Old is New: How to Use Retro Marketing For Your Business
A major league baseball team recently hosted a “Turn Back the Clock” night. The players wore “throwback” uniforms from that era, and fans were encouraged to wear their favorite ‘80’s getup. They even played music from the decade and featured break-dancing performances on the concourse.
Retro marketing is a trend that is also being used by the consumer package goods industry. Everything from canned soups, soda, candy, detergent, snack cakes—even your favorite nacho chips—are using nostalgic packaging to invoke fond memories of times past, hopefully encouraging “today” sales.
Whether the old days were better or not, people sure remember them that way. It doesn’t matter if you’re a technology business, or a mom and pop general store. Digging up old images of products, people, styles – even your storefront – creates a feeling of nostalgia. If you don’t have old photos of your product or your original store, a web search for the targeted time period will yield lots of results, many that are royalty-free.
By associating your current products and customer care with “the good ol’ days” your audience will recall a time when value and integrity were supreme. Times seemed safer and less volatile “way back then.” By making this emotional connection with your potential customer you are building confidence in their purchasing decisions.
Surveys have shown that even the 18-34 year old demographic—the coveted “trendsetters” generation—thinks retro is very cool. While they didn’t grow up in the era, they seem to have an affinity for retro marketing campaigns.
If these current trends are any indication, a blast from the past can be a powerful marketing tool.
When designing your next brochure or flyer at Printrunner.com try incorporating a nostalgic approach. You may be pleasantly surprised how hip it is to be old.
