John Firth is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8. He holds a master’s degree in research methods and previously studied sociology. When not working, he can be found galavanting around London pubs with friends while trying to informally promote rugby league to anyone willing to listen.

Experience Hunters

During the 2022 Super Bowl, Ewan McGregor 

 for Expedia and posed this statement to a global audience: “We love stuff and there’s some really great stuff out there, but I doubt that any of us will look back in our lives and think, ‘I wish I’d gotten a slightly sportier SUV, bought an even thinner TV, or found a trendier scent.’” The message from Expedia was clear – it’s time to ditch physical items and re-embrace experiences as a more meaningful path towards happiness.

For a travel company, especially one in a post-pandemic landscape, this is not a wholly novel suggestion to consumers. It does, however, illuminate an age-old assumption that all brands should tap into the experience economy to maximise customer satisfaction. “One of the biggest reasons why experiences are thought to have a higher return on happiness is because they have a social component,” explains Dr. Evan Weingarten, an assistant professor at Arizona State University’s WP Carey School of Business.

The desire for a sense of connection is particularly strong among younger audiences, with 81% of Gen Zers saying that an experience is ‘fun’ because you can share moments with others. 

Vice Media Group

 But Dr. Weingarten cautions that the happiness derived from experiences shouldn’t be thought of in opposition to the happiness that material goods can provide. In fact, both can help achieve fulfilment. In his paper, ‘

What Makes People Happy? Decoupling the Experiential-Material Continuum’

, Dr. Weingarten explores why these dimensions speak to different forms of happiness and what this means for marketers.

What do we already know from existing research?

Experiences are thought to have a stronger contribution to happiness than material possessions. But if you think about the existing literature, it tends to directly compare experiences against material possessions – they’re treated as two ends of a continuum. That thinking started about two decades ago and the literature has continued to assume this continuum.

We felt that happiness from experiences or material possessions should be treated as two separate aspects rather than this bipolar continuum. These are two dimensions that aren't always strongly correlated with each other and both might have separate contributions to happiness or might speak to different forms of happiness altogether. Almost in the same way that if you believe that everything ranges from happy to sad, you wouldn't be able to capture the nuances in the middle. And if you think about various purchase opportunities in the marketplace, there are products and services that are actually a mixture of both experiential and material or aren't really much of either, so we wanted to understand this more.

There were two things we wanted to investigate. The first was to understand how both experiences and material possessions positively contribute to happiness. The second was to understand how related material and experiential dimensions of happiness actually are. The bipolar continuum assumes that they're perfectly negatively correlated, but we felt that the correlation isn't that strong.

How did you go about conducting your study?

We conducted two types of study. In the first type, we asked people to recall purchases they had made and then rate those purchases. In the second type of study, we gave participants a set of products or services. We had over 350 types of products or services and asked them to rate their anticipated happiness from these things in addition to how material or experiential they were.

By way of example, some of the questions we asked included: ‘To what extent is each listing below an experiential purchase?’ In that question, we defined an experiential purchase as one that involves an intention to acquire a life experience – an event or series of events you encounter or live through. We also asked: ‘To what extent are the below material purchases?’ To clarify exactly what we meant by that, we included the definition of a material purchase as one involving an intention to acquire something that's a tangible object for you to obtain and keep in your possession. Following that, we had people answer things like ‘when you think about this purchase, how happy does it make you? How much does this purchase contribute to your happiness in life?’

We found that both material and experiential qualities were positively correlated with happiness. That was true regardless of whether purchases were rated as high on experiential and low on material ratings, high on material ratings and low on experiential ratings, low on both experiential and material, or high on both experiential and material.

In the past, research tended to conclude that purchase opportunities that were highly experiential were better, but our findings suggest that it’s worth considering a mixture of each dimension. As marketers, we really shouldn't shy away from material possessions because it's clear that these tangible offerings contribute something different to happiness than experiences, and that’s not a bad thing.

We also need to be mindful of the fact that there can be clear downsides to experiences. For example, these opportunities may not live up to expectations or may fall short of the relatedness people seek. A material possession might not give you as high a level of happiness, but it's possibly a safer purchase because of these possible pitfalls.

As pandemic restrictions made it almost impossible to enjoy shared out-of-home experiences, many people sought comfort in 

. In the UK, 88% of people claim to have made ‘treat’ purchases during the crisis (from gaming equipment to garden furniture to new gadgets), with an average spend of £1,205. However, it seems the happiness obtained from these items may have been short-lived for some, with one in ten buyers reporting that they no longer use some of their pandemic purchases. 

Aviva

 With our possessions often considered an extension of ourselves, there’s an opportunity for brands to find ways of encouraging people to 

 to avoid disappointment in the long run. That may involve incorporating experiential elements into material purchases. For example, Happy Finish rolled out a series of immersive AR experiences to accompany the release of Sony Electronics’ LinkBuds headphones. 

Mobile Marketing

Virtual experiences tap into opportunities for materialism

Between the advent of the metaverse and the rise of 

, the distinction between buying and doing is not so binary. 

 can be bought and traded while virtual possessions can be made to 

. And with 50% of people surveyed in 2021 expressing an interest in buying a digital skin, avatar, or NFT over the following year, this blurring of digital-physical ownership-cum-experiences is adding a new dimension to materialism. 

The Business of Fashion

 For brands, there’s a big opportunity at stake – by 2025, the virtual goods marketplace is expected to reach $190 billion. 

Canvas8

 is tapping into this space with its collection of virtual garments – but with 

 already bubbling up in the virtual world, brands face a challenge in bringing authenticity to digital materialism.

Regardless of whether they focus on possessions or experiences, brands are more likely to forge strong bonds with consumers by adopting a more empathetic and positive communication strategy. Indeed, brands that provide this connection, alongside personalised messaging, are winning favour. For example, TikTok videos featuring staff members from 

 went viral for their relatable advice and expertise about shopping in-store. Brands are also increasingly communicating with kindness – 

 shifted the tone of all its communications from humour to generosity, with 

 best demonstrating this, while various other firms have launched campaigns based around 

 of Gen Zers say that an experience is ‘fun’ because you can share moments with others

 Britons who made ‘treat’ purchases during the pandemic say they no longer use some of the items they bought

 of American Gen Zers, Yers, and Xers surveyed in 2021 wanted to buy a digital skin, avatar, or NFT over the following year

Both material and experiential purchases can provide joy, with each contributing to different forms of happiness (e.g. social fulfilment or convenience)

While experiences have long been seen as the path to happiness, they may not live up to expectations or may not deliver the relatedness people seek

Incorporating experiential elements into material purchases could encourage buyers to value their possessions for longer

Evan Weingarten is an assistant professor at the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He graduated with a PhD in marketing and psychology from the Wharton School of Business and majored in economics and psychology at the University of Chicago. Prior to his current position, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.

Global

Shopping

Behavioural Sciences

Are experiences really superior to possessions in the pursuit of happiness? Canvas8 spoke to Dr. Evan Weingarten, a marketing professor at Arizona State University, to understand how people derive joy from both experiences and material items – and what this means for brands’ marketing strategies.

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