Brand leads are very much in the mode of trying to mitigate risk. They want to compete with their peers, but investing time and money into launching a brand-new product that’s relatively unproven is increasingly seen as being too risky. The way that many are getting around this is by reverting back to classic products.
Left out of stores or websites for long enough, brands can essentially bring back a classic as though it’s a new product. The added bonus, of course, is that newer customers will think it’s new, while older customers will recognize it as a trusted and proven product, with the familiarity pushing the purchase.
Entertainment Industry Going Big on the Bring Back
The entertainment industry has been scared of risk for quite some time – especially when considering big-budget film. Franchises, reboots, prequels, sequels, and all manner of general retreads have been the theme for several years. However, the bringing back of classics has taken a different form to this approach.
Recognizing the quality of classic films, many cinemas have turned to putting on the greatest and most talked-about films of yesteryear. The appeal here is that, even though they can be easily accessed at home, anyone who didn’t get to see Caligula or The Lord of the Rings during their few-month run years ago now gets that experience.
It’s not just at cinemas, either. Viewers are keen to have access to trusted creations that deliver on high-quality storytelling. That’s why headlines continue to be made around older films flying up the Netflix charts. It wasn’t long ago that Forrest Gump was suddenly surging past much newer films on the streamer despite its 1994 release.
It’s not just in film and television that brands are pushing their classic to new audiences, either. In online gaming, many players will have seen the Rainbow Riches bingo slot rise up the charts. Originally released in 2009, the slot with leprechaun-powered features cuts out the extra noise of more modern games for a classic video slot experience.
Brands Reverting to Classics Everywhere
Whether it’s in fashion, food, or everything in between, we’ve seen a whole bunch of brands bring back retro aesthetics and classic products to mix up the market. Pepsi has brought back the short-lived 1994 drink Crystal Pepsi, Levi’s brought back the Silvertab baggy jean, and Target teamed up with Iconic Candy to stock its shelves.
One of the most notable pivots back to classics comes in the form of Nokia. A titan of the pre-touchscreen era of mobile phones, over the past few years, Nokia has made the button phones their feature devices. That said, they couldn’t resist a certain modern trend, as Tech Radar reported, with their new releases featuring an AI button.
Reverting back to button phones is a particularly bold move as touchscreens took over because they’re more intuitive, straightforward, and convenient. That said, in the current market, Nokia can rely on its former expertise as a market leader only now in the niche of “dumb phones.”
Bringing back the classics is a strong trend right now, and what appears to be the path to success is to not be too cute about it. Re-releasing products that were provably popular in the past is the way to catch the trend while it’s hot.
