Remember the Good Old Days? : Investigating the effect that nostalgic music in advertising has on brand affection, purchase intention, and word of mouth.

Sammanfattning: Background: Nostalgia in marketing has become increasingly popular but the need for research within the field is prominent with a lack of models, approaches, and mediators of effectively using nostalgia in marketing, especially using nostalgic music in advertisements. The definition of nostalgia is an ambivalent feeling, including both fondness and sadness, when reminiscing about the past. Previous research has shown that nostalgia in marketing is beneficial as it can influence consumer behaviour. Combining nostalgia and music with advertising is an unexplored area of marketing research and is therefore an interesting and important topic to investigate further. Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate nostalgic music and its effect on brand affection and consequently consumer behaviour, as well as if using nostalgic music is an effective marketing strategy in advertising.  Method: A quantitative and deductive research approach was chosen for this study with an experimental research design. Two manipulation checks were conducted to define nostalgic music and facilitate the isolation of nostalgia. An experiment with three different groups was conducted where respondents viewed an advertisement with or without the stimulus of nostalgic music.  Findings: The result of the study showed that nostalgic music in advertising does not affect brand affection and therefore has no impact on the key marketing metrics word of mouth and purchase intention. Nostalgic music is therefore not an effective marketing strategy that is aimed towards individuals in their late adolescence