Our world is a better
place when it’s full of smiles. Living in the moment and celebrating life with
loved ones are some of the strongest motivations for smiling. That is what Mars
Wrigley Confectionery discovered in a social listening study covering over 6
million public conversations across the world. And travel can play a big role!
Today is the globally
celebrated International Day of Happiness. This year's theme is Happier
Together - focusing on the importance of relationships, kindness and helping
each other.
What makes people
smile – based on social media conversations in the USA, UK, Australia and
Singapore - is:
· Living
in the moment – being thankful about life by enjoying every moment of life.
· Celebrating
Life – expressing their love towards life and spending it with their loved
ones.
· Positive
influencers – being positively influenced from others success stories.
·
Motivational Thoughts – sharing life philosophies with
the people around us.
·
Pleasurable Experiences – By engaging in activities of
interest and being with loved ones.
Travel, whether for business or
pleasure, has an important role to play in all of these findings. Travel brings
people together: for celebration, for business, for new experiences. Travel can
be motivational, inspirational, exciting and stimulating. Travel widens our
horizons, opens our eyes to other cultures, reminds of what we have, and gives
us ambition to achieve more.
Enjoying and celebrating
life is also, of course, a perfect fit with the confectionery category. When
purchasing confectionery, consumers generally shop either to recharge or
reward themselves, to connect with others, or to celebrate something with a
gift. In global travel retail, purchasing is primarily to Connect, with
Celebrate coming a close second. And these two motivations are all about
connecting and making people smile. Returning to the social listening study,
it’s clear that Connection (between people) and Celebration (of seasons, events, important occasions) are
key reasons for bringing us happiness and making us smile. We need these
moments in our lives – all of us – and confectionery can be the perfect choice
to meet and fulfill these necessary human requirements – especially when we are
travelling.
There is no doubt
the confectionery is a perfect choice for travel retail. With its mass market appeal, value for money
pricing, and often exclusive formats, confectionery is guaranteed to bring
smiles to everyone – whether as a gift for a loved one, to share during a trip,
a destination memento, or as a self-treat. Whatever the purchasing need,
chocolate confectionery can fulfil it.
It is crucial
that retailer employees on the shop floor are well informed about how
confectionery can satisfy so many traveller needs and are ready to suggest how
different brands and formats might be the perfect choice for that moment. Most
importantly, today – and every day – shop floor staff act as ambassadors, not
just for confectionery but for travel retail as a whole. A happy, smiling face
will always help to reassure, inspire, enthuse and relax consumers, whatever
their age, race or reason for travel. What better day to remind staff of that,
than today!
Have a great day!
About International Day of Happiness.
International Day of
Happiness was conceptualized and founded by philanthropist, activist,
statesman, and prominent United Nations special advisor Jayme Illien to inspire, mobilize, and advance the global happiness movement. In
2011, Illien brought the idea and concept of creating a new global day of
awareness, the International Day of Happiness, to senior United Nations Officials.[7]
Illien authored UN resolution 66/281 ”International Day of Happiness”, which was ultimately adopted by the
unanimous consensus of all 193 UN member states of the United Nations General Assembly on June 28, 2012.[8] Jayme Illien chose March 20 for its significance as the March equinox, a universal phenomenon felt simultaneously by all of humankind, and which occurs the moment when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun's disk. Wow. Seems like a lot of work for a day of Happiness! The first officia international day of
happiness was celebrated on March 20, 2013 and we’re proud to be taking part
this year.
International Day of Happiness in
Travel Retail
Today is a good day to take a step back from
the day to day business that is travel retail and perhaps consider how happy
your workplace is. We spend a great deal of our time at work, so it’s important
that – as employers – we prioritize a happy work enviornment; it’s not only
good for the workforce, its good for the bottom line. According to
LiveHappy.com,
unhappy employees cost employers $300 billion each year in lost
productivity.
Happy, engaged employees who love their roles
will be more loyal, less stressed and be a positive voice for the company. It’s
a proven fact that happy employees will perform better, be healthier (less sick
days), create improved morale and improved mind-set, improve intra-employee
support and relationships – all leading to happier and better functioning work
places.
**’Fractal
analytics social listening analysis findings – 2018’. This research was carried
out by Mars with Fractal and was a social listening study –an analysis of
social media conversations in Australia, the UK, the US and Singapore around
what people talk about when they talk about smiles.
