On this year’s Blue Monday, Happy Hour reflects on the simple act of smiling – and its power in connecting us to each other.
What is Blue Monday?
If you’re feeling a little down today and don’t know why, it could be because it’s ‘Blue Monday’ – the name given to the 3rd Monday in January, when many people feel low or demotivated with the post Christmas return to work, the cold weather and the short days…
Has anything made you smile today? Don’t worry if not, there’s still plenty of time!
In an attempt to counteract the blueness, we at Happy Hour want to tackle it head on and turn those frowns upside down.
What’s so important about smiling anyway?
Well, psychologists have agreed that to feel happy inside, you first need to look happy on the outside. And that’s where the power of the smile comes in.
According to some important people in white coats, when we smile our brain releases tiny molecules called neuropeptides which can help fight off stress. And that’s just the start of it.
Other neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins are also released, which can help to relieve pain and work as an antidepressant. All this from a smile!
And get this, it doesn’t even need to be a real smile. You can apparently trick your brain into releasing all this good stuff by faking it.
So what are we waiting for? Just move the corners of your mouth towards your ears and then lift your cheeks towards your eyes… Hold it… Can you feel the power of the smile yet?
Smiling is infectious
As well as being good for our health and our moods, a smile also has the power to raise the spirits of people around us.
You see someone smiling and even without knowing what made them smile, it can make you smile too. And your smile could then lead to another person smiling, and before you know it that smile could be travelling around the country at over 100 smiles per hour.
Just like the good words of Mr Louis Armstrong, “When you’re smilin’, the whole world smiles with you”.
What’s smiling got to do with advertising?
Advertisers have long been using this technique to make people feel good about brands. If a 30 second ad can put a smile on a viewer’s face, they not only feel good themselves, they start to feel good about that brand too.
Now we’re not saying every advert should make you smile, chuckle or even roll on the floor laughing. Sometimes it’s just not appropriate. But we do need to connect with our audience and using humour is a great way to do this.
So where we can, we should go above and beyond to put more smiles on more faces, to make the world a happier and healthier place.
Want to put some smiles on your customers’ faces?
Then give us a shout. We’re not called Happy Hour for nothing you know 😀
As an award-winning ad agency, we specialise in developing TV commercials and Video marketing that builds brands, drives engagement and delivers results through brilliant ideas and expert production – all under one roof.
Just drop us a line and we’ll look forward to chatting to you soon!