Q: Is this a problem or an opportunity? The changes in consumer behaviours, preferences and needs in response to Covid-19 are more radical than anything else encountered – at least since World War II. Where in the decade preceding the pandemic, we saw a relatively slow, gradual shift from offline to online behaviours for everything from socialising to shopping, this crisis is poised to create a deep, psychological impact worldwide that will result in profound new norms. Much is debated about the validity of ‘generations’. Certainly gen X, millennials and now gen Z appear relatively similar when examined longitudinally by age and life-stage, factoring out the technology at their fingertips. But the Boomers, who were born in the years following WWII, and their parents (‘the Greatest Generation’) who fought and lived through the war, were entirely different for this reason. While we don’t yet know how long we’ll need to quarantine and social distance for society to beat this pandemic, and that duration will have a significant impact on how embedded our new behaviours become, there’s no doubt that shifts have already happened which is further flattening generational demographics. Need proof? Just ask my mother (a Boomer) who, three weeks ago, couldn’t retrieve voicemails on her iPhone but now hosts family dinners on Houseparty. Times of crisis are when we see innovation flourish. New ideas – cryptography in computing, the NHS in healthcare, for example – came out of, and after, WWII. In recent times, China’s strength in e-commerce came out of the impact of the SARS epidemic and Shopify’s user base grew exponentially during the financial crisis. Those who truly understand changing needs will bolster their brands for the long-term. The key to identifying and unlocking these opportunities will be to understand new unmet needs, and then be agile in your approach to test and learn at pace. A: If you play a considered, long-term game there is opportunity. Realising it will require your brand to really understand behaviour and be willing to fail fast. This is part of our FMCG (CPG) Thought Leadership x Covid, read more here. To hear more, or talk to us, please drop us a line.
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