Retro advertising in a recession

Posted by Christine Dunstone on March 31st, 2009 at 3:45pm

The resurrection of Streets Golden Gaytime 80’s advertising brings two questions to mind. Firstly, was a retro ad the only ‘safe’ means to advertise a product with many gay connotations to a mass audience? The 80’s ad brings a feeling of freedom and innocence that may be difficult to capture in 2009, with a product name such as ‘Gaytime’. The use of a retro ad also adds an authenticity to the campaign and longevity to the product.

According to the Streets website ‘Gaytime stands for a sunny outlook in life brought to life by its packaging. The use of the sun and golden colours encapsulates a typical Gaytime scene.’ However, many a consumer has had fun with the name. Interestingly the launch is also well timed for the Sydney Mardi Gras.

Secondly, are we now going to see a mass launch of old campaigns in the guise of retro being cool but in reality a cheap way of advertising in a recession? Resurrecting an old campaign reduces production costs but it is still important to test that the campaign will still resonate with the target audience. (Streets tested the campaign in Queensland with a successful increase in sales.)

Many brands have stood the test of time, along with many similar campaigns so it will be interesting to see if we have a run of retro advertising from the 70’s and 80’s. Will Streets resurrect the Paddle Pop Lion to full status rather than just a packaging icon, and will Colgate put Mrs Marsh and her chalk back on our screens?

Permalink

Posted in Advertising