Nostalgia Marketing: Tapping Into Emotion for Brand Connection

What is nostalgia marketing?

Anything that taps into your memory, puts you in contact with your previous experiences, and appeals to those warm, fuzzy emotions can be called nostalgia marketing. All it takes is to transport you to the times you remember fondly using familiar ideas, good old music, and well-known symbols. Сompanies love using nostalgia marketing because it builds a strong emotional bond with any brand. 

In a nutshell, nostalgia marketing creates an emotionally charged social connectedness with the target audience by tapping into shared cultural experiences and memories. That way brands can foster a sense of comfort and familiarity that encourages customer loyalty and engagement. It can also mean increased reach, email click-through rates, conversions, and any other metrics you might want to improve. 

For example, the relaunch of Furby, the reboot of Mean Girls, or Coca-Cola’s re-release of Coke using its classic contour-shaped bottle design. Or think of the Motorola Razr. Before smartphones were everywhere, small and simple, it was one of the most popular phones on the market. Now, over 20 years later, the company has relaunched the iconic phone with an updated touchscreen: They wanted to create a modern product for those who remembered that original design.

Nostalgia marketing research and statistics

As one of the best email marketing blogs, we can’t neglect statistics. Research proves that nostalgia marketing is not simply about making someone feel good and has complex origins and effects. 

One study from 2023 shows that 37% of Gen Z consumers feel nostalgic for the 1990s, even though many were not even born at the time and didn’t get to experience it. This suggests that nostalgia extends beyond personal experiences and can be induced by cultural references alone. The same study also found that many Gen Z respondents view the 90s as a carefree time. So it’s an appealing timeframe to allude to in marketing campaigns, particularly during periods of any type of stress (and isn’t that what we are living through now?).

Moreover, a CivicScience study from May 2023 shows that over half of U.S. adults are likely to make a purchase when the product makes them feel nostalgic for the past. 

Another good old study published in the Journal of Consumer Research in 2014 found that nostalgia can make consumers pay more for products and think less about money.

These data points prove the potential for nostalgia marketing to drive sales and engagement of various audiences.

Elements of nostalgia marketing

Nostalgia marketing is about finding the sweet spot between the past and the present and appealing to feelings that transform everyday goods into cherished treasures. The right elements and tools will help brands call upon fond memories and build strong emotional connections with their target market. Let us look at some of the examples of such tools in email marketing (and beyond). 

Vintage design and retro trends

Vintage design is one of the up-and-coming email marketing trends. Along with retro branding, it brings a new life into old styles. It creates something fresh, yet something that feels both familiar and modern. 

Take the RTRO app’s campaign introducing VHS looks, for example. The graphical elements — all that pixelated text — scream 1980s. This nostalgic touch appeals to those who grew up with VHS tapes and 8-bit computer games. It’s a great way to contact customers who are longing for the past while making a product that is desirable and useful.

Iconic collaborations

One of the most common and simple tools in a nostalgic marketer’s toolbox is collaborations. In the process, both a brand and a nostalgic media can increase the campaign’s reach far beyond isolated overlapping audiences to everyone who feels nostalgic for a specific time. 

Here’s one example, the co-promo between Puma and Cartoon Network’s “Dexter’s Laboratory,” a brilliant fusion of sports and 90s cartoon nostalgia. This email newsletter promotes the product that appeared as a result of this collab: MB.03 x Dexter’s Laboratory sneaker.

Reviving classic products

Another approach to calling for nostalgia is bringing back old-school products. One great case of how it works is the relaunch of classic IKEA’s Nytillverkad collection. This limited edition line cherry-picks design classics from the 1950s-1980s and gives them a makeover that would make any Instagram influencer jealous. Brilliant! And one way to remind everyone that IKEA has been out there making furniture longer than the majority of its customers lived. 

Cultural references

By using socially shared cultural references, brands can offer a tangible connection to some of the most loved movies, songs, events,… This is wonderfully demonstrated in this epic email campaign by Living Proof. It invites customers to “Channel your inner Mia Thermopolis,” so that millennials (the majority of the brand’s audience) can be transported back to 2001 when Anne Hathaway’s character survived her makeover in an iconic movie “The Princess Diaries.” Not only this campaign can lead to an extreme level of nostalgia in the readers, but it also is highly relevant to what the brand does and what its clients expect from it. Well played. 

Storytelling

Effective nostalgia marketing relies heavily on storytelling. One great example is Haand’s email newsletter promoting the “nostalgic gift” idea to strengthen an emotional connection with their customers and hopefully make some sales too. Their Diner Mugs and Nesting Bowls aren’t just kitchenware, they paint a vivid picture of road trips and late-night social events, dinners, visits, trying to link to those cherished memories of family vacations. So you are not just buying a pretty terracotta-colored bowl but rather connecting with your precious memories through a porcelain portal.

Recreating past advertisements

Recreating iconic ad campaigns is another popular tool of nostalgia marketing, particularly for brands with a rich history, deep pockets, and relaxed KPIs. 

