Why Selling Comfort, Joy and Meaning Is Really Good For Business

The year was 1998. I was infatuated with Lip Smackers Lip Gloss and The Spice Girls. My favorite movie was Twister. And no one was even thinking about the forthcoming non-disaster that Y2K was going to bestow on civilization.

It was also the year that I began to appreciate brands as something bigger than just the products they offered.

The setting was a Super Bowl XXXII neighborhood watch party and during a commercial break, a hush came over the room because the saga of the Anheuser Busch frogs was boiling to a crescendo. Jealous lizard, Louie (with the help of a ferret), was trying to take down the iconic amphibians who had been in the Big Game limelight since 1995.

What played out over a series of commercials during that year’s game was a storytelling arc that I still remember vividly. Mostly because it was marked by my dad’s hee-haw-ing laughter at the ludicrous plot line and Louie’s foiled plan.

It was then I realized this particular advertising wasn’t just about beer – it was about storytelling and being a part of culture. It created a moment of togetherness through humor.

It was a formative moment for me. Not only did it make me want to be part of an industry that made such fun creative work, it also made me interested in how companies – through their brands – create a special, deeper connection with people.

A Behavior Science-Fueled Revelation

Fast forward to 2019 and my firm, Signal Theory, had just rebranded and repositioned itself around the science of human behavior and how brands can build emotional connections through a deep understanding of human needs and wants. My boss and Co-CEO, John January, methodically walked through this thinking by reminding us of a foundational concept in behavioral science, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

He further explained that those needs ultimately translate into three core wants: the want for Comfort (satisfying physiological and security needs), the want for Joy (satisfying the needs for love, belonging and esteem) and the want for Meaning (satisfying the needs of self-actualization and transcendence).

Digging Deeper Into The Science of Brand Resonance

When John shared this philosophy, everything from 1998 came rushing back into my brain. The laughter, the togetherness, the delight, the joy that that weird little amphibian/reptilian storyline had created. “Yes!” I thought. “This is what good advertising and marketing is all about!” I nodded as John continued, “At the end of the day, in advertising, Comfort, Joy and Meaning is what we sell!”

It all sounded logical in principle. But the itch to dig deeper into this idea persisted. In the last year we asked ourselves the question: What if we could measure how brands are delivering on Comfort, Joy and Meaning? What if we could prove through real, first-party data that delivering on these things is actually good for business?

Thus began our research journey that culminates with the release of our first report on the Human Resonance Score. This proprietary measure collects consumer data on how well brands are performing on Comfort, Joy and Meaning, and how these scores translate to business outcomes. In a world where consumers are inundated with marketing messages, we believe that resonating with them through the generated emotions of Comfort, Joy and/or Meaning is where the impact can be made.

What we’ve learned:

At our core, marketers are storytellers. But we have a tendency to get in our own way. The power of today’s technologies and fragmentation of channels means our audiences are getting more information from brands than ever before. And it’s not always telling clear, compelling brand stories we’re trying to relay. According to this latest research, 78% of people experience marketing message overwhelm and 57% are overwhelmed by product offerings.

It’s not just overwhelm that’s the problem – the messages are also missing the mark. 25% of people report that they rarely or never see ads relevant to their needs, pointing to a sizable portion of people who feel disconnected from what brands are offering.

But there’s hope in something we at Signal Theory talk about a lot – resonance. In this same study, 67% say it’s important to them that a brand understands their emotional needs. And 75% have the feeling that their favorite brands understand them as a person. Resonance is this understood connection.

The Human Resonance Score measures brand resonance as a composite score of strengths in delivering Comfort, Joy and Meaning. (And it showcases how well a brand is performing on those separate components.) 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.

This week, we’re thrilled to release the official report that shares all the learnings. Go download it now.

Among the things you’ll learn are:

Indeed, brands with the highest Human Resonance Score (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.

Download the full Human Resonance Score report here

Implications For Brands

The Human Resonance Score is designed to help brands connect with their audiences at a deeper, more human level. 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 Resonance 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: Building a More Resonant Future

The Human Resonance Score is more than a metric – it’s a call to action. As we navigate an increasingly complex marketing landscape, the need for Comfort, Joy and Meaning has never been greater. By understanding the science of resonance and applying these insights, brands and organizations can play a pivotal role in serving their customers in a deeper, more impactful way.

And who knows what future Super Bowl commercials might be informed and inspired by the Human Resonance Score?

Access the full Human Resonance Score report here.