The Role of Nostalgia Marketing in Evoking Emotional Engagement with History-related Content on Social Media: A research among Gen Z in Vietnam

Abstract

The research aims to evaluate the impact of Nostalgia Marketing on nostalgic emotional engagements among Generation Z in Vietnam, within the context of historical content disseminated on social media platforms. Adopting an approach that conceptualizes nostalgia as a retrospective emotional state that can be triggered not only by personal experiences but also through mediated stimuli, the research analyzes Nostalgia Marketing across common digital content formats, including images, videos, infographics, and text. Data were collected through a survey of Generation Z respondents in Vietnam and analyzed using statistical techniques to assess the extent to which each content format influences nostalgic emotional engagements. The findings indicate that Nostalgia Marketing formats generate non-uniform effects on nostalgic emotional engagements. Specifically, images, videos, and infographics exhibit positive and statistically significant effects, with images demonstrating the strongest impact, followed by videos and infographics. In contrast, text-only content does not show a statistically significant effect on nostalgic emotional engagements. Furthermore, the results reveal the existence of statistically significant differences in nostalgic emotional engagements across gender groups. These findings contribute to a clearer understanding of the role of Nostalgia Marketing in evoking emotional engagements among Generation Z through historical content in the digital media environment.

Keywords: Nostalgia Marketing, nostalgic emotional engagement, history-related content, social media, Gen Z

DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/18-1-01

Publication date: January 30th 2026