A Home Movie Could Be Your Next Ad
Have you ever watched a commercial or an ad that made you want to cry? Well, I sure have.
Marketers and advertisers are relentless, creative, imaginative, and they have figured out how to tap into the human psyche to forge an emotional connection between a company and the consumer. “How?” you might ask. By bringing the past to the present.
Companies often incorporate home movies and home movie-like footage into their ads to relate to their consumers’ personhood and their experiences. This humanizes the company, which makes them appear more trustworthy and reliable, and makes consumers more likely to buy or use what the company is selling.
In honor of Home Movie Day* (which was on October 15th this year), I pinpointed a few commercials that use nostalgia as their main selling point and broke down the different ways it impacts the consumer and the brand image of the company. Maybe you’ll find these tricks useful for your next video ;-)
The first example comes from Dove, the hair and skincare brand. Dove is commonly thought of as a woman’s brand/product. Even the name, “Dove” makes us think of a delicate, soft, pure, white bird — these adjectives many of which are commonly used to describe femininity.
In this video, Dove made an attempt to reach out to the men in the crowd and, more specifically, the fathers. The video presents a montage of fathers coming to the rescue of their children.
Gentle, soft music plays in the background over the calls of the children, “Daddy!”. This combination of sounds makes the viewer melt into jello as they watch kids play and witness the sweet, innocent love between parent and child. The sound design coupled with the images, which have a yellow tint to elicit memories of the past and the pleasant warmth that comes with them, send the viewer back to when they were a child and their father cared for them. Or, perhaps, the video sends them back to a time when they were the father of a young child.
In any case, and even more cases beyond those I listed, this ad causes the viewer to reminisce about a fond and beautiful past. A time of innocence and happiness. These emotions bring a balance to the idea of Dove as being a sensitive, soft brand as it’s placed beside the archetypal image of a father as a tough protector and hero. So even if the dad doesn’t buy himself the soap, his wife or partner may buy it for him because it’s the right soap for sensitive and caring fathers.
Next is a Bacardi commercial from 2012. Not all home movies have to make you feel sad, right? Geared toward an older, more mature drinking crowd, this commercial that brings the viewer back to all the fun and exciting times they had as a youth (but not too young, because it’s a commercial for alcohol).
A yellow filter is similarly used in this ad to bring the viewer back to the past, to a time when film was the predominant photographic medium and the images would yellow from age. In this video, however, the past is made to be thought of as a great time of excitement and fun. “Remember the 1950’s?” the viewer will wistfully daydream. The uplifting, bright music makes you want to dance and drink like you used to, before all the responsibilities of being a mature adult kicked in. If you want to have the same fun and excitement from the past, you should buy yourself some Bacardi now!
Lastly, we have a Tesco Christmas commercial from 2013. Prepare yourself, this one’s a whammy.
The creators engineered this video to produce tears: it has Christmas, home movie footage, and a cover of a Bob Dylan song. If this video doesn’t make you feel at least a little bit nostalgic, then you’re either lying or heartless. In any instance, this is a very successful ad.
Tesco is a company in the UK that makes groceries, electronics, clothing, and homeware, and what better way to sell these items than to remind the consumer of their home and their memories. The usage of real home videos, complete with film grain and slight discoloration, makes the viewer think of all those times they were sipping hot cocoa with their family over a nice warm fireplace fire. And what home (or idealization of the home) is complete without homeware and groceries from Tesco?
What’s especially great about this ad is that it almost never shows logos. The ad focuses on family and the love and joy surrounding the winter holidays, which leaves the viewer feeling happy and not resentful at the ad. To top it off, the commercial plays “Forever Young” in the background. Not only do the lyrics make the viewer think of the past, but the song itself, written in 1970s, returns them to innocent and simpler times when all they needed was family.
As Fall and Winter are upon us, so are the holidays. We may be seeing more of these kinds of ads soon, so ready your tissues and grab some Bacardi to muscle through these tough, emotional times.
NOTE: “Home Movie Day is a celebration of amateur films and filmmaking held annually at many local venues worldwide” (Center for Home Movies). People everywhere gather around and meet up at local arenas to see and share their home movies with their communities.
