Yes on April 2, 2012 the first ever UN conference on happiness and wellbeing took place.

Australia came in 9th (pipped by NZ, not happy Jan!) and Togo unfortunately sits at the bottom of the list.

You can read all about it here: http://www.actionforhappiness.org/news/first-world-happiness-report-launched-at-united-nations

It’s not designed to push the UN as a saviour, but it does continue to put the spotlight on countries trying to attain happiness and social justice, as well as promote the end of suffering in addition to GNP.

There’s more to life than material gain

A few interesting points:

  • happiness is lowest in middle age
  • stable family life and enduring marriages are important
  • societal trust and mutual respect are essential ingredients
  • mental health (die to obesity, smoking, diabetes, depression) has become one of the biggest issues impacting on happiness. In memory of an old work colleague, Gavin Larkin, please ask your friends RUOK? http://www.ruokday.com.au

So what are the implications for marketers and advertising agencies?

Well, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the pursuit of profit growth at the expense of happy employees, customers and consumers is a foolish mission.

Look at what Zappos has done in growing a wildly successful online shoe business. And they’ve done it all based on creating a happy culture around 10 core values, including WOW customer service. http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values

A leading digital relationship marketing agency in Sydney is also about to launch a regular happiness employee measure based around 8 key dimensions. Management are focusing on understanding what impacts employee happiness.

Just do it…

So please ask your business what are they doing to measure happiness, in addition to chasing revenue and profit growth?