Brandish a retro-style design on product packaging and you will likely see an increase in profit. Add a dosage of nostalgia to the latest TV show, music or any other form of pop culture entertainment, and crowds will come flocking to it. Whether we are talking about fashion borrowing styles from the ’80s and ’90s, production studios churning out remakes of classics, or just soundtracks pulling strings of nostalgia, they all tap into a rose-tinted view of the past (often filtering out the less dainty aspects).

This begets the question: are we really running out of fresh ideas or is there something else at play? Besides, in the age of fast-forward, how does this trend of longing to rewind the tape get so much love and attention?

Blast from the past

Our drive to reconnect with the past is especially strong when we seek assurance and stability during turbulent times. If you feel seen, just know that 79 percent of people are in the same shoes at least once per week, waxing nostalgic— albeit this figure is based on a study from 2006, so we can probably bump that figure up quite a bit to paint a timelier picture.

From a psychological perspective, nostalgia is a coping mechanism and a response to threats, so how strongly we experience it depends on the significance of the problem(s) we are facing.

Flipping that coin will show that our inclination for “once upon a time” narratives and memories come with plenty of upsides. Research has shown that nostalgia serves four main functions, namely:

• improving mood and making one feel content,
• increasing self-regard (or self-esteem) and thus boosting optimism for the future,
• raising the desire to socialise and cooperate, thereby enhancing one’s social connectedness and social competence,
• and even boosting existential meaning through revisiting important moments in life during reminiscing.

Now, viewing life as meaningless actually increases nostalgia, which feeds into this cycle, but the same logic can be applied to all other points. For example, if someone is feeling low and discontent, they will also be more susceptible to perceiving the past as “better”. Put simply, it’s a bit of a catch-22.

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Apart from these double-edged psychological benefits, a rogue physiological effect exists, as well. Nostalgia also increases resistance to cold, thereby improving our sense of comfort — and on colder days, people are more likely to feel nostalgic. In other words, our blasts from the past also serve to cushion ourselves physically.

So, how you draw strength from your memories to combat negativity is effectively a delicate dance between self-preservation and escapism. But that is just one point of view. Another way to look at postmodern nostalgia is to consider it a celebration of past styles, and the enjoyment multiple generations can find in (re)discovering them.

In with the old — retro marketing

Brands that are looking to freshen up their image or simply rally nostalgia-prone audiences will often reach for retro styles in design and advertising. Consumers have a tendency to lean towards nostalgic products and content (often driven by a need to belong), which gives marketers an easy way to target them.

Retro marketing doesn’t just link consumers with happier times and memories of the good old days, but actively builds on this emotional connection. (In fact, nostalgia is in some way the opposite of materialism — feelings win over the need to simply hoard status symbols and stuff.)

Once memories invoke positive feelings, customers will then subconsciously associate that same feel-good state with the brand. Hence, even if a company had no role in shaping those fragments of individual consumers’ pasts, they can subtly insert themselves into this mental “formula”. In a state of nostalgia, we tend to feel safe, happy, and even careless, which also nudges people to part from their money more easily.

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Still better if there is a shared past between customers and the brand. For this reason, Millennials tend to be cited as the perfect target audience, as they grew up with a landline in one hand and an iPhone in the other, metaphorically speaking. But across all ages and generations, personal memories have the most impact when it comes to shelling out the cash. Not to mention that a fair share of nostalgia also makes us believe the quality is better and it further amplifies loyalty towards a brand.

At the same time, consider how we are bombarded by 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day — and yet, 99% of these have little to no impact, due to advertising overload. Retro marketing dodges this to some degree by locking products into established rosy memories and associations, driving consumer engagement by easing mental fatigue.

As highlighted before, nostalgia also makes us feel more connected to others, which makes it a perfect ingredient of social content that can then be shared. For example, the hashtag #TBT (Throw-Back Thursday) was crafted for sharing nostalgia-inducing images, and brands could chime in and piggyback off this trend on social media.

What types of items are you most likely to purchase based on nostalgia? | Holotová, M., Kádeková, Z., & Košičiarová, I. (2020).

So, is “retro” just playing dirty tricks to influence consumer behaviour? Not necessarily. At the end of the day, borrowing from the past offers a window of experience for those who did not get to participate in that segment of history. And as for those, who did; refreshing positive memories can be just as wholesome.