Redscout is a brand innovation agency, every month a different member of the team writes the newsletter on the topic of their choosing. For September, I wrote a thought piece on nostalgia. Read it below—and consider subscribing to Redscout’s newsletter to see what all the team is thinking about.
Nostalgia is, quite literally, not new. Early mentions of nostalgia go back to the 1600s and earlier when Spanish soldiers were discharged from service being diagnosed with el mal de corazón. A longing for things we have known manifests in our daily lives—who here hasn’t spent hours looking through old photos—to society at large. Since Summer 2020 we’ve seen trends such as cottagecore and Web 1.0-reminiscent design pop up, tapping into nostalgia at full force. It feels like we're becoming more drawn to the past as the present accelerates towards the future faster than ever before.
Nostalgia is an odd sensation, generating feelings of melancholy and joy in equal measure. Its power to deeply tap into our emotions is not lost on companies. Savvy brands capitalize on nostalgia to, ironically enough, signal cultural relevance in the current moment. Jacquemus, founded in 2009 (i.e. not that old), gave us a taste of the ‘90s with their Fall/Winter2020 “L’année 97” campaign. Cameos included a translucent Nintendo64 console, Nokia cell phone (loaded up with Snake, no doubt), and a bent-leg martini glass with bubble gum pink rim (itself an early foretelling of the return of the espresso martini?). For consumers, owning a piece of the collection becomes a status symbol itself.
For everyone building current clout, there are a handful of other brands trying to breathe life back into their otherwise forgotten selves. Cue Juicy Couture, founded in 1990. This author herself coveted a Juicy velour jumpsuit way back when and was surprised to see them resurrected in a big, buzzy way—cue collabs with Forever21 and Parade. The question here becomes, are we nostalgic for the Juicy jumpsuit itself or is the product simply a vessel to tap into the ‘90’s vibe we’re so fond of?
Brands best know the answer when defining their strategy lest they realize that nostalgia is fleeting and consumers, smart as ever, expect more than just that ephemeral hit. For those that can leverage nostalgia, they’ll find it can be a tool that celebrates the past in the present, propelling them to the future.
Explore
OoCities.org is an archive to the web’s original social network, Geocities—also a treasure trove of web 1.0 gems.
Listen
Pick a year in The Nostalgia Machine and let music be your time traveling guide. Pro tip: 1998 has some serious jams.
Read
Are you ready for the Metaverse? It’s the Internet like we’ve never seen it before.
*Bonus for those who want to go deeper: The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find it, Who Will Build It, and Fortnite
(Image: Jacquemus); (Image: Unsplash); (Image: Screenshot / The Nostalgia Machine; (Image: Ivy Liu / Digiday)