Retro-Marketing and Brand Attitude in the Digital Age: Insights from the Moroccan Agro-Food Sector

Résumé

Abstract
In response to increasing advertising clutter in digital environments, retro-marketing offers brands a means of reconnecting with consumers through nostalgia, familiarity, and cultural memory. This study explores how retro-marketing practices shape attitudes toward brands in the Moroccan agro-food sector in the digital age. Adopting an interpretative qualitative approach, the research combines semi-structured interviews with thirteen marketing and communication professionals with the observation of approximately forty social-media posts and more than six hundred user comments related to nostalgic brand communication. The data were examined through thematic analysis. The findings show that retro-marketing operates beyond the aesthetic revival of the past by activating both affective and cognitive responses associated with nostalgia, familiarity, attachment, and perceived authenticity. Digital platforms further reinforce these dynamics through participation, sharing, and the circulation of collective memories. The study concludes that the effectiveness of retro-marketing in the Moroccan agro-food context depends on its ability to establish cultural coherence and emotional credibility, allowing brands to differentiate themselves while sustaining continuity between their heritage and contemporary digital communication.

Keywords: Retro-marketing; Brand attitude; Nostalgia; Digital communication; Moroccan agro-food sector.