- Seven-year-old general insurance company Acko resurrected two popular Bollywood characters Munna Bhai and Circuit for its Platinum Health Plan. These two characters first made their appearance in the 2003 flick Munnabhai MBBS.
- Nirma Beauty Soap has unveiled its new ambassador, actor Shehnaaz Gill, and the new ad features the decades-old jingle “Tum husn pari tum jaane jahan…” When the actor shared the ad on her Instagram account, the post raked up over 5 lakh likes in hours.
- Parle Products has released its latest campaign for KrackJack featuring two early protagonists, Krack and Jack. They have very different perspectives that bring alive the core brand idea, “Sweet and Salty saath jab aaye, baat ban jaaye”.
Nostalgia marketing is nothing new. Familiarity is comforting; so it’s unsurprising that many brands look to harness nostalgia to evoke connection for their brands with audiences. Rutu Mody-Kamdar, founder, Jigsaw Brand Consultants, says the Nirma jingle, for instance, reminds an older audience of the years they grew up in, while to the younger audience, it’s a great way to stand out using a retro device. This strategy taps into a brand’s heritage and legacy and is sure to catch attention.
And not just in the local markets, even brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi have from time to time tapped into nostalgia to bring back elements with a modern-day twist. Whether it was Coca-Cola’s re-release of Coke using its classic contour-shaped bottle design or Pepsi launching products like the Pepsi Cola Soda Shop – referencing something popular from the past and setting it in a new context can be an interesting tool in storytelling. But only when they are done right. The operative words here are “done right”.
The biggest task for any brand drawing on nostalgia is to ensure that it’s not out of place in the current times. Says Dhruv Warrior, NCD, FoxyMoron, “There’s always the risk of your ‘nostalgia’ standing out simply because your audience finds it strange — they aren’t old enough to feel the connect. For the nostalgia narrative to hold weight, connection is key,” he shares.
Old is not always gold
Vinod Kunj, founder and CCO, Thought Blurb Communications, says at times brands outgrow some key elements and their earlier promises become irrelevant. Hence they need new reference material that is true to the iconography of the brand while also being relevant to the current generation. Not many brands can pull that off. Take the case of the new Nirma ad. While the current ad has a different look and feel, it offers little in terms of a hook for the new consumer.
When they lack freshness and relevance, a new take on an old ad may come out as a poor copy of its own. “To make a successful comeback, Nirma will have to address contemporary concerns and values to be resonant with newer target audiences as well,” notes Mody-Kamdar.
Anjali Malthankar, national strategy director, Tonic Worldwide, has a similar take: “The only news around the new Nirma soap ad is the new face, Shehnaaz Gill. In that sense, it will leverage her popularity but in my opinion, it does not do justice to the old ad.”
Experts cite the Cadbury Dairy Milk advertisement which was recreated after 27 years of its first release as an example of successful ad recast. The 1994 ad featured model Shimona Rashi dancing unabashedly in a cricket stadium full of people, to celebrate the batman hitting a boundary. What made the 2021 version stand out was that the protagonist this time was a guy watching a women’s cricket match with rapt attention while munching on a Cadbury chocolate bar. As his girlfriend scored the winning six, he leapt onto the field and broke into an impromptu gig to celebrate her smashing performance.
A simple twist but one that was long overdue. Piyush Pandey, then creative lead at Ogilvy, called that ad ‘retake’ and not a ‘remake’.
So there you have it. Making sure that the “nostalgia” element sits comfortably with every other element of the brand and its message is the crux of getting it right.