What happens when success changes shape?
For years, we’ve been surrounded by the language of hustle: work harder, optimise everything, turn every passion into a side hustle and keep moving forwards.
But another idea has been gathering momentum. ‘Soft Life’ describes a move away from relentless productivity towards healthier boundaries, greater balance and more control over how we spend our time. On the surface, it can look like a rejection of traditional ambition. But is that really what’s happening?
That question makes Soft Life a natural starting point for The Why Files, a new research series from Starcom UK that looks beyond what people are doing to understand why their behaviours are changing. Because two people can make exactly the same choice for completely different reasons, and understanding behaviour without understanding motivation only tells us part of the story.
For our first edition, we combined quantitative research with in-depth qualitative conversations to explore what sits beneath Soft Life: how people define success today, where they’re choosing to invest their energy and what those changing motivations could mean for brands trying to better understand their audiences.
Through the lens of Soft Life, you’ll discover:
• Why understanding what people want can reveal opportunities that demographic or cultural labels alone might miss
• How changing definitions of success could challenge the assumptions brands make about aspiration and what motivates their audiences
• Why marketers may need to think more broadly about ambition, as people direct their energy towards family, security, health and fulfilment as well as career progression
• How shifting attitudes towards influence could change the role brands and creators play, from telling people how to live to helping them navigate life on their own terms
• Why understanding the context in which a message appears can be just as important as the message itself
• What growing selectivity around time, energy and attention means for brands trying to earn, rather than simply capture, people’s attention
If you’re looking to understand what really motivates your audiences, challenge familiar assumptions about aspiration and build marketing around what people value now, download the first edition of The Why Files now.