• by Danielle Oster , June 4, 2025

 Remember galaxy leggings?

A new campaign from Ally Financial recalls pop cultural trends from a bygone era, before the global COVID pandemic, the fall of Roe v. Wade, and the rise of fascism. The campaign was designed to reach millennial audiences—asking them why, if they’ve moved on from such trends such as planking or doing the Harlem Shake, they haven’t updated their approach to banking.

The campaign, created in collaboration with agency partner Anomaly,  stemmed from the insight that over half of millennials have stuck with the same bank where they opened a bank account when they were 18 or younger, as well as the demographic cohort’s penchant for nostalgia, Jennifer Brockington, Ally financial executive director, integrated media strategy, advertising, told Marketing Daily.

“Our agency pulled statistics that showed nostalgia-themed ads had 50% higher engagement and two times the recall,” Brockington said. So the agency looked at popular trends from 2008-2015 to feature in the campaign, in an appeal to viewers to “change their expectations of a bank to this modern era.”

“It’s a reminder of these fun times we had. Even if we didn't do those trends, I [still] remember and laughed about it,” she added.

Entitled “Graduate Financially,” the campaign was timed to graduation season and centers around a “Remember This?” ad running in 30-second and 15-second iterations, which name-checks those outdated trends before the message, “You’ve graduated from all those trends. So why do you still have the same bank?” That leads into the tagline and the claim that audiences can save “two times faster” with Ally’s “smart savings tools.”

“Graduate Financially” kicked off last weekend during the NBA Eastern Conference finals game between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, and will run for several weeks across linear and connected TV, Instagram, and TikTok.

There’s also a promotional sweepstakes via Ally's social channels, giving away gift cards for visitors to update other aspects of their lives that might need a refresh, like their wardrobe.

The social component of the campaign will also include creative content featuring actor Taylor Lautner, who rose to fame for his role in the "Twilight" movie franchise, as well as content from other unspecified influencer partners.

“Taylor is just perfect: If you went back and asked who was the biggest heartthrob in 2010, there’s no question it was Taylor Lautner,” Brockington said, adding that the actor was great to work with on the campaign.

While the campaign is themed around graduation season, its overall approach could prove to have staying power beyond the month of June. “Nostalgia brings a lot of comfort to people,” Brockington said. “At a time when we've got a lot going in on in the world, it transcends the moment.

“The goal is to put out [the campaign] in these media channels for the next four weeks and see how it performs. It has so many legs, so many different generational opportunities,” Brockington explained, adding that there’s an “expectation of it breaking through,” which may result in further iterations of the nostalgia-stoking theme as they year goes on.