The Nostalgic Boom - why are businesses reverting back to past trends?
by James P. Outreach & PR ExecutiveResearch
by GlobalWebIndex found feelings of nostalgia aren’t restricted to a
certain age group but are a common feeling for everyone.
We have incredible access
to things from the past, be it music, photos, videos, articles, and everything
in between. It’s easy to understand why nostalgia is becoming a key trend in
today’s world. So much so that we’re expecting to see this nostalgic trend
continue. Research has also suggested that nostalgia can contribute to
psychological resilience and optimism, which are what we need to help us
through the boredom of lockdown.
Burger King’s rebrand
Marketing has gotten
involved in the nostalgia trend. Successful marketing is often about selling
customers a feeling, and nostalgia is the ideal chance to do so. Brands rely on
creating an emotional connection with customers, making them feel familiar and
comfortable with it so they’re more likely to return. After all, retaining
customers is incredibly important.
Companies have been
returning to their roots, offering a nostalgic experience by rebranding their
logos and packaging similar to a familiar sight.
Burger King’s first
rebrand in 20 years is a nostalgic one, recreating their retro logo from the
1970s. The logo diverts away from ‘artificial’ and ‘synthetic’ and attempts to
capitalise on better times. Designer
Lisa Smith said: "We explored a lot of different design territories,
but kept coming back to the brand's original iconic logo from 1969 and 1994
when Burger King looked at its best.
"We were inspired by
how it has grown to have such an iconic place in culture – from Back to the
Future, Gremlins through to more recently Stranger Things and
BK’s Warhol campaign.”
The world of fashion
Fashion is like a revolving door: out with the old and in
with the new, then in with the old again. Admittedly, there are some fashion
trends that have rightly remained in the past, while some become attractive
again for the modern-day shopper.
Fashion has always had a nostalgic element to it, with each
year’s fashion taking some inspiration from the year before. However, certain
notable items have a nostalgic edge to them. Smaller shaped shoes have been
ditched for huge, clunky, 90s-style trainers, with both high street stores and
designer labels getting involved. Boot-cut jeans, bum bags, and three-quarter
fleeces have all certainly become fashion statements of the 2020s as well as chelsea boots, which have existed in the fashion world since around the 1950s.
These nostalgic items of clothing remind us of fun and
memorable decades – the 90s were an iconic part of fashion history, continuing
to exist in today’s trends.
Technology and media
We have daily reminders of nostalgia on social media – Facebook,
Snapchat, and Instagram all have elements of nostalgia on their platforms. All
of these apps offer memories that show you what you posted or saved that day
years back, allowing you to look through pictures, videos, and posts that you
might’ve otherwise forgotten about.
Spotify Wrapped is an innovative feature that reveals your
streaming trends over the past year, showing you the top 50 songs that you
listened to, the genre, artist, podcasts, as well as new genres or artists you
discovered. Music can be effective in transporting us right back to a powerful
memory, which might explain why you’ve been listening to a lot of songs you
used to love. In fact, research
has shown that music makes us feel incredibly nostalgic by associating it
with certain experiences.
Audio cassettes, which aren’t known for fantastic audio
quality, have also experienced a revival. Cassette sales increased two-fold
in the first half of 2020, reaching a record high in 15 years. However, it is a
young audience driving these sales, with pop acts like Lady Gaga being the most
popular. The same can be seen for vinyl, almost reaching a 30-year high, being
their highest point since the Britpop boom. It is predicted that nostalgia is
driving this trend as streaming services like Spotify provide unlimited access
to music of all kinds.
Almost four in 10 said they were prepared to pay more for a
content streaming service that provided access to older content that was
unavailable elsewhere.
In difficult times,
nostalgia can be the most comforting feeling, throwing us back to better and
happier times. While we’re escaping to the past, we can’t help but wonder, what
will the next big trend be? Something old, or something new?
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Created on Feb 25th 2021 04:37. Viewed 323 times.