Branding is nuts

I recently read the Forbes article “Comeback Brands of 2011” which lists 10 well-known consumer brands poised for a comeback this year. These brands never went away; they just lost the public eye. Why? All brands struggle to stay fresh; if they can’t they are in trouble. The comeback brands—including Chevrolet, Levi’s, Pert, and Planters Peanuts—failed to maintain a dialogue with their audiences, they failed to keep the conversation going. That’s why they need to make a comeback.    

What unites them is their effort to tap into nostalgia branding. When we reflect on our past, we tend to have warm memories and positive associations. Our attitudes toward brands are no different. All of the brands featured in the article have long histories and hope to evoke their past brand equity while making it relevant for today. The result aims to reconnect with older audiences while attracting new ones. 

I am a sucker for this. Nostalgia is the reason every Halloween I sneak Necco Wafers out of my kids’ candy stash and every year after I taste one I ask myself, “Why did I just do that?” Nostalgia is why. It connects me to my youth and a simpler time (the fact that the 163-year old candy dates back to before the Abraham Lincoln administration is pretty cool too).

Of the 10 brands featured, Planters Peanuts is making the biggest splash. Planters has a tremendous amount of brand equity in Mr. Peanut, their monocled spokesperson with a top hat and cane who has been a brand icon since 1916. But how to keep him relevant today? How to connect him to a new audience? The answer lies in a three-dimensional makeover and a Facebook page. In the latest TV ads, Mr. Peanut speaks for the first time ever and is voiced by none other than Robert Downey, Jr. Add a new sidekick named Benson and some clever stop motion animation and you have bridged the gap from an old, static two-dimensional logo to a fresh, hip, and sexy icon for the 21st century. The strategy is resonating with new audiences: it created media buzz (getting mentions from traditional media outlets like the New York Times) and its Facebook page has more than 260,000 fans. Not bad for a peanut.