EDITORIAL
While the Сovid-19 crisis is not yet fully resolved around the world, it is worth asking what will be left of it in the future? What conclusions can we take from it today? Has it changed our values and our behavior?
We remember the prophets announcing in 2020 a "world after" made up of reduction, deconsumerism, great upheavals, etc. It is much fairer to speak of a “world with” and of the acceleration of pre-existing trends, as illustrated by Ipsos Global Trends 2021 survey and our thought-provoking Scenario Shaping 2025. The world has changed less than some imagined, and the concerns remain those of 2019.
Interestingly, Russians are very aware of this natural human tendency to adapt rather than transform. 67% of them agree with an idea as “The Covid‐19 pandemic has shown how quickly people can change their behavior in a crisis” Vs. 87% in South Africa, 83% in Turkey or 82% in China2, the most skeptics being the Japanese with a score of 50%.
Despite the challenging situation created by the health crisis, the Russians are also less pessimistic than the other inhabitants of the planet. In 2021, October, only 22% of Russians expressed worries about coronavirus compared to 29% globally, 38% in USA and 34 in UK. The most important concerns in Russia are poverty & social inequality (55%, as in October 2019, 53%) and unemployment & jobs (25% Vs. 35% in 2019, October). Russians do not seem to be worried about environmental issues, widely publicized in particular during UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26): 4% (vs. 15% globally) say they are worried about “climate change” and 7% (Vs. 10% globally) about “threats against the environment”.
Despite many critics addressed to Russia in foreign media, Googling for 2-3 minutes returns pages showing a super attractive country with architectural wonders, a grandiose heritage, breathtaking landscapes, dramatic and excellent cultural ventures! Russia has been widely rewarded by the World Travel Awards 2021, the “Oscars of the tourism industry”: Moscow won the prizes for "Europe's leading urban destination", Saint-Petersburg was crowned "Europe's leading heritage destination" ahead of Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin and even Venice.
In one of our previous editions of Flair, we noted that the embargo of which Russia was a victim had created the conditions to relocate certain productions, find solutions to no longer be dependent, etc. The COVID-19 plays a little the same role: to create a situation under constraints which changes the life to "cope", to reinforce or to change the behaviors. And indeed, it is not the least paradox of this crisis, to reinforce the pillars and to create the conditions for new opportunities.
“At home” is the chief symbol. Against an environment that has become dangerous with the risks of contamination and because of the various restrictions, we have seen throughout the world the "home" associated with cocooning, protection, well-being, a space that can be controlled, improve, transform. In Russia in particular, as a kind of nostalgia for everything that the "dacha" (country house) represents for urbanites, an ideal, a social status, a reunion with nature, the home has been over-invested.
In this regard, the home becoming the center of the world, because we were at home longer, because of the physical limitations for retail associated to the pandemic, a sharp change in the patterns of purchasing behavior and the formation was led. A new buyer is born, flexibly distributing his/her purchases between offline and online channels and comfortably interacting with digital technologies in online and offline stores.
Because the crisis was frightening, revealed an unexpected fragility, provoked undergone changes, we must provide responses that are both practical with services adapted to new behaviors and psychological, empathic, emotional, thanks to an ever finer understanding of the consumer values, motivations, and expectations. It is definitely Ipsos Flair's vocation to help brands and strategists to find solutions and the keys to success, in particular in a context of crisis!
Access the details of Flair Russia 2022, in Russian.
Download full edition of Flair Russia 2022 in English.