55% of people believe carbon emissions will drop after the pandemic. If you prefer facts to hot air, we should talk. 

We had been keeping to our homes, only venturing out for the odd food shop or a Couch to 5K jog. And within weeks of lockdown, once we’d left the streets deathly quiet and the airports had become eerie hangars, nature crept back into the picture. In April and March news stories shared scenes of dolphins returning to Venice’s now-crystal-clear waters, deer tiptoeing through Japan’s streets, and goats taking over empty Welsh town centres. Headlines spoke of nature ‘reclaiming’ the spaces which we had inhabited just a few weeks prior. This, along with newfound questioning of our habits, led to a rare collective moment for introspection.

Out of all the countries we study at McCANN Truth Central, the UK stands out as the one where people most believe the world will forever be changed by the crisis, at 63% (wave 2), 60% (wave 3) and 60% (wave 4) compared to a global average of 47%, 47% and 48% respectively. This indicates a desire to carry learnings forward, whether that’s by making new developments permanent or by realising that detrimental habits we had been following mindlessly need to come to an end. Perhaps this will result in a questioning of international travel, both for leisure and professional activities. This posit is supported by the fact that 55% of people believe carbon emissions will drop after the pandemic – it implies a permanent change in the way global communities operate, and favours a local approach.

When you communicate your brand, how do you toe the line between global and local? Have you thought about the shift in perception of big international corporations? Marc is particularly well placed to advise you on these issues. Drop him a line at marc.brown@mccann.com to make sure your brand emerges from the lockdown, and subsequent recession, on top.