Nostalgia-washing: How brands can look back without getting hung up to dry

First there was greenwashing and rainbow-washing; now there’s nostalgia-washing, which could be simply as detrimental for manufacturers. 

The artwork of seeking to the previous to emotionally have interaction shoppers within the current has been extensively embraced in the previous couple of years, first as a balm for pandemic-related client anxieties after which as a respite from world strife, ecological misery and political division that culminated in November’s presidential election. However as entrepreneurs have continued to depend on the tactic, 2024 has been awash with efforts that nodded to collective reminiscences however didn’t make a significant connection. 

“[Nostalgia] is most attention-grabbing and efficient, clearly, when it is tapping into one thing actual and true concerning the model and its historical past, not simply latching on to a pattern for the sake of it,” stated Eric Tsytsylin, companion of brand name technique at Lippincott. “If it’s essential write an essay explaining the connection to your small business and your model, it is most likely not a superb signal.”

Navigating the cycle

Nostalgia has lengthy been a strong manner for entrepreneurs to forge emotional connections with shoppers. Simply look to the primary season finale of “Mad Males” (itself an train in nostalgia), through which Don Draper reached again to the ache of an previous wound in a pitch for slide projectors. Or how ‘80s throwback “Stranger Issues” kicked off a wave of nostalgic model partnerships.

Final 12 months might have represented a watermark excessive for nostalgia, from the craze round “Barbie” to the success of Grimace’s birthday celebration. Whereas a few of 2024’s finest efforts additionally used nostalgia, the previous 12 months have additionally been flush with boy bands, flip telephones and throwbacks to previous campaigns and taglines. Extra typically, it felt as if too many entrepreneurs had been utilizing the identical temporary, with solely the savviest ones breaking by way of the noise.

A part of the issue is that, in the previous couple of years, nostalgia advertising and marketing burned by way of various totally different a long time as a substitute of specializing in one, like how nostalgia for every little thing associated to the Nineteen Eighties appeared to dominate efforts across the flip of the present decade.  

“We went by way of each single decade in two years, whereas earlier than, it used to take much more time to undergo all of these totally different cycles,” stated Amber Ledrin, senior artistic strategist at Buttermilk. “Now we’re reaching some extent of saturation, and every little thing is occurring on the similar time.” 

A lot of that everything-everywhere-all-at-once sensation is attributable to the altering media panorama, social media and the proliferation of content material. The compression signifies that manufacturers have to be much more tuned into tradition through social listening and aware of avoiding the shiniest object on social media.

“It requires much more intentionality and prioritization, so you are not diluting the model or spreading your self too skinny,” Tsytsylin stated. “I wager in a few months calling one thing ‘demure’ shall be seen as nostalgic.”

As with all cultural advertising and marketing, authenticity is the watchword, particularly when advertising and marketing to Gen Z. To drive true emotional engagement with shoppers, manufacturers should use nostalgia in service of brand name values and storytelling, not simply as ornament, in accordance with Manisha Mehta, senior PR and communications supervisor at digital asset administration agency Bynder.

“Nostalgia works finest when it’s data-driven and insight-led. Client sentiment evaluation, for instance, can present wealthy insights into which eras or particular cultural references resonate most with goal segments, permitting manufacturers to personalise nostalgia in a manner that feels related and significant,” Mehta stated in emailed feedback. “In the end, manufacturers that method nostalgia as a layer inside an built-in storytelling technique, slightly than as the whole message, reinforce their model story in a manner that feels recent, relatable and purpose-driven.”

In 2024, entrepreneurs together with Heineken, Frito-Lay and USCellular ran campaigns centered round featureless flip telephones — or “dumb telephones” — that supplied not simply nostalgia for previous know-how however for a sense of what these telephones stated concerning the state of human connection on the time.

“Nostalgia is likely to be the artistic manner in, however it’s really tapping right into a societal and a product fact … round unhappiness, loneliness and melancholy and being obsessed and addicted with our gadgets,” Tsytsylin stated of the dumb telephone campaigns. “There’s this attention-grabbing overlap of constructive, optimistic nostalgia with addressing actual issues and problems with at the moment.”

