The remembrance of ads past is fueled by more than old-fashioned nostalgia. Some experts believe it’s a response to the new financial facts of life for the advertising business. Big companies are cutting back | their advertising budgets as corporate earnings fall from those of the heady days of the ’80s. In these less certain times, campaigns that won over the public once look attractive again. Yet critics of the trend worry that playing it safe may discourage innovation.
There seem to be as many reasons to bring back old ads as there are old ads to bring back. Often it’s not the ad agency but the manufacturer that wants a revival. Timex was afraid that the “licking” line it made famous in the 1950s had taken on a life of its own. “The slogan was disconnecting from the product; it’s used all over now,” says C. Michael Jacobi, vice president of marketing and sales. Maypo revived its 1950s slogan to woo parents who grew up saying “I want my Maypo.” Wendy’s will bring back its 1984 “Where’s the beef ?” line to plug a particular product, the double half-pound burger, in test markets this summer. McDonald’s re-released some of its most memorable ads to celebrate its 35th anniversary. And Coca-Cola used the “Hilltop Reunion” commercial to introduce a new slogan, “Can’t Beat the Real Thing”–a combination of last year’s tag line, “Can’t Beat the Feeling” and “The Real Thing,” the 1971 slogan.
Most ad revivals involve more than just putting out an ad one more time. Advertisers often use the opportunity to place a new spin on an old idea. Timex decided this time around to make the “Takes a licking” ads humorous. In one, a watch is taped to the belly of a sumo wrestler to show how durable the timepiece is. Wendy’s, instead of having an elderly woman ask where the beef is, has an announcer pose the question; Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas responds, “I know where the beef is.” Maypo uses its old ad to entice a new audience. The new spot starts with a scene from the classic black-and-white commercial. Then the actor who played the whining boy comes on the screen, all grown up, to say that he eats the cereal today because it’s nutritious–a claim aimed at the health-conscious thirty-something market.
Coca-Cola hardly rested on its laurels in organizing the “Hilltop Reunion” commercial. The original 30-second spot featured a group of young people assembled from about 30 different countries. Before Coke could have its reunion, the company had to hire Pinkerton detectives to track down some of them. Coke thinks the final result was well worth it. The original cast members sing their song, while their children run across the screen singing Coke’s pop anthem of the 1980s. “It bridged the generations,” says spokesman Bob Bertini. “The whole message was timely: brotherhood and unity.”
Played out? Not everyone thinks that golden oldies make for good advertising. “The problem is what sold then might not sell now,” says Dave Vadehra, president of Video Storyboards Tests Inc., a New York advertising-research company. “Times have changed. In the ’50s ‘Keeps on ticking’ was a good thing; maybe half the watches in the country stopped. But today everything ticks.” Vadehra says some agencies use the ads as an easy way to guarantee that the public will recognize a product. Even some ad executives concede the nostalgia kick can go too far. “I’d much prefer bright new advertising campaigns that start new trends,” says Hank Seiden, chairman of Ketchum Advertising/New York, which was responsible for the return of the Maypo and Riunite slogans. Although he defends those spots, Seiden warns against complacently assuming that success in the past will ensure success again. “If [the revived ad] doesn’t fit your marketing strategy today, then it’s wrong,” he says.
Few advertisers would disagree. Wendy’s Lynch points out that competition is too fierce to waste time and money on an ad that won’t sell the product. To justify a revival, “you need news,” he says. Still other manufacturers argue that there’s nothing wrong with sticking with what works. Yet the risk of the retro trend is that some agencies may be missing opportunities to create tomorrow’s nostalgia. Twenty years from now, it will be the best new ads from 1990 that will still be ticking.
