Making Money with Memories

Christmas-it's the most wonderful time of the year! A time for family, and to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and oh yeah...GIFTS.  The media and advertising takes advantage of the tremendous opportunity Christmas present.  One of the main tactics marketers use is evoking consumers'  memories. A father who comes across an ad for Hess toy trucks immediately is reminded of the toy he played with as a young boy on early Christmas mornings. He feels his son must feel the same wonderful feeling he was lucky enough to experience.  It's worth the cost.

The nostalgia of memories is a powerful motivator for buyers.  Memories can be evoked through all 5 senses, and surprisingly smell is the one of the most triggering of the five. Smell taps into the emotional centers of our brains.  Smells can alter our heart rate, make our mouths water, and stimulate our memories.  More importantly, it can make us buy.  When we're walking through the mall and are overwhelmed with the scent of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, we can't help but be reminded of baking cookies with our grandma.

Consumers are making new memories every day.  The challenge of marketers is not consumers having enough memories, but being able to tap into those memories in the right way to provoke a purchase.