Search Results for:

Slowly but surely, the automobile industry is electrifying.

Through a mix of technological advancements, government interventions, and changing consumer preferences, each year the world sees more electric vehicles (EVs) added to the flow of traffic.

This shift brings with it a number of benefits to both EV owners and society at large.

As companies invest more into battery-powered cars and trucks, the battery tech that drives this growing industry has improved exponentially. So much so that the average range of an electric vehicle has grown well over a hundred kilometers in just the past 5 years.

Meanwhile, the time it takes to recharge has declined rapidly in the same time period, and the lithium-ion batteries themselves have become so cheap that projections suggest electric vehicles may soon cost as much as gas-powered models.

Even though private companies receive the most media attention for pushing this technology forward, world governments have largely acted as the catalyst for the increase in both the supply of and demand for EVs.

Strict emissions laws in the wake of the Paris Accords have forced many auto manufacturers to produce more electric and hybrid options, many nations have extended subsidies and tax credits to consumers who purchase these vehicles, and local governments have often footed the bill for public charging stations.

So, although electric and hybrid vehicles currently represent only a small percentage of the total cars on the road, all signs point to their market share increasing dramatically in the coming decade.

EV ownership increased despite the pandemic.

Despite the economic downturn, sales and registrations of electric vehicles saw modest growth throughout the pandemic, while sales of gas and diesel-powered cars fell dramatically compared to previous years.

Unsurprisingly, electric vehicle ownership and interest runs hand-in-hand with the EV charging infrastructure available in a given area, as “charger deserts” can make ditching the combustion engine impractical.

For instance, in the U.S. where California is the runaway leader in charging infrastructure, Californians are nearly 2x more likely than car owners in other states to already own an electric vehicle, and 50% more likely to say they’re interested in purchasing one in the future.

As global investment in charging infrastructure increases to more closely resemble California, we can expect interest in EVs to follow suit. In the U.S., the portion of consumers who say they’re interested in purchasing an electric vehicle is 25% higher than in Q2 2020, and has grown fastest among the middle class.

Another factor increasing the share of electric vehicles on the road is the growing affordability, availability, and diversity of electric vehicles themselves.

A few years ago, there was a much smaller list of fully electric options available to consumers looking to ditch their gas guzzlers. These earlier electric vehicles, especially in Western countries, were either outside the price range of the average car buyer or lacked the range and practicality that consumers have come to expect from gasoline and diesel.

This is still evident in the fact 4 in 10 electric vehicle owners are in the high-income segment. 

And this income gap is even more prominent in the West; in Europe and North America this number approaches 6 in 10.

The story is slightly different in China, where cheap electric vehicles are beginning to threaten Tesla’s dominance in the EV market. Here, EV ownership is quite common among lower-income consumers, and 4 in 10 EV owners in China are in this segment, compared to just 29% and 28% in the middle- and high-income segment respectively.

However, more recently many Western automakers have released their own versions of electric vehicles aimed at selling the typical consumer on going electric.  

For instance, Ford recently released their surprisingly cheap F-150 Lightning in the hopes of making EVs more attractive to a wider audience.

Seeing as the gas-powered F-150 has been the highest selling truck in the U.S. for decades, this electrified version could convince many U.S. truck owners – a population of typically rural, middle-class Americans, currently without any affordable EV truck alternatives – to go electric. 

Consumers eye many benefits and obstacles to getting their own EV.

The future of electric vehicles appears especially bright when we understand consumer perceptions about electric vehicles.  

For the most part, consumers understand the benefits of electric power extremely well, and companies and governments are working hard to tackle any obstacles to greater EV adoption.

Battery-powered cars convert energy into motion much more efficiently than traditional gas-powered cars. Their lack of exhaust gives us a glimpse of a future with less air pollution, and when charged with green sources of energy they can also curb CO₂ emissions. So, it’s not surprising that running costs and environmental friendliness top the list of the perceived benefits of electric vehicles.

On the other hand, consumers show a greater level of concern about the downfall of electric vehicles compared to traditional ones.

Around half of consumers think EVs don’t currently offer enough range or battery life, and nearly the same amount are concerned that the current number of charging stations may be insufficient to make an EV viable as a sole method of transport.

