You get up at 5am …
Tired
Fragile
Cranky
Hungry
… and yet when you walk out the door and see the majesty of the World waking up with you – you can’t help but feel inspired, connected and alive.
A disgustingly talented and beautiful planner friend of mine, Catherine Heath, came up with this ‘Accidental Happiness’ phrase and I love it.
It’s those moments where you just are struck by a wave of happiness … sometimes lasting a few seconds, sometimes lasting a few hours … and yet nothing tangible seems to have caused it.
I’m reading this book on ‘Life Statistics’ – and in it, it states babies laugh spontaneously around 300 per day and yet as adults, it goes down to about 15.
Sure, children are generally immune from the hard realities/pressures of life we appreciate [ha!] as adults – but for the majority of us, is life that hard?
How much of these pressures are self imposed given so many of us have a ‘keep up with the Jones’s’ mentality? And no, the irony that an Adman has written this hasn’t been lost on me.
So what is the moral of this story?
Well it isn’t “Fuck relying on coffee … get up early and look at the sky!” [though that’s not a bad message] … it’s that values, feelings and emotions are [and will continue to be] the most powerful way for brands to differentiate, communicate and motivate their way to true consumer loyalty.
Of course this is nothing new, some brands have been doing it for years, however major things are affecting us these days – from the product/marketing parity in almost every category right through to the wars and poverty that surround us … so if organisations only focus on [Communication] ROI, then I believe they are actually ’reducing’ their ability to cultivate true consumer loyalty because for many people today, they want more out of their brand association than just ‘retail status’.
Of course some will be more protected than others … things like the category / distribution / geographic location / competition levels will all have an influence in how they handle this changing situation … but given the internet is letting people explore beyond their shores for who they wish to associate with, we could be entering the phase of ‘Champagne Socialism‘ – probably best demonstrated by Bono and his recent ‘Red’ campaign.
Ahhhh, RED … On one hand it’s a new way to help people alot less fortunate than the masses … and on the other, it’s an opportunity [and excuse] for people obsessed with materialism to buy yet more products they don’t really need because they are lacking in self esteem and self respect. [It’s not just ‘material possession either, see this entry]
Cynical?
Of course … it’s me for God’s sake. However, even though all help is good help, I can’t get past the fact the main supporters of RED are brands obsessed with aspirational material consumption which sort of means they TAKE huge amounts with one hand and then GIVE teensy-weensy bits back with the other.
It’s basically selling ‘Guilt Free Greed‘ … but it’ll work because as I said, people want to associate with brands that give them a sense of belonging via values, emotions and/or feelings and when the alternative is just making a corporation rich – helping the needy [however small a % goes to them] is enough to let them sleep at night. In essence, the Body Shop and Ben & Jerry’s were before their time … what a shame they now are owned by the sort of corporation who believes charity should always begin ‘at home’.
Hmmmmn, this entry is quite a contradictory, all-over-the-place and angry isn’t it … maybe it’s because I got up at 5 bloody AM and didn’t have a coffee!