Nostalgia Marketing: What if your customers were nostalgic for a past they never lived?

Do you ever pull out an old camera to capture the moment with a bit of grain? Not for the quality, nor for the speed. But to relive an experience from another time. In a world where everything moves fast, sometimes too fast, one trend keeps coming back again and again: nostalgia marketing. Brands have known it for a long time, drawing on the past offers their customers a moment of pause, a gentle break in an oversaturated present.

But today, nostalgia has changed in nature. It no longer simply reminds those over 30 of the good old days. It also touches those who never lived them.Generation Z is embracing the Y2K style, bringing back film cameras and camcorders, and feeling nostalgic for events they never experienced.

This nostalgia, based not on real memories but on imagination, has a name: anemoia.

A Generation Shaped by Memories from Before They Were Born

The term anemoia was coined to describe a strange but increasingly common emotion, nostalgia for a past one has never lived. And this feeling is at the heart of Gen Z’s behavior. Faced with climate urgency, a crisis of meaning, and an overabundance of content, this generation has grown up in an overstimulated world. As a result, they idealize earlier eras not for what they were, but for what they represent in the collective imagination. It is not so much the reality of the 1980s or 2000s that appeals, but their aesthetic, their perceived slowness, their imagined authenticity. Camcorders, disposable cameras, Y2K fashion, vinyl records, or grainy TV shows, all of it is making a strong comeback in this generation’s visual culture and consumer habits.

In a blurry and uncertain present, dreaming of a comforting past, even a fictional one, becomes an emotional refuge.

Why Is This a Marketing Opportunity?

Anemoia is not just a cultural phenomenon. It is a concrete commercial opportunity, already successfully leveraged by several brands:

• Kodak has relaunched its disposable cameras, which are massively popular among young consumers, with a projected annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.67 percent. This growth is 41 percent driven by adoption among 18 to 24-year-olds.
• Polaroid, once considered obsolete, is experiencing a second life thanks to targeted campaigns and a cleverly marketed vintage aesthetic.
• Vinyl records are booming. In 2024, sales grew by 15.4 percent—faster than streaming. Taylor Swift alone sold 700,000 vinyls in three days, accounting for 7 percent of her total sales.

These products, once thought to belong to the past, are now attracting a young audience in search of materiality, ritual, and authenticity.

Because yes, this generation is tired of having everything instantly. They are searching for meaning, for something tangible, for something real. Even if it is simulated.

How to Incorporate Nostalgia Marketing

1. Evoke without Imitating

Don’t try to recreate an era exactly. Draw inspiration from visual, sound, and cultural codes to build an emotional universe: VHS grain, retro packaging, pixelated fonts. Stranger Things is a good example. The show doesn’t aim to be a documentary about the ’80s but recreates a retro emotional atmosphere with synths, neon typography, VHS noise, and nostalgic sets, all while telling a modern story.

2. Blend Retro and Modernity

Combine vintage aesthetics with current technologies. The “timeless” effect intrigues and creates a striking contrast. For example, a photo editing app with a Polaroid-style interface or cassette-themed packaging for a tech product.

This was the case with the vintage Retrospekt x Kodak camera, which connects to an app. The result: vintage-style photos instantly available on your phone!

3. Encourage Your Customers’ Expression

Invite your community to share their own “false memories”: retro TikToks, 2000s playlists, old-school filters, etc.

4. Revive Your Old Products

Bring back discontinued objects or product lines. The storytelling of a “comeback icon” works particularly well in this context of imagined nostalgia.

Onitsuka Tiger sneakers are an example, with the return of classic pairs worn in the ’70s and ’80s, fueled by retro fitness culture and movie reboots.

5. Create Slow Sensory Experiences in Your Nostalgia Marketing

Tactile packaging, ’90s-style unboxing, analog rituals. Anything that contrasts with digital instantaneity is perceived as authentic.

Example: Glossier’s Pink Pouch – their soft zippered pouch has become an item customers keep. Tactile packaging, limited edition kits, stickers to collect. It’s no longer just a purchase; it’s an experience every time it’s opened.

Anemoia, emotion, nostalgia marketing… At Netino, we help you turn it in more than just a trend, but into a real relationship strategy.