With the third Monday of January commonly known as ‘Blue Monday’, the most depressing day of year, Hearst sought to lift agency spirits with an array of mood-boosting activities.

Hearst’s Commercial Teams visited the offices of a number of media agencies, with activations including:

• Flower arranging: In addition to developing a new skill and feeling closer to nature, flower arranging stimulates the senses, challenges the mind and improves people’s mood
• Pooch petting: Petting a dog can help reduce stress levels by releasing feel-good hormones including serotonin, prolactin and oxytocin
• Chair massages: Massages can help to decrease the levels of stress hormone cortisol
• Juice stations: To help boost the immune system

Last year, Hearst commissioned a comprehensive piece of research with Theobalds Road, on the power of positivity. According to the research, people with a positive outlook on life are much more open-minded and purposeful, and much more receptive to commercial messages. Thus, making them a key audience for advertisers. The research also found that Hearst brands, when grouped together, contained the highest positivity ranking of all media, and Hearst’s audiences are more likely to take action than consumers of any other media channel.

Recent Hearst research to coincide with ‘Blue Monday’ reiterated this point, with 87% having made plans and resolutions for 2020 in comparison to the national average of 25%*. 

Jane Wolfson, Chief Commercial Officer, said: “With a combination of bad weather, short daylight hours and post-festive money concerns, Blue Monday is said to be the most depressing day of the year. At Hearst, positivity underpins all of our content and experiences, and we’re proud to have such a highly engaged, optimistic audience. With that in mind, we are delighted to have launched the inaugural Hearst Positivity Pop Up, hitting several agencies in order to help them get more out of life.”

 *YouGov