Being able to tap into someone’s nostalgic memories has been a core strategy in marketing for decades.
In the marketing world, nostalgia sells because people remember the good old days and tend to forget, or reimagine, the tough times.
From re-emerging fashion trends to pop culture throwbacks, nostalgic references are everywhere.
Childhood toys, clothing, haircuts, food, music, movies, gadgets, cars… these cultural touchpoints usually have a layer of nostalgia woven in.
The thing is, most consumers and audiences don’t realise the power of nostalgia. They like throwbacks to a past life or a previous era, while enjoying the modern twist that naturally comes with buying a new product. They don’t think too hard about nostalgia but like that it’s there.
Brands, meanwhile, understand nostalgia marketing all too well. That’s why they so often try to attach their existing products and services to something from the past.
This guide will show you how to subtly evoke nostalgia to engage with modern-day consumers. We’ll look at some standard nostalgia marketing tactics and look ahead to what new audiences will expect in the future.
Understanding nostalgia marketing
Before we look at deploying nostalgia marketing, it's worth us detailing what we're talking about here. Nostalgia marketing is a particular marketing strategy that leverages feelings of nostalgia to promote products or services.
It can bleed into pretty much all marketing strategies – but marketers need to decide how much they lean on nostalgia.
The idea is to tap into people’s fond memories and emotional connections to the past, to create positive associations with a brand or product.
Brands can choose to be overt or subtle here. For example, a soccer team might launch a new jersey that harks back to a successful season 30 years ago. A car manufacturer might bring back an iconic 1970s color for a new line of cars. Or a toy brand might move to re-release an updated version of a classic product that'll appeal to audiences old and new.
Nostalgia marketing can be employed in a variety of ways but the idea is to play on people's positive memories.
Identifying your target audience
Now we know how nostalgia marketing works, let’s look at ways to actually deliver a nostalgic marketing campaign.
To start, you need to understand your target audiences. Collective memory is real and you can discover this when you research your audience. You need to understand what motivates audiences and what key themes or points in time they remember fondly.
The best way to do this is to deploy primary and secondary research methods, to gather data on your audience. You might distribute surveys or hold focus groups to hear what your audience thinks. Or you could analyze social media conversations from different generational groups in order to pick out specific sentimental memories.
It might be that your audience fondly remembers a music genre from two decades ago. Or they might all have similar memories from an item at a much-loved restaurant that's no longer available.
Whatever it is, make sure you collect data and group trends from your audience. It could be something as simple as people sharing images containing a particular color that was popular in the 1980s.
From there, you can begin to build a campaign strategy that factors in your audience’s nostalgia.
Crafting a nostalgia marketing strategy
So, what does this campaign strategy actually look like? Well, it depends what you’re trying to sell. If you’re tasked with marketing a new product or service, then you might want to use nostalgia to make a connection between the old and new, leveraging the nostalgic feeling to create a bond with consumers.
For example, a music label might offer hints in its branding of a band’s new album that harks back to its successful debut release three decades ago.
If you plan to relaunch a product then you’ll need to harness the good nostalgic feelings of said product, while distinguishing it as a fresh, new thing. Adidas launched its David Beckham-inspired Predator soccer boot in 2024, to mark 30 years since the boot was originally released. It carried plenty of old nostalgic feelings while maintaining modern references, making it the perfect product for targeting to those who remember the original and recognize the performance record.
Retro branding, packaging, and advertising helps with nostalgia because it offers a trip down memory lane. However, your strategy needs to include modern aspects, such as quality and durability. If you simply relaunch the same product from the 1970s it likely won't resonate today.
Nostalgia marketing tactics
Your strategy needs to include reliable methods of tapping into people's nostalgia. It's not enough to relaunch a product with old packaging and expect customers to buy it in droves. Here are four ways to trigger fond memories of nostalgic products while also providing a modern edge.
1. Use packaging wisely
Your product doesn't need to be identical to a previous one. For example, Hot Wheels cars aren't made the same as they once were, but the packaging harks back to past generations. If you have a new product then small touches of nostalgia can really work well.
2. Partner with nostalgic brands
New companies that don't have a lengthy legacy can still tap into nostalgia. By partnering with other brands, it's possible to align your campaign with their nostalgia-focused audience. This takes a little bit of work to master but nostalgic brand partnerships can be really successful. Think Levi Strauss & Co (founded in 1853)'s popular partnership with Crocs (founded in 2002).
3. Use nostalgic storytelling
Nostalgic ads are all about storytelling. The Barbie movie is a prime example of how nostalgic storytelling can revitalize a brand and connect with both older and younger audiences. If you create a narrative around a product, event, or era, then you can appeal to an audience’s shared memories. These emotional connections are really powerful and are likely to boost brand loyalty. However, you need to be careful here. If you go too far then audiences will notice you’re trying to tug on their emotional heartstrings and push back.
