Tincan Kids

Landlines are back, baby. This ad hooks with retro-yellow vibes, stickers galore, and kids chatting like it’s 1999. Parents get the nostalgia hit, kids get the fun, and suddenly “social independence” feels a lot safer than handing over an iPhone. Smart, cheeky, and just enough to earn a callback.

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Poppi

Poppi drops their merch into a match-3 arcade and suddenly you’re “button-mashing for bubbly.” The retro 8-bit sounds and pixel-bright sky tap into old-school arcade vibes, colorful, fun, and just a little addictive. Products double as game pieces, so you can’t miss what’s being sold, even if you’re just here chasing the high score.

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Nourish

Alphabet soup doesn’t belong in your feed, but that’s exactly why it works. It’s a nostalgic throwback that makes you stop scrolling, because those floating letters belong in childhood kitchens, not between face yoga and pregnancy updates. Just when it feels random, it ties perfectly back to food and diet: comfort food with a clever twist.

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Kindred

And just like that, you’re in your NYC fantasy. The Sex and the City wink stirs a little nostalgia, while golden light on the brownstones makes the scene feel warm, cinematic, and within reach. It’s less about the mechanics of a swap, more about who you get to be when you do it.

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Popcorn

Nothing tastes sweeter than revenge on your old phone carrier. Popcorn’s ad leans on those blurred-but-obvious logos, the ones telecom giants spent millions making unforgettable, so you instantly know who they are (and who they’re not). It hits because it taps into a shared memory: the endless hold music, the painful bill negotiations, the frustration you swore you’d never go back to. It’s not selling a feature, it’s selling freedom, and the smug joy of never waiting on hold again.

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Doordash

Remember flipping through comic books and wishing you had a superpower? DoorDash leans all the way in, turning dashers into caped crusaders with copy that punches as hard as the panels. The CTA uses classic comic-book elements to stand out, and not get lost in the design. A fun, energetic way to make the hustle feel heroic and just nostalgic enough to stop the scroll.

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Stamps.com

Here’s some nostalgia we cooked up at Pearmill: that super-satisfying Solitaire play. Visuals that feel like an old Microsoft desktop, complete with 80s background music and SFX to match. It was the winner of its round, beating the goal CPA by twenty whole bucks. Looks like we dealt ourselves a winning hand.

Full version here

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