{"id":622,"date":"2010-08-10T12:46:17","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T19:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/?p=622"},"modified":"2010-08-10T12:46:17","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T19:46:17","slug":"the-new-minimalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/?p=622","title":{"rendered":"The New Minimalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

People are paring down, cutting back.\u00a0 Will it last?<\/p>\n

And if it does, what does it mean for the consumer or business brand of tomorrow?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I thought about this as I read a great piece in the Sunday New York Times<\/a><\/strong> by Stephanie Rosenbloom on the link between consumption and happiness.\u00a0 According to Rosenbloom in the downsized economic world people are discovering that the Beatles were right … money does not buy you love … or happiness.<\/p>\n

While the current round of stinginess may simply be a response to the economic downturn, some analysts say consumers may also be permanently adjusting their spending based on what they\u2019ve discovered about what truly makes them happy or fulfilled.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course we all know that, right?\u00a0 Well we should.\u00a0 We read about it in the Great Gatsby (something I’m reading for the first time at the recommendation of my daughter).\u00a0 Poor Gatsby.\u00a0 Poor Daisy.\u00a0 Awash with riches and beauty and … absolute boredom!\u00a0 But we need not rely on F. Scott Fitzgerald and works of\u00a0 fiction.\u00a0 Watch an evening of “Access Hollywood”.\u00a0 The misery to fun ratio leans decidedly to the former.\u00a0 Addictions.\u00a0 Infidelity.\u00a0 Rehab.\u00a0 Prison.\u00a0 Divorce.\u00a0 Abuse.<\/p>\n

We’re not talking Leave it to Beaver.\u00a0 For all their money, the jet set seem a pretty tawdry, depressing, miserable bunch.<\/p>\n

No wonder people are paring down.<\/p>\n

So is there anything worth buying?\u00a0 According to the experts the money shot is on things you do, not things you do things with.\u00a0 That is:<\/p>\n

One major finding is that spending money for an experience \u2014 concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco \u2014 produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u00a0 \u2018It\u2019s better to go on a vacation than buy a new couch\u2019 is basically the idea,\u201d says Professor Dunn, summing up research by two fellow psychologists, Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich. Her own take on the subject is in a paper she wrote with colleagues at Harvard<\/a><\/strong> and the University of Virginia<\/a><\/strong>: \u201cIf Money Doesn\u2019t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren\u2019t Spending It Right.\u201d (The Journal of Consumer Psychology plans to publish it in a coming issue.)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good news for hotels and cruise lines, bad news for Best Buy and The Furniture Store.<\/p>\n

But some are going beyond the reductionism of consumerism to experiences.\u00a0 Some are pushing a new minimalist lifestyle.\u00a0 Not the least of whom is the author of RowdyKittens<\/a><\/strong>, Tammy Strobel.<\/p>\n

Could this be the ‘new’ normal?\u00a0 I actually think so.\u00a0 At some point the cacophony of modern life takes its toll.\u00a0 And the uncertain economic climate only reinforces what most people already know.\u00a0 That the delight in life is in simple, genuine experiences.\u00a0 Which brings us back to brands and what may be the modern test for brands in these lean economic times.<\/p>\n

What simple, genuine experience do you generate for your customer?<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People are paring down, cutting back.\u00a0 Will it last? And if it does, what does it mean for the consumer or business brand of tomorrow? I thought about this as I read a great piece in the Sunday New York Times by Stephanie Rosenbloom on the link between consumption and happiness.\u00a0 According to Rosenbloom in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[10,153],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}