Brands in the Retrospective - A consumer motivation study (ePub)

Master's Thesis from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 8 (1,7), Maastricht University (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Department of Marketing), language: English, abstract: One notable trend that can be observed in the 21st century is the increasing visibility of objects that stem from or look like products of past times. In nearly every market segment consumers nowadays can find products from bygone decades. Concerning automobiles, for example, the industry offers the New Beetle of Volkswagen, a modernised version of the Mini Cooper of BWM, and the PT Cruiser of Chrysler. With regard to furniture, consumers witness the reoccurrence of beanbags, inflatable chairs and fringed carpets (Flokati), just like the ones that were popular during the 70ies. Fashion companies like Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) and C&A (founders: Clemens & August Brenninkmeyer), as well as sports wear producers like Adidas and Puma, offer clothes that look like the fashion from the 60ies or 80ies. Taking a closer look to the German market, the TV broadcasts 80ies TV-shows, such as for example "Die 80er Jahre Show" (translation: The 80ies show) or the "Comeback Show". Add to this, nightclubs and cafes are even decorated with 70ies wallpaper. Furthermore, the beverage industry offers soft drinks and syrups that were popular during the 70ies and 80ies such as TRiTOP, Bluna and Afri Cola (Eberenz, 2003; Seidel, 2003).

Sometimes, these products are just nostalgia styled like the PT Cruiser. The vehicle looks partly like a "1920s gangster car, part[ly like a] 1950s hot rod and part[ly like a] London taxicab" (Ball, 1999). However, other products appear with the name of a once very prominent brand. These brands had either completely disappeared from the market or had become for some reason unfavourable in the eyes of consumers and sales levelled towards zero.