This Moment of Joy is Brought to You By

Many many sponsors

I’m snuggled in watching the Olympics when the announcer says, “This moment of joy is brought to you by (insert sponsor).”

The Olympic Moment of Joy vignettes were short spurts filled with explosive expressions of joy by athletes and spectators and tiny slices of the Olympic experience in Paris. It was a clever offering by NBC to create this dopamine-inducing sponsorship option for advertisers. I sold many vignette sponsorships like this in my television advertising career: Play of the Day, Player of the Day, Shining Moment, and Crowd Pleaser of the Day. They’re popular with marketers because their brand is, by association, the winner of the day too, promoting all kinds of goodwill with the audience. Sometimes it works. In my case with the Olympic Moment of Joy vignette, I couldn’t tell you who the sponsor was. Sorry NBC.

But I loved it. The focus wasn’t on the medal winners per se, but rather the joyful moments of individual grit and accomplishment and the celebrations, oh the celebrations.

Life’s Vignettes

It got me thinking about the numerous moment-of-joy vignettes that fill our days, weeks, months, years, lives. Especially when you start noticing.

A vignette is partially defined as “a short descriptive literary sketch” or “a brief incident or scene (as in a play or movie)” or “a small decorative design or picture so placed.”

A moment. A slice. A fleeting thought with meaning. Often, they happen without full recognition.

So, I started to notice them. Particularly when, for fun, I injected the intro: “This moment of joy is brought to you by…”

It made me realize that joy is a co-creation between you and what, or whoever stimulates the feeling that leads to joy.

Notice, Really Notice

I took a stroll through my house, amazed by all of the moments-of-joy vignettes that take place there. Reflecting on experiences or events depicted in photographs.

Or by things that were gifts that have a prominent place in my home, like every time I use that dish or walk by that painting or light that candle or sip out of that teacup.

Or by random everyday routines that remind me of a person or place, like every time I flip on a shared streaming app or make my coffee or fluff my pillows or water my plants or play my piano or wear a certain shade of lipstick or store my keys when I walk in the door.

Each of those tiny moments are vignettes brought to me and sponsored by the person who gave me a piece of advice or joined me in an experience. And some are people I haven’t seen or spoken to in a long time. But, they’re part of my every day. Interesting.

And most often they spark inklings of joy or gratitude, which is another expression of joy.

Then I took the experiment out into my day, widening the vignette net so to speak.

“This moment of joy is brought to you by… the sun, the air conditioning, the person singing his heart out at the gym, a kindness from friends over glasses of wine, a much-needed laugh at dinner with the fam, shared Olympic viewing, hugs with Mom and Dad, snuggles with my great-nephew and watching the joy on my niece’s face when she saw my joy with her son, and belly laughs over Zoom with my nephew and his son.”

This one capped the day of vignettes:

While attending a concert of a local band with my dad, we were enamored (extended moments of joy) by a lovely 80-something woman at our table who never stopped moving in her seat. She chair-danced through the entire concert, I mean really danced. She was in the front row and was oblivious to the rest of us while her husband smiled knowingly next to her. Her joy of dancing made me so curious about her story. We told her how much we enjoyed watching her enjoy herself. Her joy added to ours.

The Extra Vignette Value

Joy happens when we connect to that always-accessible wellspring of love inside of us. You know it when it happens. The swelling of your heart, the goosebumps on your arms, the rise of your spirit, the rush of tears. Or simply the fleeting joyful memory that happens so quickly it’s a part of you. How wonderful is that?

Sometimes pausing to notice a moment-of-joy vignette is just what you need to lift sad spirits or calm an increasing worry.

This is the extra value of your joy vignettes. Or the “added value,” the term we often used with our ad clients.

So, I invite you to start noticing the many sponsors of your moment-of-joy vignettes.

“This moment of joy was brought to you by… you.”

Something to think about.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. And, let me know what moments-of-joy vignettes you’re noticing.

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