What Brands Make you Happy?

In response to this question set by DesignWeek…

Almost every day my colleagues and I are asked to help organisations find their deeper purpose, unravel their values and promote a part of life they can slot into to make the most profitable contribution possible to their audiences lives. That’s ace. That’s competitive commercial reality.

There is no doubt that those brands that do find positions to occupy in life, that genuinely benefit people, make significant contributions to how societies behave, And of course, make significant profits in the process. Apple & Google being obvious examples of this.

Yet if brands are the collective reputations of products, services and organisations, surely the question of ‘what brands make your life better’ is a recipe for making life worse.

Do people need to look to products, services and organisations to fill emotive voids, expand personal horizons, satisfy deeper desires and demands… really? We need a brand for that?

Once, in Amsterdam, a person I was travelling with (who we will call ‘chap’ here), went to a ‘coffee shop’ and asked the vendor for some Marijuana.

The guy behind the counter asked, ‘What kind?’

The chap ventured, ‘Something that will make me laugh, something that will make me happy?’

Without missing a beat the shop owner smiled back,

‘My friend, drugs won’t make you happy’.

Long term, I suspect brands are the same.

They serve a purpose, but don’t provide purpose.
They may raise a smile, but don’t deliver happiness.

Commercial advantage consists of many aspects, including intelligent application of brand thinking.

True happiness lies in surprisingly simple things, not complex branded structures.

When on Desert Island Discs, singer, Tom Jones — a man who has been the highest paid, most celebrated, knicker-throwing magnet on the planet — was given his choice of a luxury item to help make him feel happier in splendid island isolation.

Mr Jones has had his pick of the planets pleasures, both personal and professional.

His choice of luxury item?

A bucket and spade.