UM: Is Happily Ambitious an Oxymoron? - Graeme Hutton - MediaBizBloggers

Do you think you are successful Ambitious In this era when the economy still seems to be challenged our own personal successes and ambitions can become much more pronounced to each of usTo gain a deeper appreciation of success and ambition Simmons offers about 20 questions on the subject Universal McCann39s marketing and communications survey Media in Mind which is linked to Simmons expands this by a further 25 questions What can these 45 questions tell us and what are the implications for marketersAmbition in its archetypal sense is a young primarily male characteristic Men under 35 especially those under 25 are twice as likely as the general adult population to agree with statements such as quotI like to have possessions others envyquot or quotPeople are impressed withamp8230the technology devices I usequot and quotamp8230owning a luxury carquot Women under 35 follow a similar pattern except that retail therapy takes on an added dimension since they agreed they quotlike shopping at prestigious storesquot while Women 2534 index highest on quotI like having expensive jewelry or watchesquotIf you are targeting 250K quothigh earnersquot owning a luxury car often appears to be a key status symbol It indexes at 286 among this group versus the general adult population No other success metric comes close for this income groupCuriously ambition and happiness do not appear to be the same personal mindset Just as being ambitious has an inherently younger male slant being happy has an opposite older female bias Media in Mind implies that as you become older happiness is more prevalent than ambition This finding is corroborated by Barbara Stauch in her recent book The Secret Life of the Grown Up Brain As Stauch observes People feel better as they get older They feel more in control and they feel grownup and handle the stress of life Not only is their judgment better they actually feel more cheerful and focus more on the positive than they did while youngYet what attitudes indicate or help make any of us feel happy For instance would you agree with any of the following three statements a I am satisfied with my life b I am very happy with life as it is and c I am happy with my standard of living Chances are pretty high that you39d definitely agree with at least one of these statements as do 77 of US adults If you39re lucky you39ll be in the fortunate 10 that agree with all threeWe probed our Media in Mind database and what distinguishes being happy can be encapsulated in four key attitudinal statementsamp183 I am good at what I doamp183 If at first you do not succeed keep tryingamp183 I am able to balance what39s important in lifeamp183 It39s important to feel respected by my peersWhat is striking about this list is the need to maintain an equilibrium between a a strong internal gyroscope focusing on what we actually do and what we need to do and b the desire to balance that focus with other aspects of our life and gain positive feedback from others we valueSo what are the implications for marketers1 Actively treat our target prospects with respect We consistently see Americans culturally relate success and happiness to both selfrespect and mutual esteem Social media only increases this expectation2 Assiduously align the brand39s product plan to our audience Avarice is clearly a trump card in marketing to young adults and some wealthier cohorts For example if we39re in technology making our device conspicuously cool is a major prerequisite for victory3 Encourage relevant feedback and interaction via user communities to help consumers feel reassured reaffirmed and happy about their brand choiceGeorge Santayana the SpanishAmerican philosopher noted Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness That39s a seductive insight and I39d like to agree except I intuitively suspect that raw unbridled ambition simply refutes the status quo of the possible And in their purest forms ambition and happiness are probably quite opposite constructsGraeme is SVP Director of Consumer Insights ampamp Research Graeme is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate proprietary and syndicated research tools and resources are applied in the development of consumer insight strategies for a total communications research platformfrom TV to chat roomswhich informs the efforts of Universal McCann and its agency partners Graeme can be reached at GraemehuttonumwwcomRead all Graeme39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Curious Thoughts from Curious Minds MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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UM: Is Happily Ambitious an Oxymoron? - Graeme Hutton - MediaBizBloggers

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