Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S10E17 - Son of Crocodile Dundee: Nostalgia Advertising

Episode Date: April 29, 2021

This week, we explore the use of nostalgia in advertising. For decades, advertisers have tapped collective memories in commercials, hoping those warm feelings wash over their products. From resurrecting Wayne’s World for Uber Eats commercials to Macaulay Culkin revisiting Home Alone for Google, nostalgia is a powerful marketing tool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than no nose You're not you when you're hungry You're a good hand with all teeth You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. November 22, 1963 was a historic day. From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.

On that very same day, a 50-year-old woman named Annie Shapiro, who lived just outside Toronto, was sitting in her living room. While watching news of the assassination on her black-and-white TV, she suffered a massive stroke, then slipped into a coma. She was rushed to hospital where her husband Martin talked to doctors and consulted with experts, but nobody could help. So he took care of Annie. He fed her, bathed her, and slept beside her every night. Years passed.

Over time, Annie Shapiro had cataract surgery, a hysterectomy, and a hip replacement, all while in a coma. Then one day, 29 years later, on October 4, 1992, she suddenly snapped out of her coma. Martin was lying beside her in bed when she just sat up and said, Turn on the TV. I want to see the I Love Lucy show. Martin couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Annie couldn't believe what she was seeing either. She was staring at her husband, who was now an 81-year-old grandfather. When Annie looked in the mirror, she was devastated by her appearance. She was once a young-old grandfather. When Annie looked in the mirror, she was devastated by her appearance. She was once a young-looking woman. Now, she was a 79-year-old granny with wrinkles, bags under her eyes, and gray hair. Martin slowly explained to Annie that she had been asleep for almost three decades.

It seemed inconceivable to her. She had no memories of the past 29 years. Annie Shapiro had never heard of the Beatles. She had no idea man had walked on the moon. She didn't know Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were dead. She didn't know about Watergate or who Pierre Trudeau was

or that the Vietnam War had ended, or that the Berlin Wall had fallen. She had never seen color TV. She didn't know what a personal computer was. She had never heard of AIDS. Martin told her that their two children were now middle-aged with kids of their own. When she asked to speak to her son, Martin dialed his number and passed the phone to Annie. She was startled by the fact the phone was cordless. But above all else, Annie cried over all that lost time. For the next 48 hours, Annie stayed up around the clock

talking about all the things she had missed. All the advancements, all the historic firsts, the news events, and all the heartbreaking news of lost siblings and friends. Annie Shapiro was a woman without memories. In the world of marketing, memories are big business. Because nostalgia is a powerful selling tool, triggering emotions and warm associations. Brands use collective memories as a marketing strategy, hoping to tap into those positive feelings and wrap their products in a warm blanket of nostalgia. Feeling nostalgic can make people want to spend money and that's why companies steer their products down

memory lane. You're under the influence. Marketers, in their quest to harness emotion in their selling messages, learned to tap nostalgia. That overlap of memories and emotion led the public to become more engaged with commercials. But marketers don't wade into nostalgic waters just for the fun of it. There is often a more interesting strategy at work. Take Spotify in the UK, for example.

Back in 2019, the streaming music service chose to use nostalgia in an advertising campaign. Spotify wanted to attract more listeners between the ages of 35 and 44, people who had grown up between 1979 and 1999. This demographic is often called the forgotten generation, coming after boomers and before millennials. The campaign was based on a research insight. When people reached their 30s, they returned to the music that was popular when they were coming of age,

the formative teen years. Spotify made an interesting media choice. You might assume that a tech company would choose a digital medium. But Spotify chose outdoor billboards and bus posters instead. The reason? Outdoor advertising is very Instagram-worthy. The campaign was titled, Listen Like You Used To. The idea was to have fun with the fact that, as you age,

your life changes, but your favorite music doesn't. The tongue-in-cheek billboards were split into two sections. The left side was the way it was. The right side is the way it is. Back in the late 70s, The Clash was at the top of the charts. So one billboard played off a Clash album. The left side said, 1979, London Calling.

The right side said, 2019, Conference Calling. Ah, yes, the punk rockers are now corporate executives. Another billboard said, 1988, You Are 24-hour party people. 2019, you're two- to four-hour party people. But my favorite billboard of the campaign said, 1983, you be 40, red, red wine.

2019, you be 40, red, red wine. So smart. Red Red Wine 2019 UBE40 Red Red Wine So smart. The Spotify campaign went viral instantly. The results were very impressive. Spotify reached 65% of the UK's 35 to 44-year-old audience. And most importantly, the campaign grew that audience by 10%. Which was music to Spotify's ears.

