Trending: The nostalgic renaissance
In 2022, a song nearly four decades old suddenly became the soundtrack to millions of TikTok videos. Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill re-entered global charts after being featured in Netflix’s Stranger Things (Official Charts), reminding us that the past is never really gone—it only waits for the right moment to return. This was not an isolated moment. It was another sign of how nostalgia has become one of the most powerful forces in today’s media and communication landscape. From Y2K aesthetics on Gen Z’s Instagram feeds to the endless wave of Hollywood reboots, our collective past is being repackaged as one of the most reliable emotional triggers in modern storytelling.
For communication and marketing professionals, nostalgia is not just about aesthetic choices. It is about the way it shapes human behaviour. Psychologists note that nostalgia reduces stress, increases optimism, and strengthens social connection (APA). Social media platforms have turned this insight into product design. TikTok’s VHS filters, Instagram’s “On This Day” reminders, and Spotify’s time capsule playlists are not accidents—they are deliberate features that keep users engaged. This means nostalgia has moved from being a mood to being infrastructure, embedded in the way we share and consume media.
Traditionally, cultural nostalgia followed a predictable cycle: every twenty years styles and sounds would return, refreshed for a new generation. But in the digital age, that rhythm has collapsed. The 2020s see multiple eras trending simultaneously. TikTok’s For You feed can shift in seconds from 80s synth tracks to 90s sitcom aesthetics to Y2K party fashion. Much of this is what researchers call “borrowed nostalgia” or “fauxstalgia”: Gen Z embracing objects and symbols of times they never experienced. Wired headphones, disposable cameras, flip phones and even early internet interfaces are valued not for what they did, but for what they represent—an imagined authenticity that predates algorithmic feeds (Science Survey on Gen Z Y2K).
This shift matters deeply for communication strategy. Nostalgia no longer belongs only to those who remember. It has become a cultural language of belonging that spans generations. But it is also a language that can easily ring hollow. Heritage packaging, retro campaigns or superficial “throwback Thursdays” often fail because they signal costume rather than connection. Audiences today, especially Gen Z and Millennials, are highly attuned to whether nostalgia is meaningful or manipulative. They can sense the difference between a genuine bridge to shared values and a brand dressing itself in old clothes.
Nostalgia also carries responsibility. It is never neutral; it tells selective stories about the past, often ignoring who was excluded at the time. It can comfort, but it can also distort. For communicators the challenge is to use memory as context, not as decoration. Done well, nostalgia does not trap us in loops—it helps us move. It blends familiar cultural codes with today’s values, making space for conversations that feel both safe and new. This is what some call “neo-nostalgia”: re-using the past while adding inclusivity, sustainability and digital literacy as contemporary lenses (Dutch Design Agency on neo-nostalgia).
The practical question is simple: what does going back allow people to do next? If it only leads them to buy the same thing in the same way, nostalgia is a trap. If it helps them connect with others, articulate a longing, or imagine a better present, then it becomes a bridge. That is the difference between pastiche and progress.
At EPHOR Co. we believe communication should never exploit memory for its own sake. Nostalgia is one of many cultural signals that reveal what audiences need. Sometimes that need is comfort, sometimes it is authenticity, sometimes it is simply permission to pause. The role of a communicator is to translate those signals into stories and actions that build trust rather than weaken it.
Nostalgia will remain part of our cultural and digital fabric, enhanced by virality. It will keep surfacing in music, fashion, television and social feeds. The question is not whether to use it, but how. If you want to explore how nostalgia—and other undercurrents such as digitalisation, AI or generational change—are shaping your audiences, let’s talk.
📩 alex@ephor.io | 🌐 ephor.io
