counsel - retromania

FUTURE SIGNS RETROMANIA LOWE + PARTNERSLOWE COUNSEL 01.9.12

Retromania: Understanding the Power of Cultural Nostalgia


The scale of the current retro obsession reveals much about contemporary fears and aspirations.

“Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this”

- Ecclesiastes 7:10.

[1]


Cultural Stagnation

“Popular style has been stuck on repeat, consuming the past instead of creating the new.”

- Kurt Andersen, Writing for Vanity Fair [3].

Some argue that our retro obsession can be seen as a symptom of society’s nostalgia for better days/former glories.

Others argue that the reason why retro nostalgia is so prevalent is that it provides an antidote to the current speed of change in contemporary culture.

[2]


Future Shocked

Too much change can create a regressive response .

‘Future shock’, first coined by Alvin Toffler in the 1970’s describes a certain psychological state created by: “Too much change in too short a period of time”.

This can be analysed as a collective unconscious reaction towards the startling ‘newness’ and volatility of modern society in regard to technology, economics and geopolitics.

“Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time.”

- Alvin Toffler, former associate editor of Fortune magazine [6]. [4]

[5]


Drivers and Cultural Energies

- Future Shock (Anxiety about speed of change)

- Response to Hard Times

- Need for Escapism

- Desire for Simpler Narrative

- Desire for Material/ Tangible Vs Immaterial and Digital

- Ageing Population

- Skim Culture


Instant Nostalgia - Cultural Currency

“Ironically, new technology has reinforced the nostalgic cultural gaze.”

- Kurt Andersen, writing for Vanity Fair [8].

“The Internet allows us to indulge more than ever in cultural tokens from our childhood,”

- Meghan Lewit, Author for the Atlantic [9].

The past used to be a ‘foreign country’, however the Internet has turned pop culture into an accelerating nostalgia machine providing us with a way to relive and explore the cultural minutiae’s of the past.

Retro cultural soundbites are being used and traded as cultural currency in our increasingly sharable culture.

[7]


Everything is a Remix

Digital reproductive technology has made sampling one of the dominant modes of contemporary creative culture.

While this is entertaining, have we taken it a step too far? Many are asking is our obsession with nostalgia ‘eating the world’ and preventing us from moving forward?


The Instagram Effect

As digital technology tends closer to perfection, there is a developed appreciation for the imperfections and slowness of the past.

The popularity of retro photography and aesthetics in contemporary culture is emphasized by the $1b sale of Instagram – essentially an app that makes photos look like retro Polaroids – to Facebook.

“It might be said that all Instagrammed photos emphasize photography as an elegiac or twilight art, one that rushes and fakes the emotion of old photographs by cutting out the wait for history entirely.”

- Ian Crouch, Journalist for The New Yorker [10].

[11]


Implications


90’s Nostalgia

Right on schedule the 90s is currently having a huge revival as the worlds most influential consumers and creators, now in their 30s, relive their formative years.

Nickelodeon brought back classic series from 20 years ago for a millennial generation hungry for nostalgic tokens from their childhood.

The Once Upon project playfully redesigned the Facebook, YouTube and Google+ websites to suit the aesthetic of the dial-up era in 1997.

“This ‘90s Nickelodeon thing -- it’s not just about the shows. It’s about the environment, the packaging, and everything that was going on at that time. They view Nickelodeon [of the ‘90s] as the golden age, because they’re so deeply emotionally connected to that time period.”

- Keith Dawkins, senior vice president and general manager of Nicktoons and TeenNick [14]. [12][13]


Nostalgia for our Digital Past

Our digital pasts are also being mined to provide us with nuggets of nostalgia.

“Everybody is starting to realize that there’s value in the past, Everything is more emotional when it’s in the past.”

Jonathan Wegener, Co-Founder of Timehop [16].

Web app Time Hop sends you a daily email of your Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare posts from a year ago.

Orangina’s Facebook app reminds users of their first Original Facebook friends.

[15]


Artificial Memory

A whole host of apps have been created to accommodate people’s nostalgic lust for their retro past.