British Airways tapped into some nostalgia to coincide with the release of the film Bohemian Rhapsody. The airline created a video titled Get Freddy for Takeoff. Before Freddie Mercury was Freddie Mercury, he was a British Airways baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. To pay tribute to Freddie on his birthday, nine British Airways baggage handlers took two weeks of choreography lessons. It's Freddie Mercury's birthday.

In honor of our ex-colleague, we've got this dance routine going. You'll love it. As passengers waited for their luggage in Terminal 5, the baggage handlers burst through the doors, dressed in bright yellow jackets and white pants like Freddie wore in his famous Live Aid performance, and each baggage handler sported a Freddie Mercury mustache. Then they began to dance to Queen's 1984 hit, I Want to Break Free.

I want to break free! Passengers watched these baggage handlers break free from their routines to perform Freddie Mercury-inspired dance moves, and every cell phone camera was pointed in their direction. British Airways embraced the nostalgia, posting Queen songs on the arrivals boards, and Queen memorabilia was displayed in the departures area. Best of all, any passengers named Freddie

were invited to use the British Airways first-class lounge that day. The nostalgia gave British Airways a lot of press and the video was viewed 1.8 million times. Back in 2018, teasers for a new movie appeared two weeks before the Super Bowl. It said, coming this summer, Dundee, the son of the legend, returns home.

The teaser said to watch the Super Bowl for the full trailer. The original movie Crocodile Dundee came out in 1986. It made Paul Hogan an international star and it introduced the world to the people and beauty of Australia. Crocodile Dundee became the second highest grossing film worldwide in 1986,

earning over $328 million. In that movie, as you may remember, Australian Mick Dundee falls in love with an American journalist. And the son of Dundee in this new movie is American. On Super Bowl Sunday, the trailer launched. Brian Dundee, played by Danny McBride, is dropped off in the Northern Territory and is met by a rugged Australian, played by Chris Hemsworth.

But when Dundee Jr. rolls off the bus, he's a bit pudgy. He's pulling carry-on luggage with wheels, and he's wearing a blue neck pillow and a fanny pack. Yo, where them kangaroos at? Brian Dundee? Yep. Really? Yeah.

Really? Yeah. Really? Not exactly the rugged son of Dundee everyone was expecting. Really? Why do you keep saying really? As the trailer reveals, Brian Dundee is no crocodile Dundee. He tries shaving with his big Bowie knife.

You all right there, mate? Nothing to see here, man. Just getting a clean shave with my machete. And cuts his face to smithereens. He tries to hypnotize a giant ox like his father did in the original movie. You know, when your dad did it, he was much... Okay, and when my dad told me about this, he was just like, yeah, I just came up

and he did this, okay? I just don't think he can see you from back here. It looked like a hilarious film. Brian Dundee, son of Crocodile Dundee, is an awkward fish out of water in Australia,

the same way his father was a fish out of water in New York. The movie also co-starred Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman, and Russell Crowe. But as the trailer progressed, it started to tell a different story. The trailer said they would explore beautiful beaches. Not a lot of crocs out here, huh? It's just 37,000 miles of pristine, beautiful beach, mate.

The trailer said they would discover amazing wines. Did you know that Australia makes some of the finest wines in the entire world? No, I didn't know that. It said they would dine at world-class restaurants. Very much. Wait, hold up. This isn't a movie. No.

It's a tourism ad for Australia. Yep. This wasn't a trailer for a Son of Crocodile Dundee movie. It was a very creative tourism ad for Australia. The Australian Tourist Board made a strategic choice by using the nostalgia of Crocodile Dundee. In pre-pandemic times, North America is a critical market for Australia,

with close to a million visitors spending over $3.7 billion. Research showed that the promotional power of Crocodile Dundee is as strong today as it was when the original movie was released in 1986. Australia put over $36 million behind the fake movie was released in 1986. Australia put over $36 million behind the fake movie trailer campaign. The tourism department treated it

like a Hollywood studio launch. Paul Hogan did a quick cameo. There was an official website for the fake film, studio logos, verified social media accounts, behind-the-scenes photos, billboards, and even an IMDb page, where it rated an 8.3 out of 10. Thanks to over 100 million Super Bowl viewers, the Sun of Dundee became the most successful tourism campaign in Australian history.

It was the number one viewed, searched, and shared Super Bowl campaign that year. The trailer and subsequent commercials were covered in over 14,000 TV segments and press articles, the equivalent of $84 million in free media coverage. There was a 900% increase in booking inquiries. And tourism to Australia jumped 11.5% in just six months. It was a huge success. Except for one tiny thing. A petition started going around with the hashtag

Bring Back Dundee. People were disappointed it wasn't a real film. And we'll be right back. In case nobody's told you, weight loss goes beyond the old just eat less and move more narrative. And that's where Felix comes in. Felix is redefining weight loss for Canadians with a smarter, more personalized approach to help you crush your health goals this year. Losing weight is about more than diet and exercise. It can also be about our genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix connects you with online licensed healthcare practitioners who

understand that everybody is different and can pair your healthy lifestyle with the right support to reach your goals. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not.

Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. You're listening to Season 10 of Under the Influence. If you're feeling nostalgic, you might also enjoy set jetting,

film locations, and tourism marketing. Season 9, Episode 6. You'll find it in our archives wherever you download your pods. If you're a television watcher, you've probably seen the latest Uber Eats campaign. It employs a little nostalgia circa 1992. Specifically, it stars Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World. The original Wayne's World is the highest-grossing Saturday Night Live-inspired movie ever.

That was 30 years ago. Myers and Carvey are now 57 and 65, respectively. But it is a milestone movie for millennials. Like Spotify, the strategy wasn't just to tap into the nostalgic affection for Wayne's World. There was another layer at work.

In the original SNL skits and the movies, Wayne's World was a local cable access show. And Uber Eats wanted to promote local restaurants that were struggling during the pandemic. The theme was to eat local.

There was another strategy at work, too. Uber's regular ride-hailing platform was down 50% because of the pandemic, and delivering food was critical to sustaining its business. The Uber Eats commercial was set to debut on the Super Bowl in 2021. Care was taken to replicate the original Wayne's World basement right down to the smallest detail. The wardrobe department recreated the clothes Wayne and Garth wore, but on shoot day, Mike Myers actually showed up with his original Wayne's World hat and his original jeans.

Scripts were written, a teaser was filmed, and in a smart move, that teaser was first aired during Saturday Night Live. Hey, we're back. 2020, man, that was a great year. Not. Yeah, it're back. 2020, man, that was a great year. Not. Yeah, it really sucked. It sucked donkey. Good one. We just wanted to say that we'll see you soon for the game, which for legal reasons cannot be named. We'll see you on the big bowl.

The gigantic bowl. Totally legal. Yeah, completely legal. All right, good teaser. Final shot was an Uber Eats bag. Then a week later, on Super Bowl Sunday, a one-minute commercial debuted in the third quarter. This local access message is brought to you by Uber Eats.

Wayne's World! Wayne's World! Party time! Excellent! Yeah! Hey, everyone. Welcome to Waynesboro. Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth. As a local access show, we want everyone to support local restaurants. While nostalgia was the name of the game, the ad agency knew a lot of younger viewers wouldn't know who Wayne and Garth were. So, another element was added.

Yeah, we'd never shamelessly rely on a celebrity cameo. Right, Cardi B? Yeah, eat local! There was also a fun extended cut on YouTube, where a two-and-a-half-hour credit roll runs, listing all

89,151 local restaurants available on the Uber Eats app. While that long list runs, Wayne and Garth eat popcorn, play chess, and Alice Cooper makes a surprise visit. Alice Cooper. Whoa. Hey, do you want to watch some restaurants with us? Oh, more than anything.

Oh, okay. Well... After the Super Bowl, more Wayne's World commercials continued the campaign idea, with Wayne and Garth name-checking various dishes ordered from various restaurants. It was big-time nostalgia that paid off. In 2017, Uber Eats did $3 billion of business. During the pandemic, it hit $30 billion. New year, new me. Season is here and honestly, we're already over it. Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight

loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise. It can be about tackling genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix gets it. They you with licensed health care practitioners online who'll create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a little extra support start your visit today at felix.ca that's f-e-l-i-x.ca whether you're in your running era pilates era or yoga era dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not, just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push, find your power.

Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Of all the nostalgic advertising campaigns appearing over the last few years, my favorite was a Christmas commercial for Google Home Assistant. The ad was a very funny take on the movie Home Alone. The original film was made in 1990, starring a 10-year-old Macaulay Culkin. And a now 38-year-old Macaulay Culkin

was revisiting his role as Kevin McAllister. That alone was interesting. Culkin has historically been reluctant to reprise that role. First, a little history. Macaulay Culkin's father, Kit, was also a child actor. He had appeared in several Broadway plays with stars such as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, but he was never able to parlay that early success into a film career.

But Kitt never lost his fascination with movies and encouraged his kids to attend auditions. Young Macaulay got cast in a John Candy movie called Uncle Buck, directed by John Hughes. Hughes was so impressed with Macaulay's brilliantly bratty performance, he wrote a screenplay specifically for him called Home Alone. That movie was a blockbuster

and it changed Culkin's life forever. He would later call it a curse and a blessing. He would be paid $1 million two films later at the age of 11. But he was also hounded by paparazzi. Fans chased him. They constantly yelled classic Home Alone lines at him everywhere he went. It got to the point where Culkin no longer ventured outside at Christmastime anymore.

