Breaking out of the ordinary is a good thing for everyone once in awhile. Having to practice the same humdrum routine over and over without ever advancing or applying new elements to it can make life very dull and unpleasant. The new and unique is especially important for businesses; customers are always looking for exciting new things to enjoy. Companies are eternally looking for ways to distinguish themselves from other companies with new attributes and features that customers may enjoy more than those of the competition.
The idea of looking for and applying the out-of-the-ordinary to products today is not a new trend in itself, however. It is rather difficult to thumb through a 1955 magazine and not find the word “new” every few pages. For years, the idea of “new” has been at a high in popularity. It focuses very heavily on style and function: new looks and new, improved ways to accomplish various tasks.
Making a Product Visually Pleasing
Even since the 1950s, style has been a very important element. Without visual appeal, it can be very difficult to sell a product. Take, for example, the ad for the 1955 Lincoln Capri. The pictures in such ads always show a product at its best with visually pleasing surroundings, and this ad is no exception. The first thing a reader sees is a picture of a stunning new car sitting at a perfect angle, with elegant lines and curves along the sides of its chrome-embellished body. Its passenger door is open to show just enough of the perfectly-arranged leather interior to make the viewer curious. At the doorway stands a young woman, dressed in a classy, outfit, showing that she has very good taste in both wardrobe and cars. The title of the article is in large letters and references the out-of-the-ordinary.
The first paragraph of the article itself paints a beautiful picture of a “dramatic difference in sweep of line, curve of chrome, [and] brilliance of color and styling.” Clearly, visual appeal is one of the more important elements of a product. Adding something new to it, as Lincoln claims to have done with “not a single useless bulge, not one superfluous ornament, [the] striking new grille and massive new headlights, [and] a new rear deck and built-in dual exhausts,” definitely helps attract customers to their beautifully-crafted creation.
Why Functionality Matters
Function is another important element in a product, and new features and functions hardly go amiss, whether or not they are often used. In the ad for their 1955 Capri, Lincoln quickly promoted their new Turbo-Drive “latest and greatest automatic transmission.” They claimed that this new Turbo-Drive system eliminated the lags and jerks that, by implication, other transmission systems of that time had. They claimed an “unbroken sweep of power from zero to superhighway speed limits.” They then went on to mention their other new features for the car’s function: a V-8 engine, a new camshaft, and a “new and improved ball-joint front wheel suspension.”
Even today, new features and gadgets are readily welcomed into homes worldwide. Apple used the never-before-seen to give their iPhone product easy fame. Alienware uses their exquisite high-end features and their new AlienFX decorations to attract customers to their quality computers. Closer to the Lincoln article, Mazda uses distinct styling and useful new features, such as blind spot monitoring and push-button ignition, to make easy sales of their cars. New features are very rarely unwanted and very rarely useless.
The new and out-of-the-ordinary has always been and will always be a goal for everybody, both in the ways lives are lived and in business. Breaking away from the boring and everyday makes life interesting and fun. New is a popular trend, with a heavy focus on style and function. As technology rapidly develops, so will the new and unique, and so will the trend continue. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Think of all the time to be saved when Apple makes a teleporter!