digital millennials + new-stalgia // pulp lab megamashup_may2012
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Digital Millennials and New-stalgia
MILLENNIAL MEGA MASHUPMAY 2012
Kate Pawlicki , Pulp Lab @pulplab #[email protected]
Ever Decreasing Nostalgia Cycles
Source: The Real Frank Zappa Book, 19902
“Eventually within the next quarter of a century, the nostalgia cycles
will be so close together that people will not be able to take a
step without being nostalgic for the one they just took.”
— Frank Zappa
The Real Frank Zappa Book, 1990
The New Now is Then
Source: TechCrunch, June 2011; Archive.org3
Morning Pics send you an Instagram from the past every morning.
MorningPics “helps people revisit and refresh a past moment that they might otherwise have forgotten” because it would disappear off of their photo feed.
A similar site still in beta is Archive.org (the Internet Archive’s “Wayback Machine”)
Visitors to the Wayback Machine can type in a URL, select a date range, and then begin surfing on an archived version of the Web. (Imagine surfing circa 1999 and looking at all the Y2K hype…)
a “short, sharp shock of nostalgia every morning.”
— TechCrunch
1975 Paul Allen and Bill Gates establish
Microsoft 1977 Apple II launches
1980 Apple IPO 1983 Microsoft announces Windows
1984 Macintosh’s "1984" Super Bowl commercial aired
1990s Dawn of the Information Age; NCSA creates the graphical
hypertext browser; explosion in "Web sites"
The Mid-1990s Internet Explosion: 1994 Amazon is founded 1995 Yahoo!, eBay,
and MSN are founded 1998 Google is founded
2000 and Beyond: Instant universal access to every old image, recorded sound, etc.
2004 Facebook founded 2006 Twitter is founded 2007 iPhone launched 2010 iPad launched
4
Defining
Technology
Fax Machine
Personal
Computer
Laptop
Computer
Mobile
Phone
and Google
Source: Wikipedia; Knoll Workplace Research
Growing up digital…or not
Source: 1. Kurt Anderson, The New Yorker, January 2012 2. Amanda Petrusich, BuzzFeed, April 2012
The only genuinely new cultural phenomena in the last 20 years is digital phenomena 1
For whatever reason — the acceleration of culture, the odd loneliness of a virtually lived life, skyscrapers, cubicles, the decline of manual production —we’re collectively nostalgic for “simpler times” 2
The Irony of the Digital Phenomena
“Now that we have instant universal access to every old image and recorded sound, the future has arrived and it’s all about dreaming
of the past.”
- Kurt Anderson, The New Yorker
Engaging the “Social Self” & Nostalgic Products
Source: AdAge , December 20106
Consuming a nostalgic product (e.g., an Oreo cookie) actually satiates the need to belong
Kate Loveland, a PhD candidate at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, studied nostalgia and how it can be a trigger for purchasing decisions . Test subjects in a recent study were inclined to watch shows such as "Saved by the Bell" or "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" when the "social self" was triggered.
When thinking of themselves or the future, they preferred contemporary shows such as "Grey's Anatomy" or "The Office.“
“There is a bond between a sense of nostalgia and a social need to belong. If
you can engage the "social self" it provokes a "super-strong need for
nostalgic products.“— Kate Loveland, a PhD candidate at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, AdAge
Key TrendsAudible/Edible/Visual
Culture
7
In uncertain times, Millennials click back to the '90s
Source: Pinterest; Styleite.com8
Old Navy Goes The Nostalgia Route with Blossom (‘90s) and with Mr. T (‘80s)
“Old Navy Funnovations Inc. has totally remade our tees, thanks to Mr. T
and his brand-new T Machine.”
Fashion & Music Trends & ‘90s Nostalgia
Source: PulpLab.com, November 2011 9
Spring 2012: Oversized Jumpers, Native American Prints, Modern ‘90′s R&B, & Dayglo
Inc. showcased the trend of reinventing “90′s R&B” at
this years CMJ Music Marathon
Video Trends & ‘90s Nostalgia
Source: New York Times , April 201210
The dancing is reminiscent of so-bad-its-good 1990s video game animation.
