Are Brands Sleepwalking into Recession?
Lockdown was just the warm-up act. Now it’s time to wake up and smell the COVID, because things are about to get harder…
Our latest research report, in association with our creative partners The Liberty Guild, shows that many consumers are unaware of what we are facing into, creating a potential tripwire for unsuspecting marketers who are hoping for quick and painless salvation from the economic turmoil that COVID-19 has already unleashed.
Our research has raised the following questions:
- Every aspect of COVID has been tracked – but are brands tracking every aspect of the recession we are now in?
- As we move into the last part of the year brands are planning for Christmas, but are consumers being too optimistic about things right now? And how might this change?
- Likewise for premium brands. Is there some naivety being shown when listening to positive consumers now, rather than when things really start to bite in a month or so? And are all consumers equally positive? And which one is your audience?
- How do you adequately plan for so many different scenarios? Second waves, mass unemployment, vaccines, a weakening virus. It doesn’t have to all be negatives, but whatever happens, the differences between good and bad are far more complex than they’ve ever been.
All in all, there’s a risk that your current research could be giving you the wrong answers.
To combat this you should:
- Hear what your consumers THINK by and FEEL by capturing their perceptions, thoughts and attitudes paired with conscious and sub-conscious emotions to track how this is changing within the new normal
- Understand what they plan to DO about, and what they WANT from, the holiday season as recession begins to bite
- Conduct consumer tests that combine the above to specifically design against research blind-spots, meaning any short-term optimism doesn’t skew your results
- Understand not only what consumers say but also what this means to create robust scenario planning to cover your launches, innovation plans, communication choices and channels.
The only way you can do all this in one place, at speed, the way you need is with the Catalyx Consumer Activation System.
If you would like to know more about the system and how it can help you conduct consumer-centric research to solve a vast range of research objectives, please click here.