Spangler, the 120-year-old, fourth-generation family company behind Dum Dums lollipops, has built a distinctive market position through nostalgia marketing — not by launching new brands, but by acquiring and reviving candy brands with deep historical roots.
In a candy market worth $55 billion and growing 3–5% a year, Spangler focuses on acquiring struggling or bankrupt candy brands — most with more than a century of history. That heritage is an asset competitors cannot easily replicate. Dum Dums, acquired in 1953, now produces 2.3 billion lollipops a year and sits at bank counters, schools, and barbershops nationwide. Candy Canes, added a year later, account for roughly half of all U.S. production. Bit-O-Honey's revenue jumped 50% after a 2020 rebrand, Sweethearts returned to its original recipe and classic flavors, and the nearly 200-year-old Necco Wafers has been kept intentionally unchanged.
Spangler's approach can be summed up as selective modernization. According to VP of marketing Evan Brock, a brand's nostalgic legacy "makes it very difficult for a competitor to come in and take that space." For Bit-O-Honey, that meant new packaging, a less juvenile mascot, a softer bar, and more almonds to appeal to adult consumers. For Necco Wafers, after confirming consumers valued its authentic nostalgia as-is, Spangler changed almost nothing. Sweethearts shows how tradition and timeliness can coexist: a "Split Rent" message alongside classic phrases turned into a Valentine's Day talking point. As Brock put it, "other marketers would do anything to get this kind of nostalgia."
The lesson is that nostalgia is not just sentiment — it is a defensible brand asset. A century of accumulated brand memory is a moat that no amount of competitor budget can replicate overnight. Reviving a brand consumers already remember can be as valid a growth strategy as building one from scratch.
Equally important is the discipline of deciding what to change and what to protect on a brand-by-brand basis: modernize boldly when expanding to a new audience (Bit-O-Honey), and leave well enough alone when the original is the value (Necco Wafers). Before any brand refresh, identify exactly what consumers love about the brand first — then scope the change accordingly.
For help auditing your brand's heritage assets before a refresh, explore Best Partner's branding services.
Nostalgia marketing is a brand strategy that leverages a product's historical association and emotional memory rather than novelty to drive loyalty and differentiation — as Spangler does by reviving century-old candy brands like Dum Dums and Necco Wafers.
Spangler modernizes selectively: brands like Bit-O-Honey got new packaging and formulas to reach adult buyers, while brands like Necco Wafers were left almost unchanged after confirming consumers valued their authentic nostalgia as-is.
A century or more of accumulated brand memory functions as a moat — competitors, no matter their budget, cannot manufacture that history overnight, which is why acquiring and reviving heritage brands can outperform building new ones.
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