Newstalgia happens often in fashion, where modern brands leverage past styles and themes to imbue their clothing with legacy. This is where newstalgia comes in: So, use the past as inspiration and find ways to invoke emotion. Channel the past.Įspecially for entrepreneurs who are just launching a brand or business, it can be hard to play up a long company history, since one may not yet exist. It's the reason we add faux-vintage, grainy filters to new photos on Instagram it creates a feeling of bittersweet longing for that moment.

Associating images and messaging with positive references from the past humanizes a brand and facilitates meaningful connections between the past and present.īecause nostalgia is rooted in previous experiences, tying things to the past has a particularly effective emotional trigger. As the show carries the characters through thrilling mysteries, young viewers can relate to their fear, excitement and wonder.Īlong with fauxstalgia, there's another way for entrepreneurs to leverage nostalgia in their startups and brands: newstalgia, meaning constructing something to feel old, even when it's new. While millennial viewers reminisce about their childhoods, the series has all ages longing for a simpler life where kids play in the woods and ride bikes, and where being disconnected from computers and smartphones allows everyone to be imaginative.įor Gen Z, fauxstalgia is made especially powerful because the actors are from their own age group. Its '80s inspired setting is full of retro objects like Polaroid cameras, phones attached to walls, and walkie-talkies. A survey carried out by mfour found that 83 percent of people who use Pokémon Go are between the ages of 18 and 34.Īnother example of fauxstaglia is the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Pokémon Go evoked real nostalgia in millennials and a faux, but equally powerful, nostalgia in Gen Z, winning over two generations. On top of this, Pokémon saw that Gen Z lives on their mobile devices and has a special affinity for gaming. Gen Z recognized that the characters were cherished and that they embodied a history of rich storytelling. In addition to using a hyper-targeted strategy, the game sparked a tradition of passing along a loved game from millennial parents to their offspring in a contemporary way. By sticking to imagery from the original '90s game, Pokémon sparked a collective yearning among its millennial card collectors while invoking feelings of fauxstalgia in younger generations. While millennials who grew up watching Pokemon and collecting cards in the '90s jumped on the app out of nostalgia, it was largely a Gen Z-driven phenomenon. Related: 'I Am Recreating the Nostalgia of a Kid Looking At Mouth Watering Candies for Vaping Adults' The mobile game broke five Guinness World Records and became the fastest mobile game to gross $100 million. A great example is what gaming company Niantic built with Pokémon Go. Once you understand the concept of fauxstalgia, you can leverage it when building your startup or marketing your products by linking past experiences with present situations.

In our shared experiences and collective memories are universal feelings and timeless themes that transcend generations. It's the reason three generations identify with the 1967 film, The Graduate, and why young adults feel nostalgic for music from their parents' youth.

The craze for retro clothing at Urban Outfitters, TopShop and Madewell the timeless soundtracks from the '60s in modern retail stores, the love of '70s throwback bars in college towns: All are evidence of this phenomenon. Enter fauxstalgia: the yearning for a time in the past, even though you may never have experienced that time directly yourself.Ĭraving culture from a bygone era. Just because a your audience members didn't live through a particular cultural movement doesn't mean they can't feel nostalgic for it.

Nostalgia brand clothing