Whether it's the festive spirit or the end-of-year existentialism, I've been feeling an intense nostalgia these past few months – particularly for the early 2000s. It was truly a golden internet age as we collectively found our online footing, making for a delightful Wild West of digital content tied together with that signature clunky Windows 97 aesthetic.
If you've also recently hopped on the nostalgia train, A24's latest movie campaign might just be the time machine you never knew you needed. To celebrate its upcoming film Y2K, the entertainment company has created an interactive desktop complete with an instant messenger chatroom, a custom mixtape builder and plenty of good old-fashioned retro UI design to get you in the throwback spirit.
To enter the world of Y2K, you'll need to link to your Spotify account and come up with a unique username. Once you've logged on you're instantly greeted by an instant message from 'CoolBlue99', an AI-powered chatbot which I admittedly wasted far too much time yapping with.
From there you can get throwback playlists with the 'CD Burner' option, or even 'Burn your own mix' by selecting one of the curated vibes including 'Late Night LimeWire' and my personal favourite, 'Teenage Rage Vol. 1'. Since the site is linked to Spotify you can stream the throwback mixes on your account – I've got to admit, at least it's more exciting than this year's Spotify Wrapped.
The notepad file labelled 'README.txt' brings up a friendly greeting message explaining the interactive microsite. "Welcome, traveller! You've stumbled upon my digital universe, an ode to the greatest operating system ever made. This site is basically a portal back to 1999, when the internet was dial-up and life was simpler," the note reads.
Sneakily tucked away in the corner is the Y2K film trailer labelled Y2KPREV.mov, lest we forget this is a refreshingly creative promo for A24's upcoming film. It's great to see movies getting more creative promo lately, like Alien Romulus' terrifying OOH campaign and Smile 2's viral spooky guerilla marketing techniques. A24 expertly demonstrates that film promo can be more than traditional ad campaigns and press tours, a refreshing evolution that proves thinking outside the box can have a big impact.
