Recently we conducted a follow-up survey to the original COVID Client Impact Survey from back in May (here). In our follow up survey, we asked our clients and other small businesses how the crisis has continued to impact them, other companies in research, as well as adjacent industries. Click on the link to download the topline report from this research, “Lab42 Report: How are SMB’s faring 8 months into the COVID-19 pandemic?”. 

A few highlights from the research include:

• Concerns among companies over COVID-19 and its impact remained high in October, with more than 8 in 10 companies (83%) reporting they were very or somewhat concerned.
• In October, many small companies moved to make more drastic cuts in order to deal with COVID-19
• In October, we saw the impact from COVID-19 becoming more permanent
• Most small companies (89%) continue to be just as worried in October about the longer-term impact of COVID-19

This is the first time in over 100 years that Americans will be celebrating the holiday in the midst of a global pandemic, which begs the question: How will COVID-19 impact the ways we celebrate Thanksgiving? And with Black Friday being one of the largest shopping days of the year, what impact will COVID have on how people shop and how much they spend on Black Friday? 

To answer these questions, Lab42 conducted a study of 500 Americans, aged 15+, to uncover their plans and identify any shifts from what a ‘normal’ Thanksgiving celebration would look like.

Enter your contact information below to download Lab42’s report, “Thanksgiving 2020: A national holiday, celebrated locally”, which has more details on:

• Net excitement by age
• Americans’ plans for Thanksgiving 2020
• Who will be at the dinner table?
• How people plan on shopping on Black Friday/Cyber Monday
• What people are planning on purchasing 

Be on the lookout for our next report – the Winter Holidays – to be released late November. 

This year’s Halloween celebrations, like pretty much all of 2020, are going to be completely different from what we’re used to. In the midst of the pandemic, Lab42 conducted a survey among 500 Americans to see how they are planning on celebrating the fall and winter holidays this year.

Click here to download our Halloween white paper: “Halloween 2020: A Nightmare on Main Street”, which has more details on:

• Net Excitement by age

• Who people will be celebrating Halloween with this year

• What activities people will be participating in this year compared to last

• How different generations plan on celebrating

• Lab42’s Top 5 Scary Movie Picks

Be on the lookout for our next report – Thanksgiving to be released late October / early November 2020.

And with the year winding down, now is a great time to meet with our research team to discuss your end-of-year and 2021 research plans. If there’s anything we learned in 2020, it’s that we need to be prepared.

 But 2020 is different. We are in the middle of a global health pandemic that has already changed everything about how we live, work and play—and now it’s about to change the way we celebrate the Fall/Winter holidays. 

 Typically right about now, most of us would start thinking about Halloween plans, perhaps Thanksgiving travel plans and discussing what to do during the holiday break and New Year’s. This year, the mood of the country is bleak. According to a survey of 500 respondents conducted online by Lab42 between Aug. 2 to Aug. 11, 81% of respondents are either very concerned or somewhat concerned about the COVID-19 crisis and 40% either had the virus themselves or they know someone who had it. This does not bode well for celebrations. In fact, the net mood of the country is negative with between 21% to 26% more respondents indicating reduced excitement about the coming festivities. 

 As a result, about one in four (23%) are not planning to do anything for at least one of the upcoming Fall/Winter festivities. That is 8% higher than last year! 

 COVID-19 is not just impacting the social aspects of these celebrations. It may also have real economic impact as almost a third (32%) of respondents indicate they will spend less money this year vs. last year. This means less candy and fewer costumes bought during Halloween, less money spent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and less gifts during the Holidays. In addition, 22% of respondents indicated they no longer plan to travel at all, while another 20% will spend less money when traveling, cut their travel days or change their travel destination. All these impact an industry that has already been struggling for months. 

All these paint a very melancholy picture of the country, showing that COVID could continue to have implications on our health and wellbeing, the economy and our holiday celebrations. 

In 2010, the year Lab42 was founded, one of the biggest events was BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.  This explosion resulted in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, releasing 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days, impacting 1,300 miles of shoreline along five states. 

Based on a study conducted by Lab42 in June of that year to understand how consumers felt and reacted to this disaster, we found out BP would face a backlash from consumers.  Our data showed that about 25% of US consumers would boycott BP as a result of this spill.  In fact, the impact on BP may have been even greater: according to Experian Simmons DataStream, BP experienced a relative loss of 38% of their client base between April 26 and June 28, 2010.