However, there is a silver lining with all of these concerns, as well as the concern at the lack of variety in the market; both governments and private companies are actively solving all of these problems.

In the U.S., Biden’s infrastructure plan includes $174 billion for the electric car industry, and proposes 500k new chargers in under a decade. In China, the government has imposed a mandate on car manufacturers themselves, penalizing those who don’t sell enough EVs as a percentage of their total sales.

Running concurrent to these efforts, many automakers have committed to electrify their entire fleet within the next 10-15 years, and companies like Volkswagen have laid out plans to drastically reduce the cost of vehicle batteries and build thousands of new charging stations across Europe.

EV owners are uniquely connected to their cars.

For brands already in or entering into this space, it’s important to remember that consumers aren’t going to be swayed to adopt electric vehicles due to infrastructure or availability alone.

Using data from GWI USA we can see how the attitudes of current EV owners differ from those of traditional car owners, and begin to draw conclusions about what it might take to sway consumers to ditch their combustion engines.

Currently, electric vehicle owners are far more likely to feel a closer connection to their vehicle.

American EV drivers are 3x more likely than other drivers to see their car as a status symbol, and nearly 50% more likely to say this vehicle represents their personality.

This is no doubt partly due to the high price tag compared to gas models, as electric vehicle owners are also well over 2x more likely than gas drivers to say that being rich is an aspiration of theirs.

However, that high price tag won’t always be a barrier of entry into EV ownership, and current gas and diesel car owners who say they’re interested in going electric have some unique preferences of their own.

They are largely in line with other gas and diesel drivers when it comes to their general apathy to having a car that acts as a status symbol or an extension of their personality.

Instead, they want a car that has the features they’re looking for.

These features could be anything from more torque and towing capabilities (some of the features they might get in an F-150 Lightning), to in-car entertainment and comfort that you might find in a Tesla.

They are far more concerned about the environment than even current EV drivers, and the fact two thirds share this concern suggests it may be the main driver of their goal to one day own a battery-powered car.

Yet, for this group, the current price tag is a large barrier to entry, as over one third say they want their car to be as cheap and easy to maintain as possible.

The future will be electric.

At the end of the day, electric vehicles are going to continue their march to more and more market share.

The pledges of automakers around the world to fully electrify their fleets in the coming decade suggest the vast majority of cars on the road will be battery-powered in a few decades.  

Whether this happens sooner or later depends on a multitude of factors: 

• how convenient governments can make the charging experience
• how much manufacturers can drive down the price of new models
• perhaps most importantly, how effectively marketers can convince current gas and diesel owners electric is the better option. 

With Pride Month in full swing, many brands are going all out to paint themselves as allies to the LGBTQ+ community.

Since the start of June, rainbow logos have covered social media feeds. Meanwhile, many brands, especially within the fashion and cosmetics industries, have released rainbow products and pledged to forward large portions of the proceeds from these goods to LGBTQ+ organizations.

Even still, the reception of these initiatives has been varied, as the LGBTQ+ community has been quick to call out brands they believe to be merely performative in their support.

Some were criticized for creating a rainbow logo for social media, while keeping the original in regions where LGBTQ+ is forbidden or culturally unaccepted. Other criticism was levied at companies who voiced LGBTQ+ support this month, but donated to politicians who opposed legislation promoting LGBTQ+ rights.

The crux of these negative reactions lies in the relatively new idea of “rainbow-washing”, where companies are quick to vocalize their support for the community, but slow to take real actions that benefit individuals who identify as gay or transgender.

Just like everyone else, LGBTQ+ consumers don’t want to feel they’re being pandered to; they want to be respected as individuals, and will be quick to expose any Pride Month behaviors that are less than genuine.  

The LGBTQ+ community is rich and diverse.

One of the most important things for brands to remember when attempting to promote Pride successfully is the fact the LGBTQ+ community may be one of the most diverse groups of consumers out there.

This group encapsulates both men and women, as well as those who identify as neither. It covers all age groups, all races and ethnicities, all income segments and all political ideologies. As a result, it’s important to look beyond gender or sexuality alone to avoid stereotyping this group.

Using data from GWI USA, we can see just how rich and diverse the LGBTQ+ community truly is.

Although there are some areas where they stand out from cisgender or heterosexual individuals, a wide range of attitudes within the group run counter to how they’re typically perceived.

