September 28, 2025
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Good morning.
Today’s newsletter aims to take you back to a time when the hottest cellphones were Sidekicks, low-rise jeans were not optional, and Netflix mailed DVDs. In Nostalgia Brew, we’ll be looking at Y2K’s comeback and the businesses that are cashing in on your longing for the past, which, as Don Draper taught us all in a show that knew something about the lure of a bygone era, is a “delicate but potent” force in the market.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing: The taste of a cold Capri-Sun can remind you of soccer practice when you were a kid, or the smell of secondhand smoke can remind you of the ride home. Lately, the nostalgic lens has pointed toward Y2K, and brands and advertisers are riding the wave of fond memories.
In the hands of marketing professionals, positive memories create an emotional connection with consumers. The recent vogue for all things aughts is no exception. In fashion:
And on the streets:
To promote director Darren Aronofsky’s new film Caught Stealing, which is set in 1998, a team planted payphones around New York.
While millennials might appreciate seeing their scrunchies and wallet chains go up in value, it’s actually Gen Z that’s driving the Y2K renaissance.
Younger generations often pick up pieces of the past, but data suggests that Gen Z is specifically yearning for a taste of the pre-digital age. According to a 2023 Harris Poll, 60% of Gen Z adults say they wish they could return to a time before everyone was “plugged in,” which is not something they ever actually experienced. The Y2K era, which helped bridge the pre-digital and digital ages, is a natural place for Gen Z to land, because they can experience the best of both worlds.
Nirvana unplugged:
Social psychologist Clay Routledge wrote in a guest essay for the New York Times that Gen Zers are increasingly worried about their relationship with technology and that “mining the past” can help them better appreciate “offline living” in the future. So, put on a CD, grab your bucket hat, and step into an analog tomorrow.—BC
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Remember that TV show you loved back in the day? Or that one you vaguely recognize? Or that one you didn’t know existed? Chances are, it’s now the focus of a rewatch podcast hosted by former cast and creative team members.
Rewatch pods are distinct from companion podcasts for a current show like Severance, and they’re not exactly reboots, either. They’re more like audio comfort food that taps into the nostalgia and parasocial relationships fans feel toward the show:
Apple’s TV & Film podcast ranking chart is peppered with rewatch shows in the top 40, including Pod Meets World (about Boy Meets World), Drama Queens (One Tree Hill), and How We Made Your Mother (How I Met Your Mother) as of this week.
Another sign that audio-nostalgia-bait is a force: The frequently ranked No. 1 or No. 2 show in the category is The Rewatchables, where The Ringer’s Bill Simmons (arguably a celebrity) reminisces about old movies he remembers.
The West Wing Weekly, which began in 2016 and is hosted by former West Wing cast members Hrishikesh Hirway and Josh Malina, gets credited as the trailblazer in the genre. But rewatch shows truly took off when the Covid-19 pandemic brought huge audiences to Office Ladies (The Office), and Fake Doctors, Real Friends (Scrubs), and Drama Queens as people sought the familiar during bleak times.
Brand-new ads:
Fans love this genre—and so do advertisers. Will Pearson, the COO of the iHeart Podcast Network, which is home to several rewatch pods, said in 2022 that these shows not only come with built-in engaged audiences, but they also appeal to brands that want celebrity endorsements from the hosts.—DL
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We’re not going to come out and call it “The South Park Index,” but being featured on the show certainly does generate buzz. Kalshi’s volume has reached an all-time high with over $2b in trading the past 30 days, and it surged even further after this week’s episode built its entire plot around the prediction market.
The movie industry has taken heat for relying too heavily on remakes, sequels, and prequels. Its counteroffer: literally the same movies.
Last month, theaters rereleased Black Swan, Jaws, Clue, and Tim Burton’s two Batman movies.
This month, they’ll show The Breakfast Club, Toy Story, and Apollo 13.
