Rebranding Happiness with Declan Edwards

July 15, 2025

1 hr 1 min 38 sec

What if happiness worked the same way as learning to draw, play guitar, or build a brand? You'd be terrible at first, and that would be completely fine.

That's the central idea Declan Edwards has built an entire movement around – and in this episode, he and Martin Sully unpack what it means for anyone building a brand that actually connects with people.

Declan is the founder of BU Happiness College, a TEDx speaker, and one of Australia's most recognised voices in positive psychology. He's also, for the record, deeply opposed to raw tomatoes. He'll explain why.

Over an hour of genuinely refreshing conversation, they cover emotional branding, the science behind why people connect with certain brands, how to build loyalty through doing good things publicly, and what it takes to develop happiness as a practised skill. There's also a story about nearly dying on Kilimanjaro that you won't see coming.

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Common branding misconceptions

What's Covered in This Episode

Why Declan built his personal brand around a single polarising idea – and why specificity is what makes it work
The 'emotional reserve tank' concept and why brands that run on empty can't show up well when it matters
Active Constructive Responding: the positive psychology framework that changes how you engage with clients and colleagues
Why doing genuinely good things – and talking about them – builds brand loyalty better than most marketing strategies
The Kilimanjaro story: nearly dying at altitude, a business in crisis, and what rebuilding taught Declan about intentional growth
Happiness as a skill: why most people are still drawing at an eight-year-old level, and what to do about it
The two-word check-in practice and why expanding your emotional vocabulary is more useful than you'd think
Gratitude as a daily habit – and why thinking nice things about someone and not saying them is a missed opportunity

Meet our guest

Declan Edwards

Declan Edwards is the founder of BU Happiness College, a social enterprise dedicated to helping individuals and organisations build the skills of happiness. He holds a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology, has led workshops for the United Nations, spoken at TEDx, and built a loyal following of purpose-driven professionals. He also plays banjo.

The One Thing Declan Wants You to Take Away

Treat happiness like a skill. That means you can get better at it, there are people who've dedicated their lives to studying it, and you're going to be a bit rubbish at it before you're not. That's not a flaw in the process. That is the process.

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Connect to them

Website

https://www.buhappinesscollege.com

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/declan-edwards-bu-happiness-college/

Pre-order Declan's Book: https://declanedwards.com.au

‍How to be Happy Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/how-to-be-happy/id1361238593

How to be Happy Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zriwga04Rl0pbjFuDF6Hl

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Want to dig deeper into how your brand makes people feel?

Try the Snapper Studio Sentiment Tracker – a free tool that helps you understand the emotional signals your brand is already sending.

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