Insight and Research arşivleri - Goodjob Brand Consulting

What Society’s Mood Is Telling Brands

goodjob — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 04:45:11 +0000

The social and economic uncertainty of recent years has begun to shake people’s psychology to its core. The search for change and novelty that once emboldened us has, today, curdled into uncertainty and the fear it breeds. As people struggle with external pressures—financial anxiety, unemployment, social unrest, ecological crises, disasters—they are also living through a quieter collapse within. So what does this collapse mean for brands?

Right now, a large part of society is focused on nothing more than getting through the day. Marketing professionals sometimes forget just how many people are living paycheck to paycheck—millions on or near the minimum wage, for whom “making it to the end of the month” is a genuine struggle rather than a figure of speech.

This financial and emotional erosion leads people to see their simple daily routines—habits once taken for granted—almost as luxuries. Holding on to a routine, once merely a list of “things to do,” has become a real source of gratitude. Seen through a psychological lens, the uncertainty, loss of control, and fear people feel make their “safe” moments more precious. The small, ordinary things done every day have turned into a modest psychological defense—an expression of the search for safety and relief. Think of a prisoner catching a moment of daylight, a new mother going to the mall on her own, or a night-shift worker finally sitting down with a coffee on their one free evening.

A Prolonged Crisis Breeds a Sense of Worthlessness

As this period drags on, however, a sense of worthlessness has begun to spread quickly through society. This inner loss leads people to question their own value. As individuals struggle to make sense of their presence and contribution in the outside world, that deficit deepens the emptiness within. Defined in psychology as “languishing,” this void leaves a person neither clinically depressed nor genuinely well—living an “in-between,” joyless kind of life. Its symptoms show up as stagnation, a lack of motivation, a feeling of aimlessness, and a flattening of emotion. As a consequence of shared societal shocks, this void gives rise to a “collective trauma” that affects not only the individual but the whole of society. The widespread anxiety, uncertainty, and sense of worthlessness push people away from one another, toward loneliness and ever-deeper isolation. And it is far harder to climb out of collective trauma alone. Brands, too, sometimes become part of the problem—papering over the situation with entertainment and turning into what we call Palliative Brands. Instead, a brand should remind people: You’re not alone; I’m in this with you. We all share the same uncertainty, the same anxiety, the same sense of worthlessness.

At this point, society needs to seek not a savior, but a shared effort to make meaning together. Looking for a savior figure can, when the search comes up empty, leave society even lonelier and feeling an even deeper void. Instead, holding on to one another, offering support, and strengthening our social bonds may be the most important steps toward getting through this period.

So how do we climb out of this mood?

The first step must be helping people feel valuable again. This is possible through simple but meaningful acts: knowing ourselves, recognizing our strengths, helping others. Filling those inner voids is not just an individual effort but a collective movement. Creating safe spaces that ease anxiety and uncertainty can bring people together. Filling this emotional void together, and rebuilding hope, may be the key to emerging from this state of mind.

How can brands contribute?

People are searching for new meaning and reassurance to lift themselves out of the mood they are in. In this period, brands can develop meaningful communication that genuinely adds value. When a brand builds campaigns that support social solidarity, inspire trust, and carry positive messages, it can help people feel they are not alone. Brands that are supportive, empathetic, and understanding can form stronger bonds with their audiences during this time. Speaking not only to people’s material needs but to their emotional ones will make brands more valuable through this period of social transformation. Brands cannot be “saviors,” but by touching the mood of society they can play an important role. As people wrestle with inner voids and uncertainty, brands can act as a kind of “guide”—strengthening social bonds by offering meaningful communication and services that reassure, support, and make people feel valued. Thoughtful campaigns, social-responsibility projects, and an empathetic approach can turn brands into a genuine source of encouragement. In the end, by fostering social solidarity, brands can soften the harsher effects of this era and help people feel that they are not alone.

What Society’s Mood Is Telling Brands yazısı ilk önce Goodjob Brand Consulting üzerinde ortaya çıktı.

Where Did Subliminal Research Come From?

goodjob — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 07:52:28 +0000

What Do We Do in People’s Subconscious?

I ask myself the question in the title from time to time. The reason for this is that in addition to the information that will be very useful for us in people’s subconscious, we also encounter very private and personal information. But we have no other choice. In traditional research, when we ask people directly what they want, what they think, they are either not very aware of it or (worse still) they lie.

