OLD IS THE NEW NEW

After hearing last week about Heinz going back to their original label to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their most famous Cream of Tomato soup, at the weekend whilst at work at Morrison's I noticed we were selling it with the classic 1910 limited edition label. What I also did notice was that allot more people were purchasing the product and of these people the majority seemed to be of an older age, mostly pensioners. This older generation were likely to be attracted to the soup in its original packaging as that is what it would have appeared to be in their generation, giving them an essence of their youth. Clever advertising or innocent idea? 

I then thought about other brands that have used a similar strategy, for example Fairy Liquid returned to the original bottle design to celebrate their 50th birthday. The bottle itself was synonymous with Blue Peter viewers, mostly children who eagerly awaited for the contents of the bottle to be used up so they could create a 'here's one we made earlier' masterpiece. Fifty years later these children, now adults are more likely to purchase the product in it's original bottle in nostalgia for the brand aswell as the existing customers who would already purchase it. However, although the release of the celebratory bottle falls in 2010 on Fairy's 50th anniversary, the brand released figures a year before stating sales were down by 38.8% nevertheless  they still remain to have the biggest market share in the hand dishwash catergory in the UK. Once again... clever advertising or an innocent idea? 

   

Other brands that have explored advertising using this method are Monster Munch, going back to their original characters, packaging and  the crisps themselves have returned to their larger form. Also Aquafresh, Tetley, Milkybar and Milky Way returning to the original state through TV commercials targeting their original audience, an older generation that grew up with the brand. Cadbury's Wispa returned after a Facebook campaign in 2007 stating the bar was in demand.