Taking part in inside baseball

Promoting nostalgia in 2024 wasn’t restricted to tradition touchstones of the previous: Many manufacturers appeared again to their very own campaigns and taglines for inspiration, as effectively. Sprite and Gatorade refreshed “Obey Your Thirst” and “Is It In You?,” respectively, updating iconic campaigns with trendy ambassadors. Brisk introduced again claymation adverts, Doritos will as soon as once more crash the Tremendous Bowl and McDonald’s — no stranger to model nostalgia — nodded to previous tie-ins.

“Generally these issues are a bit little bit of inside baseball, however when there are a number of layers of that means and authenticity, they are often actually highly effective,” Tsytsylin stated.

Exhibit A in model nostalgia was Beyoncé’s latest marketing campaign with Levi’s that launched with a remodeling of celebrated 1985 advert “Launderette.” The attire firm’s collaboration with the worldwide star appeared destined ever since she included a tune, “Levii’s Denims,” on her nation music-inspired album “Cowboy Carter” that debuted in March. However specialists had been blended on their evaluation of using nostalgia within the marketing campaign.

“The latest Levi’s ‘Launderette’ marketing campaign with Beyoncé was an amazing instance of a model leaning into their advertising and marketing archives and connecting nostalgia with each a product fact and a cultural second,” stated Tanner Graham, CEO of company Common Concept. “With the latest traits round cowboy and country-western tradition, it was a good time to attach all of these dots.”

The dots had been much less clear for advert professionals — and possibly shoppers — who aren’t sufficiently old to recollect seeing the unique advert, which featured a male mannequin stripping to his underwear whereas ready for his denims to scrub.

“After I first noticed the Beyoncé collab with Levi’s, I used to be like, ‘Oh, that is nice, as a result of ‘Cowboy Carter,’” stated Buttermilk’s Ledrin. “By no means as soon as in my head did I take into consideration that advert that I’ve most likely by no means seen earlier than, so I do not suppose they nailed that nostalgia angle for different individuals than themselves.”

The advert was probably extra resonant with those who remembered the advert, like Geoff Edwards, managing director for artistic at Gale and the 2024 President of Cannes Lions Leisure Jury, who began working at businesses within the early Nineties. However nostalgia is within the eye of the beholder.

“Relying on the target market, is it extra for me to have a remix second, or is it for a Gen Zer to see it and go, ‘Oh, I find it irresistible,’ after which have the extension of that have?,” Edwards stated.

Using the wave with out getting crushed

Successfully using nostalgia requires an genuine model connection and is finest when it doesn’t appear as if manufacturers are chasing advertising and marketing traits. Such me-too advertising and marketing was evident within the obsession with boy bands that kicked off final 12 months and continued into 2024 as manufacturers together with Coke, Dunkin’ and Bumble Bee reunited members of and reworked songs by teams from the ‘90s and 2000s.

“Strategically, manufacturers can keep away from the ‘nostalgia wave’ by specializing in their distinctive model voice and worth proposition. An insights-led method utilizing predictive analytics may help forecast rising nostalgia traits, permitting manufacturers to remain forward of rivals whereas sustaining relevance,” stated Bynder’s Mehta in emailed feedback.

Even amid waves of nostalgia, manufacturers have alternatives to distinguish by being hyper-specific across the cultural moments they’re revitalizing for brand new audiences. For instance, as a substitute of specializing in the Nineteen Eighties normally, manufacturers can goal the subculture of arcade gaming from that decade, as was the case with Chili’s best-in-class BurgerTime marketing campaign.

“Quite than broadly referencing a decade, manufacturers ought to take into account extra area of interest, culturally wealthy parts which have significance for his or her viewers,” Mehta stated. “This stage of specificity helps construct model affinity and positions the model as an genuine voice throughout the nostalgia house.”

As with all advertising and marketing tactic, manufacturers should use data-driven insights and be sincere with themselves about their model values and identification as they key in on authenticity, the intersections between viewers and cultural moments, and what really issues to clients.

“It is likely to be robust to seek out alignment, and it’s, and I feel it needs to be,” stated Lippincott’s Tsytsylin. “I feel it needs to be actually intentional and rare, however I feel when you may hit all these intersection factors is when nostalgia could be actually highly effective.”