Why Nostalgia Marketing Works

In the last year, I have noticed an increase in marketing campaigns that invoke memories of my childhood or teenage years. It always gets me to take a walk down memory lane and during the journey, I revisited one of my old favorite cereals (French Toast Crunch), snack time in elementary school (Dunkaroos) and even considered trading my iPhone in to relive my days of having a flip phone (Motorola Razr).

These are just a few of the campaigns that have popped up and reminded me of memories through the years. These ads leave you reliving simple, happy times for a few seconds, and with any successful marketing campaign, it makes you go buy the product.
According to Forbes, nostalgic marketing campaigns are one of the few tactics that resonate with the millennial audience. With millennials being caught up with hectic schedules and responsibilities, a fond memory from the past hits us on an emotional level and leaves us more open to listening to the brand message.

If you pay attention on social media, twitter especially, then you will notice the products and TV shows we see re-emerging were viral topics of discussions among users, who were wondering whatever happened to their favorite snacks or missed being able to watch certain shows.
A successful nostalgic campaign isn’t just revisiting a random product from the past. It must have a connection to current culture, be something that people are going to want to talk about and have a genuine connection with.

While I did begin buying French Toast Crunch last year and intend to buy Dunkaroos this summer, I can’t say that I will ever sacrifice being #TeamIPhone, but I will be looking for my old Razr on my next visit home to Illinois.