For example, while it’s true that the LGBTQ+ community is more likely than the average American to consider their political views as liberal, 36% don’t consider themselves to be either politically left or right, and a further 10% list their political views as conservative.

Furthermore, while the LGBTQ+ community is more likely than average to describe themselves as open-minded and tolerant, there are very large segments within this community who do not consider themselves as such. For instance, over 6 in 10 asexual Americans don’t consider themselves to be particularly tolerant, and well over one third of non-binary or gender-fluid Americans don’t think of themselves as open-minded.

Gender and sexuality are merely aspects of an individual’s personality, so for brands looking to reach consumers during Pride Month, other factors can be even more important.

Two people working in the same industry or living in the same city will have very similar day-to-day lives regardless of who they love, which is why age and income are often much bigger drivers of our interests than gender or sexual identity.

LGBTQ+ identification affects how consumers interact with brands.

Over the past few decades, cultural acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community has grown considerably. Marriage equality has been enshrined in law in the majority of western nations, and representation of gay, bisexual and transgender adults has become commonplace across modern media. 

As a result, younger generations are far more comfortable coming out compared to their parent’s generation at the same age. 

We’re also seeing much higher rates of LGBTQ+ identification among Gen Zs and millennials.

Some marketers are utlizing this fact to market to the LGBTQ+ community in the same way they market to younger age groups, and its shown great success on social media.

In the U.S., not only do LGBTQ+ consumers spend nearly half an hour more per day than the average American on social media, they also have a much better perception of social media companies and of the brands who operate on these platforms.

Even when comparing LGBTQ+ Gen Zs and millennials to the rest of their age groups, we find these consumers are much more likely to say they discover brands through both paid and organic posts on social media.

This is due, in large part, to the unique way members of LGBTQ+ community use social media.  

Compared to the average American, they’re much less likely to say they use social media to keep in touch with friends and family, yet they’re far more likely to say social media helps them feel more connected to people.

LGBTQ+ Americans are nearly 75% more likely than average to say they‘ve posted comments online, which they would never say in real life.

Together these facts suggest that LGBTQ+ consumers are using social media as a sort of “safe space”. Social media gives them the opportunity to customize what (and who) they see, and so they feel more comfortable being themselves in these forums than they do in their daily lives.

Consequently, brands looking to reach the LGBTQ+ community on these platforms need to make sure they’re acting as a positive force on social media.

The importance of being authentic in supporting the LGBTQ+ community

So, what does it look like to be a positive force to the LGBTQ+ community?

For the most part, LGBTQ+ Americans are largely in agreement on the values that are most important to them.

They’re united in their expectations that brands promote issues like diversity, inclusion, social responsibility and eco-friendliness, and just like their response to performative LGBTQ+ support, this group is very adamant that brands be genuine in their CSR initiatives.

35% of the LGBTQ+ community say they want brands to be authentic, and there exists a very real risk of backlash to performative marketing.  

LGBTQ+ Americans are already more than 40% more likely than average to say they don’t trust big brands and corporations at all, and they’re nearly 15% less likely than average to say they stay loyal to the brands they like.

So even with successful campaigns to demonstrate their allyship during Pride Month, brands have to work hard to maintain the trust of LGBTQ+ Americans.

A good deal of this trust can be regained through CSR initiatives that have very little to do with gay or transgender topics, as we’ve seen that social responsibility and sustainability are just as important as diversity and inclusion to the LGBTQ+ community.

At the end of the day, the LGBTQ+ community is so diverse that perhaps the best way to align with their values has nothing to do with gay or transgender issues at all.

<!–[if lte IE 8]>

<![endif]–> hbspt.cta.load(304927, ‘b6a0f394-9907-43dd-a82b-d007be93e2fb’, {“region”:”na1″});

Since rollouts began in earnest in the New Year, a handful of countries have pulled ahead in the vaccine race. 

Within our 47 tracked markets, the current leaders are the USA, the UK, Israel, and the UAE. Each of them holds potential clues as to what life after lockdowns might look like, but we’re particularly interested in Israel and the UAE. 

Not only have they led the charge in vaccinating their citizens, they also had fewer lockdown restrictions at the time of research – giving us a better insight into what you might call the “post-vaccine mindset”. 

