Nostalgia’s Role in Retromarketing

Consumption related to the past is trendy. The successful new retro products are often modified to fit today’s taste and functional and performance standards. Many product categories including those that traditionally focused on innovation and creativity, such as cars and music, are influenced by the retro movement. Despite its popularity, few empirical studies (Brown et al. 2003a, b) have embraced the consumers’ reactions toward a retromarketing offer. Retromarketing is a wise marriage between the past and the present in a way to offer the best of both worlds (Brown 2001; Brown et al. 2003b). Nostalgia and retromarketing look like concepts that are interlinked, but few studies have assessed how nostalgia can impact the consumers’ reaction toward a retro product. Therefore, the objectives of this study are twofold: to assess how the mix of the old and the new in a retro product influences consumers’ behaviors and, specifically, if nostalgia ever plays any kind of role.