Want to be heard today? Talk about yesterday

A guest post by Matt Webster, co-founder and client services director of Media Bounty, a digital marketing agency. Matt discusses the importance of showcasing a brand’s heritage to play on the consumer’s sense of nostalgia, which can help ‘cut through the noise and get the essential message to flash up in people’s internal radar.’

The Rise of Information Overload

As known history extends into the 21st century the amount of information created, transmitted and received by humanity has truly entered into the mind melting arena of mega data (In 2012, every day 2.5 quintillion bytes of data (1 followed by 18 zeros) were created, with 90% of the world’s data created in the last two years alone. As a society, we’re producing and capturing more data each day than was seen by everyone since the beginning of the Earth; Fast Company – Marcia Conner). And as ultimate whistle blower Ed Snowden has boldly highlighted to us, some people want to record and monitor all of this data because after all, knowledge is power…right? As people or (here comes that word we all love) consumers, the immense volume of information telling us what we should buy, when we should buy it and where we need to go to make that essential purchase is head poppingly loud. It’s a maelstrom of noise. Oh and it’s competitive.

Embrace the Past

But let’s just put down our big brother binoculars for a moment and instead dust down our marketing microscopes and adjust the lens, not on the world of espionage and entrapment, but on the world of brands. As we fumble with the focus we’ll see an increasing amount of companies wanting to highlight their brand’s heritage. It’s one way of playing to nostalgia whilst cutting through the melee of mega messaging.

Celebrate!

A brand’s nod to the past and their beginnings not only appeals to memories of yester year but also tugs on the tapestries of trust. After all, if a brand’s been around since the ice age or even more extreme 20 years BW (before wifi) then they must be worth giving a couple of slices of your undivided attention. This year sees a couple of Media Bounty’s clients celebrating their journeys. Happy 125^th and 175^th birthday to Boots Baby and Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula respectively.

There are many ways for a brand to cut through the noise and get the essential message to flash up in people’s internal radar. A strong heritage is something to be proud of and something to shout about. The story already exists and now the many platforms that we all engage with, on a minute by minute basis throughout our daily lives, most certainly exist. And if our friends at UK Government Communications Headquarters’ (GCHQ) are listening in, who cares, the more the merrier..right?