The most digitally native generation in history is the one reviving vinyl, print and physical books – and the reasons behind it carry a lesson for every business. As trust in digital content wavers, the things people can hold are becoming a strategic advantage.

By Jo Caruana, Founder & CEO, Finesse Group | StoryBrand Certified Guide

Chances are, you’re reading this on a screen. The digital world is now everywhere, with screens and AI having already changed the face of almost everyone’s average day. Yet, there’s been a side effect to this that few could have predicted; the generation that grew up with Spotify is driving a vinyl revival.

And their anti-screen revolution isn’t just confined to the world of music. Gen Z – the most digitally native cohort in history – is the demographic most responsible for the resurgence in physical records, physical books, even Blu-ray discs. Nielsen data shows 80% of 14–25-year-olds prefer physical books. In 2025, Blu-ray sales grew for the first time since 2018, led largely by younger buyers.

This generation isn’t returning to something they used to love – they never owned these formats in the first place! Rather than a wave of nostalgia, this is a deliberate choice. Print, vinyl and all things tangible are earning the attention credibility that screens alone no longer command.

The easy explanation is that tangible things feel premium when the alternative is a world drowning in digital content. When everything exists on a screen, something you can hold in your hands stands out simply by being different.

But this goes deeper than novelty, and the neuroscience behind it is fascinating. Research from Temple University found that physical formats activate the brain’s reward centre (the ventral striatum) significantly more than digital equivalents. Brand recall was 70% higher for physical media in a separate study. And a major European research consensus involving around 200 scholars concluded that comprehension of long-form content is meaningfully stronger on paper than on screens.

In other words, physical objects are processed more deeply, remembered more clearly and valued more highly. Our brains treat them differently.

Brand recall runs around 70% higher for physical media than for digital.

Many company history books fail in the same way because they’re conceived as documents rather than designed as physical keepsakes. 

The same generation behind the analogue revival – vinyl, film cameras, indie magazines, the return to print – has grown up with screens. This is exactly why a custom-made book, held in the hand, feels even more special to this generation. There’s an undeniable quality to holding a cloth-bound book (the paper, the binding, the cover, the weight) that a digital file just doesn’t offer. And before a reader has taken in a single word, the book is already telling them something about how much care has gone into it.

I love pointing to Hermès as a family-owned house that has been making books as beautifully designed objects for decades. Their gorgeous books are made by people who really care about how a book feels to hold and who treat heritage as a living tradition that the house is still building. Le Monde d’Hermès has been published twice a year since the 1960s, guest art-directed across different eras. La Maison, published annually since 2023, is never sold at retail – it’s reserved for VIP clients only.

Of course, Hermès is just one reference among many. You might choose for your book to be more traditional in its binding, more led by text than by image, or told chronologically because that’s how your business naturally thinks. And that – your business’ story and way of thinking – matter more than some arbitrary standard set by another company. What we’ve seen at Finesse, across the milestone books that really connect with younger readers, is that each book is crafted as a designed object in its own right. These are books where the heritage of the business comes through in the look and feel, not only in the words on the page.

Before a reader has taken in a single word, the book is already telling them how much care went into making it.

I’m not about to argue that everyone should abandon digital and start printing newsletters. Digital still dominates by volume, and for good reason as it’s fast, scalable and measurable.

But in my 20 years of working in communications, I’ve noticed that the businesses that stand out almost always have something tangible in their mix. That could be a beautifully produced magazine they send to clients, a live event that brings the right people together in a room, or a printed report that sits on someone’s desk rather than disappearing into a browser tab.

Print shouldn’t replace digital, but it does serve as an excellent amplifier. The data supports this approach – campaigns that combine print and digital have been shown to be far more effective than digital alone. The key is layering something physical into an otherwise digital-only strategy.

Combining print with digital can make for a more effective campaign than digital on its own.

This ‘tangible revolution’ has another angle that many are missing, which is that physical formats carry an implicit credibility signal – especially when AI-generated content floods every channel. We all know how quickly trust in digital media plummets the second it feels overtly AI.

Now, think about it from your prospects’ perspective. Anyone can write a LinkedIn post or send an automated email sequence, can’t they? But few can produce a high-quality print publication, or host a well-curated live event, or create an awards programme that brings together a sector’s leaders. The barrier to entry is higher, and your audience instinctively knows that.

Consumer research consistently shows that people trust print far more than digital. In some studies, the gap is as wide as 62% for print versus 34–35% for social media. And if AI-generated content keeps taking over all our feeds, that gap is going to get wider still. 

Around 62% of people trust print, against about a third for social media.

It’s important to stay both balanced and realistic on this topic – mass-market print is declining and magazine circulations are falling. The growth I’m referring to here is in niche, premium, curated formats – not in printing a cheap, generic brochure.

If you’re going to invest in something physical, it must be intentional, well-produced and aimed at a specific audience. The key word here is ‘premium’, i.e. creating a tangible, focused publication that makes the people featured in it feel proud that they’ve created something that looks and tactically feels high-end, while also representing who they are and the image they want their brand to project. 

In fact, the tangibility trend is about recognising that, while everyone competes for attention on the same crowded digital channels, sometimes the smartest business move is to step away from the screen entirely and create something beautiful.

Over to you: what’s the last physical business touchpoint that impressed you? A magazine, a beautifully designed report, an event invitation that made you stop and pay attention? I’d love to know!

Wondering where something tangible could sit within your strategy? Finesse Group helps founders and leadership teams craft PR and media strategies – from beautifully produced publications to thoughtfully curated events – that put them in front of the right people, in the right rooms. Book a free 30-minute consultation with Jo to explore what this could look like for you.