Dive Brief:
- Instacart is jumping on the craze for ‘90s nostalgia while slashing prices on select foods to match what they were during the decade, according to news shared with Marketing Dive.
- A national brand campaign, “Summer Like It’s 1999,” shows modern kids embracing touchstones from the era, including ultra-baggy jeans and pump-action water guns. “Never Let You Go” and “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind soundtrack the creative.
- Instacart is also lowering prices by up to 47.2% on items millennials grew up with, such as Capri-Sun and Bagel Bites. The effort ties together fondness for the past while catering to consumers who are increasingly seeking value when shopping for groceries.
Dive Insight:
Instacart didn’t exist until 2012, but that isn’t stopping the grocery delivery platform from capitalizing on the current wave of ‘90s and Y2K nostalgia. The company’s latest campaign, which runs through Sept. 5, trots out the decade’s hits while supporting a promotion that slashes prices on products that had their heyday in the era of grunge rock and Beanie Babies. The pricing strategy may boost transactions on Instacart this summer as consumers continue to grapple with inflation when shopping for everyday food items.
The campaign’s concept ties back to survey findings that 79% of U.S. consumers who grew up in the ‘90s often reflect on summers from their childhood, according to research backed by Harris Poll data and commissioned by Instacart. Additionally, 53% of respondents appreciated the lack of smartphones and social media during those years, per the survey. New spots running across linear TV, over-the-top, online video and social try to capture the look and feel of commercials from the ‘90s.
In one ad, “90s are Back,” a millennial instructs a younger peer on the ropes of her childhood rituals, including stabbing a Capri-Sun straw into the juice packet in the correct fashion, preparing Bagel Bites in the oven without singeing one’s mouth and blowing on old-school video game cartridges to get them to work. “Semi-Charmed Life,” from 1997, plays in the background. Another commercial, “Family Outing,” sees a family leave the house, Instacart bag in hand, on bikes and skateboards while sporting elephant-leg jeans and jamming to “Never Let You Go.”
“We saw an opportunity to deliver fun and nostalgia through the brands that defined the era,” said Taylor Erin, executive creative director at Instacart, in a statement. “With our ‘Summer Like It’s 1999’ campaign, we wanted every detail, from the butterfly clips and the fish-eye lens to the Third Eye Blind soundtrack, to help people relive those memories.”
Instacart continues to try and build its brand by relying on the icons of businesses that sell through its platform. The company made its Super Bowl debut in February with a spot that united recognizable mascots from several CPG brands, including the Mountain Dew Puppy Monkey Baby, Cheetos’ Chester Cheetah and The Pillsbury Doughboy.
