Somewhere beyond the sea of Instagram filters, food-swapping apps, and WiFi-enabled self-driving cars, Sax has discovered a culture of outliers. But the throwback notions of analog goods have now moved beyond the fringe—and even large corporations are embracing the trend. Be it vinyl records, board game cafés, Moleskine notebooks, or Polaroid cameras, everything old is new again, and Sax knows why: these tactile products and experiences fill a void left by cold, calculating digital. But the analog revival goes beyond mere enjoyment, Sax argues. We’re also reminding ourselves that we read more efficiently from the printed page, that physical retailers outstrip the profits of e-commerce, that tech-free meetings encourage us to retain information. And that maybe, just maybe, analog and digital products can exist side-by-side: a happy medium with one foot firmly in each millennium.
Sax’s focus on the re-emergence of analog doesn’t stop with the book, however. He’s a regular contributor to both Bloomberg Business and The New Yorker, where he writes on the digital-analog overlap—everything from Record Store Day to Kodak’s renaissance to Amazon’s ambitious foray into brick-and-mortar bookstores. And if you want the full experience, look no further than his brand-new keynote, “Analog Revenge,” an intriguing exploration of the 20th-century trends permeating 21st-century culture, and their profoundly human underpinnings.
David Sax is always ahead of the curve when it comes to our ever-changing cultural trends. Whether he’s discussing the re-emergence of analog or our obsession with bacon strips, Sax can tell you what major trends say about us, and what they mean for marketing, health, and the economy. To book David Sax for a keynote, contact The Lavin agency speakers bureau.
