In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, brands face the ongoing challenge of remaining relevant to younger consumers. For Gen Z, traditional marketing strategies often miss the mark. This generation is as brand-savvy as top marketers, crafting online personas that are integral to their identities, much like their offline habits.
Gen Z is a highly aware and somewhat brand-synical generation. To effectively connect with them, brands must understand the uncertain world in which they’ve formed their identities. With a life rooted in online experiences and shifting social, political, and economic boundaries, this generation gravitates toward short-lived trends and memes that evoke a sense of nostalgia—often not for distant decades, but for more recent times.
The “brat summer” trend, characterized by its early-2000s low-fi aesthetic, perfectly illustrates this phenomenon. This viral trend has permeated various aspects of culture, even prompting a high-profile rebranding effort for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
If it’s resonating with a presidential contender, it’s worth considering for your brand. However, as the ‘Brat Summer’ aesthetic intertwines nostalgia for simpler times with the rapid-fire trend cycle of the internet, brands can find it challenging to keep pace.
While nostalgia branding may seem rooted in the past, Gen Z is actively creating short-term nostalgic trends in a forward-thinking manner. Let’s explore how your brand can harness the power of current trends to engage with this younger audience.
The Power of Nostalgia Branding for Gen Z
Nostalgia branding taps into deep emotions, making it an effective strategy for connecting with consumers across all age groups—77% of people find this enduring trend compelling. By evoking cherished memories and a sense of comfort, brands can foster strong connections with their audience. Traditionally, this has involved referencing older eras like the ’70s, ’80s, or ’90s, targeting times that resonate with the intended audience.
However, nostalgia resonates differently for Gen Z, a generation raised in the digital age with a diverse array of cultural references at their fingertips. Even though they were born long after the ‘80s beach culture associated with brands like Vacation, the visual aesthetic is still instantly recognizable to them. Yet, Gen Z isn’t just nostalgic for the distant past; they also yearn for elements from their own formative years and the recent past.
A Shorter Cycle of Nostalgia Trends
The internet has drastically shortened the cycle of trends, making the present feel like the past in no time, which creates fertile ground for nostalgia branding. What once took decades to evoke nostalgia can now happen in just a few years. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter facilitate rapid trend cycles where ideas can go viral and fade away almost instantly, allowing brands to quickly adapt and capitalize on these trends.
Today, “nostalgia” can encompass a wide range of references. While past branding efforts often looked back to decades with different value systems—such as family and freedom—Gen Z, and to some extent Millennials, find nostalgia in more recent experiences.
How Brands Can Leverage Online Trends to Engage Audiences
The fast-paced cycle of memes and trends creates a potent mix for crafting impactful marketing strategies, but it can also overwhelm brands trying to keep up.
However, successfully tapping into short-term internet nostalgia offers significant opportunities for engagement and authenticity. Here’s how to do it:
- Stay on Top of Trends
Monitor social media platforms where trends originate. Use tools like Google Trends, Twitter’s trending topics, and TikTok’s Discover page to stay informed.
While you can’t predict the specifics of every trend—like the unexpected rise of neon tones and lower-case typography in Brat—recognizing broader templates like “something summer” is essential. With “hot girl summer” and “hot vax summer” behind us, Brat summer is heating up this July. Brands should be ready to leverage relevant memes and microtrends.
- Be Authentic
In an increasingly superficial online landscape, Gen Z values authenticity in both brands and their own lives. When leveraging nostalgia, it’s crucial to do so genuinely. Avoid pandering; instead, create content that meaningfully connects your brand to nostalgic trends, such as Old Spice’s vintage barber shop theme. - Collaborate with Influencers
Influencers who resonate with Gen Z can amplify your message. Partner with those aligned with the trend to create sponsored content that feels organic and relatable. A notable example is the collaboration between luxury brand Marc Jacobs and a TikTok account recreating soap opera drama with Sylvanian Families, which resonated well with Gen Z. - Use Visual Storytelling
Visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok are ideal for nostalgia branding, allowing you to use past aesthetics to craft striking visual content—think Vacation’s sun-kissed ‘70s vibe. Nostalgia evokes emotional responses, and since half of our brain’s processing power is dedicated to visual input, impactful imagery is key. - Engage in Conversations
By aligning with the latest trends, your brand joins the broader conversation. Remember to comment on posts, share user-generated content, and utilize hashtags to integrate your brand into the community. Meaningful engagement ensures that you’re not just reacting to trends but actively participating in shaping the next one.
Conclusion
Brands need to exercise caution when leveraging short-term trends for long-term engagement. While the Brat aesthetic is widely recognized among younger consumers, less than 6% of those over 45 are familiar with it. Understanding your audience is crucial; without this knowledge, your efforts may miss the mark.
For younger consumers, engaging with timely trends fosters a perception of authenticity in the brands they encounter online. Connecting with Gen Z requires a nuanced understanding of their unique relationship with trends and nostalgia. Short-term trends like “brat summer” demonstrate how recent nostalgia can serve as a powerful engagement tool.
By staying ahead of trends, maintaining authenticity, collaborating with influencers, creating interactive content, employing visual storytelling, and participating in conversations, brands can forge meaningful connections with younger audiences.
