As a marketer, one of your biggest challenges is staying ahead of the ever-changing digital landscape. Today, we’d like to make a bold, disruptive recommendation. This change in philosophy has totally reinvigorated our team, and we think it might just do the same for you.
We’re calling it retrofuturism.
Instead of trying to guess what new technologies and innovations the future will bring, we’re just going to recycle the ones that have already come and gone. All the cool kids have either already forgotten these gems, or weren’t alive to see them the first time. Plus, we all know Millennials love recycled crap from their parents’ and grandparents’ generations, so they’re almost certain to ironically-yet-secretly-sincerely love these ideas.
Here are a few things we’re going to start recommending to clients, starting today.
- Myspace - Let’s face it, once the 40+ crowd hit Facebook, it was pretty much all over. Believe us, soon the younger generation is going to flock back to Myspace, because it’s currently deserted, totally-uncontested ground. Also, Justin Timberlake played that Napster guy on The Social Network, so he clearly knows what he’s doing.
- Adobe Flash Intros - People love music (see: Pandora, Spotify). People love animation (see: Frozen, Big Hero 6). People especially love music and animation that happens unexpectedly, right as they launch a website. It’s like a flash mob that happens on your computer screen! How fun is that?!
- Reflected Logos - Who needs a clean, print-friendly brand identity? Nobody, that’s who. The “wet look” is back, baby! Nothing says “I’m a forward-thinking, innovative company” like a logo that looks like it’s sitting on a freshly-mopped, high-gloss floor! Bonus: You get (almost) twice the brand impressions everywhere!
The best thing about all these ideas is the time and energy it saves you for more important things. Instead of following every industry trend blog, you can work on perfecting those beveled edges in Photoshop. Your creatives will be thrilled, because they can probably just re-use old images and files from the company archives. Heck, you might not even need graphic designers to pull off some of these. Your company image might look a little vintage, but your bottom line will look amazing!
Remember folks, you heard it here first. And last. And always. Retrofuturism is here to stay.