Anxiety index

There’s a “frisson of anxiety” pervading consumer sentiment. It’s leading many to seek out ways to control their immediate environment, prioritise authentic connection and experiences, and become more action-oriented, panellists at the latest Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) and ThinkNewsBrands Marketing Perspectives Series event believe.

Participating in the wide-ranging Sydney panel discussion were and Australian Psychological Society former president, Amanda Gordon AM, News.com.au editor, Kerry Warren and Destination NSW GM of consumer marketing, Kathryn Illy. The panel was moderated by ThinkNewsBrands CEO, Vanessa Lyons.

While the cost-of-living has dominated mainstream headlines, the macro trend Gordon sees as having most significance on behaviour, sentiment and decision making is living with uncertainty.

“The ground is shifting for a lot of people. It really started with Covid and has continued since then, and it’s this frisson of anxiety,” she told attendees. “We can’t predict the world the way we used to anymore. People have not been brought up to be comfortable with uncertainty, yet the world is now an uncertain place.

“It’s about how do we tolerate uncertainty, and if we’re not certain, how do we make good decisions?”

The risk here is a fixation on negativity and echo chambers being the preferred place to be, Gordon warned – something social media and algorithms have much to answer for, panellists agreed.

“Because if I can hear other people who might be thinking as I’m hoping to think, then maybe my thinking is okay. That is one of the risks of not dealing well with uncertainty – you see or only seek opinions like your own, and that’s not healthy for our society,” Gordon said.

Warren said News’ response to this undercurrent of uncertainty and spiralling into negative news has been ensuring a constructive next-step for readers.

“There is a lot of bad stuff going on, but there’s also a lot you can do about that. So we’ve started making sure every story we’re publishing has a little bit of expert advice, or somewhere you can go for help, or has that something you can do to not feel so out of control and not feel so hopeless,” she said.

On a more positive note, shifting consumer sentiment has opened up reader desire for more pragmatic action, Warren said. As a consequence, advocacy campaigning has been something News has been ratcheting up in the last two years to great effect.

“We want to give people a chance to do something that feels good. We did one campaign this year called ‘About Bloody Time’, which we launched on 1 March, to raise awareness of endometriosis. We were asking for two new Medicare item numbers, because it was really hard to treat. Gynaecologists were among the lowest paid medical specialists, and it meant women just couldn’t get the care they needed for their issues, which are among the most complex in the medical system. So we launched a campaign wanting to get 20,000 signatures by International Women’s Day a few days later on 8 March,” Warren said.

Instead, News hit 20,000 signatures in 24 hours and 50,000 by International Women’s Day. The campaign video was viewed by 5 million people on TikTok.

“We were getting messages and emails from women in their 80s who had been dealing with this their whole lives. Everyone was saying the same thing: I finally feel heard, I finally feel seen, and I finally feel like there’s something I can do about this,” Warren continued. “I really think presenting people not just with bad news – a lot of those case studies were led off people who have lost their jobs because of endo, lost relationships because of endo, and have had a really tough time – but also providing people an opportunity to be like, hey, it doesn’t have to be like this. You can actually do something about this.

“The response we had blew us away. We ended up getting our result within 12 weeks. We had $49.1 million from the Federal Government to get those Medicare number codes so that anyone, no matter where they live in Australia, can get the care they need. That delivers something to our readers, in a world that feels out of control, that there are still things that you can do to make things better.”

Sleeper service

A left of field yet complementary travel trend Illy spotted is an increase in ‘wellness’ vacations that wouldn’t have been so popular in the past but give people an opportunity to reconnect as well as gain control over a small portion of their lives.

“We’re going for wellness travel, we’re going to the spas and the mineral springs, and you’re seeing absolute increase in those type of experiences,” Illy commented. “There’s also sleep tourism, and going on holidays to find and have a really good sleep. I wonder whether in trying to escape negative news, the doom and gloom around that, people are seeking escapism to try and control one thing, like getting some sleep.

“But certainly that’s been on the increase: Trying to find that escape isn’t trying to find that quality time, not only to connect to yourself, but equally with your friends and your loved ones.”

