Adara has been hosting a webinar series entitled The Consumer Path To Recovery in order to provide our clients and partners with data that provides insight about consumer behavior across a variety of key facets of their spending, decision making and future plans. We’re charting the consumer’s adaptation to the new normal as a set of stages — from early recovery activities such as dining, staying at hotels and flying along with other signals of financial strength such as shopping, home improvement and auto purchases. For each topic, we’ll be exploring the drivers and implications of the trends as they relate to consumer vitality.
You may have noticed that we are featuring a wider array of behavior as a way of understanding consumer vitality. We chose that term, vitality, to connote the financial capability to spend on dining, entertainment and travel along with big ticket items such as cars and houses, and to capture the concept of confidence in health protections and safety as consumers engage more outside the home.
Our most recent webinar focuses on social gatherings, considered a major factor in managing the spread of the coronavirus, but also a major element of consumer vitality. Not only small personal gatherings but also gatherings at local venues, restaurants and other places of business. With major concerts and sports cancelled for now, people are getting creative about social gatherings, from drive-in movies to small family reunions in rural locations.
All of these changes in social gathering behavior show how people are thinking about connecting with each other and with culture and entertainment during a stressful time. They provide great insight for brands that want to better understand what motivates their audiences during COVID-19 recovery.
Here is what we found:
The West is leading US social gathering activity: Adara has seen a recent upturn that reflects strong acceleration in the West – over a 100% increase over the previous week and strong growth in the Northeast at 29% with the South stable at 6% growth and the Midwest with a decreasing growth rate of -15%
- With case numbers increasing in the West, this uptick is subject to change, as are all of the regions. The Northeast, for example, has kept cases low, and so their growth may continue.
There are small but significant changes over time by demographic or traveler group: We have seen very little variation by age group over time.
- People in their 20’s, despite the news headlines, have maintained their share of participating in social gatherings at 33.7% percent of the total. People in their thirties have reduced their activity by just a bit, while those in their forties have edged up by a point or two. Interestingly, older groups, which are at the most risk, have maintained their behavior, although at a much lower share than younger groups.
- We also looked at typical road warrior behavior to see if they’ve bounced back. But, they too, are maintaining at similar rates as earlier in the pandemic compared to infrequent travelers. In fact, infrequent travelers are going out a little bit more.
Music, Arts & Theater are driving the most interest: From the 16th of May to the 21st of July, Music has dominated entertainment bookings as sports has continued to be small.
- The top Music event was the Harry Styles concert tour
- The top Arts & Theater event was the Hamilton tour
- As one example of “new” events that are popular – a drive-in showing of Jurassic Park was one of the top recent social gatherings in the “Miscellaneous” category.
Let’s Go Right Now!
To understand just how people planned to attend these various events, we also looked at exactly how people are planning and booking trips, and that, too, provided some great insights. What we have found in the US, is that people have a strong preference for last minute plans, and both air and hotel travel show this, with both being planned between 0-15 days from time of departure or stay.
My takeaway from analysing all of these insights is that people are eager to participate in social gatherings, and are continuing at the same rates as before, but more spontaneously and more creatively. This means that brands, too, but, become more spontaneous and creative. First, brands need to quickly capture demand when it arises, such as an opening of a park or the opening of an outdoor show. For example, the right time to promote a Labor Day getaway is most likely mid-August, not now. The right time to talk about fall scenery is when the weather turns, not when the heat of summer is still here.
Brands can also show their creative sides. Drive in movies. Socially distanced concerts. These new options are popular and provide insight into how brands can attract customers. Unlike the headlines which show a lot of twenty-somethings in bars, the real demand for social behavior is diffuse across the demographics and willing to bend and change as needed.
Brands must be ready to bend and change as needed, too. And Adara is here to offer the insights that can ensure they do so with confidence.
About the Author
Carolyn Corda
Chief Marketing Officer, Adara