Anthony Ryman, managing director of grow, a successful creative Doha-based advertising and design agency focused on brands, shares his insights in this compelling article.

Being English has several redeeming values, one of which is the bulldog spirit, otherwise defined as “stiff upper lip”. Whether our countenance and demeanour is a result of foul weather and bland food is open to question, but there’s something about the ‘whingeing poms’ when times get tough, that is well worth reviewing.

The media have fallen over themselves in the rush to describe the ‘credit crisis’ as the worst since the great Depression, and other expletives too numerous to mention.

Written by Anthony Ryman of grow - Qatar

But one thing is for sure, in times of hardship, most people go back to what they know and trust, and that is even more true of brands and consumer behaviour.

At grow, we pride ourselves on positive thinking and creating award-winning work for our clients that reinforces their positioning and differentiation, so allowing them to acquire greater market share and grow their business with less effort and decreasing customer acquisition cost. Part of our success, and yes, we are growing even in these hard times is directly attributable to a positive and open mind. I thought it wise therefore to look at what makes us truly happy, as consumers, and what doesn’t, as this forms the central tenet of branding, to understand human behaviour and what motivates us, in order to develop a brand that is true, believable and honest.

Studying consumers means studying human beings (managers, CEOs, marketers, innovation directors and other business professionals tend to occasionally forget this!). So let’s start with the most important question any marketer or exec can ever ask him or herself: what makes human beings and therefore your customers happy?

The ‘happiness’ question is likely to resurface frequently in the next few years, especially as mature consumer societies are faced with formidable (economic) competition from emerging, hard working economies. If these experienced consumers decide that the race to the (money) top is crucial, they must all work harder. If they decide life is about more than economic well-being, a whole new world will open up.

In fact, these ‘old economies’ could lead again, this time showing the way to leading a good life: a balanced mix of economic well being and everything else (from having more time for loved ones, to focusing on creativity and skills versus just consuming, to more eco-friendly lifestyles).

Research done by leadership development organization “Common Purpose” said that 87% of school leavers interviewed said that they were “seeking careers that fulfill their potential as as well as add purpose to their lives. Achieving a balance between personal and professional objectives is increasingly important in the “happynomics” era.

Let’s take a closer look at ‘happiness’: for most people, happiness is the ultimate goal, yet often remains temporary and elusive. The booming new science of happiness has shown that it’s within individuals’ power to maximize their own happiness. For instance, University of Minnesota researcher David Lykken (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_T._Lykken) concluded that about 50% of satisfaction with life comes from our genes. The rest, he found, is subject to our voluntary decisions and attitudes. So let’s focus on the 50% of happiness that human beings can completely control.

Theories of Happiness
In the last 50 years, in mature consumer societies, living standards, life expectancy and material wealth have soared. Income has almost tripled. The size of the typical newly built house has more than doubled. The only thing that hasn’t soared is happiness. In fact, it’s remained completely unchanged. (Source: National Opinion Research Center.)

What gives? An increasing body of research shows that once basic needs are met, additional income does little to raise one’s sense of satisfaction with life. (Source: Time Magazine.)

Studies by Ruut Veenhoven at Erasmus University in Rotterdam have show that after annual income exceeds USD 10,000, money tends to decreasingly affect happiness until an income of USD 50,000 has been reached. Above that, more money makes almost no difference at all. Edward Diener at Illinois University confirmed this effect by interviewing the ‘Forbes 400′ richest Americans. He found they were only slightly happier than the general public because they felt jealous about the possessions and prestige of similarly wealthy people. (Source: Newsweek.)

If we examine one of the central tenets of grow’s philosophy when examining consumers, Abraham Maslow, a US psychologist who was a leader in the humanistic school of psychology and created a ‘hierarchy of needs’ to explain human motivation

Level 1 - Food, shelter, clothing

The developed world has reached Level 4, proving their worth and self esteem and validating their success. And yet, we’re still not happy! Level 5 is next: how do companies appeal to people’s need for self-fulfilment, faith, belief and authenticity?

So why aren’t people getting happier as they are getting wealthier? Most people judge what they have according to what others have. So rather than being content with satisfying one’s own needs, most people can only be happy by being comparatively better off.

Consumers measure their comparative wealth mainly using Positional Goods like top jobs, luxury items, and the best education. They compete for these exclusive positional goods, judging each other by acquisition and accomplishment of them. In societies that are not so much based on hierarchy, positional goods have less of an effect because there are multiple niches in which people can show their worth.

Yet in most societies, Status Anxiety is getting worse. In England we call it, keeping up with the Joneses.” It’s eating away at happiness faster because the rich are getting richer faster and their lives are more visible. New media is opening new portals to their lives, making it easier for non-celebrities to believe that they should aspire to a similar lifestyle. This is causing Middle-Class Anxiety where people with more than comfortable lives believe themselves to be inadequate. Andy’s Warhol’s prediction that everone will be famous for 15 minutes has become a reality where the new celebrity, a la Big Brother, is famous for, well, being famous – there’s no redeeming quality or talent. Just being there will do.