One example is Cadbury’s 200th anniversary campaign when the company rolled out a limited edition of Dairy Milk bars featuring packaging designs from as far back as 1915. They also refilmed their classic “Generations of Generosity” TV ad. With 4.2 million YouTube views at the moment of writing this article, it seems to be working pretty well for Cadbury.

Brands that use nostalgia marketing

Nostalgia marketing is a clever approach for businesses to engage their target audience. By drawing on happy memories from the past, many businesses were able to increase revenue and build strong emotional relationships with customers.

Like that old sweater you discover at the back of your wardrobe, nostalgia marketing is familiar and surprisingly getting more and more popular amongst the most successful brands in the world. Let’s look at some examples. 

Coca-Cola

With its holiday commercials in particular, Coca-Cola is a master of nostalgia. Nowadays, Christmas’s cultural fabric is woven with the famous trucks from their “Holidays are Coming” campaigns. Since 1995, the trucks have been running and have created strong nostalgic feelings as well as reinforced the drink’s holiday classic reputation. 

Another example of the brand’s “nostalgia mastery” is a campaign called “The Letter.” With a touching narrative of a brave father overcoming challenges to deliver a letter to Santa, the brand also appeals to the fondest of all emotions. 

Nintendo

Nintendo profited on nostalgia by rereleasing mini versions of its NES and SNES consoles, loaded with old-school games from the ’80s and ’90s. These consoles sold out like hotcakes and have become collectibles, truly proving the special emotional connection people have with retro video games. It’s important to mention that this approach also attracted more buyers to their new products like the Nintendo Switch.

Adidas

Adidas celebrated the 45th anniversary of tennis legend Billie Jean King’s historic win with a limited edition shoe line. Fans could even get their shoes customized with blue paint at the U.S. Open to mimic King’s iconic look. As a result of all the marketing efforts the retro sneakers sales were “very strong and growing.” Retro styles like the limited Adidas Samba got increasingly popular, with searches up 1,325% year-over-year on Depop, thanks in part to their effective use of nostalgia.

Microsoft

As demonstrated in their “Internet Explorer: Child of the 90s” ad, Microsoft enjoys a good throwback. Reminiscing about cherished ’90s products like Tamagotchi and Lisa Frank’s designs helped them reintroduce the Internet Explorer browser (and in the process, people actually forgot why they hated it in the first place). 

Apple

Being disrespectful to nostalgia might even get you in trouble. Apple, a company known for its creative marketing, just came under fire for an ad that many felt diminished the value of nostalgia and the response on social media across all the channels was rought. 

Designed to highlight the new iPad Pro, the commercial featured the thoughtless destruction of hundreds of creative tools and cherished products, leaving just the iPad. Many viewers criticized the authors for supposed detrimental effects on creatives and poor timing (every day we hear that AI will take over our jobs any time soon). Apple apologized and admitted their creative efforts fell short of expectations on this one.

Why does nostalgia marketing work?

Nostalgia marketing is a mind game of advertising, and guess what? It’s winning. Consumers often make buy-now decisions based on emotion. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2022 found that emotional marketing helps brands evoke a sense of nostalgia and gain higher customer loyalty. Why? Because we love those positive memories and we want to relive them again and again. With nostalgia you can trigger good feelings and associate it with a brand or product, making the purchasing choice easier. 

And it goes beyond giving you the warm fuzzies. Nostalgia also provides a sense of continuity. According to consumer neuroscientist, Matt Johnson, PhD, looking back helps us reduce stress, even when life is so hectic. 

Nostalgia can also be a great way to deal with anxiety and change. As per psychology professor Krystine Batcho, nostalgia ultimately reminds us of times when we were loved unconditionally. And this feeling is deeply comforting in times of stress. Brands use it to create special emotional connections with their customers by bringing back memories that evoke a positive sense of belonging.

In practical terms, nostalgia marketing is effective, it’s emotional, and it works.

Final thoughts

TLDR: By tapping into lovely memories from the past, brands can stand out and build better relationships with their customers. 

But before you start throwing sepia-toned filters on everything, here are some practical tips to make your nostalgia marketing efforts worth it:

1. Know your audience’s soft spots. Understand the demographics and shared experiences of your target audience to identify which nostalgic elements will resonate with them most. Was it the music, the fashion, or the way they felt during a particular era? 
2. Use nostalgic elements strategically. To appeal to the right emotions go for vintage design, retro branding, classic product revivals, cultural references in your advertising and marketing. All those elements foster the right emotions and make your customers feel comforted. But use it mindfully. 
3. Be authentic. Your nostalgic campaigns have to be in line with your brand values and messaging. Otherwise you might come across as insincere or opportunistic.
4. Measure, tweak, repeat. As with any marketing campaign, it’s important to keep an eye on your metrics. See what’s working and what’s not, and make changes and improvements accordingly. Even nostalgia can benefit from modern-day optimization.