Advertisers make pitch for the good old days

Nostalgic commercials and brands are being revived as advertisers seek to tap into recession-ridden Britons' urge for security and predictability.

With the industry set to suffer through the downturn - Enders Analysis, a consultancy, predicts a 30 per cent decline in display advertising spending before the economy recovers - the denizens of the ad agency world are themselves mistily harking back to happier times.

That nostalgia is creeping into their advertising. Hovis has resurrected its cycling delivery boy and cobbled street last seen in Ridley Scott's famous 1973 advertisement, which was itself an exercise in nostalgia. The new ad won the "campaign of the year" award from the trade magazine Campaign.

A string of brands' anniversaries has also given advertisers the opportunity to indulge in a bout of nostalgia - and save money into the bargain.

Guinness will this year re-broadcast eight of its ads dating back to 1955 to mark its 250th anniversary, while last year Lego replayed a famous 1981 ad to celebrate its 50th birthday.

The nostalgic trend applies to classic brands as well as individual campaigns. Mars repackaged its Starburst sweets under their old name Opal Fruits for a promotion in Asda. Cadbury has sold 70m Wispa bars after reintroducing the chocolate snack in October after a campaign for its return on Facebook attracted 40,000 signatories.

"In times of uncertainty people like to hark back to the finer things of the past," explains David Kershaw, chief executive of M&C Saatchi, an advertising agency. "That is quite a natural human response. People understand there are emotional strings to be pulled by going to people's past - as much for the baby boomers of the golden days of the 1980s as the cobbled streets of Hovis." Earlier this year, M&C Saatchi produced a poster for East Midlands trains with Art Deco styling to evoke the golden age of rail, a theme Virgin Trains' marketing has also featured.

At heart, such campaigns are appealing to a greater sense of value and what is really worth paying for.

"There is definitely a truth that in times of uncertainty, people cling to things that were for real and for sure," says Richard Pinder, chief operating officer at Publicis Worldwide, an advertising agency. "There is a desire for substance. People are looking for a little less show and a little more go. If you are seen to be taking a fancy holiday or buying a flashy new car, it looks out of kilter with the times."

"A lot of brands thrive on long-term relationships," adds Heather Alderson, commercial strategy director at BBH, for many years the agency behind Levi's ads. "In a way that's why you have brands at all. Great advertising from your own childhood can help you do that." The threat to consumer-goods brands of customers switching to supermarkets' own-label products means this is a good time to remind people of their historical attachments, she says.

Ms Alderson adds that the trend may have focused on confectionery because of growing restrictions on advertising to children.

"I do wonder whether it's because those brands can no longer start a relationship with children, so they are digging up mums' own relationships."

But some marketers argue that nostalgia is itself an old tactic. "[Hovis] are going back to nostalgia because that fits their brand," says Ben Langdon, chief executive of Digital Marketing Group and an industry veteran. "In difficult times, if advertisers know from research that something works, they run an old ad. They have already sunk the production budget, so it's a low-risk option."