In the recent Popcorn trend report, Faith Popcorn has mentioned quite clearly that “Retro is good” is becoming a major consumer trend. What it means is consumers are increasingly becoming nostalgic for the “good old days” when life was just “oh-so-simple”. Who can blame them? Nostalgia and love for the past has always been one of the most powerful of human emotions.

Whats interesting is the brands all over the world are seizing this opportunity. A huge number of brands are celebrating their anniversary and heritage as a clear way of connecting with people. It started with Coca Cola celebrating their 125 years and Oreo celebrating their 100. But now the space is jammed with plenty of brands like General Motors Truck, who are also jumping on this bandwagon to celebrate their anniversary. This has given rise to a trend in marketing called “Comfort Marketing”, where brands talk about their great heritage, celebrate them through enagegement and pass on the message that in an insanely hecic and changed world, consumers can take comfort from this old brands.

There is also another benefit from this. This kind of nostalgia-based comfort marketing is very attractive to older population who was largely been ignored by marketers. Now that everyone is obsessing with youth and the cash is drying up with young adults due to recession, attention is turned towards these cash rich semi-retired people. A very smart marketing move indeed.