Dear Photograph is a running diary of photographic memories juxtaposed with their modern versions. The popularity of the website (20,000 hits a day) has lead to the publication of a Dear Photograph book.

“I can see how much we are all traveling on the same page, wanting the same things, appreciating days gone by and cherishing the moments by paying more attention to what is happening right now.”

- Taylor Jones, Dear Photograph Creator [18].

[17]


Retro Digital

Even digital technology is subject to revival with the low-fi ‘pixelated’ digital graphic style currently particularly influential in contemporary design.

Artists such as Shawn Smith, with his 8-bit Animal Sculptures, are blurring the line between reality and simulation – exploring the conception of forms in the digital age.

In homage to retro computer games of the past, The Stockholm Metro created an 8-bit train station design comprising of pixelated gaming icons such as Pacman.

In the rapidly changing world of technology, pixel art represents a reminder of simpler times.”

- Stephanie Buck, Columnist for Mashable [20].

“We’re living in a time where we’re a bit obsessed with nostalgia, not too many new aesthetics are emerging these days, but we are finding ways to always remix and recombine already established ideas to create something new out of them.”

- Rainer Kohlberger, creator of PXL [21].[19]


Pixel Products

The pixel aesthetic looks set to be a massive contemporary visual style - spawning a variety of products and fashion items.

Dutch design firm IXXI creates and sells pixelated pop art and fine art portraits.

MaxJenny Pixel Origami Poncho [24]Alexandre Herchcovitch Pixel Dress [23]

IXXI Pixel Portraits [22]


Analogue Update

There is also a growing revival of analogue technology.

Vinyl sales have continued their growth for the 5th year running – with album sales up 36% in 2011 (from the previous year).

Typewriters are making a comeback, with events such as ‘type-ins’ in New York allowing fans of the machine to indulge in its post-digital style and gravitas.

[25]


Retro Retail

Retailers are exploring with the idea of nostalgia by looking to immerse customers in the different atmospheres of era’s past.

In celebration of their 50th anniversary, in the midst of a huge economic crisis Italy, Carrefour supermarket returned its prices and product labels to 1961, the era of the economic boom. The result was a 25% increase in customers.

Tesco opened a 60s style branch at an event in 2011, allowing visitors to browse shelves containing of products from the era, such as Pears soap and Carnation evaporated milk.

[27][26]


Retro Foods

People are looking for increased levels of authenticity as a rejection of modern additives and manufacturing techniques.

The last few years have seen a growing trend for reissued retro food products and ingredients.

Last year McDonalds launched The ‘1955’ burger in Europe – looking to recreate the old-style burgers sold in the restaurant 55-years ago. Tapping into the current trend for traditional US diner food the retro burgers have already proved a hit in European markets.

“It [1965 burger] has become Germany’s best-performing premium sandwich.”

- Don Thompson, President and Chief Operating Officer of McDonalds [30].

“It appeals to a bunch of people who remember it, have warm nostalgic feelings toward it and want to try it again, but then there’s another audience who have never heard of it,”

- Simon Green, marketing director of Global Brands [31].

[29]

[28]


Vintage Packaging Revival

Procter & Gamble released limited edition vintage packaging in Target supermarkets last year as a way of reproducing that “that simple, uncomplicated, comfortable feeling associated with no-frill, value-based products of the past”.

Similarly, last year Tesco’s reintroduced tins of Campbell’s condensed soup in their original 1960s Warhol-style tins.

Churchkey Can Co have created new 1935 retro style flat-top beer cans which are opened using a churn key, allowing consumers to enjoy a forgotten mechanism of the past.

“Surprising guests with vintage packaging speaks to Target’s goal of keeping the weekly shopping trip fun and fresh.”

- Amy Cantu, a spokesperson for Target [35].

[34]

[33]

[32]


Personal Care

There has also been a steady rise in retro revival products in the personal care category – for example Chanel’s reissue of classic discontinued fragrances from the 20s and 30s.

[36]


Retro Advertising Design

Retro advertising designs have also enjoyed a revival, as brands and advertisers look to summon the humour and stylish simplicity associated with past eras. Car rental company Hertz’s new retro styled ad campaign was inspired by 50s travel posters.