As Coca-Cola and Pepsi’s new ads show, there are lots of different takes out there about how consumers will feel as vaccines usher them back to something approaching normality. 

Through the themes we’ve gathered below, we can use data to get clearer insight into how these vaccine leaders are adjusting to their new reality.

1. Consumers are keen to get back out there – even more than before.

To best understand what’s at stake now, we need to rewind to Q2 2020, when the full impact of COVID became apparent in our global research.

With a big chunk of the world’s population under lockdown at the time, it came as no surprise that any data points related to being out and about – whether it was taking public transport or going to the cinema – all dropped significantly.

What was more surprising (and at the time, perhaps more worrying) was the drop in interest for being out and about, particularly around live events and culture. 

The question was, with long periods of time under lockdown, would consumers become fundamentally disconnected from these activities?

Judging by the vaccine leaders’ example, this interest will return, and return in spades. 

These countries didn’t actually see the same initial decrease the rest of the world did, but interest in live events, museums, and others have still grown sharply – indicating a strong post-vaccine bump. 

Interest in cultural activities is now bigger in those places than it was even before COVID. 

It’s a similar story with eating out. Here there was a dip in Q2 2020, followed by a recent uptick driven by vaccines and unlocking of their hospitality industries. 

We should point out, however, that interest in cooking hasn’t dropped from its pandemic increases. The extra time consumers have spent in the kitchen appears to have left an impression. 

2. Successful vaccination programs are stimulating travel demand.

The other place to look for evidence of wanting to get out there, and one that has billions riding on it, is in travel planning.

Here, the impact of vaccines is obvious. Globally, there are signs of a tentative rebound, but in countries with accelerated vaccine rollouts, this is much more defined, with intent to buy travel tickets up 19% in our latest research wave. 

Based on our most recent research, all countries that had administered a first dose to at least 25% of their population were seeing travel interest rebound strongly. 

And this interest is returning to both domestic and foreign trips. With more international travel possible, consumers are still looking at options within their own countries. 

A year of COVID and lockdowns has also had some impact on why people want to travel. Year-on-year, the fastest growing travel influences in these countries are: 

• Being able to visit friends and family (up 24%)
• Having a once-in-a-lifetime experience (20%)
• Ease of traveling (19%). 

Each of them makes a lot of sense in the post-COVID context. Consumers want to see close contacts they’ve been held back from, and, after a pandemic, they’re keener to make the most of life by seeing unique things – so long as they avoid too much hassle in the process. 

It’s harder to find a clear story on what’s become less important in inspiring travel, but a significant one is reduced interest in special offers and deals. Consumers still want value for money, but the amount consumers they’re willing to invest, and the return they expect, is likely increasing. Which brings us to…

3. Vaccines drive consumer confidence and reduce thrift.

In Q2 2020, consumer confidence crashed around the world. At the peak of global lockdowns, consumers’ belief that their personal finances, or their countries’ economy, would get better in the next 6 months plummeted to a degree almost unprecedented in the history of our research.

The UAE and Israel were actually fairly insulated from this original shock, but even so, consumer confidence is increasing. 

56% are confident about their country’s economy in Q1 2021, compared to 46% in the same period last year.

As consumer confidence has risen, attention to cost in purchase decisions has fallen. Cost incentives have become less important across the board, whether it’s in the use of vouchers and coupons, loyalty programs, or advocating a brand for financial rewards.

Our take is that a year of lockdown and financial uncertainty made frugality more necessary, but consumers are now becoming less price-sensitive. Marketing campaigns will likely be able to place more focus on encouraging spending than promoting thrift through 2021. 

4. Some lockdown favorites will stick around.

As vaccines have given the world a glimpse of life after COVID, there’s been some interesting shifts in popular culture. Some commentators have been keen to gently mock old lockdown favorites and leave them in the past – as Jack Whitehall, host of this year’s BRIT Awards, put it: “No more puzzles, no more Zoom quizzes”.

But not all aspects of lockdown life will be thrown out. We’ve already seen hints of this in our Zeitgeist research in the UK and U.S., but we can now see it across a broader selection of data points. 

An obvious one is ecommerce, the convenience of which continues to make it a real winner for consumers. It’s trending across a number of categories in countries with advanced rollouts, but one of the most notable spikes is for buying groceries online. This has left a real impression with shoppers and continues to tick up and to the right.

