Why so Blue

Just a little rant. Waking up this morning, radio stations were spouting on about how today is meant to be the saddest most depressing day of the year. The third Monday of January.

On my drive to work, I wondered, why would someone want to create a negative, depressing day and promote it. Why is the third Monday of January seen as the most negative day of the year? Maybe it's was created by someone with a glass half empty outlook, I don't know.

With so much access to technology, many of us don't take the time to find out what is true or false. People take everything they hear as truth and because it was reported on radio or because they read an article online, it must be true. Technology has made us lazy in search for the truth. Most recent example of that is Brexit & Trump.

What I found is that in 714AD the Japanese did celebrate the second Monday of January. This day is known as the 'Coming of Age' day where anyone who has turned 20 years old within that year moves into adulthood and in turn, accepts all the responsibilities. A celebration... right?

So for centuries the Japanese were focusing on celebrating the second day, a positive display, yet, in 2005 Sky Travel decided that the third Monday of January was the worst day of the year and called it Blue Monday. A clever piece of marketing?

Sky Travel through 'social research' found that people purchase holidays in January as it gives them something to look forward to. The brand created an equation, wrote a press release and paid lecturers to put their names to it. This equation was later seen by Cardiff University as farcical. A brand trying to capitalise on the weakness of consumers, Smart?

What's interesting is that many brands do this. They take a day and make it their own. Guinness tried it with Arthur's Day and while it didn't last, it was successful for a time. Black Friday, Cyber Monday are also recent creations. The successful ones always seem to find a way to be relevant to consumers (whether in a positive way or negative). Some remain and others fade. While Sky Travel has since closed, Blue Monday lives on without a brand owner.

Like the Japanese, we need a brand to 'come of age' and turn Blue Monday into a celebration, make it a positive day and something to look forward to. A day of mindfulness and wellbeing. Norman Doidge's "The Brain That Changes Itself" is the perfect way to see how positive outlook is key to reaching goals.