Nostalgic Branding

03 March 23

Have you ever looked into a picture, video, or building, then a glimpse of memories passed into your mind? That is called nostalgia, the sentimental longing surrounding us when we recall memories from any specific period in the past. Mixed with marketing strategies, nostalgic feelings may become a powerful and impactful approach to provoke customers' emotions.

Nostalgic branding is a marketing strategy of associating brands with products that consumers already adore and have fond memories of through modern campaigns. Since the pandemic has burnt people out with challenging life transitions and stressful situations, they are looking for classic television series, movies, and music from their youth to find comfort. As outdated as it may seem to bring back the classic culture in the ultramodern day, nostalgia may have more pulling power in the marketing sphere.

Brands have been using this nostalgic branding in various ways. Brands can rule the market with their unique nostalgia marketing campaign. For example, to celebrate the “brand-versaries”. Indomie, the famous Indonesian instant noodle brand, released the Indomie Vintage edition in honor of its 45th anniversary. The package was successfully sold out in just two hours a day during the PRJ (Pekan Raya Jakarta) or Jakarta Fair 2017 due to its rarity and uniqueness.

In addition, Netflix released its 80s-themed original series entitled Stranger Things in 2016. The series poured on nostalgia with hair and apparel from that era featuring new and exciting storytelling that hooked the attention of millions of viewers. Using social media platforms to create the hype, Stranger Things designed  numerous 80s-themed sci-fi and horror movie posters which led to a huge success. Consequently, brands such as Coca-Cola, Baskin-Robbins, Burger King and H&M recognized the series and began to attach their products to the series by openly embracing the 80s look.

Nostalgic branding can also be applied by transforming a product into a different category. In 2019, for instance, Chinese brand Scent Library released a line of personal care products and perfumes featuring White Rabbit's distinct milky sweet scent. White Rabbit candy was manufactured for the first time in Shanghai in the 1940s and adored by children all across China for its signature red, white, and blue packaging, creamy texture, and edible rice paper wrap. The fondness for the white, creamy candy was carried by Chinese emigrants all over the world. The candy transformed into a new line of beauty and personal care products, including fragrances, hand cream, car fragrance clips, shower cream, and body lotion made with a blend of sugared jasmine petals and Madagascan vanilla.

Integrating positive memories into a product or campaign can help a brand in building long-term emotional relationships with customers. Nostalgic campaigns remind customers of old times that made them happy. As people recall the experience, they are likely to extend their feelings of warmth to the brand for bringing them back in time. Combining nostalgia with marketing strategy may be a win-win solution for both sides as long as brands keep true to their values and adopt nostalgia in engaging authentic ways. As the leading brand agency in Indonesia, Milestone is enthusiastic to help your branding needs!