How GAP, Polaroid Or Fila Turn Nostalgia Into Revived Brand Growth

When did nostalgia become such a lucrative marketing strategy? At a time when most brands push to innovate and future-proofing their businesses, why are so many brands looking back? When most businesses are focused on the future, why does selling the past suddenly seem so appealing?

In uncertain times, people instinctively turn to the past for comfort, revisiting memories that feel warmer and safer than the present. That longing is easily sparked by a scent, a song, a photograph—or by a brand that once defined a moment in our lives. The past becomes a feeling, and we irrationally crave to go back to it, a behavior many brands are tapping into. From Lancôme’s revival of juicy lip gloss to GAP’s comeback, the business of nostalgia seems to quite lucrative.

The Rise Of Nostalgia And Escapism

Nostalgia is common, but Millenials and GenZ are increasingly encouraging brands to tap into memory lane. There is a very understandable reason why nostalgia is so prevalent across fashion, beauty and media overall: young generations are feeling overwhelmed, helpless, and anxious. The general state of fatigue and uncertainty towards the future is naturally driving people to revisit the past.

This state is also driving another phenomenon: escapism, a desire particularly prevalent with Millenials and GenZ. Research shows that 91% of people have a desire for escapism given the current state of the world. Jess Francis, Research Director at McCann Worldgroup, led a study digging into the trend of escapism. It isn’t necessarily a trend to worry about, though. As he shared for CreativeBrief: “One of the biggest learnings, especially after speaking to psychologists and social scientists, was that escaping isn’t inherently good or bad. Social media is not good or bad, it’s the intent of the person that matters and that creates the outcome. So brands really need to understand what they are encouraging people to do with their product or service. Is it inspiration? Is it renewal? Or, are you encouraging people to turn off and disassociate.” Looking at the market, it is probably a mix of renewal and positivism, a way to make the present warmer and the future slighly more familiar.

Tapping Into Nostalgia To Extend A Brand’s Lifecycle

Barbie, Polaroid or Fila are all examples of brands across different industries that enjoyed newfound momentum in the past few years after being in the background for quite some time. What is interesting is that these brands didn’t just make a comeback in the shape or form they existed in the past. They brought their essence, and the nostalgia that they trigger, but adapted to modern times: Fila launched a collection with Hailey Bieber, Barbie came back to life and spoke to many generations thanks to Margot Robbie’s blockbuster movie, and Polaroid saw a revival thanks to agile formats that are more adapted to today’s lifestyles, while launching collaborations with culturally relevant brands such as Lacoste or Fendi.

Another noteworthy examplee is GAP. What seemed like a heritage brand that lived in the background for the past fifteen years is now endorsed by fashion influencers all over social media and launching drops with popular brand DOEN, causing many products to sell-out instantly. Yes, it has gone through new leadership and a change in creative direction, which seemed inevitable for survival, but its newfound success can also be linked to nostalgia. GAP was present in many kids’ coming of age. It’s a classic for a large number of adults today, but has also managed to update its style and materials, blending its iconic essence with present-day relevance and thus speaking to a wide audience today.

Another example is Lancôme’s “Juicy tubes”, which made a comeback after being widely popular in the early 2000s. A cult lip gloss for teenage girls at the time, it came back to life in a campaign with Ed Westwick, the actor who played iconic Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl. The campaign was a celebration of the product’s 25 year anniversary and looked to tap into Y2K (year 2000, namely) nostalgia, bringing back a handful of actors who played iconic roles in that time period. Seeing these products immediately takes us back to when we used them as teenagers, and idolized these actors, thus creating this immediate feeling of nostalgia and the positive memories associated to that time (while our brain seems to forget the less pleasant ones).

Many works of fiction are also booming as they tap into nostalgia. Prime’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty”, a TV show based on Jenny Han’s romance novels, is objectively just another romance book adaptation of teenage love. But the show has amassed 25 million viewers in its last season and become a cultural phenomenon in the U.S. Its main viewers are not 20+ something fans, but women over 25 (in fact many are in their 30s and 40s). “It isn’t just a teen romance; it’s a reminder of our first crushes, heartbreaks and summers full of hope and possibilities. With only one episode a week, the anticipation and post-episode debriefs in the group chat create a sense of community and nostalgia, reminiscent of how we used to watch our favourite shows in the 90s and 00s,” shared content creator Emma Lymar for The Guardian.

When crafted properly, nostalgia in media or advertising works because it builds emotional resonance, makes people feel something, and encourages social connection through sharing of familiar, common memories. The same seems to be true for product launches or brand resurrections, but it raises the question: can every brand become relevant again on the basis of its once-acquired popularity? Not exactly: to truly resonate, the nostalgia appeal must be paired with current relevance: the objective is not to look back and stay stuck in the past, but rather bring back positive memories to our present life. A way to be present while enjoying what made the past something we always like to come back to.