to nostalgic advertising. We examine diachronic relevance and its influence on purchase intent using a 3 (time frame: bump advertisements, non-bump past advertisements, present-focused advertisements) × 2 (age group: Generation X, late-stage baby boomers) between-subject design. Results show that advertisements for a fictional camera brand (i.e., Optimax) that focus on a bump year (i.e., 15-24 years) have more diachronic relevance than advertisements from either a non-bump past year or present-focused advertisements. In addition, advertisements focused on bump years elicit greater intent to purchase the advertised product than non-bump past and present-focused advertisements. Analyses show that intent to purchase the product is fully mediated by diachronic relevance of the bump-year advertisement. These effects hold across both age groups.