How can you create nostalgia and familiarity for a new product?

3 Use nostalgic and familiar elements

Now that you have a theme and story, you can use nostalgic and familiar elements to create an emotional connection with your audience. These elements can be visual, auditory, verbal, or experiential and vary depending on the context and channel. For instance, colors, fonts, logos, icons, and images that evoke a certain era, style or mood; music, sounds or voices that trigger memories, feelings or associations; words, phrases, slogans or quotes that reference popular culture, trends or events; formats, layouts or designs that mimic or parody old media such as magazines, posters or videos; features, functions or benefits that remind or contrast with previous products or services; and events, contests or promotions that recreate or celebrate past experiences or occasions.

4 Balance nostalgia and familiarity with novelty and relevance

Nostalgia and familiarity can be useful for attracting and engaging your audience, but if you overuse them or use them incorrectly, they can have the opposite effect. You want your product to be modern, relevant, and original. It's also important to ensure that you don't offend or alienate your audience with inappropriate, insensitive, or stereotypical elements. The key is to find a balance between nostalgia and familiarity with novelty and relevance. To do this, you can add a twist or surprise to nostalgic and familiar elements, such as using a modern song with retro visuals. You can also highlight how your product is different or better than products from the past or competitors. Additionally, make sure your product fits the current needs of your audience and helps them achieve their goals. Finally, test and measure the impact of your nostalgic and familiar elements and adjust accordingly.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?