As I wrap up my last week at de Novo before retiring and starting a new chapter, I am feeling nostalgic.

Thirteen years ago, I had an idea for a marketing firm that took a slightly alternative approach to marketing on behalf of our (then nonexistent) clients. I wanted to bring big ideas, experiential marketing and an approach that focused on the clients' needs, not our own.

Thinking back on those first few years—working in a closet-sized office with one desk, painting the wall in our office six times until we got the exact right shade of red, growing our team from just one person to eighteen, and meeting with hundreds of potential clients, listening to their challenges and bringing them creative, strategic solutions—reminds me why all this seemed like a good idea in the first place.

While I'm excited for my next adventure, it's impossible not to reflect on all I'm going to miss.

In our summer series on nostalgia in marketing, we’ve written a lot about what people are interested in. As our official amateur/armchair behavioral economist, I want to dig into the “why” of this trend.

If you would have offered me a beer five or so years ago, I wouldn’t have touched it with a 10-foot pole. But thanks to recommendations from friends, I slowly began to broaden my horizons and discover all the diversity and creativity that exists in this industry. Fast forward 885 beers, numerous craft brewery visits and countless beer festivals later—you could say that craft beer has grown on me. (Sorry domestics, still not a fan.)

What was my first day at de Novo like, you may ask? Well for starters we made stress relief slime for team meeting and I was greeted with a “Welcome Hayden” potluck. Moments like these gave me reassurance that this place would soon feel like a second home. Since I am obsessed with formulating my thoughts into lists, I have listed some key takeaways as well as some of my favorite memories from my summer interning at de Novo: 

The Golden Age of the Arcade

Video game technology has been quickly advancing since the first console, the Magnavox Odyssey, came out in 1972. When it was first brought to market, the Odyssey was a total novelty—the term “video game” didn’t exist yet. Marketed as “the new electronic game of the future,” it featured many familiar components that would come to dominate home consoles, including detachable controllers and interchangeable game cartridges.

If I'm being honest, I have no clue how a record player works. Growing up, I would look at older models used as decoration in my uncle's den. Now, they're in the living rooms of my trendiest  friends and have become a welcomed guest at any get-together.

According to a study by Statista, vinyl record sales have been steadily increasing since the mid-2000s, with 900k records sold in 2006 compared to 16.8m in 2018. How can today's advertisers, marketers and brands take advantage of this continued growth?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

As the iconic Jay Gatsby once said, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”

The fashion industry exemplifies these famous words by its never-ending recycling of trends. It seems that every trend in the fashion industry sees the light of day more than once. I think certain trends are timeless, and there is a direct tie between nostalgia and the fashion industry. Fashion serves as a time capsule, transporting people back to their favorite decades to reminisce about “the good ole days.” The fashion industry can also serve as a mechanism to help people who believe they were born in the wrong decade imagine what would have been.

To start, I don’t consider myself to be all that nostalgic. Maybe growing up in the Reagan-era 1980s had something to do with that. While I’m sure I’d get an argument from the younger members of the office, I don't feel much came out of the 1980s to be nostalgic about. The Cold War. Rampant conservatism. Atrocious music. This.