In October, theaters intend to conjure Casper and Twilight.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg (couldn’t resist—Titanic was rereleased in 2023). According to the New York Times, Universal has at least a dozen rereleases planned for this year, compared to four in 2024 and two in 2023.
To get the full sense of the trend, consider next month’s planned rerelease of Avatar: The Way of the Water, a sequel that originally hit theaters way back in…2022, when The White Lotus was one of TV’s top shows and King Charles III was the UK’s monarch.
Rereleases may not be entirely new, but they’ve become more frequent, in part, because the industry is changing:
Beyond the box office:
Entertainment company GEA Live recently launched a 60-city tour of Twilight accompanied by a live band. And last month, the Las Vegas Sphere brought back The Wizard of Oz, adding 4D effects and a re-recorded score. It’s already generated more than $65 million in ticket sales.—BC
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Get all the latest news, insights, and analysis for free in your inbox. Sign up for Golf Digest’s free newsletters: News & Tours, Hit List, TIPS, Best Bets, and plenty more—all for free.
If you can remember when McDonald’s Happy Meals offered miniature pizzas and you miss them even a little bit, you’re part of the problem resurgence. Fast-food chains are leaning into nostalgia as a money-maker.
The Golden Arches hasn’t brought back the pizzas yet, but there’s a nonzero chance a marketing exec is specifically trying to appeal to the “McDonadult”:
It goes back to that big purple fella
The Grimace shake, introduced for a limited time in June 2023, contributed to a 14% increase in revenue for the quarter it was offered. Though other factors also contributed to the rise, the chain’s CEO noted, “Grimace was everywhere.”
This July, it brought back the Snack Wrap, which it first introduced to US menus in 2006, the same year Tom Cruise married Katie Holmes. And look out: Boo Buckets are rumored to be about to drop.
There’s also Taco Bell:
McDonald’s main competition for the title of most lucratively nostalgic fast-food empire is the Live Más crowd. On September 9, Taco Bell rolled out its Y2K menu nationwide, featuring five of its “most iconic, fan-favorite items” for $3 or less. And it’s not shy about why it’s doing this now, saying in the pitch for the food, “There’s no better present than reviving the past.”—HVL
You might be sick of it serving up NPC streaming and girl dinner vids, but on the bright side, TikTok’s storied algorithm has enabled beloved musical artists of yesteryear to return for an encore and make serious bank long after they last graced music charts.
Why?
At least some of the time, the mysterious TikTok algo rewards the bizarre and sincere, and that creates an opportunity for songs that smack of authenticity to make a splash on the platform, the music superproducer Teddy Riley told Business Insider.
In case you could ever possibly forget, the algorithm’s ability to revive old tunes announced itself with the Fleetwood Mac “Dreams” challenge of autumn 2020, when TikToker 420doggface208 filmed himself longboarding down a highway offramp in Idaho while swigging Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice.
But the trend continues. Oldies that emerged as surprise hits on the platform this year include:
Stevie Nicks sold an 80% stake in her music catalog for ~$100 million after her “Dreams” virality. This summer, Radiohead broke into the Billboard Hot 100 for the fourth time with “Let Down”…28 years after the song first came out. And Connie Francis rode a final wave of fame on TikTok in spring 2025 before her death at 87 in July.—HVL
Style: Nod to Y2K trends without going full costume with it.
Log on: Turn current-day web pages into Geocities web pages.
Etymology: The origins of the word “nostalgia” date back to the 1700s when it was used to describe homesickness.
Listen: Pick a year and play music from that era.
Rabbit hole: Leave it to Reddit to tap into memories you never remembered you had.
Test: Scroll through a slew of quizzes that test your nostalgia knowledge.
In code mode: You wanna build features, not authentication. Why not offload SSO, MFA, and user roles (yep, all three) to Frontegg so you can code in peace? Try it for free.
MFS put together five major macroeconomic themes to watch for during the remainder of 2025.
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