2023 the year of the nostalgia marketing

Today, I wanted to explore some of the most impactful and memorable campaigns of 2023, and we can’t get away from the nostalgia of those brands. This is why I am calling 2023 the year of nostalgia marketing.

So, what do I mean by nostalgia marketing? Well, it is about tapping into a person’s history, building on their positive memories and associations with a brand that they’ve build over many years. Tapping into that existing trust that they have in a brand.

This year, they have been some big brands that have really tapped into nostalgia: Barbie, McDonald’s, EE and we even saw the return of Sunny D. Tapping into memories and people’s positive associations with a brand isn’t new and is something that brands like Cadbuy’s and Coco Cola often use within their marketing.

Ultimately, nostalgia marketing creates a ‘remember when’ moment for your target audience and give them something to connect with them. For example, EE’s can’t get no sleep advert illicit that kind of reaction from a close friend of mine a couple of months ago. Her excitement over it being the soundtrack and how they are modernised the meaning of a song associated with raving (and sleeping bag races in my case) to one of parenthood and the reason why she is still not getting any sleep. Admittedly, she was slightly sleep deprived at that moment in time, but the brand broke through and was able to get an emotional response from her.

Apparently, being a millennial makes me more susceptible to nostalgia, as we are looking back towards a time before we were constantly connected, but I think this goes in waves and there are other points in time where it is a good strategy for other age groups.

For me personally, I have always admired Pandora’s brand positioning, as it aligns with my views and reminds me of my childhood. Their charm bracelet with the promise that every charm holds a memory and a moment in time. This reminds me of sitting on my mum’s lap and hearing her tell me stories of how and when she got all of the charms on her charm bracelet and ultimately was why I fell in love with their brand.

So, I can’t write this blog and not mention Barbie. Barbie played on nostalgia, but also modernised its brand story to align to values of the next generation of consumers. This to me is why it won so much attention over the summer. It understood parents and grandparents relationship with its brands and found a way to tap into that with its brand assets and experiential activity and then pushed it further. The film gave them an opportunity to revive the brand and make Barbie more of a feminist, reinforce the values and needs that they know those parents now have as they look to create the environment they want for their children. It wasn’t about children; it wasn’t a childrens film.

This was a pull tactic looking to influence parents, not children (the consumer). It was about renewing their connection with the brand in a way that showed their children could count on Barbie to be representative and understand modern day society. As a result, I had friends telling me how they were observing shopping behaviour from parents wanting their children to have the Barbie experience from their childhood with the Barbie, the horse and the caravan. But it was the adult that was excited not the child. However, that excitement will translate into play and a new generation having positive associations with the brand and so it continues.

This is why I think this year is the year of nostalgia marketing, with some big brands really winning hearts and taking social media by storm. Let me know in the comments if you agree.