👨‍👩‍👧‍👦The Most Targeted Consumers And What To Do About It

We’ve all gone through a crazy, exhausting and tumultuous 15 months and it isn’t over just yet.

I didn’t want to say unprecedented because we’re all sick of that word by now.

It was better and worse for others but most of us can agree, we are ready for normal life again.

Throughout quarantine, I’ve adopted several rituals and routines that I never thought would boost my mood, energy, peace, gratitude and overall satisfaction to get more done in my days. Believe it or not, all of these remedies were for free.

As the frugal minimalist as I am, I didn’t spend a dime on facelifts or Pelotons, I got creative and constructed them myself. Sorta. These routines included building my own gratitude journal, downloading the Calm app, spending at least an hour outside daily and drinking more water. These mini additions to my days compounded tremendously and are huge time and stress relievers till today.

Yet, for most time-constrained, stress-induced, short-attention span and instant gratification consumers, getting creative and spending nothing doesn’t sound appealing especially since we expect our money to work and that’s why we work in the first place so we don’t have to create it ourselves.

In that case, good news for you, it’s now easier than ever for companies to help you deal with the post-covid blues or any type of anxiety you may have snagged from the pandemic.

Last week, the WSJ came out with an article on companies that target a new market.

Get ready for it.

The Stressed Out.

Not something to be completely proud of yet considering 90% of Americans are burnout and 80% are mentally exhausted in their jobs, I think it’s fair to say it’s time for some major relaxation and spending therapy.

Yet, the relaxation not shopping component is very difficult for the average American.

When we can, we take our breaks seriously but I’m convinced we genuinely love work and want to come back or the darker side of me believes we are worried what will happen to our futures. Probably most fall into feeling a mix of both.

Along with free health insurance and education, Europeans are mandated to use all their vacation days and spend time with family and have pure fun. No work. Hard ask for innovative and wealthy Americans.

A pre-vacation email to colleagues in France would go something like this,

“Hi all, going to take a well-deserved break for a while. See you in 3 months and can’t wait to jump back on board!”

The American email which consists of them being sent bi-weekly throughout a week:

“Dear all, I will be gone for 2 hours each day for the next week but my phone will be on me the whole time, even when driving and sleeping. See you soon.”

Guess who’s more excited to come back to work resulting in higher productivity and higher retention rates?

The Cure

Although the “stressed out” have always existed, there’s no better time to target them than today. Sorry about that. It includes all of us so buckle up and avoid social media for the next year to not get bombarded by luxurious ads.

Everyone is exhausted and drained from something because we were all affected by the change this past year presented. Even Bezos had to delay his space trip and must have been bored in his 7th beach front palace. That’s no easy task for a billionaire.

Whether it was WFH to child care, finding an entertaining movie for the whole family to watch or getting in a workout session, everyone deserves a break especially those who risked their lives on the front-lines to take care of our communities.

We thank you for your service.

Although the economy is still in a rocky place with unemployment around 6%, job openings vacant, inflation fears abound, the looming Delta variant spreading rapidly and supply chain constraints, the massive industries that were ravaged by the pandemic such as tourism and hospitality are capitalizing on surging demand which is centered around the one and only, “stressed out”.

With new 2020 vehicles named “Embrace” and “Sanctuary” and Airbnb vacation rentals called, “Far away as possible” and “This is definitely not home”, companies want you to be stressed so you can spend more!

Afer all, a consumer buys a product to either make their life easier, save time/money for the future and make it better. We all must enjoy the fruits of our labor otherwise there’s no point in working so hard.

Yet if we were all rational creatures and just bought what we needed, most of us wouldn’t have to work so hard nor stress about saving the ideal amount of $10m for retirement. Yet it’s appalling that a mother of 2 children could live off a grocery store cashier salary in the early 2000s and now can’t even provide food on the table for herself working that job no matter how little she spends. Inflation mixed with bad spending habits and low wages doesn’t financial freedom.

Curb It

The key to not get induced by all these juicy deals as life opens up is to realize you are stressed out and what you have in your control. As the national savings rate shot up to 35% with pent-up savings and markets reaching record frothy highs, consumers are ready to shop till they drop. With Q2 earnings blown out of the water for banks and airlines, people will pay for anything to not waste another day at home, realizing this is the home they just purchased because there was attractive mortgage rates, something you should NEVER do.

After all, buying on sale doesn’t mean you need it.

Stressful Times

Stress came at lightening speed into our lives during the pandemic due to change and uncertainty, life’s worst combo. Humans prefer to be comfortable and unfortunately don’t change unless they are forced to at the worst moments possible.

If most planned for the worst, hoped for the best, we would all be better off financially and mentally. Sadly, ironically, we are too optimistic about keeping our jobs and about the upcoming future that we abandon cash, an emergency safety net, insurance and live life to the fullest to the point where most have to start over.

Never a strategic move.

Yet stress helped consumers in some sense. It helped them budget more appropriately, value what they have and need not want, out of boredom dabble with Robinhood and slow down. Everything in moderation is healthiest. I treat stress like excitement. If you weren’t anxious, you wouldn’t care.

Yet rising stress levels have only been on the rise even pre-pandemic. They have been soaring and in June of last year, nearly one-third of Americans reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression, according to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2019, only 11% of Americans reported such symptoms, according to a comparable survey from the National Center for Health Statistics.

In that group, young adults and teens reported the largest increase in symptoms and are the most susceptible to self-harm, drugs and consumer credit card debt which unfortunately companies always have to make matter worse on that front selling fake dreams and solutions.

Mental Health Should Always Be Top Of Mind

With stagnant demand for work/school apparel and normal life activities for more than a year, as the vaccine rollout has taken shape leading borders to open up and easing of restrictions, more consumer product companies and makers of everyday goods from cars to cereal are framing their marketing messages and launching products to target worried anxious gullible consumers more than ever.

There’s no doubt without prioritizing our mental health, we have nothing. As the exercise/diet industry has transitioned to less ‘workout’ related terminology and instead using ‘self-care’, ‘clean’ and ‘relaxation’ companies in unrelated industries are taking advantage of this and now consumers more than ever are buying into their emotional well-being.

The pandemic inside and out left us glued to our devices as social media became the main outlet to peek into others’ unrealistic yet seemingly glamorous pandemic lives. This dug us into a comparison hole and obsess over our bodies another reason why brands are here to help.

As we squeeze into our pants from January 2020 and attempt to re-sell our Pelotons after using them for a hot 7 months, we are ready to spend differently more than ever. Yet it’s vital for your financial health and closet to be vigilant about what you need now. We are all craving something new which means we are willing to spend more and not let gauged inflated prices get in our way.

Although experiences and precious vacation moments cannot be replaced they can sting a few weeks later once the bill comes rolling around. Don’t ruin all the hard work you did towards maintaining your savings and investments. Blowing it off will set you back big time.

Know what you need and take care of yourself. Most of the time you already have what you need. You know yourself more than The Lincoln Oasis.