Selling the good old days
It's no secret that nostalgia sells. Retro marketing can be spotted at almost any store. Pepsi Throwback, Doritos, Tide, and Miracle Whip are all good examples of products that have tapped into their pasts to drive current sales. We also see it with cars, cameras, and electronics. In particular, consumers like the simplicity of old-style packaging. Many recognize it from their past, while younger consumers recognize it as retro and, thus, trendy.
This blend of old and new can be found everywhere. In today's digital world, we have apps like Instagram and Postagram, which incorporate retro elements. You can even find a USB typewriter for your iPad. We take Polaroids and upload them to Facebook. We play Atari arcade games on our smartphones.
You would think that retro marketing would be a method better executed in traditional and print media. But these tactics are winning online as well, where nostalgia is infinitely shareable. In 2009, YourTango produced an award-winning retro-style video called "Facebook Manners and You," and in 2010 a Brazilian ad agency made a series of throwback social media posters, including this one for Facebook:
People love to share these kinds of assets online. So what exactly are brands doing to tap into the nostalgia factor? In this article, we'll take a look at four ways brands are using nostalgia and retro elements to market their products online. Do any of these tactics make sense for your own marketing efforts?
