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Not long ago, I invited Shane Skillen and his colleagues from Hotspex in to meet with one of our clients. At the end of the meeting Shane handed everyone a copy of a book he thought might be of interest to the group. It was The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt.
This is by no means a marketing text. In fact, the book has likely found its way into the dreaded self-help aisle of most bookstores.
A more apt categorization might be “a historical, philosophical, human-conditioning primer” – with the “human conditioning” piece being of primary interest to the marketer.
Haidt’s book uses a handy metaphor throughout, that of an elephant and rider. It’s drawn from the notion that the mind is divided into two authorities that are potentially in conflict with one another throughout your life: “Like a rider on the back of an elephant, the conscious, reasoning part of the mind has only limited control of what the elephant does.”
I’m fascinated by the implication of this for brands attempting to forge emotional connections with consumers and, by extension, the challenges of linking what the “rider” may tell us in research to what the “elephant” might decide in the marketplace.
Haidt drums up a satisfying range of medical and behavioural studies peppered with portable bits of ancient wisdom gleaned from the Greeks to Hebrew scriptures to the New Testament to Buddha. These were insightful passages that support much of the foundational thinking that we, here at Grip, use in our approach to creating Values Based Advertising: Virtue. Ethics. Morality.
Achieving a balance of these qualities and principles is crucial to developing happiness, argues Haidt. Similarly, at Grip we view them as crucial components to compelling brand platforms. Haidt also explore some historical contexts and brain-science that supports the thesis.
This is definitely not a book of tactics or best practices. But if you’re the sort who likes to climb inside the consumer’s head (or your own) and have a look around, The Happiness Hypothesis might bring you a welcome hit of inner happiness.
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