The video feels flat and Photoshopped
Created a perfectly rendered naïve 3-D world for their dancers to exist in —inspired by Second Life YouTubes and video games, like Duke Nukem.
’90s Video Games for Inspiration
“Champagne Coast,” video for the band Blood Orange
Fashion & Music Trends & ‘90s Nostalgia
Source: British Vogue, May 2012; Style.Com., March 201211
’90s Rave style and light-wash denim are back - with a twist
A limited-edition, hand-painted pair of jeans for New York denim label Courtshop. Classic bleached denim look using 100 % recycled paint materials.
Visual Culture: Instagram Nation
Source: Instagram “Instagram Press Center” April 2012; ; The New Yorker , Culture Desk, April 201212
Speaks to the generalized Millennial sensibility, which places a premium value on the old, the artisanal, and the idiosyncratic.
Rushes and fakes the emotion of old photographs by cutting out the wait for history entirely, and giving something just a few seconds old the texture of time.
Treats the photograph itself as a precious object; Sharing gives it validation.
Creates a kind of instant nostalgia for moments that never quite were
1977 Filter
“Needing to have reality confirmed and experience enhanced by photographs is an aesthetic
consumerism to which everyone is now addicted.”
— Susan Sontag, “On Photography,” 1977
Visual Culture: Instagram Nation
Source: Instagram “Instagram Press Center” April 2012; The New York Times13
Over 40 Million users worldwide
Over 1 Billion photos have been uploaded to Instagram
More than 5 Million photos are uploaded every single day - that’s 58 photos uploaded per second.
Facebook just purchased the online company for $1 billion.
Instagram has already passed the Web verb test:
To “Instagram” something is to take a picture with your smartphone, run it through one of the application’s photo filters and then send it out to your friends and followers.
Even in a social-network context, manipulated smartphone photos disrupt the news feed’s sense of time and place.
Source: MSN; YouTube14
“Video Games” is a collage of vintage footage, cartoons and contemporary images, evoking the gauzy, nostalgia-tinted worlds of filmmakers like David Lynch or Sofia Coppola.
Del Rey sounds like classic mid-century female singers with a hint of 1990s chick-rock angst juxtaposed with lyrics like “Open up a beer/And you say get over here/And play a video game”
Lana Del Rey’s videos have the same theme that enhances the old-timey feel
of her songs: sweet, pure, and a simple shot of nostalgia.
“Video Games,” music video/ Lana Del Rey
August 2011
Visual Culture: Nostalgia-tinted Music Videos
Lizzy Grant aka Lana Del Rey
Source: Hollywood Reporter, February 201215
Wes Anderson
The flatness of the image confers the object as iconic. There is an old photographic quality to the frame—what feels kind of like an antiquated means of archiving.
Excessive use of center framed, ceiling down, above shot, captures an iconic interpretation of mundane objects like record players, plates of food, envelopes, books, newspapers, suitcases, index cards, and hands
Consistent use of “Futura Bold” font on title cards is referential to the 1960s and 1970s, when type face was popularized.
“The Royal Tenenbaums” 2001
Hyundai Azera “Modern Life” commercial debuted
during the Oscars in February 2012
Visual Culture: Nostalgia-tinted Film & Advertising
Visual Culture: TV Remixed for the YouTube Generation
Source: Wikipedia; New York Times16
‘Hip Hop Squares,’ With Rap Stars, on MTV2
A new MTV series that reboots the classic “Hollywood Squares” game show for the YouTube generation
1965–1984
2012
Audible Culture: Vinyl
Source: Javelinexperiential.com; YouTube17
Vinyl has been making a comeback with Millennials due to the superior
sound quality – and cozy retro feel. Many vinyl releases also come with
downloadable files so consumers don’t have to choose between quality
and convenience.