Kahneman and Tversky’s nearly revolutionary Thinking Fast and Slow, he states that two systems are effective in our decisions. He puts forward a hypothesis that we make most of our decisions (90%) with System 1, which we describe as subconscious. I don’t think this is an argument anyone can easily argue against. That’s good to know, a lot of experts in marketing activities care about it. The question is, how are we going to do this when our research is still mostly pulling data from System 2? The expectation of influencing people’s subconscious with the data you obtain at the conscious level is limited to feelings, luck and individual abilities. However, like everything else, there is a math to it.

Use of Traditional Research

What can you hear about shampoo usage habits from a focus group study today? As a chocolate brand, what do you encounter that your competitors are not aware of? What kind of insight will help you customize your product beyond competitors and even develop new product ideas?

Many of the methods we use for qualitative research provide us with very superficial data. Moreover, the effect of the situation created specifically for the research from time to time is controversial. How can you pretend to be yourself when you have someone watching over you? Or, how openly do you express how you feel and what you think when you are in a studio, in a room with mirrors, with 5-6 people you do not know next to you?

We all know the answer to these questions. I’m not condescending to focus group research. I do not find it technically wrong, as some claim. When it comes to the manipulation of data, sometimes it even makes sense if we are aware of it. None of us live alone in nature.

Traditional research is still very practical in areas we have little or no knowledge of. Moreover, it is risk-free as an economic and quality standard. However, it is insufficient when it comes to innovation and differentiation.

How Do We Reach the Subconscious?

In the presentation of a research we conducted, a senior executive made the following sentence: “We have been doing this research for years, we have never heard of such a thing about the X brand (the largest and dominant brand in the market).” So I replied, “Because you haven’t gotten this deep before.”

It was very instructive research for us. Now, let me give some examples of subliminal data we have obtained in some research and strategic decisions based on it.

One of the participants’ sentences summed up the information we found about a brand in the mother-baby market very well. “If the brand X was a person, it would be my mother-in-law; maybe she’s saying very true things but I don’t like the way she says it”. This was related to the feeling of inadequacy we observed subconsciously about mothers. The competitor brand was unwittingly making mothers feel more inadequate with what they did and said. The perfect mother image and high pricing power caused this.< /li>

For this reason, we have developed a strategy for the brand that keeps the communication tone equal to the mother, unlike its competitors.

In a study we conducted in the restaurant–cafe industry, we discovered that older waiters have a negative impact on male guests. The old waiters were having a secret conflict with the men who came to the place with their lover. It was damaging the dominance that men wanted to establish.

For this reason, we have brought an age limit to the waiters. We started to recruit employees who would accept the dominance of the guest.

We broke taboos again in our research for a school brand. We observed results that overturned the “everyone thinks their child is perfect” memory. Parents do not see their children as perfect. He just believed, wanted to believe, that there was one thing perfect inside of them. However, they were crushed under the guilt and responsibility of not being able to reveal it. The only issue was someone to share it with.

In the communication strategy that I developed for the brand, we chose an individual-oriented tone. We created a strategy to discover personal competencies and turn them into success.

How is it possible to reach data at this depth?

Where Did Subliminal Research Come From? yazısı ilk önce Goodjob Brand Consulting üzerinde ortaya çıktı.

The White-Collar Worker’s Subconscious and Changing World of Meaning – 1

goodjob — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 18:14:03 +0000

At Goodjob Human Insight & Brand Strategy, in a study we carried out in July 2020 — moderated by our clinical psychologists, our subconscious specialists, and our insight specialists — we set out to examine the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak on the working population, looking at the experience of being confined at home during lockdown and, for the first time, working from home en masse. We surfaced the results in employees’ shifting approaches to life and work, the transformations in their personal values, the new traits they gained, and the ways they coped with the process — shaped both by what they took from their companies and by the new awareness and experiences they had with their colleagues.

WE CONFRONTED THE REALITY OF DEATH

The anxiety created by the reality of death is always present within us. But we learn to live with it. When we add meaning to life, our very existence gains meaning too. In today’s modern society, work seems to have shaken human life profoundly — both in terms of time and of substance. The first of these shocks reminds us, every single day, of the reality of death that we want to forget and constantly try to ignore (for ourselves and our loved ones). We suddenly found ourselves in a world where death tolls were tracked like a stock exchange — and on a scale that covered the whole planet. Alongside that, the reality of death took hold of us through its stories. By hearing of the deaths of first- and second-degree relatives and of healthcare workers, we were constantly reminded — and are still reminded — that death is very possible for everyone.