Among those that do shop on Black Friday, Electronics, Clothes, and Toys have remained in the top 5 of items purchased since 2012. In 2019, Furniture and Flights were also very popular. Items not popular any more in 2019? Books and Appliances. 

Our global consumption has exceeded the Earth’s biocapacity for over 30 years now. A recent report published on the EPA’s website states that the Earth needs about one year and three months to regenerate what we use in one single year; we are effectively “turning resources into waste faster than nature can turn waste back into resources.” This global trend is apparent when looking at the U.S. specifically. The most conspicuous type of waste in the U.S. is the so-called “municipal solid waste” (MSW), which includes among other things bottles, corrugated boxes, food, computers, tires, or refrigerators. The EPA explains that U.S. consumers developed a preference for disposable products and convenience goods which consequently increase waste throughout the material life cycle. Therefore, we, as consumers, contribute to the problem of exhausting our Earth’s resources while simultaneously leaving behind a trail of trash. However, we, as consumers, also have the unique ability to individually contribute to the solution.

Our Contribution

Consider these numbers: Recycling one ton of office paper can save the energy equivalent of consuming 322 gallons of gasoline; recycling 10 plastic bottles saves enough energy to power a laptop for more than 25 hours. It is remarkable how valuable and worthwhile the practice of recycling is. However, in 2017 of the total MSW generated only 25% was recycled, whereas about 52% was landfilled. Why isn’t more of our waste recycled rather than just discarded and never touched again? It seems incredibly inefficient. How can a positive consumer behavior with significant economic and environmental impact be increased? The Lab42 team anticipated that further insight into the consumers’ thoughts and attitudes will be conducive to answering this question. In efforts to understand the consumer’s recycling behavior, Lab42 included three short questions on the subject of recycling in a larger survey. Similarities and differences between Recyclers and Non-Recyclers became evident allowing us to understand how the practice of recycling might be encouraged more efficiently and effectively.

The Similarities

Good news first: the majority of people do try to recycle. Out of a representative sample of 755 respondents, about 80% reported recycling. However, the remaining 20% of the respondents reported not recycling. The world is not black and white, and so it is not surprising that Recyclers and Non-Recyclers have a lot in common. Demographically, there were no significant differences in age, gender or kids in the household.  In addition, overall, they report having remarkably similar values and political affiliations: in both groups, the highest percentage of respondents labeled themselves as moderate and there are no significant differences in party affiliation. However, when looking a bit more closely some differences did become palpable.

The Differences

This might seem obvious, but the amount of climate change deniers is significantly higher in Non-Recyclers compared to Recyclers. Interestingly, the chunk of people living in rural areas is significantly bigger in the Non-Recycler group compared to the Recycler group.

When it comes to political affiliations, we can observe one interesting difference. Though a similar percent identify with a specific party, the proportion of respondents stating that they do not have a political affiliation is significantly higher Non-Recyclers compared to recyclers.

Looking at the Recyclers and Non-Recyclers background, it is noteworthy that the proportion of disabled and unemployed respondents is higher in Non-Recyclers than in Recyclers. Moreover, almost three-quarters of respondents in the Non-Recycler group have a household income below $50.000, which is significantly higher than the Recycler group.

Lastly, Non-Recyclers use and like Facebook significantly more than Recyclers. Whereas Recyclers’ favorite social media platform is equally likely to be either Facebook or YouTube, for Non-Recyclers Facebook is the clear favorite.

Motivations and Barriers

One takeaway is that no single factor can explain why about one-fifth of the U.S. population does not recycle. The top four reasons Recyclers and Non-Recyclers selected for their respective behaviors were:

The Next Steps

Improving Infrastructure

Inconvenience and the belief that recycling does not make a difference do not seem to be the driving factors for not recycling. Instead, infrastructure appears to be a significantly larger factor. Almost half of the Non-Recyclers state that they do not recycle because they do not have access to recycling. Additionally, almost one-third of Non-Recyclers explain their behavior with a lack of space for separate bins. Making recycling as easy and convenient as possible lies in everyone’s interest; therefore, increasing the number of recycling sites as well as making them more accessible and prominent will be an important step. Promoting space and cash saving trash bins that people with limited space and resources can use would also help in increasing recycling.

