In the age of ubiquitous content creation, keeping up can be overwhelming. New release after new release feels lost in a supermassive, ever-expanding galaxy of content. All the while, our old favorites hang by. Remakes and sequels, remixes and mashups, reissues of classic albums; we live in a culture crazy for a revival of the past, slick with retromania.
Nostalgia drives decisions. Media is a good example. 70% of music consumed is “catalog music,” or at least 18 months old. And the top five movies this year were either sequels to movies more than 20 years old or part of a series that started more than 10 years ago.
This retro mindset reaches for our clothing too. Despite the rise of fast-fashion juggernauts like Shein—the thrifting market is expected to grow 16 times faster than the broader clothing market in the next four years (Morning Brew). Led mainly by Gen Z and Millennials, one-quarter of all online shoppers now buy secondhand. “Reloved” is the new “reused,” and “upcycled” is the new “recycled.”
Our new clothes also borrow from trends of the past. The Y2K—shorthand for the year 2000—movement taking Gen Z’s style by storm now has more than 11.6B views (and counting) on TikTok
So, as new things are created at exponential rates, we keep mining for old gold in our media and clothing. Retro recycling should be applied to our advertising too.
What’s old can be made new
When I say retro recycling, I’m not talking about unimaginative copying and pasting (or a healthy dose of ChatGPT). I mean reimagined worlds with inspiration from the past that infuses new into the old and familiar.
Yesteryear-inspired footage and animation, color schemes or music influences can all be ways into this nostalgic power. Take Progressive’s newest “TV Dad” campaign, a spoof of cheesy 80s sitcoms that delves into the heartwarming family dad archetype with none other than Family Matters’ patriarch Reginald VelJohnson.
Burger King’s landmark “You Rule” repositioning. It’s a groovy, modernized evolution of their iconic 70s jingle “Have It Your Way.”
Other great examples include Pringle’s “Pringlesonic” revival of old 8-bit gaming technology. Or even Duracell’s “Memories,” which cuts together real families’ outdated, grainy home videos of Christmas morning to unfold shared moments we treasure as tradition.
The nostalgic, happy place
Throughout all, one thing’s clear: nostalgia inspires connection. It flickers happy trips down memory lane and sentimental feelings, allowing us to build relationships at much faster and deeper rates (HBR,2021). The Washington Post details how rather than keeping us living in the past, the power of nostalgia positively propels us into the future with cheery reminiscence, feeling physically and emotionally warmer (2022).
Tapping into this psychological trigger can be a shortcut for brands to unlock emotion and forge community love.
Nostalgia affects the individual and conjures a collective, generationally shared experience that brings us together. When done right, when we successfully harness the past, brands can bypass ad-weary consumers with nostalgic warmth and recollection.
It’s perfectly ok to look backward for forward-thinking innovation. While everything accelerates and new content continues to pile up, it’s time we opened our dusty attic boxes and resurfaced guilty pleasures from decades prior.
Film director Jim Jarmusch may have put it best: “Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery— celebrate it if you feel like it.”
By Kiersten Hazard who is a Senior Brand Strategist at San-Francisco-based Barrett. Fascinated by the power of connection, she explores the constellation of human experience to uncover what forces bring us together – today, surveying nostalgia.
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