A semiotic analysis of nostalgia as a connection to the past Aure ´lie Kessous and Elyette Roux IAE Business School, Paul Cezanne University, Aix-en-Provence, France Abstract Purpose – Based on Greimas’ contributions in 2002 and on qualitative research, this paper aims to focus on a semiotic analysis of the meaning of nostalgia related to products and brands. Design/methodology/approach – This paper involves a two-stage interview process. Informants were interviewed first in T1 (July-August 2005) about products and brands connected to nostalgic feelings. They were re-interviewed a year after in T2 (June-July 2006). Pictures of products and brands evoked in T1 were shown and informants where asked what came to mind when they where exposed to such material. Based on the transcription of the interviews, a three-step content analysis was performed: a first reading of the corpus made it possible to identify the two dimensions of time that structure the informant’s discourse: “continuity” and “discontinuity”. Then a lexical analysis of the vocabulary associated with nostalgic experience was computed. Finally, a semiotic analysis of the texts was performed. Findings – The two opposing dimensions of a semiotic square, “continuity” versus “discontinuity” provide a structure for understanding the most important features of nostalgia: “long-standing nostalgia” (continuity) and “first-time nostalgia” (discontinuity). This provides a typology of four nostalgic moments: everyday past, uniqueness, tradition and transition which are linked to specific brands and objects. Research limitations/implications – Since this typology is qualitative, it must be confirmed on a larger scale in order to be implemented by managers in the marketing decision-making process. Originality/value – These four distinct moments enable a researcher to propose a typology of brands, products or objects that when considered in association, can provide a better understanding of emotional attachment. Keywords Nostalgia, Brand management, Consumer behaviour Paper type Research paper Introduction More and more companies are using nostalgia to position their products in the marketplace in order to differentiate themselves from competitors – thus creating emotional attachment to brands and influencing preferences for brands by connecting individuals to previous experiences (Holbrook, 1993; Holbrook and Schindler, 1994, 1996, 2003; Fournier, 1994, 1998; Fournier and Yao, 1997; Goulding, 2002; Thomson et al., 2005). Nostalgia is therefore defined as “a preference (general liking, positive attitude, or favourable affect) towards objects (people, places, or things) that were more common (popular, fashionable, or widely circulated) when one was younger (in early adulthood, in adolescence, in childhood, or even before birth” (Holbrook and Schindler, 1991, p. 330). Products, store interiors and architectural design are also used to evoke a “yearning for yesterday” (Reisenwitz et al., 2004). The Coca Cola bottle recreates the 1923 bottle shape; the New Beetle ( VW ) combines romance and modernity ( Naughton and Vlasic, 1998) and communicates nostalgic messages such as “less flower, more The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1352-2752.htm QMRIJ 11,2 192 Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal Vol. 11 No. 2, 2008 pp. 192-212 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1352-2752 DOI 10.1108/13522750810864440