Gordon also saw this as an example of consumers wanting to take control of whatever they can. “I can’t control anything in the world, so let me find either sleep or a spa that will allow me to feel like as I’m letting go, I’m taking control,” she added.

Authentic connection

This response to uncertainty is further manifesting in the way consumers are prioritising authentic connections, the panel agreed. Illy noted with user-generated content, trust in the algorithm is starting to decline, and there’s a renewed focus from Destination NSW to ensure the ‘realness’ in the content used in marketing and communications.

“We’re really mindful when we do create any of our content, that we need to be absolutely certain whatever we’re posting or whatever content we’re creating is absolutely genuine and real,” she said. “It’s about making sure we still maintain the integrity of the content, and are honouring and respecting consumers and visitors, while essentially being able to deliver on that actual promise.”

Gordon said respect needs to be the core relationship we have and hold with each other. “That goes also to people who are different from us and people who are we assume are the same as us – be prepared to tolerate difference within someone the same as us as well as tolerate difference between different people,” she said.

This is particularly critical in how brands and businesses engage with Australia’s growing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations. Gordon cited a shift in these communities towards seeking people they are like and whom they share similarities with.

“There is that need to connect and feel this medium understands me,” she explained. “I’m not the other, I’m me. But I also want to be included and be part of the mainstream, not just be segmented off because I happen to come from a different place or eat certain foods.”

Youthful indiscretion

Warren noted a failed experiment in attracting youth audiences at News Corp because of a mistaken belief that it needed to recalibrate content to suit a more youthful, future-focused audience.

“We thought what we’re going to do is write stories with really cool pictures, everything’s colourful, and the language is all youthful. It obviously failed. It was a disaster. What we learned from that is actually what we’ve now applied with great success to our CALD strategy. People don’t want to feel ‘othered’,” she said.

“We instead looked at what topics CALD people are traditionally into. They’re very educated and much more aspirational. We identified finance content we already do explaining how to get ahead in the Australian system, explaining superannuation, how to invest, buying houses, all of that sort of stuff is of interest. And instead of writing things specifically for a cohort, we just chose topics we know they’re interested in and wrote them the same way we write them for everyone else.

“It’s massively successful, and it’s based solely on that approach of not treating people differently. We’re helping them understand their new community, we’re helping them fit in. And we’re not talking to them or treating them like they’re any different to anyone else.”

Connection v echo chamber

For Gordon, the critical word again is connection. “We all like to connect. That’s the goal of people reaching out and even using media. It’s to find out what’s going on in the world, but it’s to connect with others. That’s why social media is so clever in naming itself social media – it can be entirely anti-social, and it can be purely an echo chamber, but it’s labelled social media so we grab it because we want to connect,” she said.

“It’s about how are we connecting. What does that connection mean? Is it a respectful connection? Is the distance right? Are we too close or too distant? Is there an acknowledgement of my uniqueness, or do I just have to fit in and be the same? Am I ok having a different opinion to one part of the world while having the same opinion with you about something else? Or do we have to totally align for it to be ok? If we have to totally align for it to be ok, that’s called a rabbit hole and an echo chamber, that’s where people get caught and become depressed. It’s not good for society.

“We have to be able to tolerate difference and cope with the uncertainty of whether someone else feels the same as we do when we connect with them.”

Ticking boxes

Lyons raised the question of whether marketers have gone too far in trying to balance diversity and inclusion to the point where they’ve lost genuine connection.

“The last thing we want to do as marketers is offend people. But have we therefore gone to the other extreme, and does that work in terms of tokenism? Are we checking the box to make sure?” she asked.  “Do people see that as us basically checking the box and not being genuine? Because I feel as marketers, we get a great campaign, great creative, great messaging and the very next thing we do is ask, is this going to ostracise this person, offend this person and this person. It almost becomes legalese where we don’t say anything, because we mute it down.”

Illy said consideration of diversity and inclusion is vital, but also brought it back to marketers truly knowing the consumer they’re looking to connect with.

“Do you know their needs, their motivators, their drivers and what appeals to them now, and what appeals to them in the future? And can you anticipate those needs, then tailor your communications to that certain segment?

“If you can manage to do that as a marketer, you’re on to something really special.”