To quote one of my favorite and most memorable Say Anything songs, “Admit it!!!”, you’re going to hear the word “analog” a *lot* this year. Society is TIRED. Half of us are resisting AI while the other half are either reluctantly embracing it while everyday is another Zoom call and a email that truly does not find us well… We’re dying to get away from our screens, even spending $90+ dollars on devices (the Brick) that lock us out of our smart phones because we don’t have the willpower to do it on our own free will, or flip phones with T3 texting (no literally, they’re back). For the most part, the people are sick and tired of the brain-rot from our phones and the general consumerism and just want to reminisce on life pre-social media.
We’re seeing it heavily in the ways that we’ve choosing to spend our money in terms of entertainment and GHD has been on the forefront of this trend because for us in 2024, it was pivot or die… so we chose pivot, obviously. We opened up our DIY Craft Lounge, host a monthly and often sold-out Craft Club and quarterly Craft Camps to truly log off, be creative and immerse ourselves into our community. I’ve seen business after business start opening up their doors for more than just shopping foot traffic, but driving people to spend more time in their physical locations to get crafty and spend time with their neighbors because of the societal shift from retail shopping to intentional quality time in the way of scheduled, ticketed events.
Consumerism is out — community is in and creativity is cool. Going analog is not going away. In fact, if you ask me, I think the new “Hot Girl Summer” is going to be “Analog Summer” where we’ll see people getting outdoors more, traveling and doing at-home activities that don’t involve technology (likely with a mix of nostalgia in there — think the 90’s era of activities like friendship bracelet making, coloring, shrinky dinks, etc.)
This all to be said, GHD has pivoted in a major way in the last 2 years or so, following the uptick in intentional spending of time & resources in opening our DIY Craft Lounge and adding products to our line that encourage creativity and intentional time spent i.e. Diamond Painting Kits, Puzzles, and more because we see it happening right in front of our eyes, and we’re so on board.
Have you noticed more and more businesses pivoting to the “events” model vs only traditional retail shopping too?