Livestreams have also emerged during the pandemic as an alternative source of entertainment.

Even in countries with more in-person activities available, they’re climbing in popularity. They were less popular in those countries to begin with, so it’s possible they’re just catching up. But in these early stages, it looks as if consumers will look for virtual events to continue in parallel with in-person ones. 

5. Vaccines bring more peace-of-mind. 

Consumers are likely to emerge from COVID with different perspectives on life. Those in countries with accelerated vaccine rollouts look to be diverging from the rest of the world in two important ways. They’re less likely to feel prone to anxiety, and less likely to feel overworked.

It’s a good sign – as things open up again, people feel more content and relaxed in their own mind. But it also suggests treating consumers with care, steering clear of any post-vaccine, back-to-normal, messaging that promotes a different kind of social anxiety. 

Many will be feeling apprehensive about coming out of lockdown, either due to a lack of social interaction, or trying to adapt from a year of being in “fight-or-flight” mode.

Consumers are looking to go out and have fun, but peace-of-mind will be a key part of it. 

In trying to reflect the world and headspace consumers are heading into, marketers would be wise to remember it may be a slow adjustment for many, and avoid trying to create FOMO, or other kinds of social pressures.

Another important thing to remember is with vaccines rolling out at different speeds around the world, countries will be split into separate tiers for some time. Some countries will see COVID as largely a thing of the past. But for many, it will remain a threat and a worry. 

For most of 2020, we’ve been able to make general statements about consumer attitudes based on the fact that, in the absence of vaccines, most people were in the same boat.

But this is no longer the case. 

Countries will diverge depending on how close they are to collective immunity. 

Variants are also a potential wildcard. Even if they don’t cause issues on a global scale, they could well have a profound impact in individual countries.

Cautious optimism

In some ways understanding the consumer mentality and post-COVID trends is simple – consumers can now do things they haven’t been able to for months.

But there’s another side to it. Many people have used the past few months to reflect and make new priorities. 

From Israel and the UAE we’re seeing signs of consumer confidence and the increased appetite to spend and to travel that many businesses are so desperate for.

But from this early data, we also get the sense that the “back to normal” messaging should avoid being too celebratory, or create new pressures for consumers whose mental state may be fragile. Vaccines may be rolling out at lightning speed, but consumers’ collective mindset may take a bit longer to settle.

The countdown has officially begun. The Olympic flame has once again been lit, marking the opening of the Games on 23^rd July this year. 

With no international fans allowed and a host of restrictions already in place, athletes, organizers, and sponsors are all bracing for an event like no other before. 

Here we use data from GWI Zeitgeist, as well as our new GWI Sports dataset, to assess the appetite for the event and give you 4 insights that can help guide your Olympic campaigns to a gold medal.

1. Millennials are buzzing about this year’s Olympics.

Back in March last year we asked consumers whether the Tokyo Olympics should go ahead, and only 5% across 13 markets said they should, regardless of the situation. Public opinion was overwhelmingly toward postponement (36%) or cancelation (12%). 

Fast forward to 2021, and our research in the UK and U.S. shows that 44% of internet users support the Olympics taking place this year, with 17% supporting this fully. 

According to our GWI Sports dataset, those typically following or watching the Summer Olympics in the U.S. and UK skew older. In fact, boomers are usually the biggest fans with 7 in 10 of them expressing an interest in the Games, compared to 6 in 10 of millennials.

But our Zeitgeist research reveals we might see somewhat of a shift in the typical demographic watching this year’s Games. 

Millennials are the most likely age group to be looking forward to the Olympics, with a whopping 51% planning to watch live on TV.

The fact they’re as likely as boomers to say this means the Olympics audience this year still skews older, but millennials are flocking to it like never before. They’ll also be tuning in across multiple channels. 

Meanwhile, their younger counterparts, Gen Z, are the least enthusiastic. 

This is consistent with our broader sports research where around half of this age group are Summer Olympics fans. 

It could be down to the fact that some of the Olympic sports aren’t as popular among younger fans – like rowing or fencing which are only followed by 7% and 8% of Gen Zs, respectively.

So, what’s got millennials so excited this year? 

