Marketers urged to wake up to new post-Covid 'tribes'

Post-pandemic Britain will see the country split into new tribes along complex psychological lines, with major long-term impacts on their consumer behaviour driven by their experiences over the past 12 months.

So says a new VCCP Collaborative report entitled “Winning In The Rebound”, which details both the opportunities and the risks brands will face once the UK goes back to “normal”.

Following last week’s Budget, outlining the Government’s fiscal measures which will enable Britain to rebound, recover and rebuild, VCCP Collaborative’s report claims to demonstrate how the financial and psychological impacts of the pandemic combine to create five new consumer tribes whose spending will be shaped not just by disposable income but by their emotional response to the pandemic.

VCCP chief strategy officer Michael Lee said: “Brands that don’t recognise these new complexities are as much at risk of missing out on significant opportunities as they are on wasting their marketing investment on the wrong audiences.”

The report sizes and profiles each tribe using TGI analysis, and reveals which types of brands and categories are likely to be beneficiaries and losers amongst each of these segments, identifies opportunities and risks for brands and outlines strategies for engaging with the tribes in the post-Covid world.

The five consumer tribes featured in the report are:

Revenge Spenders – Back with a bang, looking to make up for lost experiences, this group contains an estimated 7.7 million Britons will make up a highly lucrative segment.

Rationers – As the name suggests, this tribe has surplus money to spend but are fearful of future austerity.

Resetters – Looking beyond Covid to reset their previous consumer behaviours and attitudes this segment plan to make life changes which reflect the bigger issues of climate and sustainability.

Rewarders – Not much money but looking to make life enjoyable again, this group contains 12% of UK adults.

Recovering – Struggling before Covid, and now hit by unemployment and reduced future opportunities, this segment comprises one in four UK adults, including 7.5 million women.

VCCP Media executive chair Marie Oldham said: “Understanding the rebound tribes gives us greater insight and agility in our targeting and media buying, reducing ineffective wastage and enabling our clients to invest smartly against audiences whose needs they can meet now and in the future.”

TOPICS:coronavirus VCCP