For something to be considered a part of popular culture, it needs to have mass appeal to a broad audience. That’s a rarity these days given the ocean of content available to us, at any time. 

There are more than 5 million podcasts. More than 800,000 TV programs across streaming services. There are roughly 100 million songs. And there have been at least 800 million videos uploaded to YouTube. 

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Psychologist Joanne Frederick believes the fragmentation of our cultural landscape is what, in part, has helped fuel Gen Z’s profound interest in decades old TV shows, clothing styles and music.

“Because there is so much information Gen Z can choose to consume, they lack the shared experiences previous generations had when everyone saw the same commercials, watched the same TV shows, or listened to the same music,” Dr. Frederick told Her Campus. 

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And it’s not just Gen Z that is interested in diving back into the past. Research firm GWI surveyed more than 6,000 adults ages 18-64 and found that 53% say they feel “happy” when they engage with media from the past, and 40% feel “comforted” by it. 

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But we don’t just have to look only at research and data. The proof is also in the shake. McDonald’s found enormous success reintroducing Grimace to the world for his 52nd birthday. The already popular campaign truly took off when content creator Austin Frazier shared his death-by-Grimace-shake video. By the end of the summer, #GrimaceShake clocked 3.5 billion views on TikTok and sales were said to be boosted by more than 11 percent.  

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In the future, we think more brands will and should leverage retro artifacts and assets into their marketing efforts like Pepsi did when it reintroduced “Crystal Pepsi” for its 125th anniversary and Nike did when it reissued the John McEnroe “Mac Attack” with a Travis Scott campaign. 

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The key is using retro elements in unexpected and modern ways: reintroducing old jingles as TikTok audio, creating limited-edition products with discontinued flavors; and bringing back “retired” characters in surprising collabs.

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