The truth is, they’re the most passionate about sports in general; 6 in 10 of them classify as sports fans (those who are extremely or very interested in sports and watch sports at least once a week), compared to only 35% of boomers, for example.

With sports largely put on hold in the last year:

The appetite among this age group for sports of any kind is at an all-time high.

The fact this is the first global event since the pandemic is certainly a factor as well. In the eyes of millennials, the Olympics is more than just a sports event; it’s a return to some kind of normality, which they’ve been particularly impatient about. 

2. No overseas fans? No problem.

Following the organizing committee’s decision to ban overseas spectators attending the Games this year, uncertainty around how this decision will affect sponsorships and engagement is growing. 

But when it comes to fans, our data suggests a ban on international spectators isn’t really an issue.

With half in the UK and 6 in 10 in the U.S. supporting the Olympics going ahead without fans from their country, it’s unlikely this decision will hurt viewership rates. 

This is because appetite for the event is high (45% are looking forward to it), but the general demand for live attendance isn’t. 

When we asked sports fans how they feel about live events post-COVID, 43% in the U.S. and UK said they’re less likely to want to attend them, suggesting that fans are still wary of public gatherings.

Given the unprecedented nature of the Games, there’s a lot of pressure on brands to get it right.

The impact of fan attendance for an event of such scale shouldn’t be underestimated, but with three-quarters of the UK and U.S. online population planning to follow the Games this year, the opportunities for engagement stretch well beyond the action. 

To put this into perspective, the 2016 Summer Olympics reached an audience of over 3 billion people and sold around 6 million tickets. 

This year’s Olympics, for example, is launching its first ever Virtual Series in an effort to reach new and younger audiences beyond the TV and the pitch. 

This’s not only a strong validation of virtual events in sports, but it also shows the lines between traditional sports and esports are becoming ever more blurred.

3. TV is still king, but multiple channels will be needed. 

Although consumers have picked up on digital channels more during the pandemic, broadcast TV continues to reign supreme for overall time spent. 

And our data shows that engagement with the Olympics won’t deviate too much from this broader media consumption trend. 

For Olympics fans, linear TV remains the dominant means of following the Games (60%), with those specifically interested in water sports, like diving and swimming, most likely to be watching live on TV. 

Given the event is global and covers so many different time zones, highlights will be an especially important touchpoint, with half of fans planning to catch up on the day’s action on their TV.

Although at first it appears fans are torn between channels, brands need to remember they won’t be following the event exclusively on one channel. The reality is, there are significant overlaps. 

A quarter of those watching TV highlights will also be streaming them, meaning channels aren’t competing as much as they’re complementing each other.

And although social media isn’t considered a sports channel per se, the recent strides made by TikTok in this space prove its potential. 

With 3 in 10 UK and U.S. millennials planning to follow athletes or network accounts on social to keep up with the Games, these platforms should definitely be part of every brand’s strategy during the event.

Brands need to be present at every step of the fan journey – from when viewers are actively engaged, through to when they’re catching up with bite-sized content, or when scrolling through their social media feeds for news. 

4. Millennials are most likely to act on the back of sponsorship.

We not only expect millennials to be the primary audience of this year’s Games, but our new GWI Sports dataset also shows they’re the most likely to convert into customers as well. 

Compared to their counterparts from other age groups, millennials are much more likely to engage with a brand if it sponsors their favorite team (36%) and to go on to purchase its products after (46%).

This isn’t to say that sponsorship won’t land with other generations – they’ll just engage with it in a different way. 

For those looking to increase brand awareness and boost their image, for example, targeting Gen Z will be their best bet.

They’re the most likely age group to think about a brand more positively if it sponsors their favorite team (53%) and to spread the word to family and friends (44%). 

Regardless of the age group you’ll be looking to reach during this year’s Olympics, the messaging you employ will be key.

For example, our data shows that positioning your brand as innovative will really stand out to a Gen Z Olympics fan (66% want brands to be innovative), while reliability will make millennials tick more (64%). 

Key takeaways

• The demand and anticipation for the Olympics is there even when the cheer won’t be. 
• The lack of international fans is unlikely to hurt overall engagement.
• Traditional TV reigns supreme, but streaming and social will play a big role complementing it.
• Targeting the entertainment-hungry millennials will likely prove fruitful.
• Sponsorship works best with younger groups, but a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to cut it.