73% of consumers want brands to show more generosity when times are tough: Study

New Delhi: Havas has published the 2024 edition of its Global annual Meaningful Brands study, revealing newfound resilience and optimism during a period when global crisis has become the norm. 

Havas has measured Meaningful Brands annually since 2009.

Commissioned with YouGov, “The Rise of the Change Makers” surveyed more than 156,500 respondents, finding that while 70% of people feel the world is going in the wrong direction globally, 69% won’t let the tough times keep them down. Across 24 markets and more than 2,600 brands, 67% of respondents reported being happy today and 59% felt optimistic about the future.

In 2022, The Collins Dictionary named ‘polycrisis’ its word of the year, but, as 2024 concludes, ‘permacrisis’ is a more apt descriptor for a landscape where climate change escalates, the cost of living continues to soar, political differences are dramatised amidst the biggest democratic election year in history, and conflict, violence and humanitarian crises affect millions around the world. 

However, there is also reason for optimism. While the rise of AI brings ethical, environmental, and even existential challenges, it also offers newfound opportunities for growth and prosperity. And technology more broadly is creating new and exciting possibilities for us as a society.

Conventional wisdom could easily paint people as victims against this backdrop of crisis and change, buffeted by powerful forces outside their control. However, Havas’ Meaningful Brands study reveals people are feeling more in control of their lives (56%) and a strong sense of personal agency emerges with 69% trying to be physically and mentally healthy and 63% trying to be environmentally responsible. This spells the dawn of a New Era of Agency.

Mark Sinnock, Havas' Global Chief Strategy, Data and Innovation Officer, Havas Creative Network, explained, “We’ve entered a New Era of Agency where the only way to survive is to adapt. We see people take a step forward. They still expect help, and consumer centricity from brands, but they also feel a new sense of optimism and empowerment to affect change and build the future they want.”

The study shows that these new times of hyper-change are affecting people in different ways. Havas distinguishes six different psychographic portraits to reveal how the desire and the need for change are manifesting across the general population – the Faces of Change. This illustrates a range of expectations for the changes people want to see in their lives, in society and for the planet.

1. The Committed Citizens
2. The Progressive Optimists
3. The Carefree Pragmatists
4. The Pressured Advocates
5. The Challenged Sceptics
6. The Disengaged Pessimists

Despite responding to adversity in different ways, the Faces of Change are united by an expectation for brands to act decisively, understand their personal needs, and, most importantly, put them in the driving seat. Brands should: 

1. Show more humanity and generosity when times are tough (73%)
2. Do more for the good of society and the future of our planet (71%)
3. Do more to support our local communities/causes (70%)
4. Help me save money (68%) 
5. Make my day-to-day life easier (63%)
6. Help me save time (61%)

The report finally highlights key insights from their analysis of the Most Meaningful Brands in 2024. It concludes with five guiding principles for how brands can address people’s new expectations, empowering them to become changemakers themselves:

1. Invest in pragmatism to support essential needs of saving time/money and simplifying lives
2. Lead with tech optimism, yet also care and caution
3. Boost holistic health and quality of life across generations and populations
4. Promote purpose and the greater good with act and impact to drive change
5. Celebrate communities and foster connections for a more inclusive future 

“We have been investing in our landmark Meaningful Brands study for more than 16 years, and these insights now take on even greater prominence in our work for clients through our shared Converged strategy and operating system. We launched Converged to transform our client experience by building even more strategic bridges between creativity, media, production, and technology, and a shared understanding of today’s consumers is essential to this vision and to unlocking more meaningful growth for our clients and their brands”, said Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO, Havas.

“The results of this year’s Meaningful Brands study are heartening. People are far from blind to the challenges in the world today, but they feel a sense of agency over their happiness. Brands that understand this new resilient and optimistic consumer and empower them to build the life that they want, will build loyal, lasting relationships with their customers,” said Joanna Lawrence, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Havas Media Network.