Gerry Philpott, President and CEO of ePoll wanted to better
understand the state of the nation during the pandemic. To that end, his
company launched a study that he said was, “the first and most likely last of
its kind. We don’t normally do these types of things, but felt a ‘gut check’ of
where the country is right now both in their optimism and where they see their
lifestyles ahead was needed. Will they
go right back to what they were doing?
If not, what has changed, and why?
And when?”
To that end, they polled 1,677 persons 13+ the week of April
16th-20th, weighted to reflect their demographic proportions in the
U.S.
Charlene Weisler: What makes this study different?
Gerry Philpott: We felt our clients are getting a lot of
data around certain aspects of the virus and its impact, but very little on
what advertisers, networks, creative, etc. need to get back to some normalcy in
our business and what they should be preparing for.
We asked some questions in a way to get at what it was like
before and what they intend to do after as we don’t have previous studies
similar to this to go back to. However,
some clients have approached us about the possibility of doing some streaming
studies specifically, and if we do that, we have an enormous amount of ‘pre’
data on that as we’ve been tracking streaming trends over the years. I’m sure you’ve seen the newsletters about
that. If you want to consider writing
something about those, Mary Ann would be the best person to speak to as she’s
intimately involved in those studies.
Weisler: What are the greatest takeaways?
Philpott: For me, some of the biggest takeaways are:
- How influenced certain people are by what they are hearing
from the leaders they like and the national news and social media they follow
that tends to be in line with their leadership preference. As the expression goes, “we’re all in this
together” is a bit misleading as you have conservatives who believe a much
faster timeline for normalcy and are more optimistic which is reflective of the
president and Fox News, etc. And then
you have the moderates and liberals who are more cautious about returning to
normal and are taking a wait and see on how optimistic they should feel.
We all know how influential media is or we wouldn’t have
such a robust advertising universe, but it was the stark difference played out
in the variances between conservatives and others that drives that home.
- It was interesting to see in black and white what we had
been anecdotally hearing about how people were going back to some activities
that many believed had been replaced by all the smart gadgets and busy
lifestyles that have bee the norm the last decade or more. Things like sewing clubs, hobbies/building
models, board games, along with families having ‘cooking’ nights where they
take turns with recipes they find or are rotated through friends. Zoom has helped really power this movement
during the crisis and people believe that they will continue this well
after.
The myth by some in the government that people are just
‘rushing to burst’ out of their homes to get back to a full normal just isn’t
in the data. Not ours and not what I’ve
seen in other studies. I believe there
will be a pull back to more connecting socially both digitally and in person as
families and friends/neighbors rekindle old activities in their surroundings,
but not this rush to get out to theaters, restaurants, large venues and
vacations. They will eventually but many
of the activities they’ve found to be enjoyable now will continue going
forward. (Look how many videos of what so many neighborhoods have been doing
with kids birthday parties, the YMCA song on trash barrel day, etc. This didn’t exist near this level before the
crisis and it won’t suddenly disappear after.
Won’t be like when we were kids, but some old things are new again.)
- The last point is that while it makes sense with the
economy the way it is and will continue for some time that most will be putting
off large purchases, with many believing up to 2 years or more. What stood out was how many younger people
(millennials) are planning to hold off major life decisions such as marriage,
children, changing jobs or moving to new locations. There have been a lot of studies about this
age group as they’ve not followed previous age group trends such as Gen X and
this will further complicate the predictions for this enigmatic slice of the
population.
Weisler: Were there any surprises?
Philpott: Well, surprise is a relative term. Those three points I brought up were things
that seemed to show a greater variance than expected (normalcy/optimism), or
ran counter to what was expected (activities post pandemic not showing a rush
to get out into the public), and where specific demo stood out such as
millennials rethinking some major life changes.
We know now with other stories hitting the same time that people aren’t
as anxious to get out as previously thought, especially with the coverage of
the protests.
Weisler: What are the greatest challenges in fielding a study of this
type at this time?
Philpott: I wouldn’t say there were any particular
challenges at this time as people are available both online and even phone
survey companies have said they’ve had greater receptivity to phone surveys.
Weisler: Do you think political attitudes have shifted in any way pre
and post virus and if so what?
Philpott: We don’t track political attitudes on a regular
basis, but just given the number of surveys published where political parties
are part of the equation, it appears that the situation has remained pretty
static the last 6 months or so.
Weisler: In your opinion, and from your research, how long do you think
it will take for consumers to regain their pre-pandemic behavior? And does it
vary by category?
Philpott: Based on what our study has shown, we think it
will be quite some time return to pre-pandemic behavior (possibly a year, if
ever) and once it does start to get back to normal we don’t see a major
difference in behavior to what conservatives vs moderates or liberals will be
doing as it will be determined more by state and local circumstances. Second, given the newfound ways of engaging
within the family and and “social neighborhoods” we’re not sure it will get
back to a 2019 normal for quite some time, and that would be a positive I
believe.
Weisler: What do you suggest as next steps for advertisers and for the
industry overall?
Philpott: For advertisers, the data clearly shows people
need and want information they can use and are more receptive to messaging that
is uplifting and entertaining. It’s been
a very rough time and if advertisers can tap into the resiliency of the
American public in a way that’s engaging, respectful and hopeful, they will get
their messages across.
This article first appeared in Mediapost.com
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