2025-12-18
The Comfort, Joy & Meaning Framework: Comfort
Insights from our Sr. Director of Growth, Seth Gunderson
I’ll just come out and say it – I’m an extrovert.
I’m not saying that being an extrovert is a bad thing, it’s just the truth about me. I enjoy being out and about, meeting people, mingling, etc.
That’s why when the global pandemic hit and most everyone was bound to their homes, I struggled.
As much as I don’t want to, I remember it well – laying on the floor in our living room, extremely saddened by the fact that our ease of connection to other humans was temporarily put on hold. I was at a loss for words or even action. I felt paralyzed. I dreaded what each day wouldn't bring into my life.
That’s when my amazing spouse helped change my trajectory. She sat down with me, hugged me and said, “I have some ideas.”
Quite quickly, we instituted some new norms designed to bring a little extra comfort into our household.
We began with closing laptops at 5p every weekday and going on a walk around the neighborhood, rain or shine.
We found a service that delivered Happy Hour drinks on Friday afternoons and set up a weekly order of some of our favorite BBQ in KC.
We watched our favorite movies from our childhood and shared them with our daughter.
We baked Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies. We made Kraft Mac N Cheese. And on cold, rainy nights, we had Campbell’s tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
We played Dungeons & Dragons with our bubble friend-family.
And I got to escape for a few hours on the weekend to wander the aisles of Costco and Target (especially those back endcaps).
In times of uncertainty, comfort becomes a lifeline. It’s the feeling of safety in a friend’s presence, the trust in a brand’s promise, the assurance that we belong.
This year, Signal Theory explored the power of connecting through Comfort as a part of a new proprietary study and methodology called the Comfort, Joy & Meaning Framework. In this research, we sought to understand if delivering on core human wants of Comfort, Joy and Meaning (which are connected to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) made brands more successful in business results.
The short answer? Absolutely.
The impact of delivering on Comfort is more than speculative. We now have hard data that shows that brands that are stronger in delivering on the dimensions of Comfort perform better in repeat purchase intent – Comfort reduces decision fatigue and creates positive habit formation.
Brands have a unique opportunity – perhaps even a responsibility – to create environments of comfort. This starts with transparent communication and consistent delivery of brand promises. It extends to designing experiences that feel familiar and inclusive, reducing friction and uncertainty at every touchpoint.
Proving the Impact of Comfort
In a world where consumers are inundated with marketing messages, we can prove that resonating with them through the generated emotions of Comfort, Joy and/or Meaning is where the impact can be made. To draw our conclusions, we surveyed 1,500 people in the United States and had 25 brands scored on how well they delivered on different dimensions of Comfort, Joy and Meaning. These well-known brands represented six major industries from food to apparel to technology. We also asked respondents questions about their behaviors and attitudes about the brands, including purchase and repurchase behaviors, likelihood to share their brand experience and loyalty toward the brand.
We’d love for you to register and download the report and dive into all the learnings.
Among the things you’ll learn are:
Brands with the highest Signal Strength (our measure of resonance) are top scorers on Comfort, Joy and Meaning.
It is in fact more common for brands overall to score well on Comfort, than it is to score well on Joy than it is to score well on Meaning (just as Maslow’s Hierarchy suggests).
Strong results in Comfort, Joy and Meaning have strong positive correlations with key marketing measures including repurchase, word-of-mouth and brand advocacy.
The report will also share and break down the scores of the highest-performing brands surveyed, providing a deeper layer of understanding of the score and how it translates to brand and marketing efforts.
Reading this report alone gives marketers concrete proof points for why investing in the emotions of Comfort, Joy and Meaning make good business sense. It’s also possible for your brand to get its own Signal Strength score. Having this score enables your brand to:
Better align with your audiences’ Comfort, Joy and Meaning wants
Use scores on different dimensions of Comfort, Joy and Meaning to guide product, marketing and messaging strategies
Drive measurable growth by improving your brand resonance.
If interested in getting a score for your brand, contact our Senior Director of Growth, Seth Gunderson.
Conclusion: Designing for Comfort in a Disconnected World
As the Comfort, Joy & Meaning Framework makes clear, Comfort is not a luxury – it’s a necessity. In a world marked by rapid change and uncertainty, brands and organizations that prioritize comfort build trust and perceptions of reliability and satisfaction - the foundation of a resonant brand. By understanding and applying the principles of psychological safety, familiarity, and trust to brands, we can design a more connected, compassionate world.
And my extroverted self says that’s very much a world that I want to meet you in.
