Nostalgia is a glitch!

Is this a newsletter or the console section of an electronics store?

I can assure you, it’s the former - but both the ads listed above drive home a brilliant point and principle.

In Playstation’s ad, you track the evolution of a dorm room and playstation itself, with the camera circling around the same room tracking changes that happen with every era, jumping through 18 years and multiple playstation devices. 

In the Xbox ad - excuse me while I cry into my pillow for the next 10 minutes - we’re back. We see a YouTube comment from a gamer get transformed into a rather emotional ad - where he recounts a spiritual experience of having his dad pay him a visit in the form of their shared favourite video game, much after his passing. 

Two competitors, two ads, one principle to drive the message home - Nostalgia, a mainstay with some of the most successful campaigns in the recent past(read: Rahul Dravid holding a bat and going against his grain as Indira Nagar ka Gunda).

Nostalgia is the reason your grandfather talks about the “Good old days” every single time he spots you using your smartphone during family dinners. It’s the reason you and your very adult friends go back to being teenagers at your school reunions. It’s the reason why the biggest studios are reviving spinoffs and sequels to classic franchises from the 80s, 90s and 2000s - however, I will not be commenting on the quality of these revivals (#notmyreginageorge).

What I particularly love about this particular ad’s use of nostalgia is the number of things it conveys with a very simple narrative. Here’s the complete breakdown of why it hits the nail on the head. 

Marketing often uses nostalgia to make products seem more valuable and evoke a sense of a lost "golden age." But why is this so effective?  Can a company with only 30 years of history, lacking the legacy or cultural impact of older brands, successfully use nostalgia marketing?

Why nostalgia works!

Before diving into the ad, let’s break down why nostalgia works as a narrative device in advertisements.

Timelessness: Pretty straightforward. Simply telling you how long a brand has been around is the quickest way to establish trust and tell you that it’s a brand and product the has stood strong against the biggest enemy for businesses - time. 

Shared experiences: Nostalgia helps you tap into the universality of shared experiences and becomes a positive and easy way to establish relatability. 

The positivity bias: Our brains are wired to remember and focus on positive memories, which naturally evokes a feeling of comfort and safety while revisiting the past. Nostalgia activates the brain’s reward system, leading to the release of dopamine, which helps reinforce a sense of positivity to your memories. 

The ad employs these three principles to the fullest.

Be careful: Brands shouldn't boast about themselves. Nobody likes a narcissist. Instead, be a way for customers to connect with a bigger and more meaningful idea. Will this ad work without the additional storytelling about the guy and his progress in life? 

The Gamer legacy

If you’re like me, your first thought would have been something on the lines of “Playstation? Nostalgia? Legacy? It’s not that old!”. But unfortunately, that’s where we’re wrong. Yes, there’s a legacy. Yes, it’s been around long enough for people to get nostalgic about it, and yes, we’re old. Let’s move on.

Both Playstation and XBox are masters at establishing an identity brand, If you’re a playstation loyalist, the brand becomes a part of your identity. “I’m a Playstation person, not an Xbox person” and vice versa is a common term you hear if you’ve ever had a friend who’s an avid gamer. 

“For the Players Since 1995” is a fantastic line to open the conversation and talk to your audience - it evokes a sense of belonging and pride that comes with being associated with a device that redefined pop culture and entertainment. You bring nostalgia into the play, you have something for every demographic of your audience - from the first adopters that set it up in front of a scratchy TV in their dorm room, to the cool kids who’re setting up the latest device in front of a sleek LED TV. 

“Player 2” by Xbox carries a similar effect - the moment you read it, you’re transported back to two plugged joysticks in front of a TV screen during summer vacation(Or unplugged, if your elder sibling was anything like me. My sincerest apologies to my younger brother). Everyone has been Player 2. A very recognizable, relatable term becomes a hook to a the wholesome story that follows. 

The gaming experience

Gaming has evolved from being a hobby to a full-blown industry that can make you a millionaire if you play your cards right(No pun intended). Everyone who has played any game at any point in their life has a story associated with it. 

These ad reminds you of the fact that, irrespective of whether you’re a Playstation user or an XBox user, you automatically become a part of a larger narrative and group of people who share one common interest with you. 

It employs a simple storyline and setting - a dorm room in a college across the years. A common ground for many gamers' origin story. Or, it happened right at home, with a parent or a sibling. Even if you’re not a sophomore that started gaming in a dorm room, you somehow have a similar story and similar elements associated with it - a bunch of friends, a dedicated area where you played your video games, and a sense of euphoria when you cross the difficult levels. 

The engaging visuals

If you boil it down to the bottom of it, the narrative here is the simplest narrative anyone could go for - to show the passing of time. 

It’s the elements within and the level of detailing that makes this ad special. Like I mentioned in the beginning of this article, there were so many details to notice - right from the posters on the wall, to the clothes in the wardrobe, to the lone energy drink can standing on the shelf, and all of this was shot in a single take. 

The ad also provides you with a great visual cue for the transition to each era - the window that looks out into the changing time, which creates a sense of continuity and makes you expect the next transition - a great way to keep your audience engaged and have them wait till the end(If anyone clicked on the ‘Skip ad’ button for this ad when it first played, I feel sorry for them). However, the one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb here is the fact that it can come across as gimmicky, to capitalize on a human emotion but focus more on the brand than the humans involved.

A direct contrast to this is the XBox ad, which focuses on one single person and his experience - the brand and product merely play supporting characters and the human emotion takes center stage.

Hey, we’re not picking sides - the latter just did it better. 

With visuals that hijack your eyes and mind, and a principle like nostalgia that has you hooked from the word go, the ad ends up conveying everything it wanted to say and more. 

What are other ads that you’ve watched that have utilised nostalgia effectively? Let us know! 

Psssst. Our previous issue spoke about another commonly used principle - and how the British Royal Army offered a whole new twist to it. Read it here.

Disclaimer: This newsletter is not AI-generated. We still believe in the power of the written word that comes straight from the mind and heart and jumps on to the paper - or, we’re just too broke to afford an LLM subscription. We’ll stick with the former.

However, AI can still improve your productivity and be a great buddy to streamline your workflows. Should you want an AI-writing co-pilot, check out DEFTGPT. Click here for a trial Link.

FOR LAST WEEK’S ISSUE. CLICK HERE.