- Instacart is doubling down on the nostalgia for the summer with a throwback campaign harkening back to the “Summer of 1999.”
- The new effort, which will run across linear TV, OTT, online video and social, is set to two classic 90s tracks from Third eye Blind that tie into special throwback pricing on summer staples like Capri-Sun, Otter Pops and Kool-Aid.
- The campaign is based on Harris Poll research indicating 71% of Americans often think nostalgically about summers from their childhoods, with that number jumping to 79% among those who grew up in the 1990s.
The promo is brought to life through two video commercials with a decidedly nostalgic aura. In the first spot, “The 90s are back,” a mom coaches her daughters through some of the quirks of 90s-era products, such as poking a straw through a Capri-Sun, blowing on a video game cartridge to make it work, pumping up a super-soaker and waiting just the right amount of time before biting into a Pizza Bagel out of the microwave.
A second spot depicts a mother, father and tween riding skateboards and a BMX bike down an alley on the way to a family outing, with on-screen text advising, “Parent like it’s 1999.” The commercials are soundtracked to Third Eye Blind’s hits “Semi-Charmed Life” and “Never Let You Go,” respectively.
Both commercials reveal that Instacart is offering a rollback on prices for a number of summer-oriented products, with as much as 47.2% off (because that’s how much of a discount it would take to match 1999 prices).
“Adults are craving the carefree summers of their youth, but many haven’t had one since the ’90s,” said Taylor Erin, executive creative director at Instacart, in a statement. “We saw an opportunity to deliver fun and nostalgia through the brands that defined the era. 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.”
The campaign will run through September 5.
