I was 38,000 feet in the air somewhere over the Java Sea when I saw the news: Ansett Australia is back.
Not with a fleet, or a $39 flight to Bali, but reborn as an AI-powered travel concierge – a curious twist of fate for a brand last seen grounded in 2001.
It’s an unlikely comeback, but also weirdly fitting for 2025, which is becoming a year where dead brands are finding new life, cultural memory is driving commerce, and the internet is deciding which logos live and which ones die (again).
We’re living in the golden age of brand resurrection, or as I like to call it ‘the age of brand necromancy’, where what once gathered dust now gathers hype.
We’re seeing this marketing strategy play out across various categories, from high fashion to hydration. Stanley cups, Birkenstocks, Nokia bricks… All brands once considered past their prime are now centre stage again. So, what’s going on?
To make sense of it, I think about brand resurrections in four buckets, each with their own triggers, signals and levels of planning (or sheer luck).
Fashion cycles and cultural handovers
This is the most predictable form of resurrection and arguably the oldest. Call it the Levi’s Law: what falls out of fashion eventually comes back in.
Carhartt, Dickies, Adidas Sambas… these brands never truly left, but every 15 years or so, a new generation rediscovers them. The brands that win in this cycle are the ones that stay true to their DNA but allow cultural trends to do the heavy lifting. You don’t need to over-explain a Dickies comeback when Gen Z is doing the distribution for you on TikTok.
That’s the game: ride the wave, don’t oversteer. Be patient enough to outlive your own irrelevance.
Accidental fame and the speed of seizing it
Then there’s the unexpected resurrection, the kind that no strategist could plan for but every marketer wishes they’d capitalised on.
Think Stanley tumblers surviving a car fire and going viral. Or the now-legendary TikTok of a man on a skateboard, drinking Ocean Spray, vibing to Fleetwood Mac. It wasn’t a campaign; it was culture doing its thing. In both cases, the brand’s rapid response and smart amplification turned moments into movements.
Hilton recently found itself in the same boat – its most-watched reel of all time wasn’t a celebrity campaign or big-budget ad, it was a simple video showing how blackout curtains work. But the results… 50 million views and zero spend. This should serve us all in the industry as a reminder that sometimes the best thing a brand can do is just let the internet do its weird, wonderful thing.
And of course, there’s American Eagle. A brand quietly cruising in the background until Sydney Sweeney turned up in low-rise denim, got the Trump tick of approval, and unleashed a meme storm that’s still rippling across TikTok and Instagram. Was it planned? Probably not like this, but the brand was ready, and they didn’t back away.
These are the “algorithmic miracles”—flashes of rediscovery that start in chaos and end in commerce. They work best when the brand doesn’t try too hard. Instead, they listen, act fast and get out of the way.
The lesson here is that you don’t always have to make the lightning, but if you can bottle it, you’re in business.
Bravery in crisis
Some brands don’t just fade, they fall hard. That’s where resurrection demands more than timing or trends; it needs guts.
Apple in the ’90s was on life support until Steve Jobs returned with a new story. Lego was floundering before it leaned into storytelling and licensed worlds like Star Wars. Nike took a very real risk with Colin Kaepernick’s “Dream Crazy” and, in doing so, reignited its purpose with a new generation.
These turnarounds share one trait: bravery. It’s the moment a brand stops trying to please everyone and starts standing for something again. It’s high risk, high reward. But in a world flooded with safe ideas, brave ones tend to break through.
And let’s be honest, we remember the brands that come back from the brink more than the ones that quietly decline.
The science (and art) of nostalgia and why it works
Finally, the sweet spot: brands that tap into memory and emotion with surgical precision.
Barbie didn’t just make a movie; it made a moment. Nokia didn’t just relaunch a phone; it gave digital fatigue a foil. Polaroid reminded us of the joy of waiting for a photo to develop. Nintendo gave millennials a Switch and a sense of childlike wonder.
These revivals work because they’re not indulgent throwbacks. They’re clever, modern reinterpretations rooted in cultural insight and built for today’s consumer. They scratch an emotional itch we didn’t know we had, the one that says, “Oh yeah… I loved that.”
The key here isn’t nostalgia itself; it’s how you use it. Do it lazily, and it's sentimental fluff, but do it right, and it’s a strategic shortcut to trust, love and attention.
There’s a deeper cultural current here, too.
Post-Covid, people are craving comfort. In a world that feels fragmented and fast-moving, the familiar is powerful. Brands that feel known, even vaguely, offer a kind of psychological safety. That matters when trust in institutions, media and even new startups is in flux.
Add to that the rising cost of attention and the clutter of new brands in every category, and suddenly an old name with a bit of dust on it doesn’t seem like a liability – it’s a launchpad.
Because the truth is, these “old” brands were never really dead. They were just waiting for the right cultural conditions, a little strategic bravery and in Ansett’s case, a sprinkle of AI.
Culture = Growth (If you know where to look)
In my line of work, we think about these moments as signals—the kind that emerge through our cultural roadmapping work. Trends, triggers, digital behaviour, search data… all hinting at what’s ready to be rediscovered.
But brand resurrection isn’t about jumping on a trend. It’s about recognising the underlying cultural code—trust, nostalgia, identity, rebellion—and responding with the right mix of speed, story and strategy.
Because yes, everything old can be new again, but only if you know what made it loved in the first place.
So, here’s my final provocation to marketers: Before you brief your next rebrand or chase your next innovation, take a look in the archive. What are the names, colours, ideas, or truths you left behind… are they now ready to live again?
And if you think this is just a gimmick, remember: Ansett didn’t just relaunch a travel service, they reactivated a memory. In a market full of noise, sometimes the most powerful move isn’t to invent something new but rather to remind people of something they already trusted.
And if the memes have anything to say about it, the internet will decide which brand comes next.
Dan Paris is chief product & growth officer, Dentsu Creative APAC. He believes in the power of ideas, the rhythm of culture and the strategic brilliance of a good comeback story.
