We live in a context of “permacrisis”, linking economic and social potholes every few years. But the 2020 pandemic was different. It unleashed a transversal phenomenon that has caused generations as different as the boomers and the Z share right now your highest aspiration in life: to reach the calling flourishing (flowering) personal. A reorientation towards the individual who seeks emotional and mental well-being, to deal with instability. Brands can and should take advantage of it to help them and be more relevant to them.
To “contribute” to this, the marketing consultant Collaborabrands presented this Wednesday a study that serves as a wake-up call: Flourishing brands. Communication and brand purpose in the new era of individual well-being. Among its conclusions, the report highlights that the Spanish have adopted a position of “empathetic individualism” and brands have the opportunity to reset their communication and improve their relationship with the consumer.
Because this affects a large part of the population. 78% of Spaniards want brands that make them feel good, and although everyone does it in their own way, it is a general drive. “This never happens,” he says. Pablo Vazquez. They are giving them permission, but the brands “are not getting it.”
As explained by the CEO of CollaobrabrandsIn the current context, many have disconnected from the world, even from current news, to “withdraw” into our inner world, more controllable. Something will have to be done when, furthermore, barely one in four Spaniards can soon mention a single brand that makes them feel good in that regard, Vázquez abounds.
We are more aware of our self, and we try to generate great personal transformations, using emotional stability and depth as a guide. For this, the importance of mental health is paramount. 57% of Spaniards think that it is more important than economic (23%) or professional progress (19%) to achieve that well-being or flowering staff: a full life.
And although it prioritizes the individual himself, it is not a selfish vision, but an empathetic one, because we accept the “mantra” that we must first be well to help the rest, he expresses Mercè Elias, CEO of the consultancy.
9 pathways to emotional fulfillment
Now, although we all seek our own fulfillment in our lives, as personal as it is, each one achieves it in a different way. From Collaborabrands they detect at least nine roads “non-exclusive” to achieve this long-awaited goal: self-care, freedom, stimulation, fluidity, presence-awareness, peace of mind, belonging, social coherence and emotional expression.
In summary, we value much more a life in which loving each other is a priority; in which we want a “more conscious” freedom (also with the exit, just three years later, from that confinement). For this reason, you can also enjoy that freedom with “immersive” experiences that make us “feel alive”.
Many times it is not about doing great things, but about having spaces outside of obligations where we are “directors of ourselves”; where we “flow” and enjoy “without commitments or great pressure”. We have changed the chip a bit and now we put more focus on the here and now. We disconnect, looking for that peace of mind, that balance against the stress of the day, for which our closest friends (the authentic social network) are fundamental.
They are the ones who give us that feeling of belonging, “union and fulfillment”, which we can also find by aligning our personal searches with the aspirations we have in common with our closest and local environment. For example, our concern for sustainability. A concept that, according to him, he has defended “gains weight” when we live it on a more personal level, Maria Fernandez, brand strategy and innovation
director the Collabora Brands.
Being able to express and share those concerns makes us happier, as well as accepting that we are not always well. An increasingly frequent and enhanced practice among Z, who see it as normal to ask someone ”how are you?’ and don’t simply answer ‘fine’. “We want to open up” and really tell how we feel to serve as “mutual support,” Fernández expands.
“Credible” communication from the “micro”
The trend is there, and it doesn’t look like it will change in the coming years, although “nothing is forever,” Vázquez qualifies. The interesting thing is to see which sectors are already resetting their communication, pointing to that social commitment, one of the “great challenges” of brands lately, she adds.
Food, hygiene and cosmetics, fashion and accessories, streaming platforms… those seem to rule the roost. Even the car driver begins to get his act together against other “powerfuls” such as the bench, where his lineup is almost “zero,” says Vázquez. Examples like Bumble,
Mahou, Volvo o Nike demonstrate that this opportunity can be seized to reinforce the purpose of the brand.
Of course, it has to be a real purpose, because there is a certain “divorce” with those campaigns that start from maximalist discourses (‘we are going to change the world’) since they are less “credible”. campaigns need to become more “tangible” and change the big speeches to “involve people” and that emotional well-being of their day to day. The objective is to try to make the consumer feel better so that this radiates to the rest of society, the person from Collaborabrands has agreed.
“Let’s stop making big speeches”, 40% of Spaniards are saying that their mental health is not good. Let’s go there, says Vázquez. Brands have to translate their product benefits into those emotional benefits; “get in tune” with that idea and take advantage of local actions to advance issues (such as the 2030 Agenda) that cannot be left empty.
Build the purpose from the person. “The purpose is you. And you have to build the discourse from empathic individuality to the community. That implies communicating in a different way: from the micro to the macro,” she recounts.