On Nostalgia Marketing

For many years, brands and marketers have used marketing tactics to pull their target audiences by the heartstrings by creating sappy and sentimental pieces of advertisement and product re-introductions. What better way to evoke strong emotions than letting them reminisce about the simple and stress-free life they experienced before through nostalgic interpretations?

This marketing strategy is called Nostalgia Marketing.

Nostalgia is a tremendously powerful sentiment – a wistful affection for the past. It triggers memories and emotions of longing for a period or place with an audience – resulting in happy personal associations. When used properly, nostalgia also serves as a trigger for and driver of behaviors. That’s one of the reasons why you see so many campaigns focused on refreshing successful legacy brands that at one time held customers’ attention and loyalty. Some marketers refer to this trend as “Retro Marketing” or “Nostalgia Marketing”, which as the name implies, is about using nostalgic and positive memories from decades ago to make a modern product more attractive and to trigger customer purchase intent.

“Aligning marketing strategies with emotion has already proven to be successful, but tapping into fond memories can be an invaluable tactic.” – Lauren Friedman

Smart marketers are capitalizing on this trend and generating terrific results. Whether it’s a replica of a legacy product, or a new product adopting a retro style, nostalgia is proving to be a high impact tactic for breaking through the clutter, authentically engaging customers – giving them a reason to care, a reason to buy and a reason to stay.

OREO is an example of a brand that taps into nostalgia on a regular basis to engage their target audience and activate purchase intent. To celebrate the return of OREO Cakesters, the brand decided to "rewind” to the mid-2000s with a playful takeover of the last existing Blockbuster store, located in Bend, Oregon.

OREO Cakester snacks first launched in 2007, inspiring the nostalgic activation that included a co-branded exterior marquee, Cakesters-themed movie posters that spoofed popular genres and free samples that were presented in retro VHS-inspired packaging. The product was discontinued in 2012, but the ongoing passion of devoted fans motivated parent-company Nabisco to bring the snacks back, returning to shelves after a 10-year hiatus.

“Nostalgia is all about connecting with positive memories from the past. It creates a comforting feeling for consumers and has proved to be an effective marketing strategy, especially when targeting millennials and Gen Z - who are just now reflecting on their adolescence. With this takeover, we playfully tapped into the familiar feeling of heading to your local Blockbuster on a Friday to pick up the latest VHS or DVD, and took the nostalgia up a notch by surprising storegoers with the addition of a cult favorite snack: OREO Cakesters.”

-Justin Parnell, VP of Marketing for OREO

What makes Nostalgia Marketing so effective?

Here are 5 key reasons to consider:

1. Nostalgia stirs powerful emotions - People remember by association. While remembering the past is a personal experience, cultural symbols can trigger a mutual feeling in a niche population. It can be as simple as old logos, music, or even an overall look of a commercial to give audiences an overall sentimental impression of the brand.

2. Psychological benefits of nostalgia - During the pandemic, people turned to nostalgia for comfort in the ongoing uncertainty. People streamed their favorite old shows and music and resurfaced old games and fashion inspirations from previous decades. Under stress, people seek out nostalgia, even if they do not consciously realize it, as a stabilizing force and a way to keep in mind that which they cherish most.

3. Nostalgia helps people of all ages deal with their life transitions - Nostalgia is not limited to those who are older. Even younger generations can feel nostalgic with a term they call anemonia or fauxtalgia, which means feeling a sense of nostalgia for things that were never lived. This explains why younger generations are fond of the 60s music with influences of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and other musical artists of the swinging sixties.

4. Calls to mind shared experiences - Relatability never fails to deliver positive stories. People are instinctively drawn to references that are familiar to them. One of the best examples is the millennial meme and slogan, “Only ‘90s kids will understand.” These memes are a hit for a reason because it contains sets of elements that hit the childhood memories of a millennial audience.

5. Nostalgia marketing comes across as authentic - Unlike other marketing tactics, nostalgia marketing campaigns communicate authenticity - an attribute that is highly valued by Gen Y and Z. Social media created a culture of authentic self-expression and identity-making. A 2021 study showed that social media plays a pivotal role in nostalgia marketing by creating identities and “brandings” from nostalgic brands. Media channels like Instagram and Tiktok allow consumers to become a part of the brand community, from passive audiences to active contributors, as they share content, experiences, and common memories.

How can you create a brand that will build strong emotional bonds that will last for generations?

Start by crafting a simple and clear brand story that answers these two questions:

1. Why should a customer care?

2. Why should they listen to your story?

Wrestling these questions to the ground from the customer point of view requires you to go to a deeper and more emotive level of engagement with your customers by distilling down the “why you do what you do” as a brand into a “why” that captures the customer’s imagination. Most marketers focus on the “What” — the product, its features, and benefits — while the customers want to know “Why” your product is so different than all the other options available.

By crafting a simple and clear Story, developing an integrated go-to-market Strategy, and aligning your Systems to execute your Strategy with ruthless consistency, your brand has the potential to endure through generations. Learn more about how to bring simplicity, clarity, and alignment to your brand’s Story, Strategy, and Systems by downloading our eBook: Transformational Marketing.