Two years into the pandemic, brands decided to go maskless and approach this year’s Super Bowl with humor, celebrities, and, most importantly, nostalgia - a favorite marketing strategy as of late. Despite advertisements highlighting cryptocurrency and software companies, the overall tone of the Super Bowl between the Bengals and Rams was lighthearted and fun, with over 112 million people tuning in - 14% more than last year! 

With any sort of celebration, however, comes disputes. And this year’s battle is over whether or not the Bowl belonged to Gen X or Millennials. 

We’re not taking a firm stance about whether or not Snoop Dogg is exclusively for Gen X because of his age (because, honestly, his rebranding with Martha Stewart might as well put him on Gen Z’s map), but what we will point out is how nostalgia played a key role in this year’s Super Bowl from the halftime show to the commercial advertisements. 

The minute Pepsi announced its star-studded line up with hip-hop, rap, and R&B icons Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Eminem, our team knew there was some generational marketing at play. Of course, other older and well known artists have graced the stage, but this team of power houses asserting their genre and dominance took Gen X viewers back to their youthful twenties and Millennials back to their developmental stages in middle and high school. 

Why would marketers harp on targeting specific generations?

The Super Bowl has traditionally been one of the most popular events of the year, a day where people famously root for or against brands. Despite numbers decreasing in the last few years, it’s still a critical day for advertising. As far as what goes on behind the scenes, we cannot definitively say why brands would tap into nostalgia, but we can speculate. 

Representing most of the population and workforce, Millennials have become the consumers with the most purchasing power. In 2021, statistics of Super Bowl audiences were looking bleak, and there was a fear of losing the 18-49 demographic. This year, it was predicted that 18-34 year old viewers were most likely to watch the Super Bowl. Perhaps in an effort to bring back this audience that has spending power and has been plagued by traumatizing events throughout their formative years, brands leaned into nostalgia - activating memories and times that provide comfort.

Where else did we see nostalgia during the Super Bowl? 

At this point you’ve probably read or seen every combination of Super Bowl recap lists. While getting your hand stuck in a Pringles can is certainly a shared experience across all Pringles consumers, it certainly flashed us back to our younger years. Referencing earlier media of a simpler time (2000’s to early/mid 2010’s) with movies like Interstellar and pairings from Community and The Sopranos also brought excitement to the eyes of some generations. 

Here are a few other ad moments that stood out to us due to their “nostalgic” element:

Rocket Mortgage - for peppering in classic Mattel toys and famous He-Man characters from childhood. 

Coinbase - for calling back to the days of DVD screens (now famously known from The Office scene for younger audiences). 

Irish Spring - for playing off of horror tropes from the 70’s and 2010’s.

Planet Fitness - for highlighting a fan favorite child star and her journey to reclaiming her life.

General Motors - for taking a classic character and star, and repurposing him to send a positive message for the world and brand in a humorous tone. 

Nostalgia certainly plays into fan servicing, but it also works. In our last article about Cobra Kai, we pointed out how powerful it was to use favorite memories by bringing back concerts like the When We Were Younger Festival or shows like How I Met Your Father or characters like Spider Man: No Way Home. If done well, fans are all for it. 

Do you think marketers will ever run out of things to spark nostalgia if they keep creating from what already exists?