Helium 08: Ways of Thinking

As the new year approaches, the resolutions-industrial-complex reminds us that January is the perfect time to close the gap between who we are and who we want to be.

Each year, brands capitalize on the commercial potency of this moment. They sell us products that will enable the change we long for. Little about this mechanism has evolved since the birth of advertising. As John Berger described it in 1972, “The spectator-buyer [the viewer of an advertisement] is meant to envy herself as she will become if she buys the product. She is meant to imagine herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others, an envy which will then justify her loving herself. One could put this another way: the publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back to her for the price of the product.”

Berger aptly observes that products have an emotionally affecting element, provoking a fantasy of one’s future (possible) self. LYMA laser’s holiday tagline is “give the gift of transformation”.

Deep down, we know our transformational intentions are highly likely to fail no matter which device we invest in, and in recent years the burgeoning growth of subscription services has stepped in to fill some of that cognitive gap. It’s surely much more realistic to achieve something incrementally, in moderation, and with consistent nudging. Don’t just rely on your Vitamix to change your life, have the fruit to put in it delivered to your door every week.

But it is worth remembering that the tightly moderated transformation system The Substance offers no happier ending than its one-and-done predecessor, The Potion - because neither works unless the user can have a meaningful change of mind.

To help us truly think differently is perhaps the most powerful thing any brand can offer.?

A recent Yale Study showed that “older people with more positive beliefs about aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer than people who equated aging with disease and decline.” In other words, our thinking has tremendous power over our mental and physical wellbeing. The wisest brands take note.

Consider “Just do it” - the ultimate example of a brand statement that has a powerful and generative provocation. Or GOOP, which started as a tastemaking recommendations newsletter and became one the touchpapers that lit what is now a $6.8 trillion industry. It did so by provoking what was, for many, a new way of thinking: you should no longer (only) think about how beautiful and youthful you could look, but also how well you could be.

So this new year, why not gift yourself an extra 7.5 years of life with a simple change of attitude, or look forward to a lighter load in 2025, by thinking of the people you could share it with.

We look forward to finding new ways of thinking together in the year ahead. And until then, all of us at Hugo & Marie wish you a very happy holiday season.

Michael Whitham (Creative) and Aidan Larned (Strategist)