Sure, things can make us happy, but so can experiences, including the experience of “place.” A new poll says that the happiest states in the good ol’ U S of A are, in order: Utah, Hawaii and Wyoming. At the bottom of the list? Kentucky, Mississippi and West Virginia. Of course, the real trick to lasting happiness is being able to find it regardless of your latitude and longitude.
Well, that’s the findings of a recent study anyway. In short, the study says that when things we enjoy, like watching TV or reading a book or eating chocolate, are made to last longer, the experience is more intense and more gratifying. Commercials (even the crappy ones, which is most of them) extend our TV programming and intensify our pleasure. So, there you have it, advertising makes the world a better place.
Yes, it’s true. There’s now an iPhone (and iTouch) app, called the Happy Tapper, that promises to make you happier. The software asks that, for one month, you log in a “gratitude journal” five things that make you happy each day. Research suggests that when we pause to consider what makes us happy that that, well, makes us happy.
Slate has kicked off a “Happiness Project” in which one of their writers is debunking happiness myths. The series begins today with the myth that “happy people are annoying and stupid.” Somber, pessimistic people may seem smarter, but research clearly indicates no relation between happiness and smarts. Sorry, poets.
Well, that’s the findings of a recent study, anyway. But I think it also holds up to the “gut test.” Just as the study suggests, experiences tend to linger with us longer through memories that we can draw upon over time. Our initial joy of possessions, on the other hand, tends to fade with time and to be replaced by the desire for and the ultimate pleasure surrounding the acquisition of another possession. Though a small study, it provides yet more evidence that brands that can engage people through meaningful experiences are apt to make people happier.
I’m in the midst of yet another great book — “Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are” by Rob Walker of The New York Times. On page 96, I cam across Walker’s interesting summary of a particular article:
“[Consumers] are banding together, becoming ‘better educated and better organized,’ with a ‘growing familiarity with the mechanics of advertising’ and the endless range of gimmicky sales tactics. They have ’suffered from deceptive and stupid advertising’ long enough, and it is only inevitable that power would shift to them in an economy that has moved from scarcity to abundance. ‘These changes,’ the article summarized, ‘have tended to make consumers more critical and to enhance their importance’.”
Sound familiar? I bet it does; we’ve been reading the same basic message in the ad trade journals for several years, at least. Well, as it turns out, the article quoted above was in the Harvard Business Review. In 1939!
The more things change, the more the stay the same?
Clear Channel to provide media support in excess of $200,000.
CINCINNATI, OH – May 5, 2008 – As it has done since 1999, Barefoot is giving back by offering an advertising and marketing services grant to a non-profit organization. But this year, rather than award two $50,000 grants as it did last year, the firm is offering one $100,000 grant. Sweetening the deal further is a local pledge by radio and outdoor media giant Clear Channel Communications to provide the grant winner with at least $200,000 in media support. Barefoot is currently accepting proposals through their website, www.thinkbarefoot.com/grants. The deadline to submit applications is noon (EST) on Friday, May 29, and winners will be announced in June.
“Most non-profits organizations simply can’t afford to hire an ad agency or to pay for media placement,” said Doug Worple, Barefoot’s founder and executive creative director. “That’s why we’re most pleased to team up with Clear Channel, just as we did in 2004, which resulted in remarkable buzz.”
Over the course of their non-profit grant program, Barefoot has donated over $1.2 million of billable agency time to such organizations as Clovernook Center for the Blind, Know Theater, Pitch In For Baseball, Second Chance Horse Rescue, Visionnati and Beaded Hope.
“This grant program is now deeply embedded in our culture,” Worple said. “It’s something our employees look forward to and consider a highlight of every year.”
About Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (NYSE:CCU) is a global media and entertainment company specializing in mobile and on-demand entertainment and information services for local communities and premiere opportunities for advertisers. Based in San Antonio, Texas. More information is available here.
