F**k Digital: Should Brands Disconnect to Truly Connect With Their Audience?

Innocent, the do-good food and drinks brand, have recently released free tickets for their ‘festival for grown-ups’ called Innocent Unplugged.

In their own words:

“Life’s a bit too connected these days, so we’re switching off for the weekend…No wifi, no 3G, no traditional electricity. We’re unplugging for real. Any power that we need, we’ll generate together (with a bit of solar to help us along).

So leave your phone at home. Forget about Facebook. Turn off Twitter.

We’ll see you in the woods.”

It’s a refreshing stance to take when all brands want to garner as much social media attention as possible.

The festival offers a variety of food and drink that I assume will be made by Innocent, as well as music acts and inspiring talks. Far from being a random offer, Innocent was born from selling smoothies at a music festival, and everything about the event exudes their own brand values. Further, the festival naturally appeals to the current generation’s love of pop-up food experiences, and obsession with improving their range of culinary knowledge. A recent report by Haygarth suggests that UK Millenials place higher value on “having the skills and knowledge to create tasty, interesting and authentic meals and snacks”, than having a good sense of style or fashion when wanting to impress their peer group.

More importantly, however, is the fact that Innocent have focused on the disconnecting of digital devices, which I think has been taken from a much deeper change in attitude to our work/leisure balance and the role of digital in our lives.

Currently there is a trend in adults regressing to childlike activities, remembering a time when they were not accountable to anything or anyone. These events hark back to our childhood when phones did not exist, and the ultimate source of fun was simply being silly and playing with your mates. The signs are all around us in London with popular events like Swingers (pop-up crazy golf), Regression Sessions (a club night that pairs fun-filled activities from our youth with alcohol) and adult ball pits. Further, there are Adult Summer Camps in the USA and two colouring books that are at the top of Amazon’s current bestseller list.

I’m not saying brands or consumers will stop using digital devices – all of the above events require a digital platform to promote themselves, or for consumers to find and book them. But in a world of endless notifications and the rise of the connected home, it is natural for people to yearn to disconnect with our electronic reality once in a while. For some brands, this may be the perfect chance to garner the full attention of their target audience.

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