Brands Celebrate Anniversaries to Woo Consumers IF Madison Avenue had its own hit parade or Hot 100, "The Anniversary Waltz" might be the top song of 2012. Multiple brands are celebrating anniversaries this year with ads online and in social media like blogs, Facebook and Twitter as well as campaigns in traditional media like television, print and outdoor. The glances backward also include giveaways, events, sweepstakes, commemorative packaging, promotions and retail elements like signs in stores. So numerous are the anniversaries, they are beginning to bunch up. For instance, this week the Motel 6 lodging chain observes its 50th with a campaign that includes an eye-catching television commercial, and the Life Savers candy brand is to host an event at its plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., to commemorate its centennial. Life Savers and Motel 6 join the ranks of celebrants that include Bacardi rum, 150 years; Cartier, 165; Glenfiddich Scotch whisky, 125; GMC trucks, 100; Kraft macaroni and cheese, 75; the New York Mets, 50; and Oreo cookies, 100. Anniversary campaigns are part of a trend inspired by the economy that could be called comfort marketing, as advertisers invoke misty, water-colored memories of the past to woo consumers into buying products in the present. A major aspect of comfort marketing is what brand managers call authenticity: reminding shoppers who seek value in the provenance of merchandise to suggest a product is worth buying because its quality has been tested for decades. "Understanding the value of a dollar has rushed back to the forefront" of consumer considerations, said Lance Miceli, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at the Accor North America division of Accor, which owns Motel 6. As a result, he added, the brand's promise of "a clean, comfortable room for the lowest price of any national chain" has become "as valued today as it was in 1962." The commercial, created by the Richards Group in Dallas, shows a family in a car en route to a Motel 6. The passage of time is illustrated as the modish looks of the family, and the car, morph from 1962 to 2012. "Over the past 50 years, the way America travels has changed a lot," says the announcer, Tom Bodett, who is known for the "We'll leave the light on for you" radio spots he has delivered for Motel 6 since 1986. But "no matter how much the journey changes," Mr. Bodett says, "you'll know there's a light on at the end of it." The commercial ends with this declaration: "Motel 6. Fifty years and the light's still on. The campaign for Motel 6 will also include radio commercials, digital ads and social media like Facebook and YouTube. Social media enable brands to amplify advertising centered on authenticity because the details of their history and heritage give them a story to tell to an audience that prizes "status and reputation," said Avi Savar, chief creative officer at Big Fuel, a social media agency that is majority-owned by the Publicis Groupe. "The big idea is what's the existing social behavior a brand can tap into," Mr. Savar said. If I align with a brand, it needs to align with my values. To that end, the Life Savers centennial campaign, which is featured on the Life Savers Web site at life-savers.com, includes a philanthropic component, called Connect for a Cause, to underline the campaign's theme, "100 years of sharing." The "share ring" fund-raiser for 100 charitable organizations, at lifesaverssharering.com, is meant to underline how "Life Savers is known for creating simple and meaningful connections among its consumers," said Colleen DeVos, senior vice president for account management at the Chicago office of the Ryan Partnership, part of Hyper Marketing Inc., which handles promotions and retail marketing for the Life Savers parent, the Wm. Wrigley Jr. division of Mars. Tyler Simpson, director for mints at Wrigley, also in Chicago, said: "For 100 years, people have used Life Savers as a token of sharing. It's time for us to share with causes that matter to them. Other elements of the Life Savers campaign include print ads by the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group. Their layout and theme, "A hole lot of fun," echo the brand's ads from the 1940s through the 1960s in magazines like Life, Look and The Saturday Evening Post, which carried themes like "The candy with the hole." There are also "anniversary edition" boxes of Life Savers in versions of the Sweet Storybook packages that were introduced in 1935. The candies inside come in vintage wrappers. Marketers celebrating brand anniversaries say they are careful not to become too enamored of what they see in the rearview mirror because campaigns that are perceived as too nostalgic may turn off consumers who want to be assured that products meet modern-day needs. At Motel 6, "we have adapted to the times while remaining true to our core values," said Mr. Miceli of Accor North America. We've contemporized the brand as we go along. There have been updates of the brand's logo and changes inside the motels that are highlighted on the Motel 6 Web site, motel6.com, with the headline "Bold new room designs." Of course, the idea of a motel room for $6 a night is as old-fashioned as the promise in those magazine ads for Life Savers that each hard-candy roll is "still only 5 cents." Rooms are now available at rates that average from $39.99 a night, Mr. Miceli said.