New Suzy Research Indicates Consumers Want More Action, Less Ads From Brands As They Face The Pandemic's Second Wave Majority of Suzy respondents expect actionable engagement from brands

NEW YORK (Dec. 8, 2020) -- Suzy, a real-time market research platform, today announced its new research report, “State of the Consumer: The Second Wave of Consumer-Led Change,” revealing that 87% of consumers want to see the same or increased engagement from brands during the second wave of the pandemic. One thing respondents want to see less of is advertising, as 43% of respondents indicate they want to see less advertising from brands.



Citing Amazon, Walmart, Clorox, Costco and Lysol as their go-to brands during the last several months, 56% of respondents want brands to take action during the pandemic against both short and long-term solutions related to COVID-19.



“As social distancing measures, school shutdowns, and state lockdowns begin again, consumers are continuing to feel apprehensive and looking to their favorite brands for action that supports, reassures and helps them,” said Suzy President Avi Savar. “Whether it be fair prices, proper treatment of workers or safe deliveries, consumers have a close eye on how brands are responding to the pandemic and will shift their dollars accordingly.”



Given today’s uncertainty, Suzy’s study found that 71% of respondents are still concerned about the pandemic’s negative impact on the economy and 70% of respondents agree that as states begin to open up, they are concerned about a spike in COVID cases.



When Suzy asked survey participants when they thought life in the U.S. would return to normal, they responded:



• 28% think summer 2021 will see a return to normalcy;
• 27% think it will extend to winter 2021/2022 or later;
• 17% think the pandemic will end by spring 2021; and
• 11% think the pandemic will be done by winter 2020.



Although the pandemic timeline remains unclear to most, the majority (74%) of consumers feel prepared for wave two of the pandemic due to more accessibility to COVID-19 testing sites and more availability of overall information pertaining to COVID-19. According to Suzy’s report, 48% of respondents agree that testing centers are now more accessible and 37% think that general information about COVID-19 is more available.



About the State of the Consumer: The Second Wave of Consumer Led Change:

Suzy’s State of the Consumer: The Second Wave of Consumer Led Change study surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers in November 2020. The samples are directionally representative of U.S. consumers and census-weighted across age, gender, ethnicity, and region to accurately reflect attitudes across the broader American consumer population.