Fire up the Quattro

My name is Steve White.  I’ve had an accident and I’ve woken up in 1982.  Am I mad, in a coma or have I gone back in time…. or has the advertising world gone nostalgia mad!?! Well, although my wife will certainly vouch for madness.  I can confirm that the latest trend in advertising is leading me to have my very own ‘Ashes to Ashes’ moment.

It simply can’t have escaped your attention as to just how many big British retailers have gone ‘nostalgic’ with their campaigns over the last year or two.  M&S, Persil, Virgin, Hovis, Milky Way and John Lewis have all used campaigns that hark back to their past.  But why are so many brands going down this creative route?  Why are so many brands looking back and not looking forward?

Well, I think the answer is very much linked with the British economy as during times of financial hardship, people do have a tendency to look for trusted names that are tried and tested rather than experiment with the unknown.  Advertising agencies up and down the country are exploiting this mindset by transporting consumers to the ‘good old days’ in an attempt to make that all important sale.

Hovis – A real slice of British history

One of the most famous examples of ‘advertising nostalgia’ has to be last year’s mammoth 122 second TV commercial from Hovis.  The advert, that won the British Television Awards ‘Commercial of the Year’, told the story of a young boy travelling through time charting Britain’s turbulent history over the past 122 years – including the first world war, the suffragette movement, the first motor car, the second world war, the Queen’s coronation in 1953, the swinging 60s, England winning the 1966 World Cup, the 1980s miners’ strike and the millennium celebrations.

The commercial was, in my view, pure genius as you can’t fail to watch it without being emotionally moved by references to some of Britain’s most devastating and tragic events.  However, the overriding feeling you get from watching the advertisement is one of reassurance, as if a business has managed to continue trading through two World Wars then a credit crisis should be plain sailing.

The nostalgia epidemic spreads

An almost identical approach was taken by both Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer.   However, both brands managed to take this onto another level as they managed to relate their businesses to key points within British history.  Sainsbury’s for example detailed when they first began employing women and detailed how they helped with the war effort by halving their labels to help save resources. Despite, this more informative approach to nostalgia Sainsbury’s still managed to maintain a level of emotion by topping and tailing the commercial with an image of a small boy dipping his soldier into a Sainsbury’s soft boiled egg.

M&S launched their nostalgic effort, in a 60 second slot during Coronation Street, in May 2009.  British icon Twiggy provided the commentary as she took us through their 125 year history from their humble beginnings as a penny bazaar right through to the current day and their strap-line “quality worth every penny”.

It’s a repeat

Several brands that possibly don’t have the same advertising budget to Sainsbury’s and M&S have still managed to create this sense of nostalgia by simply re-showing ads from yesteryear.  Guinness, Persil and Heinz have all either re-edited a number of adverts or have simply refreshed the voiceover.  Although I’m convinced that the major reason for this was to take advantage of the consumers need to be reassured and comforted by an established and solid brand.  I don’t think we can discount that the credit crunch has certainly affected some marketing budgets and although I don’t necessarily think that this has been the crucial factor in these commercials being produced and broadcast, but I’m sure this marketing trend has been most welcome.

It’s not just the TV men that have gone back in time…

The packaging and product branding departments have also had a dose of this nostalgia virus that seems to be spreading across the world of advertising.

It can’t have escaped your attention that we witnessed the nostalgic reappearance of Whispa onto our confectionary shelves last year but have you heard that Snickers and Starburst are considering reverting back to their previous identities?

In addition to that, we’re seeing more and more examples of established brands reverting back to packaging from yesteryear.  Last year, Walkers Snackfoods relaunched Monster Munch with its original packaging.  The Goofy eyed and furry monsters from the 70s are back!  I think I may have even seen the rather iconic Orangina glass bottle from the 70s the last time I was in the newsagents purchasing my daily can of Cherry Coke.

Here to stay?

If you turn your television set on right this minute there is a good chance that you’ll see John Lewis’s £6 million commercial detailing the life cycle of a women from child through to old age to the soundtrack of Billy Joel’s ‘Always a woman’.  Oh and if you needed any further proof of this nostalgia boom then you’ll soon be witnessing Jedward hitting our TV commercial airtime with their rendition of “Shake and Vac”.  Why do I have a feeling that this could be similar to the time the All Saints covered ‘Under the bridge’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers?  Somethings should never be touched!

Nostalgia is certainly here to stay for the foreseeable future.  Well, it’s certainly going to be with us until we see a tangible economic recovery.  Only then when we see the Great British public regain their willingness to experiment and try new products and brands.  However, until then our well-established pillars of British retail will refrain from taking innovative risks with their marketing campaigns and hark back to yesteryear in their continued attempt for the consumer pound.

Tags: Advertising Agencies, Advertising Campaign, Advertising History, Brand Advertising, Brand Marketing, British Economy, British Television Awards, Commercial of the Year, Digital Agency, Direct Marketing Agency, Hovis Advertising, M&S Advertising Campaign, Manchester Advertising Agency, Marketing Agency, Nostalgic Advertising, PPC Agency, SEO Company, TV Advert, TV advertising campaign, Twiggy, UK Advertising Agency

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 10:07 am and is filed under Advertising, Blog, Inside Information, Marketing, Press Advertising, Television Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.