4. Create limited-edition products or experiences
This is something you'll see all the time but might not realize it. Relaunching products or setting a limited edition line is a great way to evoke nostalgia. It creates a sense of urgency. Fast food restaurants, for example, will relaunch food items with a "limited time only" message on their advertising. Consumers not only remember the enjoyment of eating that product but are reminded of the short timeframe they have to enjoy it again. This can lead to a tasty sales boost. Our digital marketing trends report
Best practices for nostalgia marketing
If you want to keep on top of nostalgia marketing then it's important you adhere to best practices and don't stray away from them. Audiences notice if you're not being authentic, or if you're trying too hard to pull on their fond memories.
Here are some ways you can play on a brand's heritage while still being forward thinking and innovative.
Know your target audience
We’ve already mentioned this but it’s really important you’re aware of your target audiences. You need to predict how they will react when you bring nostalgic references into your product, service, or overall brand identity and what will truly resonate with them. Failure to align with your target audience’s preferences could actually harm your brand if you're seen as trying to exploit a cherished collective memory.
Create comfort
Familiarity usually generates a sense of comfort but brands need to ensure it's not forced. A few light touches on a new product that hark back to a much-loved old one might be enough. This could look like including familiar stripes on the hood of a new car or your logo in a familiar place on a new sunglasses design.
Be authentic
We'll look at authenticity a little closer in the next section of this guide, but it's fair to say this is a crucial element of nostalgia marketing. Audiences can easily spot when you're trying to force past emotions onto them. Sometimes they're willing to embrace that feeling, sometimes they rebel.
Use multiple channels
There's no value in reserving all your marketing material for one media channel. Different platforms give you a chance to play with different nostalgic elements. For example, you could launch a new product with a nostalgic twist on Facebook and focus on the similarities between old and new. On TikTok, you could champion the forward-thinking aspects of your product and lightly touch on the nostalgia.
Target multiple generations
Nostalgia isn't about appealing solely to older people. Creating cross generational appeal in your products means you capture the imagination of older generations, while sparking intrigue in younger ones. Kids and teenagers want to know what was cool "back in the day" and are willing to try things out. The recent rise in 1990s fashion shows how nostalgia can span more than one age demographic. Meanwhile, nostalgic elements can help older generations introduce products to younger ones and an opportunity for connection is always a positive thing.
Authenticity and purpose in nostalgia marketing
Perhaps the biggest issue with nostalgia marketing is the reputation risk if you get it wrong. It's not enough to throw retro vignettes on your Instagram images and hope people somehow think back to a much-loved era.
Nostalgia marketing needs to be authentic. If you have genuinely relaunched a much-loved former product, or have brought aspects of that product into a brand relaunch, then audiences will accept it.
However, if the nostalgia feels forced or cheap then you'll face a backlash.
Creating authenticity requires a good level of detailed planning. These days, one of the best ways to do this is to attach importance to that nostalgia. For example, a charity might hark back to a successful campaign that resulted in thousands of people receiving help. A tech company might draw references to an innovative breakthrough that catapulted the brand into the collective consciousness.
If you can show that your old activities made a positive impact, then people will welcome a return of sorts.
Measuring the success of nostalgia marketing
Knowing how effective nostalgia is for your overall marketing strategy depends on how well you track the data. Assess your campaign led by nostalgia with modern tech to understand if the messaging is cutting through.
You can do this in a few ways. The first is to track the engagement of your marketing activity across traditional and digital media sources. Use a monitoring tool like Brandwatch Consumer Research to keep an eye on product mentions, positive and negative sentiment, and social media conversations about your brand. Are audiences warming to the nostalgic references that are woven into your marketing or products?
You should also, of course, monitor direct sales and understand the sales funnel. Is your product or service proving popular and how are people making their purchase? Are they clicking on your marketing material to navigate through to your web shop? Or are they buying your products via influencers or other customer recommendations?
Collect all this data to determine if the power of nostalgia has worked for you.
The future of nostalgia marketing
Before we wrap up this guide, it's worth talking about the future of nostalgia. Paradoxically, technology means that audiences are increasingly able to hark back to past events, brands, products, movements, and everything else. The internet is now old enough to have its own nostalgic references. Who remembers the dial-up tone, MySpace, and MSN Messenger?
There is now so much nostalgic information out there that brands are finding it easier and easier to come up with innovative references to the past. The use of market research tools, especially those leveraging artificial intelligence, means you can quickly align your marketing to what a particular audience cares about.
However, thisis happening at a time when brand reputations are made and destroyed online. Audiences can be flighty and shift affiliations and loyalties to brands if they don't align with high expectations.
You could say that marketers more data and insight (great) alongside a more sceptical audience (not so great). It's easier to find nostalgia but harder to appeal to people.
Brands therefore need to be smart about how they use nostalgia in their campaigns, because the consequences of a bad campaign can be catastrophic. There's a lot of information out there to draw from and audiences love nostalgia when it's done right. Small touches that hark back to collective memories are a great place to start.
