• Forbes CMO Network, Friday, July 16, 2010 11 AM

Andrew Benett, CEO of Arnold Worldwide and chief strategy officer of Havas Worldwide, and Ann O'Reilly, content director of the Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange, write that our communal vision of what it means to be "rich" is changing -- not only in this brief column but also in a new book titled Consumed: Rethinking Business in the Era of Mindful Spending.

How so? Well, we're not measuring wealth by our account balances (or what's left of them) as much as before. We're into "softer values" such as happiness, friendship and belonging. And you betcha this has implications for peddlers of stuff that we used to think made us happy. The authors quote G. K. Chesterton, who said, "There are two ways to get enough: One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less."

Euro RSCG Worldwide research backs up the authors' assertions: 87% of Americans say saving money makes them feel good about themselves; 26% say the same about buying luxury items. And 79% of Americans respect and admire people who live simply while only 15% respect and admire high fliers such as the Trumps and Hiltons (although the data perhaps did not account for soft values such as bad hair and grating personalities).

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