The second thing Covid-19 shook is the meaning of work — which plays a great role in giving employees’ lives meaning and fills a large part of daily life. Because the pandemic shook ways of working and the work–life balance, this branch that employees held onto was badly shaken too.

WE REALIZED WE ARE HUMAN

For many employees, the pandemic led to new searches for meaning. It made us stay alone with ourselves. In doing so, employees reassessed the things in their lives in order of importance. We can express this effect under three main headings.

We addressed the first effects of the outbreak, the course it might take, and the three types of human behavior that developed in response, in our first study. There we explained why some people, under the pressure of the pandemic, stocked up on toilet paper, why others ignored the outbreak, and why still others simply took off and fled.

During lockdown, the restriction of freedom and the limits placed on outside life created — in almost all participants — an effect of turning inward, setting out on an inner journey, and entering into existential questioning.

With behavior developed against the outbreak, the easing of initial worries, and the relief of fears about being laid off, this inward turn appeared once people had grown used to the process — and with it came the surfacing of suppressed emotions, passions, and dreams. We witnessed people reassessing the repeating cycles, the unreciprocated sacrifices, and the toxic relationships in their lives. By the end of the struggle to fight and cope with the crisis of Covid-19, and of the inner journey they went through, we observed in participants an effort to make life meaningful again and a tendency to review their personal values.

Personality-Transforming Effects and Their Gains

Increased self-confidence

Psychological flexibility and resilience

Valuing oneself

Setting boundaries; being able to say no and to reject impositions

Building empathy

Maturing

Sincerity, authenticity, “realness”

Becoming more original

Value-Transforming Effects and Their Gains

Not procrastinating

Living in the moment

Taking pleasure in life

Understanding the value of time

Appreciating what one has

Valuing health

Valuing family bonds

Questioning patriarchal values

Creating alternative ways of living

From Now On, I…

When we examine these tendencies together with participants’ new decisions from the Covid-19 period and the phrases completing sentences that begin “From now on, I…” or “From here on, I…,” we see that the Covid-19 lockdown period created effects that transformed both personality traits and personal values. These effects and the gains that came with them can be summarized as follows:

A life in which I am stronger:

…I will live by my own truths!

…I will be a more confident, enterprising person!

…I will confront my weaknesses!

…I will be a more mature, aware person!

A life in which I am happier:

…I will not dwell on anything!

…I will remove the things that upset me from my life!

…I will not be saddened by trivial things!

…I will know the value of my health!

…I will not complain about anything!

…I will say I am human, not a machine!

A life in which I value the moment more:

…I will not put anything off!

…I will know the value of time!

…I will savor the time I spend!

…I will not make only long-term plans!

…I will put my plans into action!

…I will know that death will come sooner or later!

A more balanced, serene life:

…I will spend more time in parks!

…I want a life with my feet on the ground!

…I will be calmer and will not rush!

…I will find an alternative idea of living!

…I will not insist on going down one single road!

A life with better relationships:

…I will be a more social person!

…I will try not to break hearts!

…I will spend more time with my family!

…I will spend quality time with my loved ones!

The Growing Importance of Family and Relationships

During the pandemic, with older family members at greater risk and with a widely felt sense of isolation, the importance of family grew for employees. The Covid-19 lockdown period first led families who had long been unable to spend much time together to devote full, rich time to one another and to share life. On top of that, the fear of losing loved ones that came with the threat to health and life is observed both to have deepened partners’ relationships with each other and their children and to have strengthened extended-family bonds. Among those living alone, too, earlier preferences leaning toward greater individualism are observed to have given way to a turn toward family and to a tendency to internalize and embrace relationships that had been maintained merely out of duty.

“You are cool-headed; you find yourself thinking, what would I do if something happened to you? I thought of my mother, my father, my two nephews; I worried a great deal for everyone.” — Woman, Couple

“The best part was seeing my daughter walk and hearing her talk. The best part was being together with family — being able, somehow, to have breakfast with the family all at the same time.” — Man, Extended Family, Team Leader

“We turned back toward family more; people had been drifting toward a more individual life and the bonds had weakened. I don’t even know whether that was right, but we returned a little more to family, to our strong bonds; and that is a good thing.” — Woman, Living Alone

The White-Collar Worker’s Subconscious and Changing World of Meaning – 1 yazısı ilk önce Goodjob Brand Consulting üzerinde ortaya çıktı.

