The Return to the New Normal – the Case of Croatia

The answers should help companies to communicate with consumers as quality and clear as possible, in order to give them the sense of security, optimism and trust that they are currently lacking. Through six key topics that analyse emotions, concerns, citizens’ expectations from companies and brands, reaching decisions and conducting activities in the "new normal", this survey shows that new circumstances have brought changes and new emotions in ordinary, everyday seemingly simple decisions, such as going shopping, sending children to the playground or school and organizing trip with a travel agency. When asked what they fear the most after the outbreak of the pandemic, citizen answer that the most important is economic security and that they fear lower wages, losing jobs or having lower living standards. They expect a lot from companies - to enable work from home, to take care of the safety and health of their employees, but also to further invest in development, knowledge and competencies, which is certainly the most important individual answer to this survey. In addition, citizens expect companies to think wider than their profits in the future and pay more attention to the well-being of the community, so they are more willing to support such brands that take care of the environment or have firm attitudes on social and economic issues, which they, as consumers, can identify themselves with. Increasingly, they believe that companies must also be part of sustainable future solutions and not just leave that role to governments. As much as they remain cautious when going to cafes and restaurants or plan trips, most consumers try to live as normally as possible by maintaining their rituals regardless of the circumstances. Easing measures makes them optimistic that life is slowly returning to normal or at least that they are slowly getting used to the “new normal”.

You can request the entire survey from the Alpheus Public Affairs, via e-mail zdravko.ivic@alpheus.hr.