Sydney, Australia – As pandemic woes globally are now starting to ease thanks to constant rollout of vaccination campaigns, a large chunk of Australian consumers, around 42% of them, believe that even non-health brands should play their part as well in promoting vaccination campaigns in their respective localities, new data from Kantar shows.
Despite the high percentage of consumers agreeing to heightened brand-centric vaccination campaigns, 74% of Australian consumers still believe that brands should not use the pandemic in exploiting others, while 54% of respondents say that they want brands to talk as they have always done, signaling the balance of brand communications and advocacy.
Such proximate affinity of these consumers to their brands of choice in the mid of the pandemic is rooted in the factor of locality, to which 76% of respondents choose to shop at local stores since it shows importance for the community. This trait has raised 12% since its last reading in April this year. In addition, 35% of respondents strongly suggest that convenience fares better than the price of a brand’s product or service.
Jonathan Sinton, chief commercial officer at Kantar Australia, said, “Homegrown is preferred with 37% continuing to pay attention to product origin, [which is] a marked increase to pre-pandemic preferences when origin was far less of a consideration. Additionally, almost two-thirds (63%) of Australians believe that environmental issues are more critical than ever (+6%) as we become more focused on purchasing sustainable products and brands right now.”
He also added that Australians are only decreasing sustainable behaviors that are against current pandemic rules, such as carpooling and keep cup usage, or where they have hygiene concerns or because it is simply inconvenient.
“Being a strong brand committed to provenance, value and sustainability is key to connecting with pandemic weary Australians in these uncertain times, but this must be communicated with authenticity,” Sinton added.
Adding to the sentiment of Australian consumers for brands engaging in vaccination campaigns is the fact that 66% of Australians want the majority of the population vaccinated to feel safe returning to daily life and 55% believe the country should keep the goal of zero cases of community transmission.
