Nostalgia is emotional time travel. A tune, a logo, an old shirt pattern, can instantly take you back to another moment in your life, bringing comfort, recognition and a sense of belonging.

Unsurprisingly, brands continue to lean into this feeling because it works - for adults who remember an era first-hand, and for a new generation discovering it for the first time.

As our Beano Brain 100 Coolest Brands 2025 shows, nostalgia has the power to be a cultural hand-me-down to be shared, inherited and reinterpreted by Gen Alpha. The fondness parents have for certain brands, eras, music, football kits or snacks doesn’t stay neatly in the past - it filters through conversations, weekend rituals, streaming choices and wardrobes. Gen Alpha have grown up in homes where retro references are not hidden away in cupboards but actively resurfacing on TikTok, in limited-edition drops, in reunion tours and in rebooted mini-series.

Adidas is a standout example. Its strong climb in this year’s rankings reflects how heritage can be reintroduced in a way that feels relevant, not recycled. The return of the 00s Teamgeist kit across clubs such as Newcastle, Liverpool and Aston Villa taps into a Premier League ‘Barclay’s era’ many Gen Alpha kids didn’t witness, but one their parents and older siblings remember fondly.

That emotional connection has quietly travelled down generations, giving kids a way to feel part of something ‘bigger than now.’

Linking its retro aesthetic with Oasis’ reunion tour was another neat move - blending past cultural moments with current conversation so Gen Alpha can join in, even if they’re arriving midway through the story. Adidas has managed to create a bridge between memory and modernity, reframing 90s and 00s nostalgia as cultural participation.

KitKat entering the Coolest Brands top 10 for the first time shows how a 90-year-old legacy brand can refresh without losing its grounding. The unmistakable snap is still there - reassuring for parents, ASMR-level sensory for kids - but the limited-edition flavours, seasonal variants and playful launches give the brand modern momentum. It currently feels both familiar and fresh: rooted in shared understanding, yet still curious and fun.

Food is one area where Gen Alpha’s inherited nostalgia meets their hunger for wide-ranging discovery. They happily explore mochi, Korean snacks, Middle Eastern chocolate trends and other global flavours, often discovered through short-form video and creators. Classic brands like KitKat help make food exploration feel safe, exciting and socially sharable.

In a year when many toy brands haven’t maintained traction, Lego remains both current and cross-generational and continues to extend its world through films, gaming, TV, digital content and collaborations.

It’s not just multi-platform; it’s multi-age. Children and adults recognise it, understand it and feel emotionally connected to it. Lego is still used to celebrate birthdays, rainy afternoons, half terms and family wind-down time, proving that nostalgia can remain alive in the present, not just admired from afar.

Gen Alpha are perceptive and brand-savvy. They notice tone, design choices and brand rituals early, so brands wanting to tap into the nostalgia vibe can’t simply apply a retro font or reissue a logo. Nostalgia only works when it feels intentional, not purely aesthetic.

This is where brands such as Adidas, KitKat and Lego are succeeding. They combine heritage-based design with modern storytelling, social formats, creator integration and sensory experience. They are not simply nodding to the past but inviting Gen Alpha into it.

Brands wishing to ride the nostalgia wave should look at starting with rituals, moments or events that they can own - not just big seasonal milestones but the small, repeated celebrations that recur every week. That might be match day snacks, Saturday morning cereal rituals, long car journeys, shared playlists, family YouTube sessions or intergenerational viewing.

These moments should invite the whole family in, through products, storytelling and experiences that are recognisable to adults but also joyful, tactile and social for kids.

The key is to lean on heritage where it helps people belong but update the format so it’s current, sensory and sharable. Nostalgia isn’t fixed. Brands must reissue, remix and collaborate to keep the story moving so it feels alive to both newly curious kids and the adults who remember the first-time round.

If brands get this right, nostalgia becomes a way to create comfort, joy and cultural currency across ages. For Gen Alpha, ‘cool’ is less about being the newest thing and more about being known, trusted and useful inside the everyday moments that make childhood feel like childhood. Brands that can sit in that space - respectful of heritage, but hungry to play - will be the ones kids and parents reach for again and again.