You spent the last decade digitizing your life and suddenly paper and plastic are back on the radar. Some bands are even selling limited edition cassette tapes of new albums. Cassette tapes! Who would have thought we would ever hear that word again. Savvy companies are capitalizing on the trend by offering to produce material copies of digital files. One of them, Postagram, allows you to send physical postcards printed from digital photos.
Why the move back to the material world? People miss the romance and sensory appeal of objects. Tactical objects hold memories, and for many, these things have personalities of their own. The smell of books, the design on the sleeve of a record, are now considered “romantic”, “nostalgic”, not old and musty. Digital is too easy to replicate, too easy to copy. You can send an electronic file to many but a hand illustration edition to few. There’s an emotional void that digital has created and it’s an opportunity for brands to create amazing connections with their consumers.