If all consumers were wealthy, would it bring guaranteed happiness? Paradoxically, it wouldn’t. Wealth builds unrealistic expectations that condition people to believe that they never have enough. The more they have, the more they want. Richard Easterlin, professor of economics at University of Southern California says that at all levels of income, consumers think they need about 20% more to be happy. So as everybody gets richer, their desires outpace their ability to fulfill them, and they grow unhappy.

Reach.

“Oh that a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,

or what’s a Heaven for?” Robert Browning

Why doesn’t wealth promote happiness? In his 1958 book “The Affluent Society”, economist John Kenneth Galbraith argued that affluence allowed us to escape miserable lives of hunger and sickness and the social conflicts that stemmed from poverty. Yet affluence has also caused many unforeseen dissatisfactions. Galbraith believed that the materialism would breed discontent. He accused advertising of conditioning consumers into thinking they needed things they really didn’t and creating artificial desires that would be inherently disappointing to fulfill.

Galbraith criticized the logic of growth in our advanced post-affluent societies. We rarely reach a satisfactory level of self-fulfillment because our economic culture says that we never have enough. The results to people can be devastating, including mental afflictions and physical illness.

Positive Psychology

If wealth doesn’t bring happiness, then what does? An entirely new field of study called Positive Psychology is dedicated to answering this question. It’s a booming movement that focuses on what makes people feel good. And it has proven that happiness and optimism are skills that can be taught and learned.

The key assertion of Positive Psychology is that there are provable techniques for raising our own levels of happiness. In short, we need to maximize just three key factors. First, we should derive more pleasure from sensory life experiences. Second, we should become more engaged and deeply involved in work, hobbies and relationships. And third, we should find ways of making our lives feel more meaningful. Of the three factors, engagement and meaning are far more significant factors in happiness than pleasure.

To test the ideas of Positive Psychology, two of its pioneers, Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, conducted a study at the University of Illinois. They found that the most salient characteristics shared by those with the highest levels of happiness were strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them. Diener and Seligman concluded that social skills, close interpersonal ties and social support are the essential elements in maximizing happiness. (Source: Time Magazine.)

Happiness and Location

Where people live has a significant role in their level of happiness. Several recent studies have sought to declare the world’s happiest people. The World Happiness Database named the Danes, the Swiss and the Maltese the happiest. A Cambridge University study by Luisa Corrado and Aqib Aslam, confirmed in another study by Adrian White of the University of Leicester, also declared the Danes the happiest.

What makes a nation happy? National happiness is most closely associated with health levels, prosperity, education and trust in public institutions. Democracy is a sure guide to happiness. It seems self-determination through political engagement boosts life satisfaction.

Psychologists Robert Biswas-Diener and Ed Diener found that though there are regional differences in happiness, humans are hardwired to be happy. They found Latin Americans to be the happiest people in the world. Their high spirits in the face of relative poverty stemmed from a cultural norm that tends to positively assess life in general.

The unhappiest people are in East Asia, who consider the worst areas of their lives when determining their life satisfaction. In Western culture, there is a general tendency to value happiness. The Dieners’ research suggested that being happy is an evolutionary adaptation that helps us flourish in trying circumstances.

One country is even using happiness as a measure of development. The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is introducing a metric known as Gross National Happiness. Considerations will include how people use and balance their time, the health of the culture and community, and the quality of governance. (Sources: BBC and Time Magazine.)

Conclusion

Juliet Schor of Boston College found that 81% of Americans say their own country is too focused on shopping and spending, and 88% think it is too materialistic. Her findings support the conclusion that many people are coming to realize that lasting happiness simply cannot be purchased.

The conclusions of Positive Psychology, Happiness Economics and others show that happiness is chiefly an attitude of gratitude and acceptance. Happy people are open to change and have a positive outlook on life. They engage in purposeful activities that test their abilities, and develop relationships of respect and closeness.

There are huge opportunities in helping people achieve higher levels of happiness that go beyond offering classes that teach it. Most current goods and services promise happiness and only deliver short-term satisfaction.

Successful brands understand the ‘happiness trend’. They know they can’t sell happiness because true happiness is something people make for themselves. So smart brands choose to be facilitators and support meaningful self-fulfillment so people can create their own happiness.

Savvy consumers in advanced economies know the difference between brands that want to sell happiness and brands that want to facilitate happiness. And they will endorse those brands that help them find and create happiness in themselves.

Anthony Ryman is Managing Director of grow, a successful and refreshingly creative Doha-based advertising and design agency focused on brands. Successful clients include Alaqaria, Carnegie Mellon, Commercialbank, Doha Bank, Harley Davidson Qatar, Four Seasons Hotel Doha, International Bank of Qatar, Museum of Islamic Art, Qatari Diar, Qatar National Hotels, Ritz Carlton Doha, Ramada Plaza Doha, Sharq Village and Spa and Weill Cornell Medical College. For more information please go to http://www.growqatar.com or email at anthony@growqatar.com

Source: Acknowledgement to trendwatching.com, Time Magazine, Newsweek, BBC, National Opinion Research Center, Universities: Rotterdam, Erasmus, Southern California, Boston College, Minnesota, JK Galbraith, Robert Browning, Andy Warhol among others.)