Even if our teenage years were full of angst, or our childhoods unhappy, we nevertheless can’t help but be touched by the nostalgia of the memories of our youth. Ah nostalgia, that rose-tinted country in which the summers were three years long, ice creams were much bigger and Snickers were called Marathons… There’s power in that there reminiscence, you know. Tapping into a nation’s beloved childhood TV shows, movies, toys, sweets and drinks, even advertisements can buy you über-cool karma from your customers or viewers. Yes! We remember the Clangers too! Let’s be friends!
Nostalgic pickin’s can be incorporated (copyright permitting) into ads, campaigns and promotions. Even mimicking a familiar logo or design has shown to be influential in the reaction it provokes from a potential customer. The affection we feel for the images from our own history seems to hit us in a subconscious way – nothing like a bit of Street Fighter to make you feel all warm and fuzzy and want to buy something eh?
So, without further ado, from Atari to Animaniacs, Zippy to Zepidi, here’s our A-Z* of our generation’s nostalgia for you to muse whimsically (or use for more nefarious, marketing purposes)…
A is for… Atari; The A-Team (Mr T, back in business hitting wusses with Snickers – because he’s got nuts, of course)
B is for… Batman; the infinitely more impressive (and nutritious) Bananaman (“This is 29 Acacia Road. And this is Eric…”); BMX bikes; Bill and Ted; Back to the Future
C is for… Clangers; Converse All Stars; Crackerjack
D is for… Dangermouse; Dungeons & Dragons; dungarees
E is for… Ewoks; Evel Knevel; Espadrilles (the ultimate in embarrassing sunburn)
F is for… Ferris Bueller; The Fantastic Four; Flying Saucers (the cardboard-like sweets that somehow retained their appeal despite their taste); Fuzzy felt
G is for… Garbage Pail Kids; Ghostbusters; Gremlins; Gamesmaster
H is for… Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Happy Days (eyyyyyyy…)
I is for… Inspector Gadget; Ivor the Engine
J is for… The Jetsons; Jackanory; Jim’ll fix it (but only if you want to eat a sandwich on a rollercoaster)
K is for… The Karate Kid; Kola Kubes; Ker-plunk
L is for… The Land Before Time; Little Shop of Horrors; Led Zeppelin; Lego!
M is for… M*A*S*H, The Muppets, The Munsters; Matchbox cars
N is for… The Neverending Story; Nerf balls
O is for… Operation (or: “The Most Annoying Game in the World” – BZZZZZZZ!); Opal fruits
P is for… Puff the Magic Dragon (sob); Pacman (remember the storm the Google logo caused last month?); Pink Panther
Q is for… Queen and overzealous renditions of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
R is for… “Radical” (though if you ever said this in seriousness, please leave now); Record Breakers;
S is for… Star Wars; Soda Streams; Scooby Doo; Scalextric
T is for… Tiswas; Tron; Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
U is for… Uno (aka staving off boredom while camping and ending up killing your siblings over a pick up 4 card…)
V is for… VHS (remember them?)
W is for… Woodstock; Weebles; the Wombles; Wagon wheels
X is for… X-Men – nuff said, still going strong
Y is for… The Young Ones; The Yellow Submarine
Z is for… Zebedee (Magic Roundabout); Zippy (Rainbow)
*This list is obviously not exhaustive, so please feel free to add to it by leaving us a comment with your favourite nostalgic delights…
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Get busy with the fizzy is one of those tag lines i remember as a kid
Shame the drinks where not as good as the add
You’re right Andy, all that fizzing effort and the results were always a bit mediocre!