But as time went by, he made peace with the movie. And when he launched a new podcast, he may have wanted the publicity for a change. Plus, the Google script was good. Google Home Assistant chose to tap the nostalgia of Home Alone for several strategic reasons. First, nostalgia is particularly potent during the holidays. Second, Home Alone was the highest grossing Christmas film of all time as of 2018. And Google hoped to sell a lot of home assistant devices that Christmas and close the gap between it and the smart speaker leader Amazon. Plus, every

year more and more people search for Home Alone at Christmastime. The year before, the search results for the film were up 1,900%. So Google wanted to leverage the seasonal interest in Home Alone to show off all the features of its smart speaker. The Home Alone commercial was very clever. The idea was to have fun demonstrating how much easier it would have been for Kevin McAllister if he would have had a Google Assistant. The commercial did a shot-by-shot recreation of the movie's most iconic scenes.

It begins with a grown-up Kevin realizing he has been left home alone again. Mom? Dad? Then he asks Google for his schedule. Hey Google, what's on my calendar today? You have one event called house to yourself. Oh yeah. In the original movie, 10-year-old Kevin shaves, then applies aftershave to his face and screams in pain. In this remake, Kevin shaves, then goes to apply aftershave, but realizes the bottle is empty. Google, add aftershave to my shopping list. In the original, Kevin does something he is never normally allowed to do, jump up and down on his bed.

In the remake, older Kevin does the same thing and makes a note. Hey Google, remind me to clean these sheets later. Okay, I'll remind you. Then hurts his back. Hey, he's older now. In the original, Kevin orders pizza while watching a dramatic black and white gangster movie called Angels with Filthy Souls. He plays the dialogue through the doorbell intercom to mess with the pizza delivery guy.

Keep the change, you filthy animal. In the remake, the Google Nest doorbell rings, and the front door pops up on Kevin's tablet. He asks the delivery guy what he owes him, then replies by playing the classic line from the movie as he streams it. What do I owe you? Looks like you paid online. Keep the change, you filthy Looks like you paid online. Even if they change, you'll still be an animal.

Okay, cool. In the original, Kevin is afraid of the creepy furnace in the basement. In the remake, he asks Google to take care of it. Hey Google, turn down the temperature two degrees. In the movie, as the clock strikes 9 p.m., Kevin is enjoying a mac and cheese dinner as two robbers drive up to his house. In the modern retelling, the clock strikes 9, the robbers pull up, Kevin enjoys his mac and cheese, and says, Hey Google, begin Operation Kevin. Operation Kevin underway.

The Google Nest doorbell locks the door, lights go on, the fireplace roars to life, and two life-size mannequins start moving by the windows, standing on Roomba vacuum cleaners. Which makes the robbers think someone is home. Better get out of here before somebody sees us. It was a very funny and well-done update on the original, and worked perfectly with the campaign theme of Make Google Do It. Viewers noticed an array of Google devices in that 60-second ad.

There was the Google Home Hub, the Google Home Mini, the Pixel smartphone, the Google Hello Nest doorbell, and, of course, Google Assistant's ability to create customized routines. The commercial was the most viewed holiday ad of 2018, racking up 7 million views in the first 24 hours alone and tallied 70 million views total. It was a fun, nostalgic take on Home Alone. And by the way, if you wanted to watch the original Home Alone movie in 2018, it was available at Google Play.

Nostalgia is a powerful selling tool. It sweeps us back to a time in our lives that was more certain, more secure, with less responsibility. And a lot of emotions are tied to those significant memories. Psychologists tell us the brain lights up at the thought of warm memories. Nostalgia counteracts boredom, loneliness, and anxiety. Ads that tickle that nostalgic feeling elicit more engagement. In a recent study, one group was asked to think about pleasant memories, the other group wasn't.

The first group was willing to spend more money for a set of products than the second group. In another study, people who were asked to think about warm, nostalgic memories were willing to give more money to charities. Clearly, well-placed nostalgia can open up wallets. And nostalgia has staying power. I Want to Be Free is 37 years old. Crocodile Dundee is 35. Home Alone is 31. And Wayne's World is 29.

That's the allure for advertisers. If you can tap memories, it's swing time. When you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. Zip, zip, zip. Zip, zip, zip, zip. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound Engineer, Keith Ullman.

Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Research, Allison Pinches. See you next week. Warning. Nostalgia can drain money from wallet. Keep wallet safe at all times, especially if home alone. Offer only valid in Espanol. New year, new me. Season is here and honestly, we're already over it.

Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise. It can be about tackling genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix gets it. They connect you with licensed healthcare practitioners online who'll create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a little extra support. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals.

No pressure to be who you're not, just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Hola, Ontario.