"Nostalgia is a hugely powerful marketing tool when it comes to consumer behavior," visual content strategist Donna Moritz tells us. "As a proud Gen-Xer, I can't begin to explain the number of times I have related to a product, brand, service or ad based on nostalgic memories or past experiences."

"And as a marketer and visual content strategist, I see time and time again how impactful nostalgia can be." Donna names several reasons why it is so. First, nostalgic marketing creates an emotional connection. 

"Any product or service that evokes nostalgic memories will connect to emotions of joy, comfort and even security, and this can enhance brand loyalty as we associate a brand or product with a feeling or memory from our past," Donna says. "Particularly if that memory was part of our childhood or marks a significant event."

Secondly, we might be more likely to perceive a product as more valuable if it evokes a nostalgic response. "Especially if it reminds us of happier times and any memories of emotional satisfaction," Donna adds.

She explains that the third reason why nostalgia marketing is so efficient is that we might see it as less risky. "Nostalgia can guide our decision making as we perceive less 'risk' in the familiarity of something we have experienced before," she says. "Tying nostalgic themes through your product and services can help your customers to be more comfortable choosing to buy."

"Content creation lends itself so well to marketing with nostalgia, as we can reference trends, pop culture and entire generational themes in our content," Donna points out. She gives the trends of Y2K, kids biking around and having adventures in TV shows and movies, and even remakes of Gen Xers' favorite shows as examples.

"It does wonders for user engagement as who doesn't want to talk about their favorite childhood cartoon, toy, movie or music obsession? As such, nostalgia is a powerful storytelling tool, making our content more memorable when we make it more relatable."

However, nostalgia can also tap into more personal and individual memories. "Nostalgia lends itself to personalization in marketing when targeting certain demographics – by understanding the age, interests and types of content that will evoke strong feelings of nostalgia," Donna explains.

We asked Donna which nostalgia marketing campaigns she liked the best in the past year. "One that gave me goosebumps was Canva's Holiday Story Ad," Donna shares. "It gives such a 'Toy Story-esque' nostalgic feeling from the movies of the '90s. And by the end of the ad, you're literally rooting for the character in the story to have the happy ending that ultimately comes."

"It's all of your childhood and the joy of characters and books and creativity rolled into 1.42 minutes," she goes on about the Canva Holiday Story Ad. "Created to showcase the element library in Canva and what you can create with it, the ad itself is packed with nostalgia and hits all the feels in the right place. And as a Canva Creator of templates for the Canva library, it was nostalgia on steroids for this designer!"

Donna also mentions this gaming ad from Nintendo as a memorable '90s nostalgia campaign. "[It ]evokes memories of siblings and childhood and playing Nintendo in the '80s and '90s. And what's more '90s than a Wayne's World Uber Eats ad? Personally, as a teen video store employee, I loved the '90s nostalgia of Airbnb's chance to stay at the last remaining Blockbuster video store. Experiential marketing [and] nostalgia is a perfect duo."

Donna says that nostalgia marketing doesn't discriminate. People of all ages may enjoy these kinds of ads, even if they weren't born in that particular decade. "While Gen Xers and Millennials are particularly attracted to '90s nostalgia, it's not an exclusive club," she says.

"The '90s appeal to everyone from Baby Boomers to Gen Z," Donna points out. "We have access to so much content now that TV re-runs, movie remakes and social media bring access to all the best of the '90s – no matter your age or demographic." Donna says that people can pretty easily recreate the aesthetics of the '90s. 

"Revivals of generational hits like Friends or Y2K colors and design can be started with a simple TikTok trend or streaming show. And yet another boy band goes on tour and their music is hitting the charts. I'm sure we will see a whole lot more of it in years to come, as different eras come back into our current pop culture. Rad!", Donna concludes like a true Gen Xer.