Assessing the revival potential of brands from the past: how relevant is nostalgia in retro branding strategies?

This study focuses on retro branding practices, that is, the revival of brands belonging to a prior historical period. We verified empirically the relationship between a retro branding strategy leveraging nostalgic brand associations and consumer preferences for retro brands, relative to newer options. We found that consumers appear to prefer updated brands with nostalgic associations to pure retro brands. More tangible and updated product features clearly communicated in the retro branding strategy will drive preferences, confirming that nostalgic brand associations alone cannot be the ‘hub’ of a retro branding strategy.