Reinvent a Canada in which print is not dead?

What an ballsy way to launch a redesign!

Adrants posted this Globe and Mail ad, in which an iconoclastic young woman on a bicycle tells Canadians to forget about their country's past accomplishments, and put all eyes on the future:



From the YouTube link:

On the first of October, The Globe and mail will reveal a new look.

This change coincides with the launch of a discussion that begins in our pages, but ultimately lives beyond them.

We hope, and intend, for this discussion to strike at the heart of how Canadians define ourselves, and our nation. It is meant to go beyond words. We hope it will become a turning point.

We need to re-examine Canadian institutions, and conceits, that we hold dear. Instead of locking ourselves in celebrations of the past, we want to explore our future -- and all we can do to make it brilliant.

But what really can eight discussions over two months achieve? We hope they ignite a million great Canadian debates, at breakfast tables and board tables.

Start with The Globe and Mail. From there, it's up to you.

Canada, it's our time to lead.

While I appreciate the bold sentiment, I believe that there shouldn't be such a radical break between past and future. All breakthroughs built on other people's work. If people had to reinvent the wheel every generation, they never would have invented the car! (Or, indeed, the bicycle!)

On the other hand, it's also good to understand that we're making history every moment. It just seems ironic that this call-to-arms is coming from a medium that is so representative of the old way of communicating...