We need more joy in the world.
And despite what some may think, there is no joy fairy waiting in the wings to spread that beautiful feeling over all of us like pixie dust.
Joy is an act of creation. And it’s on each of us to do the creating. A smile here, an atta boy there, a joke in the middle of a dreadful meeting there.
It can also come from reliable WiFi, a well brewed cup of coffee or a roll of paper towels that actually tears along the damned dotted line like it’s supposed to.
You know, the stuff brands do, when they do what they do well.
Yes, brands create joy. But people create brands. And one ad agency in New Orleans, PETERMAYER, is uniting its people to unleash brand joy. Leading that effort is their CEO Michelle Edelman, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.
This isn’t some fluffy, feel good, BS. It’s deep work, based on research with thousands of consumers across dozens of brand categories.
Michelle and I dug into all of it during our conversation:
🐱 First, we defined joy—as moments of uplift that, when accumulated, lead to increased life satisfaction.
🐱 Then we talked about the need to help brands connect to everyday moments of joy in consumers' lives. Many are already out there creating it, they’re just not getting credit for it.
🐱 And, perhaps most importantly, we discussed the internal culture shift PETERMAYER has set in motion to embody this joy-focused brand promise in everything they do.
That can mean tailoring benefits based on employee life stage, implementing performance evaluations based on value alignment or creating a safe space for conversations around big life-impacting events in the world. It can also mean simply acknowledging personal milestones outside of work—like adopting a new cat!
Michelle will be the first to share that this is all a work in progress. But it’s work worth doing. And I feel a bit more joyful knowing it’s work her team is doing. I hope more folks follow their lead.
You can follow Michelle on LinkedIn. And check out PETERMAYER’s site at peteramayer.com. While you’re there, be sure to dive into the Insights section—it’s chock full of good, joyful stuff.
My site and my substack newsletter are pretty joyful too—give ‘em a look-see when you can. I’m on a mission to make work suck less and I’d love for you to join me. Want to make that desuckification happen ASAP? Let’s set up a free half hour coaching session.
Bye, everyone!
#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #executivecoaching #advertising #adagencies #joy #brandjoy #adagencyculture
If you’d like to watch the episode on YouTube, please click here.
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