From Furby to Grimace, brands cash in with nostalgic reboots

NEW YORK – Furby and Polly Pocket are making a comeback – and do not forget McDonald’s Grimace – as businesses deepen bets around consumers’ nostalgia for decades-old brands.

In the most recent quarter, McDonald’s pointed to the fuzzy purple blob Grimace as a particular source of better-than-expected profits.

A berry-flavoured milkshake built around the character, which first appeared in the 1970s, lit up social media and boosted sales in the United States, where the limited-edition drink was available.

“Grimace has been everywhere the past few months – all over the news, and more than three billion views on TikTok,” McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski said in July.

The strong sales are evidence of the “knock-on” benefits to McDonald’s from the advertising blitz, according to trends manager Matt Smith from audience insight company GWI.

“Not only was it a success online, but it also drove people to buy the shake in the restaurant and to buy other products,” he said.

Popular characters such as Grimace are also easy candidates for T-shirts, which amount to “free advertising for McDonald’s”, said Mr Neil Saunders of GlobalData Retail, a company providing business information reports and services. “That’s the icing on the cake.”

Within the marketing universe, this type of revival is known as “brand resurrection”.

“It brings the consumers back to their youth, their good old times,” said Professor Purvi Shah, who teaches marketing at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.

Such products may also give an adult the opportunity to eat or play with something he or she might not have been able to afford when he or she was young, Prof Shah added. She noted that parents might also enjoy sharing the experience with their children.

Mr Saunders said: “There is a bit of comfort in the past. The present is very uncertain. We’ve been through a global pandemic. We now have economic uncertainty, there are wars.”

Memories of an earlier time can produce positive chemicals like serotonin and dopamine and reduce stress, said Prof Shah – as often happens when a person plays a game.

Businesses have long employed nostalgia to sell products, but social media have pushed this trend into overdrive.

Mattel’s Barbie dolls have never left the shelves since the 1960s, but many observers view this summer’s blockbuster movie as another sign of the nostalgia trend.

The Barbie film, which has

earned more than US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) at the global box office,

emphasises the dolls’ different eras and recognises their deeper meaning for older generations.

Mattel retired its Polly Pockets dolls in 2012, only to revive them six years later.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Furby, Hasbro on July 15

launched a reboot of electronic robotic toys

.

The goal is to ignite the same excitement for the new generation by harnessing Furby’s power of nostalgia while giving Gen Alpha everything they crave, said Hasbro, noting that it sold more than 40 million of the original version within three years.

“Furby is already a hot seller, with initial allocations selling out in under 72 hours,” said Hasbro chief executive Chris Cocks earlier in August.

Mr Smith sees the same drive for nostalgia in movie spin-offs, sequels and reboots such as The Lion King and The Little Mermaid.

The television series Stranger Things, which premiered in 2016 but is set in the 1980s, has given a boost to British musician Kate Bush’s 1985 hit Running Up That Hill, which has been streamed more than one billion times since being featured in Season 4.

Mr Smith said: “It’s easier to get people on board with recognisable imagery. And it’s more cost-effective than developing a new intellectual property.”

McDonald’s is readying another oldie-but-goodie. The chain plans to revive CosMc – an alien character seen in advertisements from 1986 to 1992 – for a new restaurant concept it will test in early 2024. AFP