“Mad Men’s” Don Draper Pitched ‘Nostalgia’To ‘Disrupt’ Home Movies in The 1960’s. Continuing Article Series on Disruption for 2022

“It goes forward. It goes back. It takes you to a place. A place where you know you are loved.” 

Remarked Mad Men’s Don Draper sitting in a 1960’s Manhattan advertising agency presenting a radical new idea for a “rotary wheel” slide holder to top executives of former photography icon Eastman Kodak. Draper – played by actor Jon Hamm - knew full well about the power and pull of the past. Nostalgia.  

Sentiment is the term I use for Nostalgia in my newest book, The New Customer Disruption Economy. And Sentiment is the newest “Brand Promise” to Customers in the latest iteration of the Customer Experience. 

71 %. The number of consumers that researcher Marketing Week found recently that say they enjoy things that remind them of growing up.  

47 %. And the number of consumers polled recently who say that they recall the past often. 

We’re in a new phase of the Customer Experience that will rely on Emotions and Senses to provide Customers with a “memorable Experience”.  

An Experience that, in order to be effective these next few years, will have to be both more lasting and more personal than ever before. 

In the 1970’s behavioral psychologist Paul Eckman formalized the six basic emotions – fear, love, happiness, etc. - we as human beings all have. Plus, he described in more scientific terms the effect of endorphins and other stimulants the body produces as the brain telegraphs a different emotional reaction to some event in the environment. 

And the new Experience has been “disrupted” by Covid as the Pandemic continues to reshape the planet in new and unanticipated ways. And the Customer Experience isn’t any different. 

50 %. The number of global consumers Forbes says say they are ‘re thinking’ their purpose and what’s important in life. 

Wow! Some really deep stuff goin’ on here, huh? 

Finally, the Customer Experience of tomorrow is “personal” and “longer lasting” than earlier as it can longer just be about “the Wow”. 

So, recall that your first trip to Disneyworld was probably all “Wow”, am I right? Everything was new and unanticipated. 

The second time you visited? Not so much, huh. 

So, let me offer you some Business Tips on how you might navigate this new world of Customer Experience.  

Business Tip # 1. See if “Nostalgia” is a play you have in your product offering by looking closely at your products and services and searching for a possible “hook” in your Brand Promise. I assure you, it will produce results! 

Tip # 2. Poll your customers for what they see as “high value” in your offerings in order for you to emphasize it in your marketing and promotion efforts. Those same product offerings can then be designed to be more personal and possibly more lasting than ever before. 

So there it is!  

The Customer Experience is set to take some major new turns very soon and you don’t want to be left behind, right? 

So start working on this now. 

And, until we sit around the table to work all this out once more, I’ll see “ya! 

Ciao,