Many aspects of our current lives are undergoing a
transformation as habits developed to cope with the pandemic are altering
otherwise ingrained behaviors. In some respects, this is especially so in media
where thirst for information, entertainment, escape and confirmation is causing
shifts.
How permanent or landscape-altering are these shifts? Mike Cooper, Global President and CEO for Rapport,
offers some insights. Rapport is part of IPG Mediabrands focusing on
Out-of-Home (OOH) media planning.
Charlene Weisler: How
have consumer behaviors changed during the pandemic and how have they stayed
the same?
Mike Cooper: I guess the first and obvious response, is that
consumers are staying home, a huge, unprecedented and never before seen state
of affairs. Couple this with an understandable sense of insecurity,
holistically across a population, then people are going to spend less on things
they don’t ‘need’, and indeed, the word ‘need’ becomes completely redefined, or
returns to its actual meaning.
Therefore, the ‘need’ to buy groceries remains the same,
lets avoid the pattern changes/ hoard mentality here which seems to be ebbing
quickly, but the ‘need’ for a new pair of jeans, has vanished. Everyone is more
cautious; therefore, the main body of the population will spend less.
We’ll likely see a renaissance of things as simple as
cooking, Arts & Crafts and DIY projects too. Etsy and Pinterest have both
reported huge YOY growth, and you would expect a long tail on this as consumers
harness and build skills during this time. You may see a decrease in the
consumer desire for Ikea furniture moving forward or things of the like.
Weisler: How strong
is brand loyalty now?
Cooper: It’s a strange concept, brand loyalty is a result of
many things. A home keeper may be 100% loyal to washing liquid, as it does a
better job than any other, therefore as a low-cost item, that ‘loyalty’ may
ride this wave. However, the hedge-fund guy, that can no longer afford the
Ferrari, that he is loyal to as it fuels his ego, is no less loyal to the
brand, in fact he likely craves it more than ever, he simply can’t afford it,
when/ if he can again he will be back more ferociously than ever.
Brand loyalty, during such extreme times as these, will
suffer when a brand is not seen to understand said times, or the struggles
consumers face going through it. Consumers want to see that the brands they
love are in the fight with them. Shake Shack returning a $10MM back to the
federal government was the ultimate “we are in this together” moment and will
only increase their base.
The most prevalent example of ‘getting it wrong’ right now,
appears when you look at personal or celebrity brands. Every day, there is a
headline describing how some celebrity faced backlash, after talking of the
struggle to self-isolate in their 12,000 sqft Hollywood home, with pool and
basketball court, (check out the Buzzfeed link below). People are loyal to
brands they aspire to, resonate with or feel understand them, and right now,
understanding has to be wrapped in empathy, comradery, sacrifice & love.
Product & lifestyle brands could learn a lot from the mistakes of our
previously adored, and ever-growing celebrity community.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/dumbest-things-celebrities-have-said-or-done-about-the
During times of extended uncertainty, consumers often revert
back to heritage brands, those they trust and those they know have been up
against adversity in the past. Brands that can pivot on the fly due to their
potential infrastructure, will earn respect that will develop to loyalty, at
least short-term. P&G using its
factories to produce masks and hand sanitizer, while Ford and GE Healthcare
teamed up to produce respirators and ventilators to help COVID-19 patients and
frontline staff. These community effects on a global scale only continue to
weave their narrative for times like these.
Weisler: Do you see a
shift in amount of consumer spending?
Cooper: Right now, there is both reduction and shift, and
really driven by the lack of an alternative, over a subliminal change is
behavior. People are spending more on Amazon, as they are stuck at home. More
on groceries as they can’t eat out. Netflix subs are through the roof as
cinema’s, gyms, restaurants and a myriad of other entertainments are closed. On
the flip, people are spending less on commuting, coffee & dry cleaning,
things that were deemed essential mere weeks ago, though these will return, as
and when life returns to some kind of normality, but, to what level? Again,
people are nervous for the immediate and long-term future of themselves and the
economy, so inevitably, we are all more frugal.
Weisler: Do you see a
long-term trend in consumer behavior? and if so what?
Cooper: The truth is, only time will tell. Through all great
crisis, the human race has proved to be both incredibly enduring and forgetful,
both important survival traits, so we don’t live in eternal fear. China has
been ‘re-open’ for several weeks, but only now have people felt comfortable
heading to a bar after work as a group, so it’s a slow recovery process
psychologically, having spent months being told we should be terrified by every
news outlet. I suspect that going forward, every family will have a box of
surgical masks and a pack of 80 toilet rolls in the cupboard, the hoard
mentality, even at a subtle level, will likely stay with us. It may take a long
time for planes to be full (though the cruise ships are selling out for 2021,
we love a deal more than we hate a pandemic).
The consumer normal, will be
driven by the economic and commercial normal, and that is anyone’s gamble. Will
large corporations still rent 25 floors of premium real estate in Manhattan,
having survived this time with it sitting empty? If 75% of the workforce are
working from home 3 days a week, who will fill the lunchtime restaurants and
sandwich shops? What of the cleaners, security guards & catering companies
that service office space that may be sitting empty, as well as the transport
industry, public and private, that furry us all around? There is a very real
risk, that corporate America will take this opportunity, to save going forward,
not re-employ or reinvest, but look to improve margin and boost share price
first, ‘the trickle down economics’ that so many are a fan of, only works, if
indeed it does at all, with a trickle.
This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com
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