Starting a new brand is risky. You have to convince consumers to pay for something they’ve never tried or even heard of before. If you don’t get the marketing and packaging right, shoppers won’t buy it, and if you don’t get the product right, shoppers won’t buy it more than once. But what if you started with a brand that consumers already know and love? Some savvy entrepreneurs have made the realization that resurrecting old brands and appealing consumer nostalgia has advantages over starting new ones. As we’ve mentioned before, consumers are not always rational when making purchase decisions, thus appealing to their emotions by inciting nostalgia can pay off big.
Let’s take a look at a few of the brands that are being pulled out of memory and back onto shelves:
Original New York Seltzer
Starting in 1981, hip consumers had a fun alternative to the artificial flavors of the big sodas: Original New York Seltzer (ONYS), a clear soda with no artificial flavors, colors, or additives that came in a small, heavy glass bottle. The father-and-son team Alan and Randy Miller created the brand with recipes adapted from Alan’s father, a Czech immigrant who sold seltzer out of a horse-drawn carriage in Brooklyn.
Success may have gone to Randy’s head—he became known for stunts like leaping off tall buildings and bringing tigers to the office. When ONYS started to crumble in the early 1990s, he moved on to training exotic animals for movies.
Beverage industry insider Ryan Marsh took over the company and brought back six of the original flavors (peach, raspberry, cream soda, lemon and lime, root beer, and black cherry), which are now available at retailers nationwide.
Clearly Canadian
Another beloved quirky soda company, whose flavors included loganberry and mango peach, Clearly Canadian a hit from its introduction in 1988 through the 1990s. But a series of bad business decisions led to a halt in production in 2009 and bankruptcy in 2010. The brand would have been gone forever if not for venture capitalist Robert H. Kahn, who snapped up the company when it went on sale in 2013.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” Kahn said in an interview. “I couldn’t believe that the Canadians themselves weren’t doing everything they could to keep the brand alive.”
He ran a successful crowdsourcing campaign to sell 25,000 cases, which funded production of four flavors (blackberry, wild cherry, peach, and raspberry). After some delays, the first 9,000 cases were shipped in December and, according to the Clearly Canadian Facebook page, full production will start by spring.
Hydrox
Many people think of Hydrox cookies as off-brand Oreos, but they were actually the original chocolate-and-creme sandwich cookie, introduced in 1908. Unlike Oreos, which at the time were made with lard, Hydrox cookies were always vegetarian and kosher, and their flavor was less sweet. Hydrox cookies were manufactured by Sunshine Brands for nearly 90 years, but the brand faltered after a purchase, rebranding, and acquisition. The reformulated Droxies were discontinued by Kellogg’s in 2003.
Entrepreneur Ellia Kassoff had already successfully rescued his favorite childhood candy, Astro Pops, from oblivion, so he set his sight on his favorite childhood cookies next. After proving that Kellogg’s had let the trademark languish, he got control of the Hydrox copyright and set about recreating the taste he remembered. He bought a sealed package off Craigslist to find the ingredient list, and then he tracked down the original chocolate and vanilla manufacturers.
“I think we have an opportunity, especially with millennials that love original products,” he told Planet Money.
Nostalgic consumers can now find Hydrox at select stores and on Amazon.
Tags: Consumer BehaviorDecision MakingEmotional ResponseExperiencing SelfEye TrackingGlobal RetailingMass MerchantsPackage DesignProduct DesignRetailShopper ResearchTrends