Communication Channel

Facebook should be the preferred social media channel since the data showed that Non-Recyclers use and like Facebook significantly more than other social media channels. Sharing the closest recycling sites to peoples’ homes on Facebook would be an example of how recycling rates could be improved. 

Messaging Do’s and Don’t’s

Communication concerning recycling should steer clear from political messaging since many Non-Recyclers do not have a political affiliation. Furthermore, it should appeal equally to people living in urban, rural, or suburban areas. Considering that almost 70% of Non-Recyclers have a household income below $50K, emphasizing the economic benefits of recycling might be especially effective.

By focusing on the positive outcomes of recycling for the present generation, such as the reduction of waste in landfills and the positive impact on the economy, Non-Recyclers might feel compelled to start recycling. Also considering the benefits future generations will experience through the conservation and preservation of wildlife and resources might be effective in highlighting the advantages of recycling. 

Trends

Reusable materials, which are a form of recycling, are being adopted more and more. Whether it is reusable bags, coffee cups, or even the trend towards a sharing economy in general, recycling in this way is up and coming. In the past, we wrote a blog post on the renting trend which might be interesting to revisit in light of this new data; sharing instead of owning is not only beneficial to your wallet but also the environment. You can check it out here. If you are interested in learning more about sustainability practices, initiatives such as Plastic Free July can be a helpful resource.

TODAY – Netflix has continued to grow with nearly 70 million US subscribers as of Q1 2020. While most of us have made the switch to streaming only, Netflix still has almost 2.2 million customers for their DVD service.  

In our 2011 survey, Redbox came out on top when asked about alternatives to Netflix with Hulu coming in second. Amazon streaming came in 5th after iTunes and Cable. According to our 2019 study on streaming services, among those who have a streaming service, Netflix is still the top contender with 84% of our respondents subscribing. Netflix is followed by Amazon Prime at 46% followed by Hulu in 3rd place with 28%. Redbox, however, did not maintain its place as the top competitor to Netflix. Redbox revenue dropped for 3 successive years from 2013 to 2015. 

What is the difference between selecting a celebrity endorser in 2014 vs 2020?

The two major differences are who we consider to be a celebrity, and what online space is best to take advantage of their popularity. Online influencer marketing has been around since the creation of blogs in the early 2000’s. With this influx of personal reviews, online critics were born. The platform they use is constantly changing; take a look at Lab42’s most recent social media study to gain insight into current and future trends.

The process outlined by Lab42 in 2014 remains the same – listen to your consumer, do not sway from the brand’s identity and conduct brand equity research before, during and after the campaign. This is done in order to properly identify the impact that celebrity is having on your business. 

Traditional celebrities (actors, musicians, athletes etc.) may still be the most common route to take depending on your brand image. However, these are not the only celebrities out there today. Being “social media famous” is just as valuable, or maybe even more valuable to brands looking for endorsement.

The best current example is Charli D’Amelio or “the reigning queen of TikTok” as described by the New York Times. As a 15-year-old from Connecticut, it is safe to say that her professional/educational experience up to this point has been high school. Although her 51.5 million followers on TikTok might say otherwise. Recently, P&G chose her as the lead star in their latest social distancing campaign – confirming that even the most established brands are looking for endorsement from social media celebs.

Another presidential election will be taking place in a few months and though we are not in the election poll business, we did do a series of presidential election surveys back in 2016.  How did we do?  Not great! Lab42, just like the vast majority of research companies, predicted that Hilary Clinton would beat Donald Trump. However, looking at our data from 2016, there were signs of what was about to happen:

1) Our data showed that Trump was leading Hilary Clinton with a double digit margin (55% for Donald Trump vs. 27% for Hilary Clinton) among voters 65 years old or older, which make up the largest and most likely to vote block of voters.  Based on validated votes, 53% of voters 65+  voted for Donald Trump.

2) Once Hilary Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination, our data indicated that 13% of Bernie Sanders’ voters would vote for Donald Trump  instead of Hilary Clinton.  Analysis by UMass professor Brian Schaffner indicated that about 10% of Bernie’s voters defected to Trump in 2016, helping him win in states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.