Opinion

When what was once old is suddenly new again

Marketers do love using nostalgia in their advertising to breath new life into old brands.

And who could blame them. It obviously works for some.  

On Sunday we saw the return of Smith’s loveable alien the Gobbledok on TV.

It followed the return of Pantene’s brand ambassador Rachel Hunter and its old tagline “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen” first used in 1992.

Meanwhile, Ajax Spray n’ Wipe’s frantic housewife played by Paula Duncan recently reprised her role 22 years after the first TV ad went to air.

But brands do have to tread a careful path when going down this route.

Such an approach may work well for snack food brands, but for other consumer goods categories, not everyone wants to remember the years gone by, or just how much they’ve aged.

After all, not everyone looks like Rachel Hunter 18 years down the track and no amount of reformulated shampoo is going to change that.

Camille Alarcon

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