When and why nostalgic ads work (and do not work): A social influence perspective

Previous research has documented the power of nostalgic ads, yet little is known about whether and how their effectiveness will be affected by social influence, which is often unavoidable in the service context. To fill this gap, the current research investigates the relative effectiveness of nostalgic (vs. non-nostalgic) ads in a restaurant setting by examining two underexplored but practically relevant boundary conditions: consumption context and crowding. Two experimental studies show that nostalgic (vs. non-nostalgic) ads lead to higher levels of visit intention. Importantly, such an advantage arises (disappears) when consumers anticipate group (solo) consumption and when the environment has low (high) crowding. Moreover, we find that consumers' sense of social connectedness is the psychological mechanism explaining the superiority of nostalgic (vs. non-nostalgic) ads. Implications for optimizing nostalgic advertising are discussed.