The Biggest Brand Comebacks of 2022
In 2022, rebuilding a brand is about more than just being canceled, it's about recapturing an audience and attracting a new audience after your brand has faded from memory quickly. With social media, even your older demographic is much more likely to remember and purchase what they last saw on popular platforms. Brands like Diesel and Toys "R" Us managed to make big comebacks in 2022. Let's look at their strategies:
Diesel's Marketing Comeback
If you were around back in the 1990s, you knew it as fact: Diesel was a clothing brand synonymous with cool. They were the type of jeans the cool kids wore, and due to celebrities embracing the brand, Diesel jeans were seen as a bit more upscale than competing brands. This Italian brand rose to the top but faded out shortly thereafter. It wasn't a single moment that removed Diesel from the cultural zeitgeist -- it was more that their demographic grew up and moved on.
Enter 2022, where all things 1990s are resurfacing. It's the perfect climate for a Diesel comeback, and they have a new creative director named Glenn Martens who is committed to making that happen. This is an example of how one genius hiring decision can really change the shape of the brand. Diesel has the right person in charge of their resurgence. His focus is on branding, brand design, and letting the influencers of today be the ones committed to storytelling.
Diesel is doing what it did before: being seen by young people. Where do young people live now? On Tik Tok and Instagram. Worn by influencers, the Diesel brand comeback is real time and visible.
Toys "R" Us Makes Marketing Moves
For those of us who grew up with Toys "R" Us, we remember a Candyland of toys. It was overwhelming in the best way to walk into the store (especially knowing you'd walk out with a toy or game). Most of these stores were standalone and much larger than any competing stores you'd find in a large shopping mall or smaller strip mall, making it a real go-to when a family wanted to go somewhere special for their child or find the right gift for a kid's birthday party.
Toys"R"Us benefited from large gains during holidays like Christmas, and committed marketing spend for that time of year, hoping to attract all those parental Santas to their stores. But with more people shopping online, the overhead of large retail locations was simply impractical. In 2018, they declared bankruptcy in the United States. It was a sad moment for those of us who considered the store a part of our childhood.
But wait! There's more. Toys "R" Us managed to turn it all around in 2022 by being connected to Macy's stores, with a planned upscale at flagship locations. After several comeback tries, this attempt, plus the brand's online shopping retail presence, could be what they need to turn it all around. They've also got the Macy's brand collateral, allowing this partnership to let Macy's leverage the brand, but carry the multimedia marketing burden of the formerly faltering brand.
Along with other inspiring 1990s brands like Caboodles and Trapper Keeper, brand comebacks and resurgences are making their way into our hearts, and into the hearts of younger generations. The incorporation of these brands into the lives of Gen Z (and younger) can solidify their legacies — and their comebacks.
