Old is the new new: Rediscovery in COVID times

In unnerving times of drastic change such as these, it’s natural for us to latch on to things that give us comfort and provide useful distractions from what seems like a 24 hour COVID news cycle.

ComScore recently found that visits to online bookstores have actually gone down in the U.K. versus other countries. We could just be philistines endlessly binging on our TVs and mobiles. But I suspect something else is at play.

We’re dusting off our shelves and rediscovering our existing collection of books, records, CDs and board games.

Few things give comfort like good old nostalgia. And what better way to spend all that spare housebound time than to not only revisit old favourites, but also finally read off those books you abandoned on page 10.

So what does this mean for brands?

It’s two fold.

First, delve into your archive vaults for crowd pleasers, give them a fresh lease of life and make every day a #ThrowbackThursday. AR and VR can be particularly useful in adding a new dimension to existing content.

The second is to tap into this heightened sense of rediscovery and reconnection by encouraging audiences to delve deeper into their existing treasure trove of books, albums and films.

And as for what happens after the world recovers?

No one can say for sure, but we might just find that our obsession with shiny new things isn’t as strong as it used to be.