About Barefoot
Founded in 1993, Barefoot is Cincinnati’s premier creative advertising agency. Their client roster also includes: Del Monte, Freedom Boat Club, Miller Brewing Company, Procter & Gamble’s homecare brands (Swiffer, Dawn, Mr. Clean, Febreze and Cascade). Learn more about their work at www.thinkbarefoot.com.
Reuters Science today reported on a couple of new studies that suggest people get as big of a kick out of being praised as they do by being handed cash. Our social standing is as important as our economic standing.
As reported in the piece, researchers “…found that these seemingly different kinds of rewards — a good reputation versus money — are biologically coded by the same neural structure, the striatum,” said Dr. Norihiro Sadato of the Japanese National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Okazaki, Japan.
The studies suggest that the need to be accepted by others is deeply ingrained within us. As is the processing of what our particular status is (and means) within a social hierarchy. From our earliest days as a species, people have had to concern themselves with their reputation within their group.
I think these insights give us plenty to think about when it comes to marketing products and services that make people feel that their status is somehow improved. It also helps shed light on the whole social networking phenomenon and the psychic rewards of sensing that our reputations are improving as our circle of “friends” expands. Read more here.
There’s a little economic ditty called the Easterlin Paradox (after economist Richard Easterlin) which suggests that economic growth within a country does not necessarily lead to greater happiness (except for those in poverty, struggling to stay alive, who then come upon the means to pay for basic necessities). What Easterlin believed had a greater impact on happiness was how much you made in comparison to others. The Easterlin paradox has been widely accepted since the early 70’s when it was first put forth.
But now the Easterlin Paradox is being challenged by two economists at the Brookings Institute: Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfer. Their research suggests that money does bring happiness (though, of course, there are no guarantees; the proverbial runaway bus that could mow you down may be gaining momentum around any corner). When they looked at data collected by the Gallup organization, countries with the higher GDP per capita were dramatically more likely to register higher on the happiness scale. So, you have countries like Italy, Greece, Norway, Israel and the U.S., to name a few, several points, at least, (on a ten-point scale) ahead of Indonesia, Peru, India, and China, to name a few.
My sense of all of this is that the truth, as it often does, likes to play in the middle. Money can do a lot of things, including buying one happiness, beyond just material things. Disposable income allows us to do things for others, take trips to places we’ve never been, discover and support new hobbies, all of which can add joy to our lives. If we have lots of dough, we can even retire early. Perhaps way early. But traveling the world alone because you have no friends. Or not shopping much during the holidays because, say, your family relationships are strained to the point where gift exchanging doesn’t occur. Well, money can’t fix those things. And, to really underscore the point, no matter how much you may have in your wallet or purse, and in your bank accounts, its not enough to end the Iraq War.
Here’s a story from the Times of India that provides some additional insight.
I’m not out to offend anyone’s political sensibilities, but some research analysis by Arthur Brooks suggests that conservatives are more happy than liberals. Conservatives were about twice as likely to call themselves “very happy” when compared to liberals. And you can’t blame it on President George Bush; according to the pollsters, conservatives have considered themselves happier than liberals for more than 35 years. It’s not due to income either. Despite stereotypes to the contrary, conservatives aren’t richer than liberals.
What is it then? Well, Brooks says that part of the answer is that conservatives are more likely to attend church every week. When you compare religious conservatives to secular liberals, the happiness gap grows ever wider. Secular liberals are, statistically speaking, as likely to say they are “not too happy” as they are to say they are “very happy.” Religious conservatives are ten times more likely to report being very happy than not too happy.
Brooks goes on to suggest that one of the fundamental reasons for the red v. blue happy gap is that conservatives are more apt to buy into the “work hard and whatever you want will be yours” philosophy. This sort of self-empowering, optimistic attitude is bound to keep anyone relatively hopeful and happy.
I consider myself a liberal — a very happy one — so this news took me a bit by surprise. That said, I have to concur that the liberal point of view is often one of “woe is me; woe is society.” Perhaps a bit more “trading up” among my fellow liberals can help turn this around. Maybe President Bush was right: we just need to keep shopping.