3 Types of Human Behavior Against the Coronavirus

goodjob — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 18:10:39 +0000

Three Types of Human Behavior in the Face of the Coronavirus

As people come to believe they can bring death and life under control, they begin to take on the responsibility for everything happening around them, and their anxiety starts to climb.[1] This is one way to set what we lived through in 2020 apart from what had happened before. We do not want to believe that a disease has no cure. Even knowing there is no solution leads to a kind of acceptance — but knowing that a solution might exist is what triggers anxiety.

Two definitions were on the agenda for what people were feeling: one is fear, the other is anxiety. Because fear and anxiety produce the same physical symptoms, they are often confused — but it is more accurate to define what people were living through as anxiety. Fear is an emotion we feel toward a specific object or situation; there is a real threat, and the object of fear is clear (the fear could be what a person who has caught the disease, or whose loved one has, actually experiences). Fear is what we feel when we meet a bear in the forest; anxiety is what we feel when we merely consider the possibility of a bear crossing our path — the motivation behind it is uncertainty.

This uncertainty has three very important dimensions. If one or more of these becomes visible or tangible, people’s anxiety eases.[2]

The first is that the virus causing the disease is not visible to the eye. The danger itself is neither visible nor familiar.

The second is the unknowability of the contagious source. The thing carrying the danger is a living being of our own kind (when another species was involved, we used to solve the problem by going as far as mass culling, as with Bird Flu). This carrier — an infected human — could now be anyone around us, even the people we love most; and this is where the uncertainty begins to hurt. Especially in big cities, where people of very different characteristics (ethnicity, religion, nation, language, lifestyle, and so on) come together, this uncertainty grows both in sheer numbers and in the variety of unknowns. Indeed, as in the 14th-century plague in Europe, specific groups can even be placed directly in the crosshairs.

What truly causes anxiety is not having control over the unknown — in other words, a sense of helplessness. Anxiety appears when we feel under threat in uncertain situations, when there is a perception of threat but no real, present danger. When it is unclear what will happen (when the future cannot be foreseen), the thought of not being safe suddenly emerges, and this makes a person feel helpless.

In such a situation, the accessibility of information could be a tool for keeping control and relieving the sense of helplessness. But sensing that there may be far more than the available information (thinking that something is being hidden) and being exposed to misinformation is a huge obstacle to reducing uncertainty — that is, to people feeling as though they hold control.

The moment a person notices the thought of helplessness, they act to take control again — just as we run, that is, take action, when we meet a bear. This is why we buy masks, cologne, dry goods, toilet paper, and so on, and retreat into our homes. Against a threat whose source and self cannot be seen, it is a way of saying, “I am doing something, I can take control.”

Another factor that will heighten our anxieties about the virus is other people’s experiences. Stalin said, “A single death is a tragedy; a thousand is a statistic.” Numbers have no soul, but the stories of those who die (we hope they will not) amplify the effect far more. Experiences make us empathize, and that increases worry.

We should not forget the role of the primitive brain, which shapes the very basis of human behavior.[3] When the primitive brain meets a danger, it takes one of three actions: Freeze, Flight, and Fight. It is possible to shape human behavior toward the present danger on these same three foundations.

Freeze: Those who do nothing. Who act as if it does not exist and try to carry on with their lives.

Flight: Those who leave the place they are in, as happened in Italy. Like Cristiano Ronaldo, who rented an island and fled there with his family.

Fight: Those who, while carrying on with life using products like cologne, treat the virus as an enemy and battle it.

So what can we do to feel better and cope with this problem more effectively? Psychologists offer advice along these lines:

“Stepping away from the environmental influences we are used to, being alone with ourselves, spending higher-quality time with those close to us, and developing new habits we had long wanted to but could not — habits that make us feel valuable — can all become possible. We can see these forced conditions … as an opportunity to ‘rediscover ourselves.'”

In short, making some things more certain (or their becoming certain on their own over time) will ease this mood and sense of helplessness that uncertainty causes, and will increase our sense of control. In this process, we can see the gaps that open up in our routines as opportunities for new experiences, for ourselves and for our loved ones. Whatever you have long wanted to do but could not (reading, writing, painting, baking a cake with your child), now is exactly the time to pull it out of that drawer you thought was full of longings, dust it off, and get started.

Goodjob Human Insight & Strategy

Specialist Psychologist: Lebriz Canpoyraz

Psychologist: Rana Özdeş Kar

Specialist Psychologist: Seda Erduran

Anthropologist: Serhan Ok

[1] Perpetual Euphoria, Pascal Bruckner

[2] Guidance from professional psychology associations

[3] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

3 Types of Human Behavior Against the Coronavirus yazısı ilk önce Goodjob Brand Consulting üzerinde ortaya çıktı.