Newsweek’s Mad-men issue contained many original brand ad designs from the 60s – including ads for Johnnie Walker Red label and Spam.

[38]

[37]


Bikes

The retro bike trend shows no sign of abating with the most successful evolving into lifestyle and luxury brands of the future.

Vintage bike manufacturers such as Velorbis and Dutchie replicate the elegant styles of classic bikes of the past.

Italia Veloce has launched the Ribelle, a top-of-the-line handcrafted bicycle, styled upon aesthetic and cultural references from the 50s and 60s. It even offers the special option of using a vintage crankset from 50s and 70s collections.


1. 8bit Train Station (www.iamfatterthanyou.com)

2. Ray-Ban (leoniecumiskey.wordpress.com)

3. Kurt Andersen (2012) You Say You Want a Devolution? (www.vanityfair.com)

4. Minority Report (www.lightspeed-gaming.com)

5. Tupac Hologram (www.fortressofsolitude.co.za)

6. Greg Lindsay (2010) Future Shock at 40 (www.fastcompany.com)

7. Retro Pinterest Page (http://pinterest.com/)

8. Kurt Andersen (2012) You Say You Want a Devolution? (www.vanityfair.com)

9. Derek Thompson (2011) The 10 Biggest Ideas of the Year (www.theatlantic.com)

10. Ian Crouch (2012) Instagram’s Instant Nostalgia (www.newyorker.com)

11. Instagram photo’s (www.flickr.com)

12. Reed and Rader Retro Fashion (www.reedandrader.com)

13. The Once Upon Project (http://1x-upon.com)

14. Breeanna Hare (2011) 2011: The year of nostalgia (www.cnn.com)

15. Timehop App (http://timehop.com/)

16. Alexia Tsotsis (2012) 4SquareAnd7YearsAgo Becomes Timehop, Takes You A Year Back In Time Through Online Content (http://techcrunch.com)

17. Dear Photograph (http://dearphotograph.com/)

18. Taylor Jones (2012) Dear Photograph -- how my website learned to speak a thousand words (www.foxnews.com)

19. Shawn Smith 8-bit Animal Sculpture (http://shawnsmithart.com)

20. Stephanie Buck (2012) The Pixel Renaissance: Pixel Art’s Place in 21st Century Expression (http://mashable.com)

21. Mark Wilson (2012) Move Over Instagram: PXL Instantly Turns Your Pics Into Pixel Art (www.fastcodesign.com)


22. IXXI Pixel Portraits (www.ixxidesign.com)

23. Alexandre Herchcovitch Pixel Dress (http://coolspotters.com)

24. MaxJenny Pixel Origami Poncho (http://maxjenny.fashiononline.se)

25. MarketingCharts (2011) Digital Tunes Boost Music Sales (www.marketingcharts.com)

26. Carrefour 50th anniversary (www.adverblog.com)

27. Tesco 60s Branch (deliciousindustries.blogspot.co.uk)

28. Old McDonalds Branch (www.revitalizedesplaines.org)

29. McDonalds ‘1955’ Burger (www.burgerbusiness.com)

30. Burger Business (2012) Burger Chains Eye New Premium-Price Items (www.burgerbusiness.com)

31. Abe Sauer (2011) Ginger Joe Grooms Its Mustache Branding (www.brandchannel.com)

32. Churchkey Flat-top Beer Can (www.churchkeycanco.com)

33. Campbell’s Tomato Soup (www.campbellsoup.com)

34. Tide Vintage Detergent (http://online.wsj.com)

35. Mark J. Miller (2011) IBM Turns 100 as CEO Succession Talk Heats Up (www.brandchannel.com)

36. Chanel ‘Sycomore’ (www.fragrantica.com)

37. Hertz 50’s Posters (www.creativereview.co.uk)

38. Newsweek Mad-men Issue (http://adage.com)


To keep up to date with all the latest cultural insights and trends

Log on to:

lowecounsel.com/blog

And follow us on twitter:

@lowecounsel


Thank you

counsel - retromania

Documents