The return of the Nokia 3310 and the love of a remake

There doesn’t seem to be a week that goes by without reading a headline that makes us question “why though?”

Over the weekend Nokia has announced the return of the Nokia 3310, a phone that was prized in the grubby mitts of every 15-year-old as being the most indestructible phone known to a teenager. The smartphones of the last few years have been fragile snowflakes in comparison to this house brick monster. We can understand the love for the 3310 and its indestructibility and it has amassed a cult following of people longing for a break in the 24/7 exposure of emails, updates and push notifications that demand our attention.

So… Why now? Well apart from the obvious reason that it coincides nicely with Nokia’s new push of the new Nokia 6 that easily generates some media traction for the flailing phone brand since Apple and Samsung have pushed it out of the spotlight, the bottom line is we expect a reboot. In the past few years we’ve seen Hollywood take a stab at cult classics and if they’re not hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread within 6 months of release they are torn down again with a new director in the hot seat.

Now is the time we should be asking ourselves how to get better at finding the next idea rather than how we can rehash something that’s been done before. Take a look at Netflix, they face increasing pressure from rival streaming services, and in the midst of this, they have decided to shake up the concept of the TV pilot by investing in pilot series rather than single episodes. This new format offers TV show creators the opportunity to sell their show over the course of 8-13 episodes rather than cramming storylines down a test audience’s throat in the hopes of being properly funded.

Originality and creativity are waning from the creative industry and now is the time for small companies, who have the bottle to take the risk, to gain everything.