{"id":21392,"date":"2026-06-08T09:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/news\/2025\/nov\/welcome-to-the-next-normal-2"},"modified":"2026-06-15T13:23:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:23:48","slug":"welcome-to-the-next-normal-2","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/news\/2026\/jun\/welcome-to-the-next-normal-2","title":{"rendered":"Are We Going Loopy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his third Campaign column of the year, our Founding Partner and Chairman Charles Vallance breaks down the current love of ‘nowstalgia’ and why the marketing industry should kickstart a new era of cultural momentum<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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I tend to be suspicious of transformation programmes. Especially when they\u2019re preceded by the word ‘digital’.<\/p>\n

So many programmes that are billed as game-changing quietly get shelved, ending with an incremental whimper rather than a transformative bang. Perhaps it’s the burden of expectation. Transformation seems such a big leap, such a daunting prospect.<\/p>\n

That’s why I prefer the phrase ‘discontinuity’. It’s more concrete and more actionable as a goal, because it’s binary. It means you’ve either stopped doing something that you were doing, or started doing something that you weren’t.<\/p>\n

Another reason I like discontinuity is that it seems, right now, to be in short supply. In fact you might say that we are living through an era of almost unprecedented cultural continuity. Or, perhaps more accurately, re-continuity.<\/p>\n

From ads, to music, to film and entertainment it feels like we\u2019re caught in a cultural loop. So much of what we consume is a re-make or a re-take.<\/p>\n

In many fields of the media landscape, hardy perennials remain the headline act. Who would have thought, for instance, that Abba would still be setting the benchmark for tech-enabled entertainment over fifty years on from their Eurovision triumph? Or that Justin Bieber would be the stand out act of Coachella by singing along to YouTube videos of his teenage self?<\/p>\n

In movies we see a similar pattern – with a proliferation of sequels, prequels or re-tellings from superhero franchises like Marvel (dating back to the 1930’s). Either on our screens now, or coming soon, we have The Devil Wears Prada 2, Mortal Kombat 2, the Star Wars spin-off Mandalorian and Grogu, Toy Story 5, Masters of the Universe (a reboot of the 1980’s original) and Scary Movie 2026 (sixth in the series). It really is quite scary.<\/p>\n

Ads are in on the repetition compulsion too. The latest Guardian ad is a reboot of the seminal 80\u2019s skinhead ad. And the new BT ad is a homage to the speaking clock launched in 1936 and forgotten for decades.<\/p> \r\n \r\n \t\t\t <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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Of course, re-processing the past has always been fundamental to culture and to advertising. There is nothing wrong with \u2018nowstalgia\u2019. One of the most famous British ads of the 80\u2019s was a cultural reminiscence of a small-town American launderette in the late 50\u2019s. And that\u2019s before we mention Brideshead Revisited or Chariots of Fire.<\/p>\n

But, despite nostalgia being a constant cultural force, things definitely feel more loopy now than they did then, with films, ads, music, even politics (anyone for a Brexit re-referendum?) seemingly stuck on repeat.<\/p>\n

The one huge exception to the prevailing sense of cultural continuity is, of course, technologically driven change. The tech revolution that took hold barely thirty years ago has been radically disruptive, transforming how we shop, how we communicate, how we entertain ourselves and, with the advent of AI, even how we construct reality.<\/p>\n

Yet this massive historical moment of discontinuity may be precisely the thing that\u2019s perpetuating the loop.<\/p>\n

Due to the combined impact of search and stream, the whole world can effectively feast on the world\u2019s whole creative output, at will, unfettered by time or place.<\/p>\n

Take music. Forty years ago, access to music was controlled by either linear broadcasters, or the likes of Our Price and HMV. As a result, we only got a sliver at a time.<\/p>\n

Now we have a glut. And as we gorge ourselves on the styles of music we like, we perhaps take less interest in, and have less need for, the new musical styles we might grow to like. And so the loop continues.<\/p>\n

The danger of self-perpetuation is arguably only increased by the rise of AI. LLM\u2019s are, by definition trained on past data, they are inherently re-processing engines. And they also have an affirmation bias likely to echo the views we already hold, the culture we already like. Oh dearie me.<\/p>\n

However, I refuse to be pessimistic. It is often at the moment of peak sameness that difference breaks out. And we are certainly due a moment of cultural discontinuity.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the marketing industry can be the one to lead the charge, rather like it did in the early 90\u2019s when First Direct, Orange, Pret, Dyson and easyJet all launched within a year or so of each other and helped kickstart economic and cultural momentum ahead of Cool Britannia, New Labour, Brit Pop and YBA.<\/p>\n

It may seem like a tall order. Like winning the World Cup. But then again, loopier things have happened.<\/p> \t\t<\/div>\r\n \t\t\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n\n