Jack White’s Third Man Records produces all sessions in analog, and releases most records on its signature tri-color vinyl to “bring a spontaneous and tangible aesthetic back into the record business.
Father John Misty on David Letterman, May 2012
Nostalgic Games & The Future of Play
Source: Common Sense Media, October 25, 2011; New York Times, February 25, 201218
More than 1/3 of children 8 years old and younger use mobile devices like iPads or smartphones
Nearly one quarter of children ages 5 to 8 multitask with their digital devices most or some of the time.
Barbie has become a digital camera
Hasbro’s original Lazer Tag has been replaced by iPhones.
Players place the iPhone in the unit, and the iPhone display
— via an app — shows live video of whatever is ahead
overlaid with graphics. When the trigger is pulled, lasers
appear.
Source: New York Times, February 25, 201219
Gadgets that make the link between the virtual and the actual world can be helpful to children.
Innovation is extremely important to keeping kids engaged and keeping toys more relevant.
Board games like Scrabble and Monopoly that can be played online remotely with friends have increased sales of the physical board games.
Nostalgic Games & The Future of Play
“Any kind of link that you can be drawing between different environments, and seeing that they’re somehow linked
together, is useful.” — Sandra L. Calvert,
Director of the Children’s Digital Media Center at Georgetown
On the digital version of the Game of Life, a tablet makes the old plastic spinner's sound.
Nostalgic Games & The Future of Play
Source: PulpLab.com, May 201220
If the Millennials epitomize the instant gratification culture, the next generation could want things even faster.
“My friend Mena was Skyping with me and suddenly she said she had to go. I asked her where and she said a
super secret site that almost no-one plays on. I asked her, “You mean Fantage?” She looked at me and said, “How did you know that? Are you psychic?” I said, “No, I just
saw you in the Star cafe.” I said, “You use the same user name as everywhere else, you dressed just like you do in real life and you’re saying the same things.” I guess we’re
not that different wherever we hang out.”
— Radical Rosa
Tween correspondent, PulpLab.com
Edible Culture: “Roots” Trend
Source: PulpLab.com, January 201221
In a recent “Lab Report” we explored the meaning of the word “roots” in today’s edible culture.
Roots in the literal sense—exemplified by the comeback of bitters and heritage spices—and roots in the symbolic sense, with people of all ages seeking out meaningful experiences that they can participate in, nurture, and tailor to make their own.
Across all categories, consumers seek meaning in the places they find, purchase and consume food.
Edible Culture: “Roots” Trend
Source: PulpLab.com; The New Yorker22
Foraging emerged as a decisive new pastime, with lecture circuits, community walks and “forager for hire” services cropping up internationally.
Fine eateries saw a shift away from the hi-low trend (think cereal milk at Momofuku; macaroon ice cream sandwiches at Payard) to a straightforward resurrection of frugal fare: fried cod fritters, rillettes, boiled peanuts.
Opportunities to Innovate & Engage
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Things to think about…
• Skeuomorphism (Greek: skeuos—vessel or tool,
morphe—shape) We want technology to remind us
of the products that preceded it, to have a feel of
authenticity, while not forsaking modern
convenience. It’s called skeuomorphism: a design
mimics a preceding product even if it no longer
serves any purpose.
• Emotional Connections
Today’s social currency has more to do with
authenticity than being avant-garde. The cool kids
are the doers – the ones who are fixing, leading,
changing and advocating in order to make a
difference in the world.
• Exploit the Popular
By far the most influential piece of technology that
Millennials use is videos. Create exciting, fresh,
original, noteworthy content. Make it a must-see: If
they don’t continually watch they will miss
something. Create a YouTube Channel.
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• Authentic Interactions
Hands on is high value. Millennials seek to attain
real power and influence real events. Develop
community networks and cooperative
opportunities.
