By Jenn Szekely, President at Coley Porter Bell
“Ah, the good old days” or “Remember when…” are phrases that reflect people’s pleasure in looking back, often to the nostalgia of their childhoods. A combination of bittersweet feelings with thoughts of happier, simpler times where memories of our favorite holidays, movies and childhood toys come flooding back – recollections of watching E.T. at the movie theater or the rite of passage of getting your first phone. And in a climate filled with change, the warm, comforting feeling invoked by reminders of one’s youth is more than welcome.
Brands are more than aware of consumers’ eagerness to reconnect with their fond memories and are increasingly leaning into trends around nostalgia. Last year, Heineken and Bodega embraced the dumb phone trend by launching ‘The Boring Phone’ which resembled the Nokia 2660 for those obsessed with Y2K to discourage young people from being glued to their smartphones. With a similar goal to tackle smartphone addiction, Barbie launched its hot pink flip phone, complete with phone cases from its vintage designs. While the flip phone isn’t going to replace our smartphone, the likes of Heineken and Barbie are succeeding in bringing much-needed moments of joy and nostalgia which create a positive connection with their customers.
This is how brands should approach nostalgia – by providing a form of escapism to bring their customers moments of happiness to both build and reinforce positive, emotional connections.
The power of nostalgia
Nostalgia has the power to unite generations, bringing key cultural moments from decades ago for its original intended audience into the modern day for younger generations to also enjoy. There are the generations in between too – those who have picked up on trends years later or moments that have stood the test of time, such as the Furby or film franchises like Star Wars.
Anemoia – the feeling of nostalgia for a time you never experienced – means when brands tap into nostalgia it is not restricted to actual remembered experiences (and therefore limited to specific aged audiences), but can play more broadly on the romance of periods already lived. For example, while the Fillmore East closed before I was born, my mother’s love for her youth spent there lives strong within me and if the brand/venue resurrected, I probably would be one of the first to buy tickets for its opening show. The same goes in reverse, I watch my kids playing “Dress to Impress” on Roblox with their friends and they flock towards the fashions of the 90’s and talk about it with such fondness, even though they are under the age of ten.
Nostalgia encapsulates many meanings, such as sentimentality, joy and yearning – all of which create positive emotions. These emotions can be powerful elements in building a connection between brands and their customers. An emotional connection to a brand holds significant power, it has the potential to turn a one-time customer into a lifelong fan.
The fact many brands are leaning into nostalgia now is no coincidence; enough time has passed for the children who experienced life 20+ years ago to become adults, holding those memories but now also with disposable income and purchasing power to meaningfully activate them.
The trend factor of nostalgia
As with any trend, it is only valuable to a brand if it aligns with the brand’s identity. Otherwise, it risks alienating its audience and wasting time. Barbie is a perfect example of this. In anticipation of the film, Forever 21 and Boohoo launched their own ranges of Barbie-themed clothes, Airbnb hosted a Malibu Dreamhouse and Xbox even teamed up with Mattel to create exclusive in-game content. Each brand is entirely different in their offering and identity, yet their collaborations with Barbie were a perfect fit. Films are a popular nostalgia vehicle with films associated with our younger years regularly making a comeback. We currently have the upcoming Snow White film and a Freaky Friday sequel, both of which will be released this year, giving more brands collaborative opportunities to remind us why these are familiar favorites.
The Barbie movie created a global platform for partnerships that leveraged the nostalgia evoked by the brand, but there is also the opportunity to use nostalgia to explore a brand’s story and heritage to bring its past into the modern day. Old Navy, for example, recently launched a limited-edition “94 Reissue Collection” featuring items from its 1994 founding collection. This is a move designed to build loyalty with existing customers, especially those who have grown up with Old Navy, while attracting new customers who are fans of vintage clothing.
Making nostalgia part of a brand
With many brands approaching nostalgia as a short-term trend, they need to consider how to create long-term success. Beyond trends, some brands have built their identity around the feelings associated with nostalgia with a long-term focus. In 2021, Burger King introduced a new logo which is a fresh take on its old logo used between 1969 and 1999. This nod to its heritage encapsulated the whole brand, with redesigned stores, employee uniforms and packaging. The result was a rebrand that is already widely recognized and takes customers back to their past. But the key to the brand was simple. Burger King perfectly balanced aspects of nostalgia and its heritage while understanding how to modernize to fix its relevancy for today’s customers.
Nostalgia isn’t necessarily true and accurate. People invariably take a rose-tinted backward glance at their lives. Life in the 70s was undoubtedly worse for most people when compared with the standard of living and opportunities expected by people who grew up decades later. But that doesn’t stop Star Wars from being a potent pull for many people. Because nostalgia is about emotions, not specifics. By identifying the core memories that their customers want to ignite, and by bringing them into the modern age with a fresh and relevant take, brands can evoke the positive emotions that come flooding back when reminiscing about simpler and fondly remembered times from our childhood.
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