The fight for real is on

I’ve never had a huge affinity with Polaroid. It just wasn’t my generation. As a kid, I had ‘snappy’ 110 pocket camera, and as time passed digital would eventually replace everything – until now.

Due to the rise of digital, Polaroid would eventually close its doors in 2008.

I always loved the idea of Polaroid – virtually instant gratification and storytelling, like a great Instagram post but with a ten-minute delay until you can read it, imagine …

My knowledge of the brand was pretty limited until I discovered them by chance on an A380, flying from Sydney to London. Sitting hunched in my economy chair, I spotted an interesting documentary on my screen titled The Impossible Project (2020) all about the rebirth of this analogue technology and I was mesmerised.

Told in the words of eccentric entrepreneur, Florian. The Viennese biologist, tells of his obsession with analogue and his story of saving and re-igniting the Polaroid brand eventually buying the last remaining Polaroid factory in Enschede, Netherlands.

What seemed a straight forward ambition was soon severely flawed when Florian and his team discovered that Polaroid’s original film formula was in fact never fully documented, requiring them to reverse-engineer everything from scratch through sheer trial and error.

On near completion Florian was handed another challenge, as one of his younger protégées had even bigger ideas, eventually firing him from the entire project.

The story had me mesmerised, and I was now truly invested into the brand.

So when I saw these new ads by Polaroid Creative Studio with Creative Director Patricia Varella, I thought wow, these are great! It’s brilliant to see big ads come out to relaunch Polaroid. Picking up on today’s obsession with digital gratification, speed, and the fakery of the internet, this is a refreshing take. Slowing down the moments and relishing them – savouring them through something tangible. I love that.

The ads range in their attack on the virtual, Ai and social with my favourite being “Real stories, Not Stories & Reels’, written in blue biro across the posters – a nice touch. I’m guessing that strategically the plan here is to disrupt our thinking about digital and disposable value, then maybe we’ll see some more softer ‘moments’ in the future.

Coincidentally, a spotted a great post on socials, by a local, acclaimed photographer & videographer John Turton, who had documented the recent Oasis gig using his old 20-year-old RicohGR early gen digital camera – the ones with the pop-up flash!

Engraining a sense of bolden reality, these shots are packed with a raw energy which I love. Reminding us that moments don’t have to be polished to be beautiful and emotionally charged.

Check them out here.

So is this the rebirth of analogue – or in fact the moment? Are we all ‘digitally done’? I doubt it, however any nod to real is a welcomed arrival.

So with such a great, thought provoking campaign, why did Polaroid almost nail it?

For me, the user experience of purchasing the product needs to be as good as the ad. Which after seeing the ad, I did (almost).

For me the website just didn’t deliver. I thought the film selection was extremely confusing – I had no idea what I was buying, and the price point was far too high for something that in theory could just be printed at home or your local Spielberg’s.

It’s a hard thing to manage when you’re delivering only part of the brief but user experience should match up, especially when the creative is controlled in house. I’m sure this will be refined in time – I hope.

Did they put the cart before the horse? Possibly. Am I looking forward to their next creative? Most defiantly.