Strong brands are designed to evoke emotional connections between brand and consumer. That’s why brand owners are eager to leverage “nostalgia,” a sentimental longing for the past, to create deep and more meaningful relationships with their audience.
Nostalgia marketing is very powerful. It can evoke emotions, trust and loyalty by “tapping into the positive memories and emotions associated with the past.” It can differentiate a brand in a crowded market. It can create authentic experiences and assist in targeting specific markets. For example, “clothing brands like Levi’s and Converse have successfully tapped into nostalgia by reissuing classic designs from their archives.” Nintendo and Pokémon have reintroduced classic video games and characters to a new generation of consumers. These are just a few of many examples.
Nostalgia marketing also drives brand owners to reinvigorate old trademarks and search for new ones that evoke a sense of nostalgia. A while ago, we wrote about Hasbro, which registered its evocative Play-Doh scent: “The mark is a scent of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, combined with the smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.” In July of this year, Crayola applied to register the distinctive scent of its crayons. “The mark consists of a scent reminiscent of a slightly earthy soap with pungent, leather-like clay undertones.” The aim, of course, is not just to evoke childhood memories and reinforce brand identity, but to prevent other crayon makers from duplicating the scent.
Other companies have filed trademark applications to register so-called “Zombie” trademarks. Zombie trademarks are previously registered but now abandoned trademarks, which are revived by an unrelated enterprise. Bacardi, for example, is attempting to revive the Havana Club trademark, a brand of Cuban rum that was nationalized after the Cuban Revolution. Another attempt at nostalgia branding.
The New York Times recently reported that Chi-Chi’s, the now defunct restaurant chain, is planning a comeback. Chi-Chi’s closed its doors 20 years ago after a series of ownership changes, bankruptcy, and a hepatitis A outbreak in one of its Pennsylvania restaurants, which killed four and sickened 660. Yet, Michael McDermott, the son of one of Chi-Chi’s founders, is quoted as saying that he had “fond memories” of growing up in Chi-Chi’s restaurants. He announced a deal with Hormel Foods, which owns the Chi-Chi’s trademarks, that will permit him to use CHI-CHI’S on his new line of restaurants. One assumes that Mr. McDermott is hoping that the brand evokes the same sense of nostalgia in new customers as it does for him.
But is 24 years sufficient time to erase memories of the chain’s demise? According to the NYT’s research, food brands recover quickly, and after 24 years, consumers “are unlikely to remember the [hepatitis] outbreak.” According to Jefferey Sharlach, professor at NYU Stern School of Business, “You can’t underestimate how challenging it is to build a brand name from scratch,” he said. “So there is value in the nostalgia, not only in the name recognition and awareness, but also in that emotional appeal.”
Do you have a brand you wish to revive? Contact the lawyers at Lipton, Weinberger & Husick who love working with Zombies.
— Adam G. Garson, Esq.