Personal nostalgia
Personal nostalgia has largely been addressed through what Brown (1999) calls retro-marketing: the relaunching, rebranding and reintroduction of products and services from the past, repackaged and resold to contemporary standards and specifications. For those born between the 1960s and 1980s in the UK, the reintroduction of foods and snacks such as Spam (processed meat), the Arctic Roll (a frozen dessert), and Wispa Gold chocolate bars may bring back memories of childhood (for good or ill).
Given the current enthusiasm for the past, marketing communications have also been keen to capitalise on this trend. A good example was Nintendo’s ‘Two brothers’ campaign that plays on the personal nostalgia of growing up and the feeling of drifting apart as we get older. In this advert, it is the Nintendo brand that united the brothers in their youth and ultimately is what draws them back together in adulthood:
